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A.
COMMENTARY
ON THE
HOLY SCRIPTURES:
CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MINISTERS AND STUDENTS,
BY
JOHN PETEK L ANGE, D. D.,
PROFESSOR OF THEQI.OGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN,
IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF EMINENT EUROPEAN DIVINES.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS,
BY
PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D.,
PROFESSOR 5N THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK,
IN CONNECTION WITH AMERICAN SCHOLARS OF VARIOUS EVANGELICAL
DENOMINATIONS.
VOL. IX. OF THE OLD TESTAMENT : CONTAINING THE BOOK OF
PSALMS.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCHIBNER'S SONS,
1884.
THE
P S A L M S.
BY
CAiRL BERNHARD MOLL, D.D.,
GENERAL SUPEKINTENDENT IN KONiaSBEEQ, PRUSSIA.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, WITH ADDITIONS,
BY
Rev. CHAELES A. BRIGGS, Rev. JOHN FORSYTH, D. D., Rev. JAMES B.
HAMMOND, Rev. J. FRED, M^CURDYj
TOGETHER WITH
A NEW VERSION OF THE PSALMS
AND
PHILOLOGICAL NOTES
BY
REY. THOMAS J. CONANT, D.D,
NEW TORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
1884. '
Entered, according to" act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
SCRIBNER, ARMSTEONC^ % CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at "Washington.
JAS. B. R0DGER3 PRINTING CO.
PHII-ADELPHIA.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
TO THE CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL COMMEN-
TARY ON THE BIBLE.
GENERAL EDITORS:
Key. JOHANN PETER LANGE, D.D.,
Gonsistorial Counselor and Professor of Theology in the University of Bonn.
Rev. PHILIP SCHAFP, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Sacred Literature in the Union Theological Seminary^ New York,
I. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE GERMAN EDITION.
Rev. C. A. AUBERLEN, Ph.D., D.D.,
Professor of Theology in the XJniverBity of Basle,
Switzerland.
Rev. KAKL CHR. W. F. BAHR, D.D,,
Ministerial Counselor at Carlsruhe.
Rev. KAJEIL BRAUNH, D.B.,
General Superintendent at Altenburg, Saxony.
Rev. PAULUS CASSEL, Ph.D.,
Professor in Berlin.
Rev. CHR. FR. DAVID ERDMANN, D.D.,
Gen- Superintendent of Silef?ia, and Prof. Honorarius of
Theology in the University of Breslau.
Rev. F. R. FAY,
Pastor in Crefeld, Prussia.
Rev. G-. P. C. FRONMtJLI/ER, Ph.D.,
Pastor at Kemnath, Wartemberg.
Rev. KARL GBROK, D.D.,
Prelate and Chief Chaplain of the Court, Stuttgart.
Rev. PAUL KLEINERT, Ph.D., B.D.,
Professor of Old Testament Exegesia in the University '
of Berlin.
Rev. CHRIST. FR. KLINO, D.D.,
Dean of Marbach on the Neckar, Wurtemberg.
Rev. GOTTHARD VICTOR LECHLER, D.D.,
Professor of Theology, and Superintendent at Leipilf,
Rev. CARL BERNHARD MOLL, D.D.,
General Superintendent in KCnigsberg.
Rev. C. W. EDWARD NAEGELSBACH, Ph.D.,
Dean at Bajrreuth, Bavaria
Rev. J. J. VAN OOSTERZEB, D.D.,
Professor of Theology in the University of Utrecht.
Rev. C. J. RIGGBNBACH, D.D.,
Professor of Theology in the University of Baala.
Eev. OTTO SCHMOLLER, Ph.D^ B.D.,
Urach, Wiirtemberg.
Eev. FR. JULIUS SCHROEDER, D.Dn
Pastor at Eltoerfeld. Prussia.
Rev. FR. W. -SCHULTZ, D.D.,
Professor of Theology in Breslaij.
Rev. OTTO ZOECKLER, D.D.,
Professor of Theology in the Univ^sity at Greifsw«l&
II. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ANGLO-AMERICAN EDITION.
Rev. CHARLES A. AIEJIN, Ph.D., D.D.,
Professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at
Princeton, N. J.
Rev. SAMUEL RALPH ASBURT, M.A.,
Philadelphia.
EDWIN CONE BISSELL, D.D.
Professor in the Theol. Seminary at Hartford, Ct.
Rev. GEORGE R. BLISS, D.D.,
Professor in Crozor Theological Seminary, Upland, Pa.
Rev. OHAS. A. BRIGUS, D.D.,
Frofeaaor of Oriental Languages in the Union Theological
Seminary, New York.
Rev. JOHN A. BROADUS, D.D.,
Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Louisville, Ky.
Rev. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D-D.,
Pastor of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church,
New York.
Rev. THOMAS J. CONANT, D.D.,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Rev. E. R. CRAVEN, O.D.,
NewflT-k, N. J.
Rev. HOWARD CROSBY, D.D.,LL.D.,
Chancellor of the University of New York.
LIST OF 00NTRIBUT0R8.
Rev. GEO. E. DAT, D.D.,
Professor in Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. CHAS. ELLIOTT, D.D.,
Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, Chicago, Dl.
Rev. L. J. EVANS, D.D.,
Professor of New Test. Exegesis in Lane TheoL Seminary,
Cincinnati.
Rev. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D.D.,
Principal and Professor of Divinity in the Free Church
Collaige, Glasgow.
Rev. "WILLIAM FINDLAT, M.A.,
Pastor of the Free Church, Larkhall, Scotland.
^ Rev. JOHN FORSYTH, D.D., LL.D.,
Chaplain and Prof, of Ethics and Law in U. S. Military
Academy, West Point, N. Y.
Rev. FREDERIC GARDINER, D.D.,
Prof, of the Literature of the O. T. in Berkeley Divinity
School, Middletown, Ct.
Kev. ABRAHAM GOSMAN, D.D.,
Lawrenceville, N. J.
Rev. W. HENRY GREEN, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Oriental Literature in the Theol. Seminary at
Princeton, N. J.
Eev. JAMES B. HAMMOND, M.A.,
New York.
Rev. HORATIO B. HACKETT, D.D ,
Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the Theological Seminary,
Rochester, N. Y.
Rev. EDWIN HARWOOD, D.D.,
Rector of Trinity Church, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. W. H. HORNBLOWER, D.D.,
Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, etc., in the TheoL Seminary
at Alleghany, Pa.
Rev. JOHN F. HURST, D.D.,
President of the Drew Theological Seminary,
Madison, N. J.
Rev. A. C. EENDRICK, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Greek in the University of Rochester, N. Y.
TAYLER LEWIS, LL.D.,
Professor of Oriental Languages in Union College,
Schenectady, N. Y.
Eev. JOHN LILLIE, D.D^
Kingston, N. Y.
EfiV. SAMUEL T. LOWRIE, D.D.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Rev. J. FRED. McCURDY, M.A.,
Afis't Professor of the Hebrew Language in the TheoL Sem.
at Princeton, N. J .
Rev. CHARLES M. MEAD, Ph.D.,
PtnleBBor of the Hebrew Language and Literature in the
TbeoL Sem., Andover, Uaaa.
Rev. J. ISADOR MOMBERT, D, D.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Rev. DUNLOP MOORE, D.D.,
New Brighton, Pa.
Mifls EVELINA MOORB,
Newark, N. J.
JAMES G. MURPHY, LL.D.,
Professor in the General Assembly's and the Queen's
College at Belfast.
Rev. HOWARD OSGOOD, D.D.,
Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Test, in the
Theol, Sem., Rochester, N. Y.
Rev. JOSEPH PACKARD, D.D.
Professor of Biblical Literature in the Theological
Seminary at Alexandria, Va.
Rev. DANIEL W. POOR, D.D.,
Professor of Church History in the Theological Seminary
at San Francisco, Cal.
Rev. MATTHEWS. RIDDLE, D.D ,
Professor of New Testament Exegesis in the TheoU
Seminary at Hartford, Conn.
Rev. CHAS. P. SCHAEFFER, D.D.,
Professor of Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran
Seminary at Philadelphia.
Rev. WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Systematic Theology in the Union Theological
Seminary, New York.
Rev. CHAS. C. STARBUCK, M.A.,
Formerly Tutor in the Theological Seminary at Andoven,
Mass.
Rev. P. H. STEENSTRA,
Professor of Biblical Literature at Cambridge, Mass.
Rev. JAMES STRONG, D.D.,
Professor of Exegetical Theology in the Drew Theological
Seminary, Madison, N. J.
Rev. W. G. SUMNER, M.A.,
Professor in Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. 0. H. TOY, D.D.,
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Rev. E. A. WASHBURN, D.D., LL.D.,
Rector of Calvary Church, New York.
WILLIAM WELLS, M.A., LL.D.,
Professor of Modern Languages in Union Colleoa.
New York. ^
Rev. C. P. WING, D.D.,
Carlisle, Pa.
Eev. E. D. YEOMANS, D.D.,
Orange, N. J.
PREFACE BY THE G-ENERAL EDITOR.
Dr. Moll's Commentary on the Psalter appeared, in two separate parts, in 1869
and 1870. It was concluded during the stirring events of the Franco-German war. It is
regarded as one of the best parts in Lange's Biblework, especially in the Doctrinal and
Ethical sections. Dr. Moll was formerly Professor of Theology in Halle, and is now General
Superintendent of the Evangelical Church in the Province of Prussia. We insert the
author's Preface to Part II., dated November, 1870:
" The mighty convulsions of the present war, while they have cast down a glittering
throne from its proud elevation, have buried, too, much unobtrusive and quiet happiness, and
have opened wounds that must long keep bleeding. Yet, from out of desolation and tears,
does the goodness of the Eternal evoke renewed safety and a joyful future for a people
tried and purified in the fire of affliction. Nor can we fail to discern in the events of those
days a visitation of God. Many an ear, which has long been accustomed to other sounds,
has heard the footsteps of the Almighty as He marches through the world in judgment,
and has been inclined to listen to the word of the only true and living God. And many
a hand, too, will be stretched out, with special eagerness, for the Book of Psalms, full as it
is of those poems, of which such a poet as Byron said, that they are as lofty as heaven and
deeper than the ocean. From such fulness as this has the Church ever drawn, and it affords
instruction as well as delight, to trace through the course of the ages its inexhaustible
adaptation to the needs of the people of God, to the varying tastes of different periods, and
to the progress of the science of interpretation. May its own teachings and the accompany-
ing remarks and suggestions realize the aim of the Bibelwerk, and afford spiritual aid to the
brethren in the ministry.
In the department of Practical Exposition we have now farther to note ; Der Psalter,
erkldrt von L. Harms, well. Pastor in Hermannshurg , 1869 (The Psalter explained by
L. Harms, late Pastor in Hermansburg, 1869). Caspari, Des Gottesfurchtigen Freud und
Leid, Wochenpredigten uber den Psalter (The Joy and Sorrow of those who fear God;
Weekly Sermons on the Psalter), with a preface by Delitzsch, 1870. W. Stern, Funfzehn
Mes&ianische Psalmen, fur Versidndniss, Belehrung und Erhauung der Freunde des gottliehen
Wortes erkldrt, 1870 (Fifteen Messianic Psalms, explained for the enlightenment, instruction,
and edification of the friends of the Divine Word).
In the department of Textual Criticism we have to mention that the Monumenta Sacra
Inedita, published by Const. Teschendorf, contain in Vol. IV. of the Nova Collectio, 1869,
the Psalterivm Turicense, important for the criticism of the Text of the Septuagint. It was
written upon purple parchment, in silver and gold, about the 7th century. It consists of 223
leaves, and comprises 118 Psalms, together with 9 Biblical Hymns and 1 Church Hymn.
Its readings show more agreement with the Cod. Alex, than with the Cod. Vat., and often con-
firm those of the Aldine and Complutensian texts. The relation which it exhibits to one
of the correctors of the Cod. Sinait. is worthy of special attention. The insertion, in elegant
red letters, of the first word of each verse in Latin from the Vulgate of Jerome, by the side
of the Greek Text, goes to show that it was executed in the West.''
ii PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR.
I had a strong desire to prepare the Commentary on the Psalter myself, but could not
command time. To avoid delay, I divided the work among several scholars, as follows :
The Introduction was prepared by the E-ev. James B. Hammond, with additional Notes
by the Rev. Charles A. Brigqs.
Psalms I-XLI., and LI.-LXXII., by the Rev. Charles A. Brigos, Pastor at Roselle,
New Jersey.
Psalms XLII.-L., by the Rev. John" Forsyth, D. D., Chaplain and Professor of Ethics
in the National Military Academy at West Point, New York. Dr. F. had assumed the
entire second Book, but could not finish his task in time, on account of his removal to
West Point.
Psalms LXXIII.-CL., by the Rev. J. Fred. McCurdy, of Princeton, New Jersey. In
this last part, Dr. Green, Professor of Hebrew and O. T, Exegesis in the Princeton Theolo-
gical Seminaiy, has taken special interest, and aided his friend, Mr. M^Curdy, with lin-
guistical and exegetical helps from his own library and other sources.
The contributors were instructed carefully to consult the well-known German Commen-
taries of Hupfeld, Ewald, Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, as well as the English and American
works of Perowne, Wordsworth, Alexander, Barnes, and others. The Homiletical depart-
ment has been condensed to make room for extracts from English sources, including
Spurgeon's Treasury of David, as far as published.
As to the text, I have given the reader the benefit of two translations. The Authorized
Version has been retained as the basis of the Commentary, but arranged according to the
laws of Hebrew parallelism and the stanza divisions of Moll.
The New Version of the Psalms, with brief philological notes, which follows the Com-
mentary of Moll, is the work of the veteran Hebrew scholar. Dr. Con ant, of Brooklyn. It
is substantially the same with that originally prepared by the author for the "American Bible
Union," but differs from it by numerous corrections in the renderings, suggested by further
comparison of the Hebrew text, and certain changes in form, and additional matter, to adapt
it to the present work ; namely, the use of the termination th for the 3c? pers. sing, of the
verb, and of a small initial letter in lines continuing a sentence ; and the addition of critical
and philological notes, at the end of each Psalm, on points of more special interest and
difficulty.
A revision of the English Scriptures intended for public and devotional use should, in
my opinion, retain the idiom of our Authorized Version, and depart from its grammar and
vocabulary as rarely and as little as is consistent with the true meaning of the original and
the present state of the English language. But the merits of a version which forms part of a
critical commentary, must be measured by the degree of its fidelity to the original Hebrew
and not to King James* or any other translation.^ Judged by this standard, Dr. Conant's
version and notes will be found a very valuable addition to this commentary.
By these numerous additions the volume on the Psalms exceeds both Parts of the German
original by 264 pages, and is much larger than any other volume of the English edition of
Lange. Nevertheless, the price is the same.
The Psalter is the first Hymn-Book of the Church, and will outlive all other hymn-
books. Its treasury of pious experience and spiritual comfort will never be exhausted. And
as it will continue to be used in public worship, and for private devotion eveiywhere so
commentary will follow commentary to the end of time. May this volume contribute its
share towards a fuller understanding and application of the Psalms.
Philip S chaff.
40 Bible House, New York, Sept. 23, 1872.
THE PSALTER.
INTRODUCTION,
§ 1. CANOmCAL POSITION" AITO TITLE.
The Psalter stands at the beginning of the third division of the Hebrew Scriptures (the
Kethubim* or Hagiographa) in most of the Hebrew MSS. of the German class, followed by
our printed editions. Philo ii. 475 and Luke xxiv. 44 seem to favor this position.
The Spanish class of MSS., however, like the Masora, place the Chronicles at the head
of this division (which in the prologue of Sirach is co-ordinate with the Law and the Pro-
phets under the name tuv cAAcjv TraTpiov jiijiliuv) ;f whilst the Talmud informs us that even
the little book of Euth had the first place. J Still another Jewish canon mentioned by Je-
rome in his Prologus Oaleatus begins with the book of Job, and places the Psalter second in
this series of sacred writings. This arrangement was made with reference mainly to the
subject matter, and is the one which was adopted by the Alexandrian version, and followed
by the Vulgate, the German and English Bibles. Comp. Herzfeld, Geschichte des Volkes
Israel iii. 102 sq.§
The Position of the Psalter among the Hagiographa is in accordance with its nature, not so
much on account of the lateness of its completion, as rather its thorough-going joy and peculiar
lyrical character which springing from the soil of revelation, in the sacred history of Israel ;
nourished by the revealed word of Jehovah in closest connection with the public worship of
the covenant people, discloses the throbbing heart of the Israelites' life of faith, and speaks
the language of revelation as subjectively appropriated by the inmost feelings. The position
of the Psalter among the Hagiographa does not at all indicate that it was esteemed inferior
to the "Prophets," — ^the second great division of the Hebrew canon (embracing the prophetic
books and those historical books following the Thorah). The view of some theologians, that
there were different degrees of inspiration among the sacred writings, at least in the form
which ascribed the origin of the Hagiographa simply to the Holy Spirit, whilst the remaining
canonical books were ascribed to the Prophetic Spirit (Carpzov, Introduct. i. 25), was an
unhistorical theory of a few Rabbis (Havernick, Einleitung i. 66 ff). For the Holy Spirit
was frequently and expressly represented as inspiring the Prophets ; the term " Holy " Spirit
was explained by the term "Prophetic" Spirit; and the appellation "Prophets'"' was fre-
quently given to the Hagiographa and by Josephus ( Contr. Ap. i. 8) even to the historical
books. Moreover, not only were the legal prescriptions ordained for the Prophets extended
to the Hagiographa, but all the writers of the Psalms were expressly numbered among the
Prophets (Herzfeld iii. 17) for the reason that the Bible designates them as Prophets and
* [D^3^n3 means properly nothing more than something written, writings. It was probably not tised for any claas
of writings at the first formation of the canon, bnt came gradually into use as a convenient designation of those other wri-
tings, which being of too much variety of form and character to have any characteristic title, were discriminated from the
two fixed classes, the law and the prophets, by this general term {e.g. other writings). — 0. A. B.]
f [This was probably that they might follow the Books of Kings, being parallel with them in subject. — 0. A. B.J
X [This was because it was regarded as a prologue to the Psalms, David being a descendant of Euth. — 0. A. B.]
§ [The natural order is that which places the Psalms first as representing the age of David, and then the Proverbs and
Job as representing the Chokma-literature of the age of Solomon. QT. Perowne, Introd. p. 69„and Delitzsch Cam., Edin-
burgh, 1871, Introd. p. 4.— J. B. H.l
INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
seers, 1 Chron. xxv. 1 sq. ; 2 Chron. xxix. 30 ; xxxv. 15 ; 1 Sam. y. 10. The Targum of Jona-
than on the latter passage reverses the expression and styles the utterance of that which the
prophetic Spirit inspires the "making of psalms." According to the fourfold Ethiopic di-
vision of the Old Testament into Octateuch, Kings, Solomon and Proohets, the Psalms were
classed with the second division.
From the Alexandrian version originated also the title Psalter {^alrijpLov^ Old German
^a^iler), a coUective term for the "Book of Psalms" (Luke xx. 42; Acts i. 20), or "The
Psalms" (Luke xxiv. 44). The latter word originally meant the music and playing of a
string instrument; the former, the instrument itself; then by transfer the song sung to it,
finaUy the collection of these songs, as Euthymius Zigabenus [Prczf. in Psalm. Ed. Le Moyne,
pp. 172) rightfully remarked. It corresponds fully to the Hebrew mizmor, which occurs,
however, only in the title of particular Psalms, and not as a title of the collection. It does
not appear at all in the plural form in the Bible, being simply used to indicate the recital of
certain Psalms [yid. \ 8, 2). The contents, and especially the religious character of these
songs, is brought out more prominently by the word teffiloih. In Ps. Ixxii. 20 aU the prece-
ding Psalms are coUectively designated by this word as "prayers of David," although Ps.
xvii. is the only one within this division in which it is found in the superscription [Septuag. izpo-
czvxii). Later still, it characterizes Pss. Ixxxvi., xc, cii., cxlii., as also Hannah's Psalm of praise,
1 Sam. xxi. 1.* The title tehillim is the usual superscription of the entire coUection, in short-
ened form tillim, tillin, tilli, sometimes with, sometimes without se/er, i. e. (Book of ) Bymns,
which designation Philo and Jerome also employ. The Masora employed the plural se/er
tehilloth, and also constructed from the same root the form hallela, but only to designate Pss.
cxiii.-cxix., and not the entire Psalter, as since Buxtorf has been often erroneously stated (c/.
Delitzsch Commentar. ii. 530). [The Psalter is still the common Prayer and Hymn Book
of the Christian Church, as it was that of the Jews. — P. S.]
That these songs were designed to glorify God, is strikingly indicated by this superscrip-
tion. The word occurs however with this special reference only in Ps. cxlv. (Septuag. alveaLq)^
but its appropriation as the title of the whole book, points to the fact, that we are not dealing
with a lyrical Anthology of the Hebrews (De Wette), but with the original hymn-hook,
especially designed for the worship of Ood in the congregation of Israel.] Vid. further
^3 and 5.
§ 2. AITTHORSHIP OP THE PSALMS.
It is undoubtedly true, that the Psalms, collected in the library of the Temple, 2 Mace,
ii. 13, by Nehemiah, were designated ra tov Aavl6, and that the Psalms are cited in the New
Testament as the words of David. But we are- not obliged on that account to assume, that
David was the author of all the Psalms. This opinion has been defended of late by Clauss
• [Beitrdge 1831, S. 4sq.), and among the Jews by M. Eandegger {Hist. hrit. Versuche 1841),
after the Talmud {Tract. Pesachim, c. 10) and a few of the Church fathers, (Augustine, Chry-
sostom, Euthym.)
Neither are we obliged to explain those cases, where other persons, than he, are referred to
with Lamed in the superscriptions, by assuming that those persons were the subjects of, or the
occasions of his writing these Psalms ; nor that David was prophetically speaking in their
stead. This is quite as ungrammatical as it is unhistorical. For the Lamed before the proper
name does not always indicate strictly the authorship, but properly relationship or dependence.
We shall have occasion to make use of this remark in those cases where the contents of the
Psalm correspond neither with the personality nor the period of the one, whose name it bears.
* [Kelttzsch : " The nature of prayer is the direct and fixed looking to God, the absorption of the Spirit in thinking of
Him. All the Psalms share in this nature of prayer, even the didactic and hymnic which have no prayerful address." —
C. A. B.]
f [Perowne : " A more suitable title could, perhaps, hardly be found ; for thanksgiving is the very life of the Paalms,
even of those in which there breathes most the language of complaint. ' To the glory of God ' might stand as tlie inscrip-
tion of each. The narrative Psalms praise, whilst they record His mighty deeds ; the didactic Psalms declare His goodness
as worthy of grateful acknowledgment ; the Psalms of sorrow are turned into songs of joy, in the recollection or anticipt^
tlou of His saving help."— 0. A. B.]
g2. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PSALMS. 8
The Psalm may be referred to him perhaps in a wider sense as being composed after hia
model or in his style ; or the reference is to the musical director or the choir (e. g., Ps. xxxix.),
to which the Psalm had been given for practice and recital. In most cases, however, the ^
prefixum indicates the author, and there are historical grounds for the view that other histo-
rical persons than David, distinguished likewise in the domain of sacred song, were by this
designation to be put in the same relation to certain Psalms, and that it was by no means the
intention of the authors of the superscriptions to make David the author of all the Psalms.
And when the collection is generally designated as a Davidic composition, or when^ as in
later days, it was superscribed or collectively characterized in the language of the Church as
the Psalter of David, or abbreviated as at the end of the Ethiopic translation, e. g., Finitus est
David (Dorn De psalterio Ethiop. 1825, p. 9)^-or when in occasional citations it is briefly
called David ; these are not historical or critical statements, but simply show a prevailing
usage of certain periods, traces of which are found as early as 2 Chron. vii. 6. Comp. xxiii.
18; Ezra iii. 10. Its justification is found in the maxim "^ potiorifit denominatio." It pro-
bably originated from the statement at the close of Ps. Ixxii., which was also the final state-
ment of the oldest collection of Psalms. Comp. ^4. A spurious writing, called " David,"
is mentioned in Constit. Aposi., vi. 16 ; but is otherwise unknown.
From a historical point of view, however, there are but seventy-two Psalms ascribed to
David by superscriptions of the kind referred to. These are partly associated with statements
concerning their historical occasion, contents, and purpose, and their liturgical and musical
use (comp. § 8 and 12). The value of the superscriptions is disputed, their origin being un-
certain, their contents frequently obscure, if not entirely unintelligible, whilst their influence
in enabling us to understand the Psalms in question is unimportant. It is not surprising,
therefore, that doubts should have been advanced respecting them as early as .the time of
Theodorus Mops. But the thoroughgoing doubts of their authenticity which have been advanced
since Vogel, [Inscrip, psalmorum serius demum additas videri, 1767) which with De Wette and
still more decidedly Hupfeld, have advanced to the unreasonable extreme of entirely rejecting
the use of these titles as unreliable and therefore worthless, as being for the most part addi-
tions which have originated from the mere conjectures of later readers and compilers (so pre-
viously Rudinger), are entirely unreasonable.
The assumption on the other hand, that all these superscriptions originated with the
authors of the Psalms, and are therefore inseparable from the text, cannot be consistently
maintained. It can, at most, be held only of a few, and it is all the more important, that in-
dividual cases should be strictly scrutinized. This has been doneln earlier times by Venema,
and more recently by all the most eminent commentators. Useful remarks on these critical
investigations may be found in lAitz,Biblische Hermeneutik, S. 461, who, however, regards the
most of these superscriptions as later scholia. On the whole an opinion favorable to the an-
tiquity and value of these superscriptions has again been wrought out, which ascribes them
for the most part to tradition, and indeed a very ancient one, because they were generally
unintelligible to the Septuag., were variously constructed, and divided by these translators,
and sometimes in their reference to the occasion and contents of the Psalms, they rather pro-
duce difficulties than remove them. Comp. Fr. Bleek, Einleitung in das A. T., 1860, S. 613 f.
There is now a disposition to admit, that some of them may have originated with the authors
themselves. It is true, that among the Israelites, poets were still less accustomed than among
the Arabians and Persians to prefix their names to their songs. But when we compare the
superscription of Ps. Ix. with 2 Sam. i. 18, we cannot deny the possibility of David's having
done so; and when this is seen to have been the case with the prophet Habakkuk (iii. 1)^
shall we not conclude that the Psalmist also may have done the same ? The writings of
Sonntag on the Tituli Psalmorum 1687, Celsius 1718, and Irhof 1728, have become anti-
quated. J. A. Starck, Davidis aliorumque poetarum Hebr. carminum libr. V. (incomplete),
1776, 1. 2, p. 411 ff., however, is still worthy of attention. The best work is Delitzsch Sym^
bolcR ad Psalmos illustrandos isagogicce, 1846. He points in his Comm. II., 393, to the "An-
nals of David" as a work different from the books of Samuel, and yet made use of aa one of
their sources.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
Moreover the Psalms which bear the name of David, contain an abundance of references,
expressions, and peculiar turns, which do not at all make the impression of mere poetical
figures, but bear the stamp of the liveliness and truth of individuality, they refer to personal
experiences and frames of mind, and the statements of the sacred Scriptures about David's
fortune, character, and utterances, often present the only key to their historical interpreta-
tion. J, J. Stahelin [Das Lehen Davids, 1866) acknowledges this, under many limitations, it
is true, while according to Zunz [Die synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters, 1855, S. 4) they are
only the legends of the chiefs of the Levites, and those who are said to have been the origi-
nators of the temple music, who made David the author of the Psalms, and even raised him
to the dignity of a seer. These Psalms are as manifold in contents, tone, and color, as the
agitated life of David himself, and reflect most instructively, as in a mirror, the changing
emotions of a heart as tender as it was brave, "We hear his cry of anguish and his shout of
joy ; the tearful wail of sorrow and the courageous expression of his trust in God ; the peni-
tential prayer of the broken-hearted sinner, the joyful thanksgiving of the favored one, the
wisdom of an experienced sufierer who knows that his life is hid in God, the shepherd's voice
of the prince, the royal word of the hero, the prophetic utterance of the seer. And here let
us remember, that the rise of a sacred literature among God's people of Israel is not simply a
matter of literary and historic interest, but an important /acior in the history of the Divine
Revelation and the kingdom of God, The person of David, moreover, occupies such a prominent
place in this history, that, in connection with his poetical talent, clearly attested by his song
of mourning at Jonathan's death, 2 Sam, i. 19-27; his youthful musical endowments accord-
ing to 1 Sam. xvi. 17 f ; the daily cultivation of his art according to 1 Sam. xviii. 10, the as-
sertion of Lengerke [Comm. p. xxvi. sq.) that David was not a religious poet, is as ground-
less as the statement of Vatke [Bib. Theol., I. 292) that not a single Psalm can with any cer-
tainty be put in the age of David and Solomon. On the other hand, Delitzsch's remark is
worthy of consideration [Covim. i. 59) : *' As the New Testament canon contains no writings
of the Apostles before the day of Pentecost, so the Old Testament canon contains none of the
songs of David prior to his anointing. Only when he has become * the anointed of the God
of Jacob ' is he the sweet singer of Israel, on whose tongue is the word of Jehovah (2 Sam.
xxiii. 1 sq.)." Appropriate remarks are to be found in Fr. W. Krummacher's "David, der
Konig von Israel ,- ein hiblisches Lebensbild mit fortlaufenden Beziehungen aufdie Davidlschen
Fsalmen," 1866.
We have but a single psalm (xc.) of a date anterior to the time of David : one which in
contents and language bears the mark of great antiquity, assigned in the superscription to
Moses. Two Psalms are ascribed to Solomon, Ixxii. and cxxvii., against which nothino- deci-
sive can be urged, however difficult the removal of some objections may be, and notwith-
standing the fact, that Ps. cxxvii. has no superscription in the Septuag.
A prominent place in this department is taken by Asaph in- the recollection of history (2
Chron. xxix. 30 ; Neh. xii. 46). Twelve Psalms in our collection bear his name. Pss. 1. and
Ixxiii.— Ixxxiii. These cannot all, however, be assigned to Asaph, the Levite, son of Bare-
chia, the renowned chorister of David. For Ps. Ixxxiii, belongs to the time of ' Jehoshaphat ;
Pss. Ixxv. and Ixxvi. to the time of Hezekiah ; Pss. Ixxiv. and Ixxix. to the beginning of the
Chaldean exile (comp. Keil in Havernick's Handbuch der EinL, III. 213 sq.). *It has there-
fore been generally assumed, that Asaph is here a family name. This view is favored by the
circumstance, that this family was in existence at the time of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx 14
and that of the 245 singers, male and female, who returned from the exile (Nehem vii 47 /
the majority were Asaphites ; 128 according to Ezra ii. 41, and indeed 148 according to Ne-
hem. vii. 44. The conjecture that an imitation of Asaph's style simply is indicated bv th'
superscription is less probable. The entire group has, in fact, a certain family likeness not
only in its freshness and liveliness of expression, and in individual peculiarities of its loftv
style, but especially in a sort of prophetic way of treating historical events and the recognition
of Divine providence in them.
It must however be admitted, that the imitation of a style stamped with the peculiar'f
of Asaph within his family, has a parallel in the common features of the Psalms of tho
ofKorah. ^^
g 2. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PSALMS.
Eleven Psalms are ascribed, in the superscriptions to the sons of Korah, viz. : xlii. — ^xlix.
Ixxxiv., Ixxxv., Ixxxvii., Ixxxviii. [vide Carpzov, Introductio II., 97). Ps. Ixxxviii. ought
probably to be excluded from this group. The others, in the longings which they express for
the worship of Ood in the holy city, have some similarity, it is true, with many of the Psalms
of David, yet we are not, on that ground to ascribe their authorship to David, nor to suppose
that their musical execution simply was assigned to the sons of Korah (Eichhorn). For they
are not a mere echo of the songs of David. On the contrary, they move quite characteristi-
cally, with a lofty style, full of earnestness of soul, in songs of praise to Elohim, the king en-
throned in Jerusalem. And while in the superscriptions of the Psalms of Asaph the faDiily
disappears in the name of its renowned ancestor and pattern, the personality of Korah does
not appear at all in those of the group which bears the name. For Hema;i the Ezrahite,
alluded to inPs. IxxxviiL, is not the leader of the Kohrite choir, 1 Chron. vi. 18 sq., but one
of the four wise men of Israel, 1 Kings v. 11, of the tribe of Judah. We must also bear in
mind that Korah, the great-grandson of Levi, was taken away by a Divine judgment, Num.
xvi. ; that representatives of his family, however, were not only preserved (Num. xxvi. 11),
but were close adherents of David (1 Chron. xiii. 6) especially the watchmen at the gates of
the temple (1 Chron. ix. 17; xxiv. 1-19 ; Neh. xi. 19), furnishing also a portion of the sing-
ers and musicians of the sanctuary (1 Chron. xxv.) The latter are alluded to in the time of
Jfehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx. 19 ; the former even after the exile.
Ps. Ixxxix. has a strong resemblance to the Psalm of Heman the Ezrahite, Ps. Ixxxviii.
The suTjerscription assigns it to Ethan the Ezrahite, who also appears to belong to the tribe
of Judah, (1 Kings v. 11 ; 1 Chron. ii. 6), and is only with violence identified by a few com-
mentators with Ethan the Merarite, of the tribe of Levi, 1 Chron. xv. 17 ; vi. 29 sq., because
he is mentioned alongside of Asaph and Heman as the leader of the Kohrite choir. There-are
fifty anonymous Psalms in our collection. Thirty-four of these have no superscription whatever,
whence they have in the Talmud been called the orphaned Psalms. At all events, they are
not to be assigned to the authors of the Psalms immediately preceding, according to the opi-
nion of the Talmud, Origen, Hilarius, and Jerome, which has been controverted in detail by
Jahn Einleitung IL, 706. The Septuag. ascribes the authorship of several of them to the pro-
phets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah, apparently as mere conjectures [vid. Eich-
horn Einleit., ^ 622).*
* [J. F. Thmpp, in Smith's Diet, of tlu. Bible, adopts the following theory respecting the Psalms ascribed to David :
" If now in the times posterior to those of David the Levito choirs prefixed to the Psalms which they composed the names
of Asaph, Heman, and Ethan, out of a feeling of veneration for their memories, how much more might the name of David
be prefixed to the utterance&of those who were not merely his descendants, but also the representatives for the time being,
and so in some sort the pledges of the perpetual royalty of his lineage ! The name David is used to denote, in other parts
of Scripture, after the original David's d^ath, the then head of the Davidic family ; and so, in prophecy, the Messiah of the
Beed of David, who was to sit on David's throne (1 Ki. xii. 6 ; Hos. iii. 5 ; Is. Iv. 3 ; Jer. xxx. 9 ; Ez. xxxiv. 23, 24). And
thus th<^n, we may explain the meaning of the later Davidic superscriptions in the Psalter. The Psalms to which thpy be-
long wero written by Ilezekiah, by Josiah, by Zerubbabel, or others of David's posterity." This view has the analogy of
the Psalms of Asaph and the sons of Korah in its favor, but it is unnecessary until some of the Davidic Psalms have been
proved to be of a later time, which is not the case at present, at least with any certainty, with any of them. Of those Psalms
without titles several of them are intimately connected with the preceding Psalms (Pss. xxxiiL, Ixxi., etc.), some were ori-
ginally one with them (Pss. ix. and x. ; xlii. and xliii., etc.), and thus the same author is evident. Others show by their
peculiarities of style, ideas, and expressions, that they belong to the same author, whether known or unknown. Thus the
most of the orphan Psalms are in the last two books, and belong to groups. The group Pss. xcii. — c., belong to the same
author, as Ewald (Dichter II., 349) shows. The group cxi.^<;xviii. he assigns to two authors, but there are some reasons
why they should belong to the same author, especially the Egyptian Hallel (Pss. cxiii. — cxviii.). Ewald likewise assigns
fourteen of the Pilgrim songs (Ps. cxx. — cxxxiv.) to the same author as Ps. Ixxxvii. (assigned in the title to the sons of
Korah) and the remaining pilgrim song, Ps. cxxxii., to the same author as Pa. Ixxxix. (assigned in the title to Ethan the
Ezrahite). This might be accepted, save so far as the pilgrim songs assigned to David (Pss. cxxii., cxxiv. cxxxi., *xxxiii.) ■
and Sol imon (Ps. cxxvii.)are concerned, the older ones of David and Solomon being the models after which the Levitical
singers composed their later productions. Still further he regards Pss. cv., cxxxv. and cxxxvi. ; cxlv.^l. and xxxiii., as
from the same author. Now Ps. cxlv. is assigned to David, and Ps. xxxiii. is closely connected with Ps. xxxii. He denies
the authority of the title of the former and the connection of the latter, but his error in this respect does not overthrow
Ma arguments for the same author. Hengstenberg finds six unknown authors : one of Pss. xci.^c, another of Pss. civ. —
evil., a third of Pss. cxi. — cxix., a fourth of the 10 pilgrim songs which are without titles, a fifth of Pss. cxxxv. — cxxxvii.,
and Ps. cxlvi., a sixth of Pss. cxlvii. — cl. From these attempts of Ewald and Hengstenberg to group t^ e Psalms under
various unknown authors we may, whilst doubting some of their conclusions, be guided to more satisfactory results. A
more careful comparative utudy of the Psalma as to their theological and ethical ideas, their figurative expressions, and
INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
§ 3. HISTORY OF THE COMPOSITION OF PSALMS.
The present collection of Psalms was intended for use in the Divine service of the congre-
gation of Israel (^ 1 and 5) ; yet this does not imply that all the particular Psalms were comr-
posed with this directly in view. This is undoubtedly the case with some of them ; but with
others we can scarcely imagine any other origin than that they originaUy sounded forth from
the heart in the very times and circumstances referred to in the superscription, and that they
were ajfterwards put into their present poetical form, and indeed by "their authors actually
becoming absorbed in these circumstances, and with the definite purpose of aflbrding to the
entire church of the Lord, and especially to those who were afliicted and in need of consola-
tion, a share in the grace which they had then received." (Otto Von Gerlach : Das A. T.
mit Einleitungen und erkldrenden AnmerJcungen herausgegeben, Bd. iii., p. xii. 3 Ausg., 1854).
Yet it seems to be inadmissible with Hengstenberg to extend this reference to the congrega-
tion, which is true of all the Psalms with respect to their liturgical use and their devotional
application, likewise to their origin. At the other extreme of one-sidedness De Wette, fol-
lowing Eichhorn, attempts to explain almost everything from external events, historic occur-
rences and personal situations, and by this means frequently falls into wholly untenable re-
ferences to later times and to the conflicts of Israel with heathen nations. In the search for
occasions, however, the particular circumstances of the poet are worthy of all consideration.
So likewise for the purposes of exposition, the historical surroundings and associations of in-
dividual Psalms deserve all attention. Even though sharp-sighted ingenuity in discovering
and pointing out these circumstances may be carried to excess, as with Hitzig, they are yet
of great importance for the understanding of the Psalms as even Hupfeld admits. Poetical
endowment and religious vitality are to be brought into consideration as conditions of the ori-
gin of these spiritual songs, just as other kinds of poetical and musical productions are pre-
supposed as the general historic basis of their poetical form. The proper source of their ori-
gin, however, is in the /rwc^i/?ca^iowo/ a poe^ica% gifted Israelite by the Spirit of Jehovah.
The generic conception of the Psalm therefore implies three things ; 1. That it belongs to the
lyric poetry of the Hebrews ; 2. That it originated /rom a member of the Church of God in Israel.
3. That it be composed under the positive influence of the Spirit of Jehovah. Thus David de-
signates his Psalms as songs of Israel, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. Thus the Psalmist described his poem
as a song of Jehovah, Ps. xlii. 9, and himself, xlix. 5, as a man who must first attend to that
which is unfolded to him, before he can venture to instruct ; for the laying open, that is, reve-
lation of the word of Jehovah, has a power of illumination, Ps. cxix. 130. The Psalms are
therefore to be regarded as sacred poetry not simply on account of their religious character,
but especially on account of their theopneustio origin. This peculiarity alone entitles them to
a place in the canon of sacred scriptures ; for while the second named peculiarity renders pos-
sible their use in the Divine service of the Church, the first secures for them their peculiar po-
sition in the canon, and that particular character of which we shall speak more fully here-
after. Two things, however, need to be emphasized here : first, that the degree of the Spirifs
influence upon the soul of the Psalmist may be very various without destroying its inspira-
tional character ; and secondly, that inspiration, as likewise in the case of the prophets, does
not at all exclude the imitation of models, or the use of the works of their predecessors.
These remarks are derived from the facts which reflect the historic course of their compo-
sition. Their historical origin synchronizes neither with the beginning of revelation nor of
religious lyrics. Both are older than the establishment of the Israelitish Church. First
among them resounds that most ancient of Psalms, " the prayer of Moses, the man of God "
as yet without strophaic members, yet striding with threatening tread above all the heights
and above all the depths of life. The Church shows itself to be the birth-place of the Psalter •
its founder was the first who interpreted her emotions.* But his powerful and dread-inspi-
their lyrical and strophaic forms, as well as their grammatical and etymological peculiarities will enahle us to discern the
authors of many of the Psalms without titles, and thus the number of the Psalms of David, and Solomon, and Asaph and
the songs of Korab, and Ethan may be increased rather than diminished.— 0. A. B.]
* [" The time of Moses was the time of Israel's birth as a nation, and also of its national lyric. The Isf-aelites brontrht
Instruments with them out of Egypt, and these were the accompauiments of their first eong (Ex. xr.)— the oldest hymn.
§ 3. HISTORY OF THE COMPOSITION OF PSALMS.
ring voice still remained for centuries solitary within its domain. Not until after the centu-
ries of severe conflicts and complications which succeeded the entrance of the covenant peo-
ple into the land of promise ; not until the reformatory labors of Samuel, and indeed not
without the influence of the Schools of the Prophets founded by him, with their exercises in
music and in song ; not until the establishment of the kingdom, when Israel had gained
through rich experiences a new position in the world ; and then in equally great strength,
abundance and beauty, the sacred song resounded from David's harp, and in this king of pro-
mise the singing and composition of Psalms found a master and a patron. Four thousand
Levites, the entire fourth division of them, exercised their official functions as singers and
musicians under his direction in the service of God ; now in the tabernacle upon Zion, now
in Gibeon, the place of the Mosaic tabernacle of the covenant, 1 Chron. xv. 16. So like-
wise an organized culture was maintained under the choristers Asaph, Heman and Ethan,
(identical probably with Jeduthun), 1 Chron. xxiv. No wonder, then, that the Davidic type
of Psalms invited others to imitation, down to the latest times, nor that incited partly by the
stimulus of new forms of culture, types so strongly characteristic, as those of Asaph and
Korah should have arisen. Let us add to that which has already been remarked in ^ 2 con-
cerning the character of these groups of Psalms, that both manifest their adaptation to the
Church and to the worship at Jerusalem, associated with definite historic events. In the
Psalms of Asaph, however, God appears predominant as the judge of His enemies, and
repeatedly as speaking, whilst He is presented in the songs of Korah rather as the King who
watches over Jerusalem. Comp. J. J. Siahelin, 2!ur Einleitung in die Psalmen, 1859, S. 14 f.
Spezielle Einleitung in die Kanon.Bucher des A. T., 1862, S. 381, 391.
But we see from the history of Solomon how insufficient mere poetical endowments were
to make a Psalmist. For this king was celebrated for his wisdom,. and highly praised as a
writer and a poet, even if the assertion of 1 Kings v. 12, (iv. 32) be not, that he composed
3000 proverbs and 1005 songs, but that he simply spake them. In any case the superscrip-
tion to the Song of Solomon refers, according to Semitic usage (Ewald) to still other songs of
Solomon. Among the Psalms, however, there are but two which bear his name.
This striking circumstance is explained by the character of the other Solomonic writings
and by the statement of 1 Kings v. 13 (iv. 33) that he spake of trees, cattle, birds, creeping
things and fishes. Whether this is an allusion to his acquaintance with natural history
(Keil in Havernick's Einl.) or to secular poetry (Hengst.) or to proverbs and fables, classi-
fied according to the animal kingdom (Hupf.), in either case nature and human life were the
subjects of which he chiefly treated, and proverbial wisdom {chohhma) especially in the form
of sentences {maschal) is associated with his name, as the Psalms are with that of his father
David, and both with good historic reasons. According to a statement in the Septuag.
appended to 1 Kings viii. 53, the matter there narrated, had been made the subject of
a song.
The influence of David was so strongly felt still later acording to Amos vi. 5, that the
secular poetry and music bore traces of it. There the reference is to those who practiced
tricks with the accompaniment of the harp, and beUeved themselves to equal David in their
musical performances, or, according to another view devised for themselves similar things to
those of David. But although prophetic discourse was now being powerfuUy developed, and
although in the period of the Kings we have evidence of the exercise of the poetic art, we
possess but two Psalms of the days of Solomon, those of the Ezrahites, Heman and Ethan.
During the entire period of the division of the kingdom we have but two revivals of the
composition of Psalms of the Asaphic and Kohrite types. For such Psalm-Uke fragments
as Jonah ii.. Is. xii., Habakkuk iii., are but transformations or free renderings of older songs.
As such truly they are important witnesses both of the presence and of the vitaHty of the
Psahns in the hearts of pious Israelites. Both of these revivals, however, fall precisely
which re-echoes through all the hymns of the following ages, and alBO through the Psalter. • I^^^^ffJ" ^^^ ^'■^%
and xixii we then have the prototypes of all Psalms, the hymnic, elegiac and prophetico-didactic. All three classes of
pongs are s'till wanting in the strophic symmetry which characterizes the later art. But even Deborah s song of victory-
a song of triumph composed eight centuries before Pindar, and far outstripping him-exhibits to ufl the strophac art ap-
proximating to ita perfect development." Deutzsoh's Com. Introd., p. 8.^J. B. H.]
8 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
within the period of the restoration and purification of the worship of Jehovah, first under
Jehoshaphat, then under Hezekiah, both times immediately following great deeds of judgment
and deliverances of the Lord. Jehoshaphat had the education of the people especially in
view, 2 Chron. xvii. 7 sq., Hezekiah [" the Pisistratus of Israelitish literature." Delitzsch.— J.
B. H.], the preservation of the remains of their literatui'e and the restoration of their ancient
sacred music and the liturgical use of the Psalms, 2 Chron. xxix. 2b sq. He was himself
also a poet, intimately familiar with the Book of Job, as is clear from Is. xxxviii.
Entirely in harmony with this is the fact that during the exile the composition of Psalms
was not entirely suspended. Ps. cii. certainly belongs to this period, and others readily remind us
of the prophet Jeremiah, although not to such an extent as Hitzig assumes, [Begriff der
Kritik, S. 63 ff.) But their harps still hung upon the willows, Ps. cxxxvii. 2, and a full and
fresh stream of new Psalms burst forth from the heart of the Church, only when led back to
their native land by the hand of God, and permitted to pray in the restored temple. The most
of the Psalms in the last two books belong to this period of the second temple. The question
now arises whether the religious exaltation of the Jewish people in the time of the Maccabees
caused a new harvest of sacred song to sprout forth. Hitzig, von Lengerke and Olshausen,
believe this to have been extensively the case, as Budinger, Venema, Bengel, et al. had pre-
viously maintained. The reasons for an opposite opinion are very fuliy developed by Ewald
{Jahrb. der bibl. Wissenschaft, ii. 20 f.) and by E. Meyer, Geschichte der poet. Naiionalliter-
aiur der Heb. 1856, S. 496 sq., ^71 sq. It is going too far, however, to affirm the impossibility
of such being the case. The Psalm-like passages 1 Mac. vii. 37 sq., ix. 21 ; 2 Mac. i. 24 sq.,
xiv. 35 sq., xv. 22 sq., have, it is true a very prosaic character, and various opinions may be
held concerning Sirach 1. 22-24, from which Martin Einkart drew our hymn, " Nun danket
alle GottJ' Thenius [Studien und Krit.'lSb^, Heft. 3), regards these words as the only proof
of a temple Psalm of this period. Delitzsch {Zur Geschichte der nachbibl. Judischen Poesie,
1836, S. 182) regards it as a pithy fragment of a liturgical thanksgiving hymn of the Church.
D. F. Fritzsche {Exeg. Handbuch zu den Apokryph., v. 303) however, regards it as the epi-
logue to the praise of the Father, a summons to the reader to give thanks. A prophetico-lyri-
cal exaltation cannot but be recognized, however, in the pseudo-epigraphic Psalter of Solomon
consisting of eighteen Psalms, translated from the Aramaic into Greek, in Fabricius Cod.
pseudoepigr. V. T. 1, 917, which Ewald Jahrbuch xi. 215 ; Geschichte, 3 Aufi. iv. 392, and
Dillmann, in Herzog, EeaUEncycl xii. 305, place in the period of the Maccabees ; Movers, in
Kathol. Kirchenlexikon von Wetze and Welter i. 340, and Delitzsch, Comment, ii. 381, still later
in the Herodian period, while Gratz, Geschichte der Juden iii. 3, 491, even regards it as Chris-
tian. We may also allude to the lyrical additions which have found their way from the
Septuag. into the German Bible, as Apocryphal fragments belonging to Daniel and Chron.
But all this furnishes no decisive answer to the question as to the existence of Maccabean
Psalms in the canonical Psalter. Against such a supposition in general stands the circum-
stance, which even Hupfeld regards as decisive, that the Psalter was known as such as early
as the time of the Chronicles ( Vid. I 4,) and the assumption of later interpolations is a pure
hypothesis. Nevertheless, our decision in concreto must depend upon the result of our inves-
tigations in individual Psalms.
I 4. THE COLLECTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE PSALMS.
The Psalter begins in its present form with a pair of anonymous Psalms of a didactic
and prophetic character, which were regarded, as early as the Jerusalem Talmud, Tract taa-
nith2, 2, as one Psalm commencing and ending with beatitudes. The Psalter ' closes" also
with four anonymous Psalms (cxlvi.— cxlix.) which similarly begin and end with hal-
lelujahs. For Ps. cl. is simply an amplified doxology, similar to the shorter ones found at
the end of each of the four preceding groups of Psalms. These doxologies, however so like
the liturgical beracha of the second temple, are not of the same date as the Psalms which imme
diately precede them. They were subsequently added for liturgical use, especially for public
reading (Delitzsch, Symbol(B, p. 19). In this way five books arose, constituted as follows :*
• [Hilary (likewise Cassiodorus, Jerome, and Auguetiae) mentiooB thia division, but feels bound, on the authority of St
g4. THE COLLECTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE PSALMS. 0
Tne bulk of the first book, which, closes with Ps. xli., consists of thirty-seven Davidic
Psalms, among which, exciuBive of the two introductory Psalms, only two are anonymous,
(x., xxxiii.)* Jehovah is the prevailing name of God. The second book (Ps. xlii. — ^Ixxii.)
begins with seven Kohrite Psalms, their succession uninterrupted except by one (xliii.) ano-
nymous Psalm. [This is without doubt a part of Ps. xlii. — C. A. B.] Then follows an
Asaphic Psalm (lix.) followed by a succession of eighteen Davidic Psalms, interrupted by
two (Ixvi., Ixvii.), anonymous [these are likewise Davidic, vid. in loco. — C. A. B.], concluding
after Ps. Ixxi. (anonymous) [Ps. Ixxi. belongs to Ps. Ixx., vid. in loco. — C. A. B.], with a
Psalm of Solomon (Ixxii.) The prevailing name of God in this group is Elohim. The third
book (Pss. IxxiiL^lxxix.) begins with eleven Psalms of Asaph, followed by four Kohrite
Psalms, with one Davidic Psalm interposed (Ixxxvi.), closing with the Messianic Psalm of
Ethan. Here the name of God is sometimes Jehovah and sometimes Elohim. The super-
scriptions frequently contain, not so often however as in the second book, brief historic refe-
rences to the occasion of their composition, often, moreover, musical references. The fourth
book (Pss. xc. — cvi.) begins with the prayer of Moses, and then, with the exception of two
Psalms of David (ci., ciii.) introduces only anonymous Psalms, with now and then a brief
notice of the purpose of their composition. The only name of God in this collection is Je-
hovah, f The fifth book, finally, (Ps. cvii. — cl.) begins with a Psalm without superscription
introducing then, three Davidic Psalms, three hallelujah Psalms, six without superscriptions,
followed by fifteen Psalms of degrees, among which one (cxxvii.) bears the name of Solomon,
and two (cxxi., cxxxiii.) the name of David ; — then again one hallelujah Psalm, two without
superscriptions, seven Davidic, and finally the four hallelujah Psalms, introducing the closing
doxology. Here also Jehovah is the prevailing name of Deity.
It appears, even in this general sketch, that the arrangement is not a confused mixture
of an accidental or opportune aggregation, and that no classification, either by the order of
their composition, their subject matter, or their authorship, is consistently carried out. This
fact is confirmed in considering the contents, origin, and date of particular Psalms. Now,
although a very early liturgical use of the Psalms may be proven {vid. § 5), yet apart from the
above-mentioned division into five books, by concluding doxologies, no liturgical or dogmatic
principle of arrangement is manifest. Hippolytus states that this fivefold division {Ed. de La-
garde, p. 193) was made with reference to the Pentateuch. The entire rejection of such a mo-
tive by Jahn and De Wette, is without grounds. We may say with Delitzsch, " The Psalter
is also a Pentateuch, — the echo of the books of Moses, from the heart of Israel ; — ^it is the five
books of the Church to Jehovah, as the Thorah is the five books of Jehovah to the Church."
But while this reference was in the mind of the Jewish church, and actuated the Redac-
teur, who added the doxologies, probably with reference also to the symbolical significance
of the number five (Stahelin, Spez. Einl., S. 379 f.) it allows no parallelization of the sepa-
rate books, and explains, neither their connection nor their sequence. With still less pro-
priety can we adopt the language of the Midrash on Ps. i.: " Moses gave to the Israelites the
five books of the Thorah, corresponding to which David gave them the five books of
Psalms." It can hardly be supposed that the present sequence and division of the whole col-
lection was independent of preceding arrangements. It cannot certainly be shown that the
first book was the oldest collection (Bengel),t and that the four other books, originating from
repeated gleanings, were successively added, (Jahn, De Wette, Hupfeld). Other combina-
tions may be suggested, and attempts may be made at the discovery of special collections,
with possible additions and supplements {vid. Berthold, Einl. Y. 2020 f., Ewald, Foef.
Paul (Acts i. 20) to reject it. No allusion to it is found in many of the English Commentaries, and it is mentioned by Al-
exander only to be rejected, although fully recognized by Hengstenberg (Com., Vol. IV., p. 596 f., 1852) upon whose labors
his work is chiefly based. It is now, however, generally recognized, e. g., Perowne, Barnes, Wordsworth, et al. The
latter even discovers a harmony of arrangement, and a progressive development of Chiistological features, in the successive
bookSj which, at least, in the form in which he presents them, appear more ingenious than well grounded.— J. B. H.]
* [And these really belong to David, Ps. x. being the second part of Ps. ix., and Ps. xxxiii. in close connection with Pa,
Xtixii,, vid. in loco. — C. A, B.]
t [According to Bwald there is no reason why Ps. cvi. should have been separated from Ps. cvii. It appears to have
been so sundered by the last compiler or Redacteur to make up the five-fold division. — J. B. H ]
X [Perowne introduces strong reasons in support of this view in his Introd., p. 75 f., 2 Ed., 1870.— J. B. H.]
10 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
Bucher I., 187 f., Neue Ausarbeitung I.; 242 ff. ; Jahrh IV., 252 f., VI. 20 1, and DeUtzsch
in Herzog's Real-Encykl. XII., 267, who also alludes to Hofmann's hypothesis of nine sepa-
rate collections). Moreover it cannot be denied after the profound investigations of De-
litzsch [Symbolce, etc.) that it is more natural to ascribe to the hand of the last Bedacteur
the grouping in the second and third books of kindred Psalms of an earlier and later date^
than to refer the rise of separate collections exclusively to later times or to assume a fre-
quently repeated interpolation.
Although a classification of Psalms containing noticeably similar thoughts, or strikingly
similar passages, especially at the beginning and close, has been proven in many series of
Psalms, and rendered probable in others, yet we must admit that the last compiler (whom
there is no reason for distinguishing from a Bedacteur Herzfeld, III., 5, 6), arranged the
entire material at his command according to certain points of view, and frequently violated
the order of time in favor of an arrangement with reference to the subject matter. But this,
however, could not have occurred except upon the basis of older collections, and in connection
with classifications already existing.
Such a view is especially favored from the circumstance, that the second book concludes,
after the doxology, with these words, " The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended."
This sentence cannot have originated with the last compiler, for many Davidic Psalms are
scattered through all the following books, singly, and in little groups. This sentence, then,
points to another collection. There can also be no doubt that a collection of the Psalms of
David, was begun soon after the death of the great royal singer [vid. Ewald's Geschichte
3, Aufl. iii. 360.*) This expression, no longer applicable, was still retained, and for proof that
this is not without a parallel vid. Stahelin, Zur Einl. S. 12, in opposition to Hengstenberg,
iv. 2, S. 267, and Keil in Havernick, iii. 295. The doxology was naturally placed before
this closing sentence, and gives to God the name of Jehovah Elohim, in conformity with the
character of the second book, and in contrast with that of the first. Since these doxologies
are of later origin and have simply a liturgical significance, they furnish nothing conclusive
in regard to the age and origin of the individual collections. But it had not escaped the
notice of the ancient Jewish teachers, that this collection, expressly characterized as Davidic
not only contains Psalms of unknown authorship, several Asaphic and Kohrite Psalms (and
among the latter, some which unquestionably belong to a very late period) ; but that the con-
cluding sentence which we are considering, is found at the end of a Psalm of Solomon. The
enigma thus presented to the Jews is exemplified by the narrative in the Midrasch on Ps.
iii. : " When Joshua Ben Levi undertook to revise the arrangement of the Psalms an echo
from heaven cried to him, ' Wake not the slumberer 1' " Many of the Psalms doubtless
received their present position from the final redaction, although it is conjectural that indi-
vidual transpositions and insertions were made at each succeeding addition of new groups
to the original stem, which we have suflficient reason to regard in general as the first, (Ewald)
or the first and second books (Delitzsch). Hitzig (ii. p. xii.) finds an intentional 'reference
to the Sanhedrists and the purported number of interpreters, and the days occupied in their
labor, in the number of the Ps. (72) with which the second book ends. (Josephus Archdol
xii. 2, 6, 10.) '
After the time of Solomon, that of Jehoshaphat or, with still more likelihood that of
Hezekiah, may be regarded as the probable period of such a compilation and revision.
For we read not only that the men of Hezekiah made a copy of the proverbs of Solomon
(Prov. XXV. 1,) but that he restored the use of the Psalms of David and of Asaph 2 Chron
xxix. 30 sq. Carpzov, Introd. ii. 106 sq. The majority of the latter, however, are contained
in the third book of the Psalms.
A subsequent collection of sacred literature took place under the direction of Nehemiah
2 Mac. ii. 13, in which the writings of David are especially alluded to, while in Zech. vii'
12, they are closely associated with the Law and the Prophets; and Ecclesiastes ' xii'
* [This labor is believed by Perowne to have been executed by Solomon, who would naturally provide for the preserva-
tion and tranamission of his father's poetry, as he is also known to have provided for the rendering of the musi al ser
vices of the Temple in the utmost magnificence.— J. B. H.J
§4. THE COLLECTION AND ARRANGEMENT OP THE PSALMS. H
12, in contrast to profane literature, refers to a collection of genuine wisdom. Similar col-
lections occurred finally under Judas Maccabseus, 2 Mac. ii. 14. This must also have been the
period of the final collection. For, contrary to the assumption of Olshausen, et aL, that we
must come down to the times of Simon, the Hasmonean prince (143 to 135 B. c.) or to the time
of John Hyrcanus (135-107 b. c.) this circumstance seems conclusive ; that the Psalter was
known as such, to the author of Chronicles, who wrote in the fourth century b. c, towards
the end of the Persian rule, and was accepted into the canon, at the latest, in the times of
Judas Maccabseus (Ewald, Geschichte vii. 428 sq.) It follows, moreover, from 1 Chron. xvi.
35, that the liturgical doxology which precedes Ps. cvi. was also associated with it at that
period. Hitzig naturally enough, reverses this relation, and supposes that the Psalmist drew
from the Chronicles. He regards the High Priest, Alex. Jannoeos, as the author of the pre-
sent arrangement and the composer of Psalms i. and ii., as well as Ps. cl. and several others
besides, and as having determined also the acceptance, the sequence and the division of the
Psalms into five books.*
Were the time of the Alexandrian translation of the Psalms definitely known, this would
fiirnish a fixed starting-point. But even if we reject Herzfeld's assumption ( Geschichte iii. 470,
who believes we have Maccabean Psalms in the Psalter) of a piecemeal translation not com-
pleted until a very late period, the time of the translation of the Psalms still remains very in-
definite, if we suppose the translation of the Pentateuch — ^the oldest of all — ^to have begun under
Ptolemaus Philadelphus (284-247.) The statement of the Talmud given by Frankel ( Vorstu-
dien zu der Septuaginta, 1841, S. 25 flf.) is not decisive. We can only say that the threefold divi-
sion of the canonical Scriptures was in existence when the grandson of Sirach in Alexandria
wrote the Prologue to his Greek translation of the book of Proverbs. But this would lead to
no new result, even if the investigations of Gratz (in Frankel's Monatschrift 1875, S. 46 f., with
whom Fuerst agrees, Geschichte des Karderthums, 1862, S. 132,) had established the fact that the
Book of Proverbs was collected in the beginning of the third century b. c, or according to
Horowitz, {JDas Buch Jesus Sirach, 1865), about 250 B. c. For the word grandson must not
be taken too precisely. The author of the Prologue states that he arrived in Egypt in the
thirty-eighth year of Euergetes. Now since Ptolemy iii. Euergetes ruled only twenty-five
years, (246-221), we are obliged to think of Ptolemy vii., Euergetes ii., who was associate
regent 170 b. c, so that Jesus the Siracide could not have arrived in Egypt until the year
132. If we assume, on the other hand, that his own grandfather compiled the Book of Pro-
verbs, its compilation could not have occurred earlier than between 180 and 170 B. c.
; * [The division into five books was certainly the work of the last editor. The first three books were ready to his hand
in essentially their present farm. The last two books were formed by collecting various groups of Psalms then existing
in separate collections. The division of the 4th and 5th books is not clear except from the arbitrary division of the doxo-
logy, for Pss. cvi. and cvii. really belong together as reciprocal to one another as Ewald shows {Die Dichter ii. 495.) These
two latter books contain then the following groups with some intermediate Psalms of whose position it is difficult to see the
reason. (1.) Beginning with a Psalm of Moses (Ps. xc), one similar to it in many respects is added. Then follows a
group of 7 Psalms (Ps. xcii.-c.) of the same author as Ewald shows. Delitzsch regards this group as beginning with Ps.
xci. and calls it the " Reihe deulerqjesaianiscJien Psalmen." " In them all is that mild elevation, sunny cheerfulness,
serene spirituality and New Testament breadth of yiew, which we admire in the second part of the book of Isaiah, and
they are likewise connected together by the use of the anadiplosis and many similarities in feeling and sound," {Comm.
588.) This same group is called by Binnie ('JTie Psalms; their history, teachings and use, J.870, p. 96) the songs of the Ml-
lennium. (2.) Another group is formed by Pss. ciii. — cvii. Delitzsch regards Pss. civ.— cvii. as a tetralogy. "Ps. civ. de-
rives its material from the history of creation, Ps. cv. from the period before and at the beginning of the history of Israel,
Ps. cvi. from the history of Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the land of promise until the exile, Ps. cvii. from the
time of the Restoration." These Psalms follow Ps. ciii. ascribed to David, of which Ewald {JHchter ii. 487,) says that it is
in a reciprocal connection with Ps. civ. This gronp is followed by three Psalms ascribed to David, of which Ps. cviii. may
belong to the previous group as a song of praise (although the latter half of the Psalm is found in Ps. Ix. of the 2d Book).
(3.) A third group is formed by Pss. cxi.— cxviii. of which Pss. cxiii. — cxviii. is the Hallel. Delitzsch supposes that it fol-
lows Ps. ex., " because it puts the UnVl of Ps. ex. 4, in a more extended historical light, in that it adds one series of
praises to another in praising the works and institutions of Jehovah." Then follows the long alphabetical Psalm cxix.
A fourth group is made up of the pilgrim songs Pss. cxx.— cxxxiv., which are followed by Ps. cxxxv. (which is sometimea
regarded as a part of the previous Psalm, vid. Delitzsch in lopo), and Ps. cxxxvi. the great Hallel. Delitzsch {Oomm. p. 731)
informs us that the entire group Pss. cxix. — cxxxvi. was called the great Hallel in its widest significance ; but that Ps.
cxxxvi. ordinarily bore this name, whilst the ordinary Hallel was Pss. cxiii.— cxviii. We now have a song of the cap-
tivity and a group of Davidic Psalms (Ps. cxxxviii.— cxlv.), the last of which, Ps. cxlv., begins the final group of doxologiea
(Ps. cxlv.^-cl.) which Ewald ascribes to the same author. — G. A. B.]
12 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
(Fritzsche, et al.) Nor does the fact that the book of Proverbs contains distinct references
to individual Psalms bring us any nearer a result {vid. Beitrdge zur Einleitung in das A. T.
von H. Gelbe, 1866, S. 4). This circumstance, however, is significant, that the Septuagint
concludes with the apocryphal Psalm (cli.) on the victory of David over Goliath, which is
designated in the superscription as, " A Psalm of David written with his own hand, not of
the number of the Psalms ascribed to him." The number of the canonical Psalms (150) was
therefore fixed before the addition of this apocryphal Psalm. "And yet the translator
finding it in existence, clearly proves that between his time and the conclusion of the Psalter,
as found in the canon, a considerable period must have elapsed" (Ewald, i. 266, Neu. Ausar-
beit). Now the liturgical use of the Psalms encourages the assumption of a very early trans-
lation, while Hitzig's conjecture that it was made after the translation of the prophets, has
no other motive than the interest of his hypothesis. The Septuag. itself assumes that the
time of Nehemiah was the period of the cessation of the composition of Psalms, vid. Dill-
mann {Jahrb.fUr deutsche Theol. 1858, S. 457).
The numbering of the Psalms is variously given.* Many Hebrew manuscripts unite Pss.
i. and ii., and likewise Pss. xlii. and xliii. and cxvi. and cxvii. Ps. cxviii. is on the other
hand, divided sometimes in two and sometimes in three. In many cases the entire number is
set down at 149. Delitzsch, in fact, refers to a numbering found in a Hagadabook in which
there are but 147 Psalms, corresponding to the years of Jacob's life. The Septuag. like-
wise originally united the first two Psalms, and still like the Vulgate unites Pss. ix. and x.,
so that from Ps. x. to cxlvii. the numbering of the Septuagint remains one Psalm less than
the Hebrew text, until it reaches the latter Ps. which it divides. By another variation Pss.
cxiv. and cxv. are united, while Ps. cxvi. is divided. Attention must be paid to this in the
citations of the Church fathers.f
I 5. THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE PSALMS IN ISRAEL.
All the Psalms were not originally composed for liturgical use, nor with direct reference
to the Church of God, as has been assumed from various grounds, by Dursch, Hengstenb. and
Olshausen. They are adapted, however, by their contents and form, to such an application
and they served that liturgical purpose in part in the first temple, but especially in the
second temple. Some Psalms, moreover, were destined from the first for the divine service
of the temple. This will be more specifically set forth, hereafter, in ita connection. At pre-
sent we confine ourselves to a general survey.
Whatever our conclusion respecting the use of Ps. cvi. in 1 Chron. xvi., it, at least, estab-
lishes the custom of that period to sing Psalms in the temple on festal occasions (Heng-
stenb. iv. 1, 168). But the Chronicler must have been a contemporary of Ezra, or Nehemiah
in which case his labors fall between 636 and 400 b. c. (Havernick, Keil, Movers, et al.) or
he must have lived (from the genealogy 1 Chron. iii. 18 f ), in the latter days of the Per-
* [" The many divergencies in the numbering of the Psalms may be easily accounted for, if wo remember that the origi-
nal MSS. employed no other means of marking the beginning of a new Psalm, than a short space, or at most the begin-
ning of a new line, except in the case of those Psalms which were separated by superscriptions and those' latter were
doubtless many of them of late date. The noticeably similar contents of many of the Psalms and the sudden transitions
of thought or feeling so natural to this kind of poetry, would render the copyist all the more likely to unite two Psalms
in one, or to divide one Psalm in two quite unconsciously." Perowne.— J. B. H.l
t [We add to this section some appropriate remarks of Perowne. " It is plain, then, that these ancient Hebrew songs and
hymns must have suflfercd a variety of changes in the course of time, similar to those which may be traced in the older
religious poetry of the Christian Church, where this has been adapted by any means to the object of some later compiler
Thus, hymns once intended for private use became adapted to public. Words and expressions applicable to the orieinal
circumstances of the writer, but not applicable to the new purpose to which the hymn was to be put, were omitted or
altered. It is only in a critical age that any anxiety is manifested to ascertain the original form in which a poem appeared
The practical use of hymns in the Christian Church, and of the Psalms in the Jewish, far outweighed all considerations of
a critical kind; or rather, these last never occurred. Hence it has become a more difficult task than it otherwise would
have been to ascertain the historical circumstances under which certain Psalms were written. Some traces we find lead
Ing us to one period of Jewish history ; others which lead to another. Often there is a want of cohesion between the parts
of a Psalm ; often an abruptness of transition which we can hardly account for, except on the hypothesis that we no Ion
read the Psalm in its original form." — C, A. B,] ^^'
§5. THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE PSALMS IN ISRAEL. 18
sian rule, or at the latest early in the Grecian period (Zunz^ Ewald, Bertheau,
Dillmann, Bleek, Stahelin). Now, in spite of the appearance of a didactic and parenectical
treatment in his style, and the controversy concerning some of his statements, especially in
our present text; his accounts are still regarded by our modern critics as essentially historical
notwithstanding the opinions of De Wette and Gramberg to the contrary, (Stahelin, Spezielle
Mnl. in die kanon. Bucher des A. T., 1862, S. 155). This is especially true of David's regu-
lations for worship, so that we may safely infer from the information given by the Chronicler,
that the Psalms were in liturgical use during the period of the first temple. This is favored
also by the vow of King Hezekiah to sing his songs in the house of the Lord, Is. xxxviii. 20,
and apart from the prophet Jonah, by the remark in Jer. xxxiii. 11, that the voice should be
heard again of those who say, " Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy
endureth forever," and of those who should bring the sacrifice of praise to the house of the
Lord. Even E. H. Graf [Die geschichtl. Bucher des A. T., 1866, S. 245), whose general
opinion of the Book of Chronicles, as a source of historical information, is so unfavorable,
admits that they approach nearer to history in referring many of the regulations of the tem-
ple service to Hezekiah and Josiah than in ascribing them to David.
Aside from the conclusion to be drawn from 1 Chron. xvi. the formula employed in 1
Chron. xvi. 41, and reappearing 2 Chron. v. 13 ; vii. 13 ; xx. 21 ; Ezra iii. 11, taken probably
from Ps. cxxxvi., favors the view that the Psalms were liturgically employed during the
period of the second temple, as songs for festal occasions. The same is true of the formula,
" To sing with praise and thanksgiving," which occurs frequently in connection with Ezra
and Nehemiah, and which is certainly not without reference to the Hallelujah Psalms, and
the "praise" in Psalms cv. — cvii , cxv., cxxxvi. [comp. StBheliiiy ^r Einleit. in die Psalmen,
§ 3). Furthermore, the agreement of many Psalms, especially in the fourth and fifth books,
with the prayers of Ezra ix. and Nehemiah ix. ; and finally the musical and liturgical re-
marks in the Psalms themselves, which are found, although in a somewhat enlarged and
extended form, in the Septuag., which was composed during the period of the second temple,
prove that the Psalms were at that time liturgically employed.
From the Talmud [Mischna, Tract, thamid ; Gemara Tr.Kidduschim in Lud. deDieu,Ani-
madv. p. 389,) we learn more particularly, that on the first day of the week, at the morning
sacrifice, Levites were appointed to sing Ps. xxiv. ; on the second day Ps, xlviii. ; on the
third day Ps. Ixxxii. ; on the fourth day Ps. xcii. ; on the fifth day Ps. Ixxxi. ; on the sixth
day Ps. xciii. ; on the seventh day Ps. xcii, Eespecting the ritual cf. ^ 11. For the chief
and the intermediate feast days there were other Psalms prescribed concerning which tradi-
tion is partly at variance and partly silent. While, for example, at the present day, Ps. Ixv.
is sung at the close of the feast of Tabernacles [schemini azereth) and the xxix. on the feast of
Pentecost, the Septuag. designates Ps. xxix. for the close of the former festival, and the Talmud
gives no account at all of the liturgy for the latter day, while the commentators are divided
between Pss. vi. and xii. Pss. xxix.; 1. 16; xciv. 16 ; xciv. 8; Ixxxi. 7; Ixxxii. 5 b., are assigned
for the intervening days of the feast of Tabernacles. Ps. xxx. was appointed to be sung on
the presentation of the firstlings. Eighteen times in the year, viz., on the first two days of the
Passover, on the eight days of Succoth, i. e., the feast of Tabernacles, and on the eight
days of the chanuka or festival of the dedication of the Temple, introduced by Jud.
Maccab., the hallel Pss. cxiii. — cxviii. was a part of the festal service. Even as early as the
Alexandr. version, they bore the superscription, ^ k'/ikri^ovia. This hallel, likewise called
the Egyptian [hallel hammizri), was afterwards called the great hallel to distinguish it from
the little hallel, in which Ps. cxv. 1-12 ; Ps. cxvi. 1-11 were omitted. In the ancient ritual
only Ps. cxxxvi., with its refrain repeated twenty-six times, " For his mercy endureth for-
ever," was called hallel haggadol. In the Talmud and Midrash this title was also applied to
Ps. cxxxv. 4 — cxxxvi., and to Ps. cxx. — cxxxvi. On the feast of the Passover the hallel was
BO divided, that Pss. cxiii. and cxiv. were sung before the meal, before taking the second fes-
. tal cup ; Pss. cxv — cxviii. after the meal, after filling the fourth cup. At the time of the full
moon, the hallel was customarily sung, although not legally prescribed ( Tr. Soferim.)
As examples of the standing use of single verses of the Psalms at that period Delitzsch
14 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
{Zur Geschichte, g 179), adduces, 1. ) The hosanna whichi was sung by the priests, in march-
ing around the altar of burnt oflFering, shaded with willow twigs, on the seven days of the
Passover, the last day thereby receiving the name of the great hosanna; 2.) Ps. xliv. 24,
as a daily cry of the Levites in times of need and apostasy; 3.) Ps. cxxvii. 1, which verse
the nobles of Jerusalem used on the night preceding the day of atonement, in calling out to
the High Priest repeatedly, lest sleep should overpower him.
After the destruction of the temple, prayer came to occupy more and more the place of
sacrifice, and the synagogue service became the vital centre of Jewish life, " the only bearer
and banner of their nationality, in the ruin of all their other institutions " (Zunz, Die gottes-
dienstl. Vortrdge, S. 1). Its two parts consisted in the reading of the Scriptural and singing of
Psalms and other psalm-like passages. The reading was conducted by the teachers, and those
versed in the Scriptures, the " wise men," and it was connected with expositions, [Midrash).
The singing was conducted by the leaders in prayer, *' the representatives of the assembly,"
who delivered in a singing style. Psalms or songs of a psalm-like character which were in-
troduced gradually, and grew up out of free renderings of passages from the Psalms and
other biblical sentences. This poetry [pint] was like that series of exclamations and praises
resembling litanies used on the day of atonement, or those declarations of Divine pardon
composed of passages of Scripture which were connected with penitential prayers, and which
were called selicha, and were accompanied with hymns in rhyme {pismon) in the recitation
of which the congregation united, answering with passages from the Bible or other responses,
(Zunz, Die synag. Poesie, S. 89). This poetry was originally composed of fragments without
rhyme and metre, usually with an alphabetical arrangement of the lines or sentences. As it
gradually became richer in contents, so it became more artistic in form and more difficult of
expression, and finally as a whole was reduced to definite technical rules, [l. c. S. 60,) in
which, however, the grand culmination of the strophe was in the biblical passage with which
it concluded, (/. c. S. 95), which was selected with special reference to the significance of the
day, or its striking efiect upon the ear or mind. There was, however, for centuries, no fixed
arrangement of prayers, and no prayer-book to which the leaders in prayer were restricted.
They exercised, in fact, the greatest freedom in the choice of Psalms and hymns for divine
service, and in the manner of their delivery, and not unfrequently appeared themselves in
the character of poets or singers, with original productions. They were generally confined,
however, to local usage [Minhag.), (Zunz, Die Ritus des synag. Gottesdienstes geschichtl.
entwickelt, 1859, S. 2), until the middle of the ninth century [I. c. S. 7), when a prevailing
type of festal poetry had been formed for the entire year. The usage of the West (Palestine)
extended itself over the hymns of Christians, particularly German nations, whilst the usage
of the East (Babylon) established itself in the countries of Islam and in Spain, For the
Psalms at present used by the Jews, in family devotions and the worship of the synagogue,
vid. in J. F. Schroeder, Satzungen und Gebrduche des talmudisch. rabinischen Judenthums
1851, S. 25, ff*. Among the Karseans the cxix. Ps. is read in seven divisions on the Sabbaths
preceding the feast of weeks, and is used as a prayer in the month Tebet, on Monday and
Thursday nights {Z\mz,DieEitus, S. 159).
§ 6. LITURGICAL STTPERSCRIPTIONS OF PARTICULAR PSALMS.
The following indications of the special liturgical use of individual Psalms may be drawn
from their superscriptions. -
1. Psalm xcii. was designed for the Sabbath. The Sept. represents other Psalms as de-
signed for other days of the week.
2. The statement, Ps. xxx., "A Psalm sung at the dedication of the house of David," h
referred by Venema, Hengstenb., Keil and Tholuck, to the consecration of the site selected
for the future temple, upon which an altar had been erected provisionally, whence it was
called the house of Jehovah, 1 Chron. xxii. 1. But David himself was not taken sick with
the plague, which was visited upon the people as a punishment for the numbering, men-
tioned 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, and which was the occasion of the erection of the altar, v. 18 sq.
The Psalmist, however, speaks of his personal deliverance from a sickness which threatened
26. LITURGICAL SUPERSCRIPTIONS OF PARTICULAR PSALMS. 15
his life. Such a reference is therefore inappropriate. Calvin, Clauss, et al. take it as referring
to a consecration of the palace, which had been desecrated by Absalom, on David's return.
The word house, used absolutely, certainly may signify " palace," as is clearly proved by the
official title of the major domo, ascher cU-lahajith ; but the Psalm does not speak of deliverance
from the hand of an enemy, but of recovery from sickness. Most commentators, therefore,
take it as a reference to the re-built citadel on Mount Zion, and call attention to the fact
that David regarded this structure as a pledge of the firmness and greatness of his kingdom,
(2 Sam. V. 12), the immediate occupation of which was prevented by a severe sickness.
De Wette's assumption that there was in general use a song appropriated to the consecra-
tion of houses (Deut. xx. 5), and that this Psalm was to be sung to the melody of that song,
is without foundation. Ewald regards it as an ancient song of thanksgiving, which was
afterwards sung at the consecration of the second temple. The later superscription then says
that this Psalm should be sung again at each anniversary of that day.
3. The statement, Pss. xxxviii. and Ixx., lehazkir=^io bring to remembrance, Septuag. ek
av&.fivqaiv irepl (tov) aaj^^drov. This, according to some, refers to the sufierings in remembrance
of which David is said to have composed this Psalm. Others apply the expression to the
person of David himself, who brings himself in remembrance to Jehovah. Thus Gesenius
in the Thesaurus. Olshausen regards it in general as a liturgical designation equivalent to
"prayer." Michaelia {Krit.CoUeg., 8. ^Id), on the contrary, gives it a more specific appli-
cation=at the sacrifice ; Ewald, with reference to Isa. Ixvi. 3, still more particularly^at the
ofiering of incense ; cf. Ps. cxli. 2 ; Rev. viii. 4, as a supplicatory prayer in contrast with
lethodah, Ps. c.=for the thank-ofiering. Delitzsch conjectures that the expression is not em-
ployed in a symbolic but in a proper liturgical sense=at the presentation of the askdrah, and
remarks (Comwen^. I. 297), "At the presentation of the meat offering [minchot] a portion,
viz., a handful of meal mingled with oil and all of the incense, was consumed upon the altar ;
this portion was called mJTX ava^wjaig, because the ascending fragrance served to bring the
offerer in remembrance with God." Delitzch also regards the Hiphil as denominative, and
believes that the Chronicler refers to the hazkir with the hodu and hallelujah Psalms, 1 Chron.
xvi. 4. Concerning the later ritual, vid. § 11.
4. The superscription of Ps. c, "A Psalm of praise," is regarded by Mendelssohn, Ewald
and Delitzsch as appropriate especially to the thanks-offering.
5. The superscription of Pss. cxx. — cxxxiv., shir hammaaloth ; Septuag. <^&fi rcxv ava^ad^Cov;
Vulgate : cantica graduum, from which they have received the liturgical title, " Psalms of de-
grees," signifies according to Luther, " songs in the higher choir," which refers, according to
Bake, to the singers who stood upon an elevated position. According to an uncertain tradi-
tion the opinion had prevailed that these fifteen Psalms were sung upon the fifteen steps,
which led from the court of the women to that of the men of Israel, thus, according to Lyra
one for every step. This, however, is not the statement of the Talmud. It simply compares
the fifteen songs with those fifteen steps on which the music of the priests sounded on the
first day of the feast of the Tabernacles, vid. 1 11. The comparison does not justify the in-
ference that the Psalms were sung on these steps or that the title, "Psalms of degrees" was
taken from this locality. No more can we base on the Syriac the supposition that there is
here a metrical designation (J. D. Michaelis, Zu Lowth, De sacra poesi, etc., prcelect. 25 nach
Assemani), and that it indicates a rhythm advancing by degrees (Gesenius, zu Jes. xvii. 13 ;
xxvi, 1). Dietrich (in Delitzsch's Comment, ii. 451, f.) has shown the error of this sup-
position and remarks that the Syriac sebletho (or, according to an easier pronunciation sehelto,
plural sebloto) simply indicates the division of a greater whole, and occurs, therefore, with
reference to the division of the Psalms for the use of the church (cf. I 13). E. Meier,
[Form der hebr. Foesie, 1853, S. 31), understands by maalah, the simplest and smallest strophe,
consisting of four members, and supposes these Psalms to have been designated from this, the
prevailing form in this group. According to Herder, Eichhorn, Hengstenb., Keuss et al.,
these Psalms were composed at different times and for different purposes, but were afterwards
appointed to be sung in the pilgrimages towards Jerusalem, for which they were especially
adapted by their rapid rhythm and their contents referring mainly to Jerusalem and the sane
16 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
tuary. The Syrian cliurcli and many of the fathers think especially of the return from
Babylon (Ezra vii. 9) ; Ewald {Jahrb. vi., 105 f.), with essentially the same view, trans-
lates, " Songs of the homeward marches." He refers the plural, however, to the different
journeys of those who returned from the exile, and designates them as their ancient and new
pilgrim songs. Pss. cxx., cxxii. and cxxvi. do not in the least harmonize with this view.
The explanation of Thenius [Stud. u. Krit., 1854, Heft. 3, and Deutscher Psalter, 1859, S. 177
f.) is at present the most generally accepted ; that maaloth, which is not used in the meaning
of pilgrimage, refers to the different stations, or halting-places, where those who journeyed to
the feast used to rest, in their upward march towards Jerusalem. We know, indeed, that the
pilgrims moved up with music and song towards Jerusalem, Ps.xxx. 29. Yet whether just
the cxx. Ps. was sung on setting out from foreign lands ; the cxxi. at the first sight of their
native hills ; the cxxii. on their first entrance to the holy land ; whether Pss. cxxiii. — cxxxi.
express the recollections and feelings which were called forth by the fall and the restoration
of the city of God ; and Ps. cxxxii. resounded at the first view of the city ; Ps. cxxxiii. on
their entrance and Ps. cxxxiv. as they went up into the temple ; all this is very uncertain.
§ 7. THE ESSENTIAL CONTENTS OP THE PSALMS.
Some attempts have been made to characterize and group the Psalms with reference to
their subject matter. These efforts have, however, only served to show the incompleteness as
well as the inappropriateness of such classifications. They lose sight of the essential thing,
viz., the lyrical religious, Hebraic character of this portion of the sacred Scriptures. Their
lyrical character implies that the subjects treated are not mere matters of objective contem-
plation, but- reflections rather of tlieir influence upon the Psalmist's soul. Inseparable
from their religious character, is the thorough-going reference of all experience, knowledge
and feeling to the Providence of God in the world, and the harmony of the Psalmist therewith
in his station and in the frames of his soul. The Hebraic character of the Psalter secures
the adherence of the Psalmist, although advancing with the historic progress of revelation,
to the foundation of the Mosaic law, on the one side ; on the other, their continual reference
to the holiness of God, and to the destiny which was thereby presented to the entire covenant
people, Lev. xix. 2. Hence the Theocratic energy ; the apprehension of Israel's world-wide
mission, axid the prophetic glsince of the Psalmist. Hence it occurs that the subjects treated
of in particular Psalms are drawn from all the domains of nature and of history, of public
and of private life ; affecting the whole people, or one of its individual members only ; per-
taining to worship or doctrine and to life. But a formal division into doctrinal poems, tem-
ple hymns, national songs, royal Psalms, songs of joy or of mourning, can only lead to dis-
torted representations, as several commentators, especially De Wette, have shown.
We may with more propriety distinguish three principal groups, according as the prevail-
ing tone is one of joy, praise and thanksgiving to God, or of lamentation and petition, or
indeed contemplative, narrative and didactic. Such divisions, with reference to the prevailing
tenor of the Psalms, have been made by Hengstenb. and Hitzig, and, in part, also by G. Baur
and Hupfeld. This is something quite different from the classification attempted by August!
[Prakt. Einleit. indie Ps., S. 11), according to sesthetical categories, into odes, elegies &c.
Such classifications can be only formal, and the frequent mixture of emotions, and sudden
transitions, in many Psalms, from one to another, present many difficulties to such attempts.
They would be, perhaps, as Hupfeld remarks, more suitable as subdivisions of the above
mentioned classes, than as independent classes. He divides them, however into four lead-
ing classes, according to the subject matter : 1. Those Psalms which refer immediately to
God and Divine things (godliness, worship, Divine order and government) ; 2. Those which
refer to the King and the kingdom ; 3. Those referring to the people and their lot ; 4 Those
referring to the poet and his circumstances.
With respect to the latter point, we cannot overlook the fact, that the eircumstances of the
Psalmist are occasionally alluded to in the superscriptions. That such statements are simply
scholia, added by a later hand, is neither proven by the analogies of Arabic writings (Sta-
helin), nor from their apparent want of agreement in many cases, with the contents of the
§7, THE ESSENTIAL CONTENTS OP THE PSALMS. 17
Psalms witla which they are associated (Hitzig, et al.). The latter circumstance is rather
against the hypothesis that the superscriptions were inferences drawn from the text. The
suhject of such Psalms is not the personal fortunes of the poet, hut rather his religious experi-
ences in the midst of those circumstances, and the religious hopes, fears and the desires cher-
ished by him. For this reason Hilarius sees every where in the Psalms the tendency to educate
the soul in the knowledge of God ; to awaken fear and love towards Him, to call forth the praise
of His glory. He therefore considers a believing heart [Prolegg. 21) essential to understand
them, whilst to the worldly sense they are sealed with seven seals [Prolegg. 5, S. 9). The cir-
cumstances of the Psalmist, were simply the occasion of their utterance, and furnish no better
ground for a division than the other categories mentioned above. For they never treat of
God, His word, being, providence and government, merely in ahstracto ; never for their own
sake as objects of theoretical contemplation, or general praise. They always spring from
some special occasion, even though not expressly mentioned, and have particular reference to
the experience of the people of God, their King, or other members. Hence their contents,
in other respects so similar, possess a richness of individual application which renders them
so inexhaustible in their use for edification.
The contents which pervade the Psalter, notwithstanding the diversity of particular portions
in motive and treatment, are thus described by Zunz [Die synag. Poesie, 1855, S. 3), who
regards the Psalter as essentially a manifest of the oppressed people of Israel : The poet
begins with a cry of pain, a call to prayer and song ; he portrays the sad condition of his
people, their necessities, persecutions, bloodshed and grief; the contrast of the pious sufierers
with their haughty oppressors and national enemies with their power, prosperity, wickedness,
and dissimulation ; with them are the rebellious ; Israel is an object of scorn, &c. Now there
is a retrospect of former times connected with considerations of national history, and they
call to mind the covenant of God. Then there is a transition to the sense of guilt ; confession,
remorse and the power of prayer ; castigatory discourse ; the contrast of sinful, law-offending
man with the Almighty, All-knowing, but also just and merciful God, who recompenses all.^
The praises of God, the Creator ; His law ; His people of Israel as the elect, held in remem-
brance ; Zion and the sanctuary. Longings for the sanctuary, love of its teachings, confi-
dence in the promises of God, humble dependence and trust are described. The value of a good
moral life and walk, and the strength of prayer which is of more value than sacrifice. Desire
for the humiliation of enemies ; imprecations ; the powerlessness of idols. God is with the
oppressed ; hopes, deliverance, victory, thanks, praise, summons to adore God. The con-
clusion is formed now of lamentation and now with rejoicing ; now with thoughts of Israel,
and now of the nations who all, one day, shall know God.
We miss three things especially in this description, the addition of which is of highest
importance to the understanding and the use of the Psalms. We demand in the first place,
a distinct recognition of the theocratic element in the national education of the Israelites.
Only thus can we understand the much-discussed antagonism between the people of Israel
and other nations, or appreciate the language threatening them with divine judgments and
cursings in the so-called imprecatory Psalms, [vid., striking remarks of Hengstenberg and
Tholuck )* Only thus can we understand the actual progress in the earnest introduction into
life of theocratic requirements and institutions ; and not by seeking to resolve them into
general religious ideas. De Wette(£/e6er die erhauliche Erkldrung der Psalmen, 1836), is
particularly instructive on this point. Connected with this is our second desideratum,
namely, the distinct reference of the righteousness often so strongly emphasized by the
Psalmist, to an equal energy of theocratic action, rooted indeed in the revealed law, not sup-
posing, however, that righteousness consists in legal acts, rites and ceremonies, but in fulfilling
* [B. B. Edwards on the Imprecatums in the Scriptures in his Life and Writings, by E. A. Park, ii. 364 ff. ; Prof. J. Owen,
Imprecatory Psalms in the Bibl. Sacra, xiii. 551-5es. Bev. Alb. Barnes' Commentary on the Fsalms, Introd. § 6, (1869). Vid.
especially the articles of Prof. E. A. Park, in Smith's Bibh Diet. (Hackett and Abbot), 1870, 2625 f., and Imprecatory
Psalms in the Bibl. Sacra, xix. 165-210, by the same author. A very satisfactory train of thought is suggested, if not fully
developed, for the solution of the difficulties of the Imprecations in tho Psalms, in Perowne's Introduction to the Psalm, p.
61 sq., 2 Ed. 1870. 7id. also his fuller discussion in his note on. the xxxv. Ps. Charles Taylor, The Gospel in the Law.—
J. B. H.l
2
18 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
the will of God, and in striving against all merely external service, unfolding in its expres-
sions concerning sacrifice, prayer, retribution and eternal life the germs of evangelical views.
And precisely for this reason, we cannot dispense, thirdly, with the express recognition of the
prophetical, Messianic feature in the Psalms. We say designedly feature, not features. For
we are not now concerned with the exposition of individual passages of the Psalms and their
— ^to a certain extent — controvertible application to the historic events of the life of Christ ;
but only with the recognition of the fact ; that the Psalms, like the entire old Testament, are
pervaded with the expectation of a coming kingdom and man of God's good pleasure, and
that this expectation was not an indefinite and general hope of better times, but a hope of
faith founded upon definite promises of God, confirmed by His repeated assurances, gradually
unfolded in its particular features by prophetic witnesses, prefigured and made manifest histori-
cally by definite persons and relations, and led victoriously to its fulfilment by special divine
acts of revelation. The Psalms, on the one side, furnish evidence of the depth to which the
Messianic hope had penetrated the life of the Israelites, and the power with which it had
moved their hearts. On the other hand they have essentially contributed partly towards its
preservation and extension, and in part also to its development, in its double form as typico-
Messianic and as prophetico- Messianic (Sack, Christl, Apologetih, 2 Ausg. S. 278, f. ; Keil in
Havernick's Einl. iii. 101 f., Hengst, iv. 647 f.).
The important distinction between the ^yjt?ico-Messianic and prophetico-M.QS%i2inic passages
which opens the way to a correct understanding of them, still needs to be more accurately
defined. Thus if we regard as typico-Messianic those passages in which historic events are
treated in such a way that they appear as a divinely- wrought type of Messianic relations ; as
prophetico-Messianic, on the other hand, such as arising from historical circumstances and in
general from historical grounds (which factor was for the most part overlooked by the older
Orthodox interpreters), yet are Messianic as such (which element was mistaken by the ration-
alist interpreters, who made a false use of history) : then there arises the frequently neglected
question which remains, whether the Messianic meaning was originally in the consciousness of
the Psalmist, or was only afterward discovered in his words. In the first case, the type is itself
prophetic in the narrow sense, and the prophetic word of the Psalmist is a direct Messianic
prophecy, and the further question arises : — Are his words simply the comforting and warn-
ing repetitions of prophecies previously received and made public, or has the poet actually
become a seer, the Psalmist a prophet, thus positively carrying the Messianic prophecies to a
higher development. In the latter case, the general question arises as to the conscious or
unconscious Messianic reference of the Psalmist's words in a concrete and individual form.
If, for instance, it is recognized that in certain passages the Messianic meaning was not
discovered until afterwards and was not intended by the Psalmist, it does not follow that it
was first discovered by Jewish or Christian Theologians, or was attached to it by the authors
of the New Testament, with subjective honesty but in actual error, and in consequence of
methods of interpretation then prevailing in the schools. Nor is the supposition of Herm. Shultz
[Theol. Stud, und Krit., 1866, Heft, i.), that the Messianic meaning as a second seme essentially
different from the grammatico-historical sense had previously arisen in the hearts of the be-
lieving congregation which understood the revelation of their God satisfactorily. That would
show an earlier Messianic interpretation of those passages, and would transfer the introduc-
tion of this change in understanding and interpreting them from the schools of the Rabbins
to the faith of the congregation. A transformation of their original sense, however would
still be admitted, which could hardly be as a factor of Revelation, but, at most, only an
element in the historical process of development of Israel's believing consciousness. We would
then have an explanation which might, it is true, be connected with the passages in question
yet had changed their original meaning. We must, however, deal as earnestly with the idea
of Revelation as with the supposition which is incontestably correct, of a historical progress
therein. For there is no occasion to recognize in the Psalms the mere echo of the prophetic
word and their Messianic promises like those of the law, and to exclude the prophetic utter-
ance proper from them, and to put the Messianic interpretation of particular passages into an
entirely different period of Revelation from that of the origin of these passages themselves
§ 7. THE ESSENTIAL CONTENTS OF THE PSALMS. 19
(Schultz, /. c. S.41). We may confidently assume that the spirit of revelation wrought pro-
phetically in the Psalmists and gave tkeir words occasionally such. 2. form of expression as must
have driven their reflection to search for the sense intended by the Spirit of God. This is
quite different from the subordinate or parallel sense, which Rud. Stier assumes along-side of
the original and proper sense. But there is no double sense at all in them. On the contrary,
the words in question give only one grammatical and historical sense which can be derived
from them. Yet this is so constituted that, properly and strictly taken, it breaks through the
limits of its association with the merely present events, and admits of no intelligible applica-
tion to the circumstances, opinions and prospects of the speaker, and if such a restriction
were attempted, it would lead to such assumptions of obscurity, exaggeration and hyperbole
as are found in no species of poetry, and in no language under heaven. It is under the influ-
ence of such views that Schultz says : " We may call this the hidden sense of the Holy Ohost,
because it comes not so much through the will of its author, as it is involved from the power
of the contents which dwell in his words, reaching far beyond the present, and thus from the
Spirit, from whom the Psalm was born, and whose impress it bears." So much the more
forcibly does the question still press upon us, why the Messianic sense, which is as different
from its parenetic and practical application, as from its typical use, should only have arisen
after the Psalm had become a song of the church, and had been employed in its public wor-
ship ; after the king had died by whom, or concerning whom the Psalm had been composed,
and the occasion of its composition had been forgotten (/. c. S. 39). In this connection, we
must say of the Psalms of suffering, what was recognized by Schultz : that they must contain
that which not simply renders their later Messianic application possible, but fully justifies it.
He says, S. 48, " Only those Psalms of suffering can be prophetic, in which the sufferings
of the righteous are the basis of the highest triumph, of the conversion of the heathen, of
the instruction of all nations, — in short, stand as a door of entrance to Messianic hopes
and thoughts." In such cases, however, the Messianic reference cannot be called a change in
its interpretation, but is an explanation of its original sense. When this, however, occurs
in obscure passages, or such as require searching investigations, this might be referable some-
times even to the Psalmist himself. For a searching of revelations received by the prophets,
is alluded to as nothing extraordinary, 1 Peter iv. sq. Such searching had, at all events, not
always immediately attained its end. On the contrary, it is well established, that the under-
standing of what the Spirit signified, Hebrews ix. 8, was disclosed, frequently, only a long
time afterwards and sometimes only after its fulfilment. But it must not be overlooked that
the understanding of prophecy, like prophecy itself, has its degrees as well as modes, and that
the former are not of necessity widely apart as the latter are not necessarily separate. Thus
it might happen, under certain circumstances, that many of the same kind might be found
together, not only in the S3,me age, but in the life of one and the same person. If now, a
Psalmist were at the same time a prophet, and we are especially informed that this was the
case with David (2 Sam. xxiii. 2; Acts ii. 30) ; and if the same person had, moreover, received
Messianic prophecies from other prophets, which also occurred to David (2 Sam. vii.), we
have then not only a historic foundation in Revelation for the appearance of Messianic pro-
phecies in the Psalms, but a development upon this basis is provided for, not only through
human reflection and the comparison and connection of various prophecies, but especially
through an act of Revelation itself. The products of his own prophetic conception may
therefore become for the prophet himself an impulse to reflection, by the fact that it tran-
scends the contents of his previous consciousness. The word which gave this impulse appears
no more to himself as a poetical production, but as the word of God, and thereby receives
for his own consciousness, a deeper significance, not recognized at the time of its production.
Under these circumstances, if we would faithfully recognize the actual germination and
growth of Messianic prophecy and the Messianic hope founded thereon, and likewise under-
stand the concrete form, color and relation of individual passages of the Psalms, explained
as Messianic, it is absolutely necessary to survey them closely in their historical situation and
rhetorical connection. So long as this was neglected by the orthodoxy of the church as well
as the Synagogue, they might indeed hold fast to the certainty of the Messianic prophecies
20 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
in the Psalms, and affirm their right to do so ; but they were unable to establish that certainty
on sufficient grounds, and to show that their right was worthy of belief. They were also
forced either to treat the prophecies as immediate, separate predictions without historical
basis, occurring most wonderfully in the midst of expressions of an entirely different charac-
ter ; or else to refer whole Psalms, and series of Psalms, and even entire statements about
prominent persons and relations of the Old Testament, directly to the person of Christ, His
work, kingdom and history, in opposition to the original signification of the words and
simply for the sake of some individual expressions and sentences.* Thus Thomas Aquinas
regards the first Psalm as directly Messianic. Here there is no other resource than earnestly
to explore the connection of sacred Scripture, and the organism of Revelation and its his-
tory, that we may discover, in the difference between the economy of the old and the new
covenant, the paths and threads which conduct from one to the other and recognize the pre-
figuration of the latter in the former. Especially may " The entire Psalter be compared to
a great and beautiful city, with many and various structures, whose doors are each locked
with a key of its own " (Hilarius, Pro/e^r^. 24). And as Origen {De la Rue ii. 525) says that
the holy Scriptures are locked with the key of David, and sealed with the power of God, so
Hilarius also remarks [Prolegg. 5-7) : " the key of David is the theanthropic person of Jesus
Christ, whose type is the Psalmist both in his inward and external experience, [vid. on Ps.
cxxxiv.) ever speaking by the Holy Ghost [vid. on Ps. i.) to which the prophetic tone of his
discourse and his figurative language, fi-equently point" [vid. on Ps. cxix. 1). Such a type
was David himself, especially, whose fortunes in life were conducted and ordered by God's
appointment with particular reference to Christ. David stands as a fruitful, ever green olive-
tree, in the house of God, both in the Law and in the Gospel, and is like an Apostle of the
Evangelic faith [vid. on Ps. li. 22), and had himself a prophetical consciousness of the
typical character of his sufferings [vid. on Ps. Iviii. 1). It is in fact the form of the theocra-
tic king, typified in David, Messianically announced in David's son (Ps. ii.) who is propheti-
cally contemplated as the ruler of a priestly kingdom, as a royal priest, (Ps. ex.), which
forms the central point of the prophetic descriptions in Pss. xlv. and Ixxii., supported by ear-
lier prophecies of the blessed and peaceful dominion of a righteous king, extending his sway
over the whole earth, excelling all the might and glory of the world, who appears also in indi-
vidual Psalms, Pss. xxii., cix., as a sufferer without an equal, whose conflict leads to an all-
embracing victory, spreading abroad salvation everywhere! (comp. Havernick, Vorlesungen
ilber die Theologie des A. T., 2 Ausg. durch Herm. Schultz, 1863 ; Riehm, Zur Charakteristik
der mess. Weissagung und ihres Verhdltnisses zu der Erfullung, Theol. Stud, und Krit, 1865,
Heft 1-3).
* [An able discussion of the Messianic element in the Psalms, as well as other matters considered in this section may be
found in Perowne's Introd., Chap. iii. 2 Ed., 1870.— J. B, H.]
f [" The interpreter of the Psalms," says Delitzsch, " may establish himself either on the stand-point of the poet or the
stand-point of the congregation of the Old Testament or on the stand-point of the church — a fundamental condition of
progress in interpretation is the keeping of these three stand-points separate, and accordingly the distinction of the two
Testaments and the different stages of revelation and the knowledge of redemption in general. For as salvation itself, so
has its revelation and the knowledge of it, an advancing history which extends from paradise through all time even to
eternity." Tlie congregation of Israel and especially the Christian church afterwards under the guidance of the Spirit,
brought many of the different lines of development together, which in the Old Testament and to the inspired writers were
entirely separate and apparently parallel, as it saw them converge in the person and life of Jesus Christ. Now from the
Btand-point of the poets we have to distinguish in Messianic prophecy two parallel lines of development, as Delitzsch
shows: "The one. has as its end the anointed of Jehovah, who rules from Zion over all nations, f,he other the Lord Himself
enthroned above the cherubim to whom the whole world does homage. And of these two linos the Divine is predominant
in the Psalms ; hope is directed especially after the cessation of the kingdom of Israel, far beyond human mediation at
once to Jehovah, the author of salvation. The fundamental article of the faith of the Old TeRtaaieot was niil'S HH VltS'^
The Messiah is not yet recognized as the God-man. Therefore the Psalmist knows of no prayer to ffim or in His name'.
But prayer to Jehovah and for Jehovah's sake is essentially the same. For Jehovah has Jesus in Himself. Jehovah is the
Redeemer. The Redeemer, when He appears, is no other than the T\'iJW'' of this God in bodily manifestation. Is. xlix. 6."
The human line of Messianic prophecy in the Psalms is based upon Nathan's prophecy, 2 Sam. vli. The Messiah is usually
regarded as a king, but in Ps. ex. the unity of the prophetic, priestly and royal offices in one person after the order of
Melchlzedek is distinctly brought into view. In close connection with this Messianic king is His everlasting rule and His
kingdom extending itself to the ends of the earth. But along-side of this conquering and glorious king there is still
another distinct figure in the Psalms, the suffering servant of God (Pss. xxiL, Ixix., &c,). These two figures are likewise
§ 7. THE ESSENTIAL CONTENTS OP THE PSALMS. 21
We cannot therefore be surprised, that as Luther in his preface to the Psalms says, many
holy fathers have praised and loved the Psalms more than the other books of the sacred Scrip-
tures. It might well be called a little Bible, embracing like a manual in the shortest and
finest way, aU the rest of the Bible ; so that it seems as if the Holy Ghost had taken pains to
set together a little Bible, a sample book of the whole of Christianity, or of all the saints, m
order that he who cannot read the whole Bible, might have here almost the whole substance
of it, in one little book. But more than all, the noble virtue and art of the Psalms consiste in
this, that while other books have much to tell about the works of the saints, they give us few
of their words. In this respect the Psalter is a pattern. And there is no nobler or more
powerful work in man than discourse. Besides the Psalter does still more, in that it does not
set before us the poor, common-place discourse of the saints ; but the very best, even those
which they held with God Himself, in the greatest earnestness, and on the most important
matters. By this means, it lays before us, not simply their words and works, but their hearts
and the deep treasures of their souls, so that we may look upon the foundation and fountain
of their words and works, that we can see in their hearts, what noble thoughts they had, and
how their hearts were affected in all liinds of affairs, dangers and necessities. For a human
heart is like a ship upon a wild sea, driven by the storm wind^ from the four quarters of the
earth. — But what else is the Psalter, chiefly, than earnest discourse in all such storm-winds ?
Where do we find finer words of joy than the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving contain ?
There you see in the hearts of all the saints, as in beautiful and pleasant gardens, yes, as in
heaven — what delicate, loving, cheerful flowers of all kinds of beautiful joyous thoughts of
God and His kindness grow there. Again, where do you find more plaintive, pitiful, words
of sadness than the Psalms of lamentation contain ? There you look into the hearts of all the
saints, at times, as into death, yea, into hell itself. How dark is it there, with all kinds of
troubled views of the wrath of God. Hence, when they discourse of fear and hope, they em-
ploy such words that no painter could paint the fear and hope for you, no Cicero, or any
other orator, could represent them. And (as was said) the best of all is that they speak such
words to God and with God as give them a two-fold earnestness and life. For when a man
discourses with men in such matters, it does not come so strongly from the heart, does not
burn, is not so lively or so urgent. Hence it is, that the Psalter is the book of all the saints,
and each, in whatever station he is, finds in it, Psalms and expressions, which are suited to
his condition and which seem as if they were put there for his own particular use, alone, in so
much that he could neither put them better himself, nor find them better put elsewhere, or
kept distinct, they do not blend, although they approximate in the world-wide preaching of the delivered one and the uni-
versal significance of His redemption. There is likewise a reference to the Messianic offering in Ps. xl. which is, however,
not further developed. Now with reference to these Messianic Psalms which have Jehovah and His salvation in view, we
have a form of prophecy which differs very little from ordinary direct prophecy, save in its lyrical dress. But in th6so
Psalms which have the royal and suffering Messiah in view, we have no direct prophecies except so far as the Psalmist
cites a Divine decree as in Ps. ii., and an oath of promise, as in Ps. ex., not elsewhere mentioned, which, however, are there
used as the basis of the Psalm which then passes over to the ordinary form. All these Psalms are typical in their charac-
ter yet we must distinguish between those that are simply typical, that is, where the expressions have a direct historical
reference and are covered by the experience of the poet ; and those that are more than typical, the type expanding, and
breaking, and becoming transformed and transfigured in attempting to express that which is more than historical and
which is beyond the poet's experience. Hence the distinction between the typical and the prophetico- typical. This is
beautifully expressed by Perowne with reference to the king: "In all, some Jewish monarch, either on his accession or at
some critical period of his reign, is the immediate object before the eyes of the inspired poet. But in all, the monarch
grows larger and fairer than the sons of m^n. He is seen ever in the light of the promise made to David, and in that
light he is transfigured. Human he is, no doubt : many words spoken of him pertain only to a human king ; but many
also are higher ; many cannot, except by force of exaggeration, be made to apply to one who wears the frailty, together
with the form of man." We may add with reference to the suffering Messiah that these Psalms are typical in that they
are based upon the life and experience of David, and yet they are more than this, approaching at times to the direct pro-
phecy in that they describe sufferings which transcend anything in David's experience, and with a minuteness of exact
detail which forbids anything like a figurative generalization or poetical hyperbolical expression of facts and experiences in
David's life or that of any other historic person than Jesus of Nazareth. We see the type as it is rooted in the experience
and sorrow of David, expanding and bursting asunder, and growing up as a mighty tree towering above the earth, wrapt
in the horror of a great darkness, and that tree is the tree of the cross. We can only understand these Psalms from the
experience of David, and yet we cannot but feel that mingled with the experience of the Psalmist, entwined at times
in an inextricable intricacy there is likewise the experience of our blessed Saviour. And of them all, we can say that on
the New Testament stand-point, we see them united in the Messiah of the cross and the throne, the Divine and the human,
the prince of suffering and the prince of glory.— C. A. B.]
22 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
yet desire to do so. And what is also excellent, when such expressions please him, and suit
his estate, he is sure that he belongs to the company of the saints, and that what has happened
to him, has happened to all the saints, because they all sing the same song with him ; and,
wonderfully he can also discourse with God, as they did, which must be done by faith, for an
ungodly man has no taste for them. And lastly, there is in the Psalter a security and a weU
assured safeguard that we may follow all the saints with safety. For other examples, and
legends of dumb saints give us many a work which we cannot, and many a one which it were
not safe to follow, and usually produce sects and divisions, and lead away or tear away from
the society of the saints. But the Psalter keeps you from divisions within the society of the
saints ; for it teaches you to think and discourse, in joy, fear, hope and sadness, as all the
saints have thought and discoursed. In short, would you see the holy Christian Church
painted in living form and color, in a little picture, then lay the Psalter before you, and you
have a mirror, fine, pure and bright, which will show you what Christianity is. Yes, you
will find yourself, therein, and the true knowledge of yourself as well as of God and all crea-
tures." Luther had previously remarked in the same preface : " There have in times past,
been many legends of the saints composed, and people have carried them about and filled the
world with passional books of exemplars, and histories, and the Psalter the while, has lain
under the bench, and in such darkness, that one could not understand a single Psalm aright,
and yet it gave forth such an excellent savor, that all pious hearts have found devotion and
strength from the words they did not comprehend, and have therefore loved the little book.
But I hold that no finer book of Exemplars, or legends of the saints, has appeared or will
appear on earth than the Psalter. And if one wished that the best out of all legends, exem-
plars and histories should be called out, set in order and presented in the best way ; it could
be none other than our present Psalter. For we find here, not what one or two saints have
done, but what the chief of all saints himself has done, and what all the saints still do ; — how
they stand towards God, towards friends, and enemies ; how they act in all dangers and suf-
fering, and besides this, we find therein all kinds of wholesome doctrines and commands.
And the Psalter should be dear and cherished on this account, that it so clearly foretells
Christ's death and resurrection, and typifies His kingdom, and the whole estate and nature of
Christianity, so that we may well call it a little Bible," etc.
[We will add here the words of the other great Reformer, Calvin, from the preface to his
Commentary. " This book, not unreasonably, am I wont to style an anatomy of all parts of
the soul, for no one will discover in himself a single feeling whereof the image is not reflected
in this mirror. Nay, all griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, and anxieties — in short.
all those tumultuous agitations wherewith the minds of men are wont to be tossed ^the Holy
Ghost hath here represented to the life. The rest of Scripture contains the commands which
God gave to His servants to be delivered unto us. But here the Prophets themselves hold-
ing converse with God, inasmuch as they lay bare all their inmost feelings, invite or impel
every one of us to self-examination, that of all the infirmities to which we are liable and all
the sins of which we are so full, none may remain hidden. It is a rare and singular advan-
tage when every hiding-place having been laid bare, the h«art is cleansed from hypocrisy,
that foulest of plagues, and is brouglit forth to the light. Lastly, if calling upon God be the
greatest safeguard of our salvation, seeing that no better and surer rule thereof can be found
anywhere than in this Book, the further any man shall have advanced in the understanding
of it, the greater will be his attainment in the school of God. Earnest prayer sprino-s first
from a feeling of our necessity, and then from faith in the promise. Here the readers will
both best be awakened to a due sense of their own evils, and warned to seek theproDer remp
dies for them."*— C. A. B.] ^ ^
The contents of individual Psalms are briefly condensed, and often with great senten-
tiousness, in a superscription of two words by J. H. Alsted, Theologia casuum 1630, in part also
* [laaac Taylor, in his '^Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry;^ showB very clearly and forcibly " the relation of the Hebrew
poetry to the religious purposes it subserTos," " the commixture of the Divine and the human element," in it, and the n
culiar adaptation of the HolyLand to be the birth-place of a poetiy which touches the hearts of all races', from all lands and
climei,by a natural imagery clothing celestial truth in such a form that they are intelligible and familiar to all.— 0. a u
§8. SUPERSCRIPTIONS INDICATING THE POETICAL FORM OF THE PSALMS. 23
by Georg. Christopli. 'Ren3c]xe\,G,tharaedu8 myaiictis, 1665, and 66, 2 Vols, in 4. The Biblical
Summ., particularly that of Wiirteinberg, are especially worthy of consideration.
^8. THE SUPEESCRIPTIONS WHICH INDICATE THE POETICAL EORM OF THE PSALMS.
1. Shir, standing alone or in connection with other statements as to their purpose, con-
tents, origin, or their liturgical and musical treatment. This word gives prominence, in gene-
ral, to their lyrical character, which the Septuag. renders by (p^p Comp. Is. v. 1, Song of Sol. i.
1. It is more specifically, not so much a joyful song of praise (Hengstenberg) as a " song," a
piece for singing (Delitzsch) in distinction from mizmor with which it is connected at times,
(Pss. Lxvi. Ixvii. Ixviii. Ixxxiii. Ixxxviii. xcii. cviii.)
2. Mizmor (Septuag. i/'oA/zof) is the technical designation, originating probably with
David, for a song intended for musical accompaniment {fi^log). It is found in this form, in
only fifty-seven psalms, ascribed to David, or belonging to the Davidic group. The deriva-
tion of the word is controverted. With reference to the Piel of "IDI, it is established that it
embraces the two significations "to sing" and "to play" like the Latin canare. Its radical
meaning was formally assumed to be " to cut," thence " to divide," and thence referred to
rhythmical divisions, or caesura, whence it was transferred to the delivery itself, or the singing.
Ewald, however, starts with the meaning, " to prune the vine," Lev. xxv. 3, and derives
therefore, like the Latin, putare, computare, the sense of pure, arranged, — i. e., to
play and sing in definite numbers, in rhythm and time. Hengstenberg adopts the
meaning to dress in the sense of to adorn, to ornament, and since the verb
stands sometimes with the dative and sometimes with the accusative, and is fre-
quently connected with the sentence, To the Lord, and His honor, strength and names,
he assumes the signification to sing praises in ornate discourse ; to sing artistically in dis-
tinction from an artless, simple manner. Keil translates it, " Song of Praise." Hupfeld
formerly supposed the original signification to be "to pluck." Thus also Bottcher and
Gesenius in the Thesaur. Hupfeld at present [Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenl. Gesellschaft
iii. 394 f. ; iv. 139 f.) starts with the primitive meaning, "to hum." The application of the
verb to music and song in praise of God, is found as early as Exodus xv. 1 ; Judges v. 3 sq.;
referring to music in general, Amos v. 23 ; in Aramaic form, Dan, iii. 5. In Ps. c. the noun
is connected with the word lethodah (£«?• buoUyriaiv, Sept.),=to the praise; in other cases the
lamed of the author follows, occasionally the beth of the instrument, generally the cither
(Pss. iv., vi., Ixvii. and Ixxvi.). The verb in its double meaning, Ps. xcviii. 5 is, sound with
the cither and with the voice of song. Musical playing, in distinction from singing, is made
especially prominent in Pss. xxvii. 6, ci. 1, civ. 33, cv. 2, cviii. 2.
3. MasMl (Septuag. awkaeuq or elg ahveaiv)^ Luther, " an instruction." It is the superscrip-
tion of thirteen Psalms. Michaelis explains it, following the Arabic as " a discourse in
verse •" De Wette prefers " an intricate figurative discourse," and refers us to other oriental
languages in which the idea of poem is developed from the meaning, " wisdom," " insight,"
" doctrine/' Gesenius in the Thesaurus, refers the expression to the purpose of the song, to
produce insight, wisdom (and piety), whence every carmen sacrum ad res divinas specians
might have been thus named. Calvin, Keil, et al. interpret the word as a " didactic poem,"
referring us to Pss. xxxii. 8 ; xlvii. 8. Hengstenberg understands it specifically of " instruct-
ing the church," but this is appropriate only to the contents of two Psalms, (xxxii. and
Ixxviii.). Ps. xlv. connects it with the leading title of Psalms shir jedtdoth, " song of love,"
and Ps. cxlii. as tefillah, "prayer." It is, however, decisive that maskil in Ps. xlvii, 8, is in
the accusative, the object of the singing, (Hupfeld who is inclined rather to the view of
Gesenius and De Wette). Ewald regards it as a closer definition of its musical recitation
and thinks of a skillftilly rendered song, because a clever, melodious song is equivalent to a
finely artistic one. He defines it more exactly in the Jahrb. viii. 65, as a song with cheerful
music, to be accompanied by clear sounding cymbals, keeping time. This is certainly pre-
ferable to the former interpretation, against which Pss. liv. and cxlii. are especially opposed.
Ps. xlvii. 8, however, is unfavorable even to this latter opinion. Delitzsch, referring to the
Hiphil signification, interprets it as " reflective contemplation," pia meditatio, Ps. cvi 7, cf.
24 INTEODFCTION TO THE PSALTER.
xli. 2 ; Song of Sol. xvi. 20, because the word occurs almost always with reference to per-
sons, and in 2 Chron. xxx. 22, praises the Levite musicians. According to Hitzig, the word
cannot possibly be a participle, and scarcely an object to which the meaning " insight " could
be given; but signifies, according to an Arabic derivation, "form," something " formed," in
general, " a poem."
4. Mikhtam occurs in the superscriptions of six Psalms (xvi., Ivi.— Ix.), sometimes pre-
ceding and sometimes following the words, " of David." Jerome and the oldest Rabbins, to
the time of Isaki resolve it into two expressions, according to Aquil. tov raireivdcppovog ml d-rlov
Tdv LaviS. According to Symmach. i. and ii. ra-K. koL afidfiov. The Hollander Vorstman alone,
of recent commentators, (in his Comm. in Ps. xvi., 1829), adopts a similar interpretation,
"the unfortunate, delivered," Since Isaki, most of the Rabbins, and the older Christian ex-
positors, suppose the word to be allied to ^e^ew=gold. and to signify either a golden poem,
i, e., a treasure=a priceless poem, (Luther and Geier), like the sayings of Pythagoras, Ali,
et al., or " written in golden letters," like the moallakdt of the Arabs. Others derive the
idea of a treasure from the Arabio "tohide"=to preserve carefully (Grot. Simon et al.).
Hitzig, following the Arabic, points to the meaning " to keep for one's self,"=" not to make
known," an avEnSoTov, or a hitherto unknown poem, which the compiler had for the first time
added to the canon of Davidic Psalms then existing. Ewald in the Jahrb. viii. 6, 7, ex-
plains it as " a song accompanied with the dull music, with roaring, dull-sounding music of
the cymbals." Most of the recent commentators since Rosenmuller and Gesenius follow the
translation of the Septuag.: aT?j?Mypa(pia or eig aT?i?i.oypa<(>iav/ Vulg.; Tituli inscriptio ; Chald.:
Sculptura recta, and regard mihhtam=mikhtah in the superscription of the song of Jeremiah
xxxviii. 9. It means then either " Inscription," (F. H. Michael), now " Tomb inscription,"
again, "memorial of victory," or, writing==song, (De Wette), or "Song of Inscription," or
better still, catch- word poem, (Delitzsch), because in these Psalms two features are promi-
nent, which are found united in the Psalms of Hezekiah. This is partly the prominence
given to memorial words Pss. xvi. 2, Iviii. 12, Ix. 8 (c/. Is. xxxviii, 10, 11), and partly the repeti-
tion of such words, in a sort of refrain, Pss, Ivi., Ivii. and Ixx. It must be considered, how-
ever, that the change of m into b never occurs elsewhere in the roots of these words. Heng-
stenberg assumes an intentional change of these letters by David, in order to give, through
the superscription, a deeper sense to the song, — ^to announce a secret. In Ps. Ix., the super-
scription has the additional expression leldmmed (Septuag. hq diSax^v) to teach. It is gene-
rally referred to the instruction imparted by the Levitical precentor, by De Wette and
Delitzsch, on the contrary, it is referred especially to 2 Sam. i. 18, according to which it was
to be sung, during instruction in the use of the bow.
5. Schiggajon (Septuag. t/^aA/zdc), only as superscription of Ps. vii. and in the plural,
Habak. iii, 1. Since it is preceded in the latter passage by the preposition ^P the older
Rabbis, and even Kimchi applied it to an instrument, some sort of string instrument and
others to the kind of tone, or the style of playing upon it. But the expression " which he
sang" refers to a song. De Wette, following the Arabic, adopts the meaning, " a song of
lamentation," Paulus, " a responsive song," Gesenius, a " song of Praise." Hengstenberg
finds an indication of its contents, referring to the confession of Saul to David, 1 Sam. xxvi.
21, and as likewise Aquil,, Symmach,, Chald,, and following them, Jerome and many Rabbis
state that " Error, confusions, forgiveness," is its meaning and they associate it with historical
allusions. The majority translate it, " dithyrambus " (the wandering poem, ode erraiica of
ancient poetry), and explain the plural in Hab. from the manifold and confessedly mingled
rhymes. Hupfeld ofiers the conjecture that the word is a cognate form, — a play upon the
similarly formed higgajon ix. 17=" Poem," " song," Hitzig points to the Arabic " exact
rhythmical discourse in contrast with prose."
I 9. THE AKTISTIC STRUCTURE OF THE PSALMS.
The poetical form of the Psalms stands in opposition neither with their religious nor their
theopneustic character, when rightly understood. The influence of the Spirit of God upon
the soul of the Israelitish poet, brings his poetical endowments rather, into their proper current
§ 9. THE ARTISTIC STRUCTURE OF THE PSALMS. 25
and controls the pulsations of feeling in his aroused soul. These pulsations, however, find
a natural expression in the vibrations of his discourse, the regularity of which is sufficiently
expressed in the parallelism of members, as the swelling of his thought is in general expressed
in the characteristic choiee of language, of. Lowth, De Sacra Poesie Hebroeorum prcelect.
mm notis, J. D. Michaelis, Ed. Rosenmiiller 1815, whose observations in laying the founda-
tion of the correct view have been more fully developed by Herder, Gesenius, De Wette,
Koater, Ewald and Hupfeld. For a collection of older opinions cf. Carpzov ( Introd., p. 3 f.) and
Saalschutz, Von der Form der hebr. Poesie nebst einer Abhandlung iiber die Musik der. Hebr., 1825.
The matter is excellently presented by De Wette, Comm. g 7, with the remarks of G. Baur,
g 78, f. Independent investigations, worthy of mention, are Bellerman, Versuch einer hebr.
Metrik., 1813. Saalschutz, Form und Oeist der hebr. Poesie, 1853. E. Meyer, die Form der
hebr. Poesie, 1853.*
It is self-evident, that the sounds of the words, as they are brighter or gloomier, and
the shading of the tone in general, stand connected with the feeling expressed in them.
The same is true of the rhythm, the movement of the thought, or the pulsations of feeling,
expressed in the more tardy or more rapid sequence of syllables and words. And the He-
brew language is particularly adapted, by its pregnant brevity and dignified simplicity, to
indicate the writer's feelings, by sound and emphasis. This allows the conjecture, that the
employment of similarly sounding expressions, such as are frequently found in the prophets,
associated with the language of ordinary discourse, in satirical addresses, and in pithy con-
nections of thought (Knobel, Prophetismus der Heb. i. 406 f.), was not confined to this
species of writings. This is true also of those similarities of sound which frequently occur
in the prophetic writings, on the last syllable of the verse. Sommer {Bibl. Abhandl. i. 85 f.)
has actually proven, an intentional rhyme (in a wider sense) in many passages of the Old
Testament, while Van Till [Dicht-Sing-und Spielkunst der Hebr. ii. 6, ^4), Carpzov {In-
trod. 18), Saalschutz ( Von der Formu. 8. w., ^ 61) and Ewald [Poet.Bucher i. 104, und 269 der
Neuen Ausarb.) ascribe such appearances merely to accident. But Sommer has restricted
this intentional rhyme, which moreover seldom occurs, to the songs of the common people, to
the prophetic expressions of earlier times, and to epigrammatic rules of life, which had orally
come down to the time of the authors and compilers, preserved only in single passages, per-
haps, not in their original form. This limitation was directed against the opinion of older
writers, who following the example of Clericus regarded rhyme as the essential form of aU
poetry, and sought to discover it in the Old Testament, as Schindler [De acceniu Hebr. p. 81 f.)
and Leutwein, Versuch einer richtigen Theorie der bibl, Verskunst, 1775, ^ 51 f. The simi-
larity of sound which frequently occurs in the Psalms, is not regarded by Sommer as inten-
tional rhyme, from the fact that the similarity of suffixes and of nominal and verbal endings,
might very easily produce, undesignedly, something similar to rhyme, in the parallel sentence
of Hebrew poetry. Jul. Ley [Die metrische Form der hebr. Poesie systematisch dargestellf
1866) has attempted to prove, unsticcessfully, that alliteration, was the formal means of bind-
ing together the individual series.
A metrical significance in the syllables can be as little inferred from this, as from the facty
that the Psalms were sung with a musical accompaniment (Van Till, p. 24). For the song
was recitative singing, vid. 1 10. This musical delivery, therefore, does not point to a rhythm,
dependent upon quantity amd number of syllables, but only to a general rhythmical movement
in which the rising or falling, the more rapid or more tardy movement of the voice, was de-
pendent partly upon the quality and partly upon the position of the words. The lack of
metre, properly so called, is not however to be ascribed as De Wette says, to their rudeness,
as songs of the common people. It is a peculiarity of the Hebrew songs, just as in genuine
German verse (Meier, Formu. s. w. S. 243".) a free rising of the voice concludes with one or
more falling passages. It is the breathing of the pulsating breast, which finds its simplest
rhythmical expression in a single line, whose sense is complete in itself; and frequently consti-
tute the beginning of the Psalm, but becomes dismembered in connection with the parallel-
* [Isaac Taylor, The. Spirit of Hebrew Poetry ^ Amer. ed., 1862. W. A, Wright, Art. Hebrew Poetry in Smith's Diet, of
the Bible, W. Bionie, The PsaXms, their history, teachings and tise.—C. A. B.]
26 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
ism of thought and passes over to a paraUelism of sentences, and thereby becomes enlarged into
the verse of two lines.
But although this rhythmical progression, presupposes a correspondence of members, it
does not follow that this division of the members of the verse into two which rests upon the
parallelismus senientiarum, is the original and essential rhythm of the poetry, m general
(Herder, et al.) which, is at the basis of the structure of the Psalms (Hupfeld, Zeitschrift der
d. morg. Gesellschaft, 1852, S. 53 f.). For the rising and falling in the line of thought consti-
tutes the necessary movement for the members of the sentence, just as syllabic feet mark the
progression for words. Syllabic metre must not be smuggled in on the other side from this
remark. For all attempts which have been made, and repeated from the time of Philo and
Josephus, to discover a metre, analogous to that of the Greeks and Eomans, either in the
number of syllables (Buxtorf ) or their quantity (Franc. Gormarus, Davidis lyra, 1637), have
been as fruitless as the attempt of Jones, [Poeseos Asiaticce comment, p. 72 f.), to apply the
rules of Arabic metre to the poetry of the Hebrews. In the most intelligent attempts of this
sort, we find only a certain numbering and difference of syllables, brought out by emphasis,
and according to Bellermann, a prevailing iambic emphasis, placing the accent upon the last
syllable ; while according to Saalschtitz, there is a prevailing trochaic, with an occasional
spondaico-dactylio-rhythm, in which the penultimate is emphasized. In either case, the divi-
sions of the words are brought by accentuation into rhythmical movement, without possessing a
strictly metrical character. This is true also of the divisions of the sentences, where the ac-
cent is determined by the sense of the words, the position of which in the sentence is of im-
portance to the rhythm. The frequent assertion of the Rabbis that in Hebrew poetry, there
is only a rhythm of sentences, and not of syllables, is by this fact more definitely established;
and also their other statement, that the rhythmical quantity is originally and essentially de-
termined by the contents, i. e., partly by the repetition of the same thought, in similar or allied
expression, and, in part by the prominence which is imparted to them by antithetic and
synthetic terms of expression. We do not infer from this with Hupfeld, that the rhythm was
purely an internal one, i. e. a parallelism of thought or of logical sentences. In the structure
of Hebrew Psalms, there is not only a measure of thought, but also a relation of form, and a
parallelism, which arises from an evenness of language, which De Wette [Comm. p. 52) calls
rhythmical, and Weinrich [Be poeseos hehr. et arab. origine, indole nutuoque consensu atque
discrimine, 1843), syntactical, to which G. Baur also has called attentirn. Sommer in his
proof of the development [Bibl, Abh. i. 93 f ) of a formal principle in different kinds of verses
and strophes, proceeds from the alphabetical songs.
Sommer is right in seeing in the alphabetical songs, not mere play words, nor the signs
of a degenerate taste, (De Wette), nor evidence of a late date (Ewald) ; but, in part, helps
for the memory, and in part, symbolic reference to their completeness, and wholeness, since
only instructive poems and Psalms of lamentation present this alphabetic arrangement.
Their more definite consideration belongs to the exposition of the particular Psalms. Here
the general remark suffices, that an alphabet is formed by the initial letters of the lines Pss.
cxi. cxii. by double lined strophes in Pss. xxv. xxxiv. cxlv., by four lined strophes in Pss.
ix. X. xxxvii., by the longer strophes of Ps. cxix., in which every two lined verse begins with
the same letter, which is eight times repeated.*
How particular verses are to be divided, and joined together iti strophes, is in individual
cases, questionable. For the particular members are not always easily distinguished, as, e.
g., in the graded rhythm of Pss. cxxi. and cxxiii, and partly in Ps. cxxxvi., where a prominent
expression is repeated in the following verse while the thought is still further developed.
The logical parallelism of the strophes of which Ps. 1. may be taken as an example, is not al-
ways clearly discernible, nor always carried through consistently, so as to render the stro-
phaic parallelism a safe guide, as Koster assumes. Yet the fact is incontestable, that the
Psalms are not poetic prose, but they possess, a poetical structure, of rhythmical members
though not always thoroughly carried out. In the different editions of Luther's translation
* [Unsuccessful attempts have been made to preserve the acrostic form in German by Delitzsch, in English by Dalman
Hapstone (77ie Ancient Psalms, in Appropriate Metres: a strictly literal translaHon from the Hebrew, Edin., 1867).— C.A.B.]
§ 9. THE ARTISTIC STRUCTURE OF THE PSALMS. 27
accordingly, this feature is no longer to "be perceived (with the exception of Hommel's edition
arranged in 1859, for song and recommended for evangelical family devotions, in which the
parallelism, at least, is made apparent) ; nor has it been restored in the numerous earlier and
later versified paraphrases. In the Latin Psalters, arranged for public worship, the individual
verses have been, as a general rule, written consecutively.
In order to restore as far as possible their poetic structure, which is important to the un-
derstanding of the Psalms, and their impression upon us, and which is essential to their musi-
cal rendering, — ^we must not be confined to the masoretic division of the verses as an immovable
foundation as Peters demands {Psalmen in der Urgestalt, in the Zeitschr. der d. morg. Oesellsch.
xi. 633). The so-called masoretic division of the verses, is certainly older than the pointings
of the Masora (Hupfeld), but not always correct, as Ewald has proved (in Jahrb, iii. 128;
viii. 68) from the structure of the turns of expression in the Psalms. Neither do the Hebrew
manuscripts furnish anything decisive. They generally break the verses arbitrarily, without
determined rules, or reference to the sense, usually into two parts so that the line in space
[csTixoq) is entirely indifierent to the line in sense [kuIov] ; and by thus mutilating the text,
the meaning is often much obscured, cp. Bar ii. f. quoted by Delitzsch in his Comm. ii. 452 f.,
who introduces passages from the Talmud and the Kabbis which require that the three so
called poetic books should be written in a song style, with short lines, and even in hemi-
stichs. He remarks that such a division of the Psalter is no longer to be foand in the
Masora, and shows by examples, the irregular procedure of the manuscripts. He for this
reason, in his masoretic, critical, edition of the Psalms abandoned the division by verses,
and reproduced the usual masoretic form, only in Ps. xviii. The number of verses in the
Psalter is also variously stated. They are generally put at 1612. But from a statement of
Bar which Delitzsch quotes in his Comm. ii. 474, in the 19, sedarim, i. e., classes and series,
into which the Psalms were divided, the number of pesukim or verses is given at 2527, the
middle verse being Ps. Ixxviii. 36. The restoration of the members of the so called verses, is
most easily accomplished on the basis of their parallelism. To discover their strophaic
structure, the only recourse left, is to proceed from the unity of the thought, in a greater num-
ber of lines of sense, taking care not to be led astray, by our failure always to find a regular
and homogeneous structure. It is quite reasonable to suppose, that changes from short lined
to long lined verses, may occasionally appear, as characteristic of the Hebrew lyrics, such as
we may recognize in the different groupings of strophes in the same Psalm.* The method
of procedure, here proposed, harmonizes with the little which we know of the manner of
rendering the Psalms.
* [Since the time of Lo^th the parallelism of Hebrew poetry has been generally regarded as of three kinds: the
synonymous the antithetical and the synthetical or constructive. But since the first two kinds are rare in their
occurrence and many of them do not differ to any appreciable degree in some of their phases from those of the
third class, and since it is very generally admitted that almost all Hebrew poetry belongs to the third class and
some ofthe poetry cannot without difBcuUy be brought under either of the three classes, I do not see what advantage
there is in the classification. The true idea of Hebrew poetry is that the rythmical flow of thought finds its natu-
ral expression, and is not checked by the external form, except in the acrostic. The thought ebbs and flows, and the
expression ebbs and flows with it, both as regards the lines and the strophes. The lines are often of even length, but not
unfrequently very uneven, and the strophes are but seldom uniform in their number of lines, There is no guidance for divi-
sion into lines and strophes, except in the greater or lesser ebb and flow of the thought. As Dr. Binnie says {The Psalms,
their history, teachings, and use, p. 137, 1870). "The pause in the progress of thought determines the point at which the
verse or line must end. The poetical structure fits so closely to the thought, that a Hebrew poem can be reproduced in any
ofher language, verse for verse and line for line." Dr. Wright (Art. Bebrew Poetry, Smith's Diet, ofthe Bible) cites from
Bishop Jebb {Sacr. Lit. p. 20) with approval the following: " Hebrew poetry is universal poetry; the poetry of all lan-
guages and of all peoples : collocation of words ... is primarily directed so as to secure the best possible announcement
and discrimination ofthe sense; let then, a translator only be literal, and so far as the genius of the language will permit,
let him preserve the original order ofthe words, and he will infallibly put the reader in possession of all or nearly all that
the Hebrew text can give to the best Hebrew scholar of the present day." Says Dr. Binnie, p. 152, "The Hebrew poems
stand alone in all literature in this respect that, with the partial exception of the acrostics they can be transferred, in their
form as well as their substance, in a literal translation, into any other language One may well trace in this the overruling ^
hand and wisdom of Him who designed the Scriptures to be the fountain of spiritual light, and the rule of faith and man-
ners to all nations. Suppose the poetry of the Bible had been metrical, what would have been the effect ? Why, one half of
the Old Testament would have been to the Gentiles a fountain sealed. The Paradise lost turned into prose is the Paradise
lost no more. There are literal translations of Homer and of Horace into fair English prose ; but, except for certain school-
boy purposes, they are utterly useless. They convey no idea of the Greek and Latin originals. Had the Prophecies of
28 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
§10. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PSALMS WERE RENDERED.
The Psalms were not simply poems, originally thought out, and intended to be read, ac-
cording to Hupfeld's appropriate remarks, Comm. iv. 439. They were rather sung, or intended
to be sung, and that with musical accompaniment. This is manifest not merely from " the
analogy of all the most ancient poetry," but from their liturgical purpose and use {vid. | 5).
The delivery of the Psalms however was not so much a singing as " an oriental style of de-
clamation, with a lively modulation of the voice (Saalschfltz, Archdologie I. 287) and depended
on the accents. Simon Durau even alludes (Delitzsch's Comm. II. 479) to three styles of delivery
for the Bible, one for the Pentateuch, one for the Prophets, and one for the metrical books
(Psalms, Proverbs and Job). He remarks, however, that the melodies alluded to have not
been preserved. In ancient ritual books, two styles of singing, are indicated by the accents
{Z\xnz,Die synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters i. 1855, §115), but we have no definite know-
ledge in regard to them, and the entire theory of accentuation, is obscure and open to contro-
versy. We are only sure, that the accent did not simply indicate the emphasis and division
of sentences ; but referred also to the tones in which they were to be delivered, and further-
more that the metrical accents were from the most ancient time, difierent in figure and posi-
tion from those of the other twenty-one sacred books. A representation of the later system
is given by Heydenheim, in the Hebrew book, Mischpete ha-Tedmim, 1808, full of impor-
tant information drawn from Jewish grammarians. S. Bar, rendered a similar service with
reference to metrical accentuation in the Hebrew work, Thorath Emeth, 1852. He has furnished
also an independent treatise, important on all questions of accentuation, in an appendix to
Delitzsch's Comm. ii. 477 f. But while we may infer from the names of the several accents,
which refer for the most part to their intonation, yet sometimes to both this, and the figure,
their musical significance, yet the ancient metrical modulation is still unknown, and the in-
vestigation of original sources, gives us but a fragmentary knowledge of the intonation of a
few metrical accents. To this connection belongs, the distinction referred to the Rabbis Acha
and Mocha, between the Babylonian and Tiberian systems of accentuation, which although
referring to but a few points, have yet been connected with other difi'erences between Oriental
and Occidental Jews. Upon these matters the influence of the Sect of the Karmans becomes
more and more apparent. Of. besides the references to later discoveries in Delitzsch's Comm. ii.
§519f., especially J. Furst's Geschichte des Kardrthums bis 900 der gewohnlichen Zeitrech-
nung, 1862. Jost [Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner SeJcten, 1858, ii. 336) had previously
pointed out the peculiar methods of employing these accents, in singing the Psalms, Proverbs
Ecclesiastes, and Song of Sol. It is still uncertain, however, whether the Occidental chanting
of the German and Polish Jews, or the Oriental style of the Jews of Italy and Spain, have
preserved most accurately their original character. The assumption of Haupt [Sechs Alttes-
tam, Psalmen mit ihren aus den Accenten enzifferten Singweisen, 1854) that the accents are nu-
merical signs to be combined with the Hebrew letters, furnishing in the series of tones thus
given, the original melody, is highly improbable. It is, moreover questionable, if the present
accentuation represents any more than the style of delivery at the period of the Herodian
temple; not to speak of the earlier method. It may be conjectured, that the style of singing
was formerly more diversified, than that which is indicated by the present accentuation. The
Jewish traveller Petachia, of Eegensbarg, in the 12th century states {Liter aturblatt des Ori-
ents iv. 641) that in Bagdad (where Benjamin of Tudela in the same century, also found a
peculiar style of singing Psalms with musical accompaniment) there were several traditional
melodies, yes several for particular Psalms. The Eabbis, also, frequently refer the numeri-
cal references contained in several superscriptions, e. g., Pss. vi. xii. xcii. to the number of its
melody. The conjecture of Gerberti [De oantu et musica sacra, 2 vols., 1174), et al., is especially
worthy of attention, comp. Saalschlitz [Oesohichie und Wurdigung der Musik, 1829, S. 121)
Isaiah or the Psalms of David been written in the classical measure or our modern rhymes, they would have fared as ill at the
hands of the translators. They must have remained untranslated till some man of genius arose to execute a metrical ver-
sion, which would have been but a paraphrase after all. As the case stands, David and Isaiah may be transferred, without
material loss, into any language by any scholarly pen. Not only their sense, but their manner and the characteristic felici-
ties of their style, are reproduced, not unfairly, in our Authorized English Version."— C. A. B.]
§11. THE LITURGICAL RENDERING OP THE PSALMS WITH MUSIC. 29
and Ferd. Wolf ( Udter die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche, 1841, S. 285), that the eight so-called
Church tones of the Gregorian chants, have preserved the remnants of the ancient temple
Bong. The Jewish tradition, was simply a further development, under the influence of Gre-
cian musical instruction, cf, § 13. Not only are eight musical accents frequently alluded to,
by the Kabbis {neginoth), but the eight Church tones, are to be found in the Armenian Church
(Petermann in Zeitschrift fur die d. morg. Gesellsch. V. 368 f.), and a kindred style of singing
also in the Greek Church. Ewald and Hupfeld, in their praiseworthy efforts to represent
scientifically, the difficult and obscure doctrine of accentuation, and to deduce it from one
leading principle, are agreed in this ; — that the accentuation was neither purely logical nor
purely musical, but of a rhythmical character, every masoretic verse forming a rhythmical
period, whose members were marked by a rising and falling inflection. They disagree how-
ever in this, that Hupfeld regards the rhythmical period as double, i. e., consisting of a rising
and falling inflection, and proceeding from this basis to a still farther dichotomy, while Ewald
regards them as progressing in three movements, each growing more difficult than the pre-
ceding, until the course is ended. Ewald suggests a special scheme of poetical accentuation
in which the falling inflection occurs in the middle of the verse.
§ 11. THE LITURGICAL RENDERING OF THE PSALMS WITH MUSIC.
The frequent use in the Psalms of words signifying to play (often with the name of the
instrument) points, apart from the testimony of the superscriptions, (c/. § 12), to the fact
that the rendering of the Psahns was with musical accompaniment. The frequent occur-
rence of strophaic members, with refrains, points in like manner to their rendering by choruses
or even with the dance (Hupf, iv. 440). The oldest reference of this kind is found in
Exodus XV. 20, Judges xi. 34. The division of entire Psalms, however, into responsive
choruses by Nachtigall [Gesdnge Davids und seiner JZeitgenossen, 1797), and others, is un-
historical. The chorus repeated only the refrain, vid. Pss. xlii., xliii. It appears, neverthe-
less, from the description of the Book of Chronicles, associated with isolated statements in
the Psalms themselves that the liturgical singing was antiphonal, even during the period of
the first temple, cultivated by persons specially appointed to that office, and led, if not exclu-
sively conducted by the Levitical singers, accompanied by the music of the priests. These
arrangements were based essentially upon usages introduced by David, 1 Ch. xxv. 2 ; which
were preceded only by the regulations in Num. x., for the use of two silver trumpets to be
sounded by the priests. The leading instrument which marked the time was the cymbal, zalzal
in the Talmud zelazal, referred to in 2 Sam. vi. 5, as one of the sacred instruments.
These can scarcely have been the clapping castanets (Pfeifer, Ueber die Music, p. 54), but the
ringing cymbals (Septuag. K{)fi(3alov) of which there were two kinds, Ps. cl. 5, the clear-sound-
ing and the dull-sounding (Ewald, Jahrb. viii., 67 f.). Harp-playing was often employed
minnim, Ps. cl. 4; perhaps also xlv. 9. The highest part was led by the nebel {yd^la, vavla,
ipaTiT^piov) indicating, it may be, the lyre, xcii, 4, which Josephus tells us, in his Jewish Anti-
quities, had twelve strings, and was played with an ivory plectrum, in distinction from nebel^
asor, or simply asor, the harp of ten strings, which was played with the hand, 1 Sam. xvi. 23,
xviii. 10, xix. 9. The lower part was played upon the cither, kinnor [iitvhpa,Kc&apa), an octave
lower (1 Chron. xv. 21). The straight metallic trumpets were especially prominent as wind
instruments, chazozrah [aakTriy^)^ whose number, according to 1 Chron. v. 12, amounted to 120 ;
then came the crooked rams' horns, shofar {aakivLy^ Keparivrj)^ Pss. Ixxxi. 4, xcviii. 6, cl. 3 ; pro-
bably identical with queren=hoTn, Jos. vi. 5 ; finally the shepherd's flute or reed-pipe,' ugab, cl. 4,
which was also called chalil, probably a hollow reed, vid. Hupfeld on Ps. v. 1 ; Delitzsch on
Gen. iv. 21. Their use during the period of the first temple is established by Is. xxx. 29 ;
comp. 1 Sam. vi. 5 ; 1 Kings i. 40. The chief instrument which accompanied festal dancing
was the tof [ri/xTravov) Arabic duff, whence the Spanish adufe through the Moorish, the hand-
drum or tamborine, cl. 4, cf. Ex. xv. 20. The menaannim (Vulg.: sistra, Luther: Schellen),
alluded to in 1 Sam. vi. 5, in the bringing back of the ark of the covenant, were bended rods
of iron, hung with loose rings, which rattled on being shaken. Likewise mentioned but once,
1 Sam. xviii. 6, are the schaUschim, i.e., triangles (Luther erroneously, "violins"). It is
30 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
doubtful whether we may infer from the expression " in the full choir/* xxvi. 12 ; Ixvlii. 72 ;
that the song was partly sung by the congregation. Such a reference is favored rather by 2
Chron. vii. 3, while Jer. xxxiii. 11, E2:. iii. 10, certainly refer to certain responses. With
respect to the amen, vid. 1 Chron. xvi. 36, (c/. Ps. cvi., the concluding doxology), Nehemiah
viii. 6, [cf. Judith xiii. 25). But this has already brought us down to a late period.
At the time of the second temple the congregation responded amen to the Levites, who
sung the Psalm for every day of the week, with the accompaniment of music [cf. § 5). Ac-
cording to the tradition of the Talmud, a sign was given upon the cymbals, whereupon at
least twelve Levites, standing upon the broad step [dukhan] of the short stairway leading
from the place of the congregation to the outer court of the priests, at the conclusion of the
morning prayer, while the officiating priests poured out the wine offering, and playing together
upon nine cithers, two harps, and one cymbal, began the Psalm to be sung, while the younger
Levites not joining in the singing, stood at the feet of the older Levites, strengthening the
music with their instruments. By the side of the latter stood also the Levitical boys, who
represented the treble. Two priests who stood at the right and left of the cymbal-players,
and appear to have accompanied the singers with trumpets during the period of the first tem-
ple, (2 Chron, v. 18, vii. 6; xxix. 26 f.), indicated the pauses of the song with nine blasts of
the trumpet, at the time of the second temple. Lightfoot distributed the latter (in his Min-
isierium templi HierosoL c. vii. § ii.), following Maimon., between three divisions of the song.
Gratz on the contrary, [Geschichte der Juden, iii. 116), interposes them between nine divisions
of the song, and that only from the Hasmonsean period. The people fell down in adoration
between these pauses of the song, Lev. ix. 24, 1 Kings xviii. 39 ; cf. Herzfeld ( Geschichte iii.
164 f.), who alludes to the gradual omission of the priestly trumpets from the Levitical music,
and conjectures that the people frequently raised a shout of joy [terna) which is indicated by
the word simcha (1 Chron. xv. 16 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 30, and elsewhere frequently), and thus
only does Num. x. 10 become intelligible.
In the hallel and some other Psalms, the congregation joined in the singing after the first
sentence, which it repeated, and after the second sentence, with the hallelujah. The render-
ing of the hallel was predominantly recitative.
The daily Levitical call of prayer, taken from Ps. xliv. 24, was not accompanied with music
at the time of the Maccabees, nor the priestly blessing. Num. vi. 24-26, with which Psalm
Ixvii. begins, which was sung in the temple at the close of each morning service, in such a
melodious manner that the name of God (of twelve letters) was lost in the sound of that in
four letters, which was sung by the other priests {vid. Delitzsch, i. 487).
The first fruits, on the other hand, were brought to the temple mount with the mitsic of
ihefiute, which began when they were carried up in baskets, Ps. xxx. The hallel was accom-
panied by a flute, with a reed for a mouth-piece, and indeed before the altar, on twelve days
in the year, namely, on the 14th of Nisan, at the killing of the Paschal lamb ; on the 14th of
Ijjar, on the killing of the subsequent Paschal lamb; on the first and seventh days of the
Passover, and on the eight days of the feast of Tabernacles. On the first day of this feast,
at the rejoicing in the drawing of the water, the type of Pentecost, the Levites performed,
standing upon the semi-circular stair-case of fifteen steps, leading from the court of the men
to that of the women, but probably not previous to the time of Herod's temple, while two
priests stood above in the Nicanor gate with trumpets. Concerning the dancing which waa
then conducted with the swinging of torches and with responsive songs, cf. Delitzsch,^r
Geschichte der judischen Poesie, 1836, S. 193 f.
In the temple of Herod there was an organ— a, real wind organ with a hundred different
tones, whose thundering sound, according to Jerome, could be heard beyond the Mount of
Olives, cf. Saalschiitz, Archdologie, i. 281.
§ 12. THE CONTROVEETED MUSICAL EXPRESSIONS IN THE PSALMS.
There are a few expressions in the body of the Psalms, which can scarcely be applied to
anything other than their musical execution. This is in many cases established, even when
their definite significance is a matter of question. Only a few are free from obscurities. Of
those whose m.eaniner is auestionablp. wa ma^r ■ma-ni-\n,T, .
§12. THE CONTROVERTED MUSICAL EXPRESSIONS IN THE PSALMS. 31
1. Selah. The word occurs seventy-one times in the Psalms ; and three times besides
in Hahakkuk.* It stands generally at the end of a strophe, yet sometimes in the middle. It
does not follow from this, however, that it belongs to the text, and should be translated
" CA^r" or " forever," (Chald., Aquil., Symm. Jerome). The word stands by itself, however
uncertain its vocalization, and however contestable its origin and significance may be. In
the (hd. Sin, it stands always in a separate line, and is written in red characters. The ex-
pression of Justin Martyr (against Trypho, c. 37) that the word in question in the Ixvi. Ps.
stands fv Siaipdl/ian points to such a position, as if a division were indicated thereby. In the
Apocryphal Psalter of Solomon, also xvii. 31; xviii. 10, judging from the translation
(M'^alfia, it had the same position as in the Septuagint. The word is, not, however, a syn-
tactical designation, = section, as Pfeifer following tiie Arabic supposes, [MusiJc der alien
Eehr. S. 17) ; but it is a musical term. It is most probably to be derived as Kimchi suggests,
from Salal=\S.i!i up, not an imperative, however, " up !" " on high," which Ewald applies to
the strengthening of the tone=loud : and supposes, at the same time, the cessation of the
song ordinarily accompanied with softer, gentler music. Kimchi, Forkel ( Geschichte der MusiJc
i. 144), Herder, and Gesenius in his Lexicon, refer to a repetition of the melody in a higher
key. Bottcher [Ideen zur hebr. Worfforsch.) translates it, " cease 1 stop!" regarding it as
indicating a pause. In view of Ps. ix. 17, it is rather to be understood as a noun, elevafio,
and to be referred to the instruments. The word calls for a stronger application of musical
means (Delitzsch, /or ^e) especially from the choir of priests, with their long trumpets, (repre-
sented on the triumphal arch of Titus at Eome) standing opposite the singers' stage, in con-
nection with the loud sounding of harps and cithers from the choir of the Levitical orchestra,
{Somm.GT,£ibl. Abh. i. 1-82). Bottcher has also since translated it " playing with full power "
[De inferis, i. 198). The derivation which Gesenius proposes in the Thesaurus (following
Rosenmtiller) from a word which signifies to keep silence, but which refers only to the cessa-
tion of the song, and the commencement of the harp-playing, has less to recommend it. We
must entirely reject the assumption that this word contains an abbreviation of the initial
letters of three words meaning sign to change the tone, and likewise the view which discovers
here a summons to the singers to " return above,"=towards the beginning, i. e., da capo.
Hitzig, after the Arabic, refers the word to the bending of the body in prayer.f
2. Higgojon. This word is associated with Selah in Ps. ix. 17, where the Septuag., Aquil.,
Symmach. translate ^^^ diafdlfxaTog as if they had read it hegjon. In Ps. xcii. 4, on the con-
trary, it is connected with musical instruments, describing their tone, however, rather than
the instrument; yet not as roaring music (Gesenius, De Wette), but as a summons to harp-
playing (Delitzsch), for the etymology only points to the meaning "to hum," (Hupfeld).
The same word may also mean " to think," e. g., Ps. xix. 5, in connection with libbi. Heng-
stenberg for this reason assumes that there is in Ps. ix. 19 a summons to meditation, during
the cessation of the music ; and Hitzig finds the bowing of the head prescribed, associated
with meditation, and hence somewhat protracted as in the silent use of the Lord's prayer.
Keil interprets it=piano.
3. Lamenazzeach is found in fifty-five Psalms and in Hab. iii. 19 at the beginning of
the superscription. Ps. Ixxxviii., where two superscriptions are joined together, constitutes
only an apparent exception. The word is composed of the sign of the dative and the partic.
Piel of a verb, whose original idea is " to be strong ; " in Piel, " to overpower ; " or according
to Ewald "to be pure, perfect; " in Piel "to put any thing in a perfect condition, to arrange,
to have the supervision over something ; " hence the construction with /]}, or, as with all
verbs of ruling and leading with 3. Both derivations point to a leader or master, and more
especially according to 1 Chron. xv. 21, to the temple music, and the word is generally connected
* [Of the thirty-nine Psalma in which this word occurs, twenty-eight have musical superscriptions, and all are ascribed
to persona known for musical gifts, as well as for poetical endowments, i. e., David, Asaph, Ethan, Heman and the sons of
Korah.— J. B. H.]
f [For an admirable discussion of this subject, vid. the art. sdah in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, by W. A. Wright. There
has as yet been no satisfactory solution of this subject. It ia certainly a musical term not belonging to the text proper,
BJid this ifl all we know about it. — 0. A. B.]
32 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
with such " leading " or " conducting " as was entrusted to the Levites. The dative desig-
nates him either as the Author of the musical accompaniment of those songs, (Olsh.) ; or,
better, as the leader of the choir, to whom the song thus designated was given for liturgical
use, who was either to execute it himself, or to exercise the choir in singing it (Saalsclfctz,
Delitzsch), cf. 1 Chron. xv. 21, with v. 19. The interpretation of the word as an infinitive^
to lead the choir (Chald., Luther), is not grammatically admissible. Some expositors, fol-
lowing the Syriac, regard the radical meaning to be that of" brightly shining," and thence,
through the intermediate conception " shine upon," derive that of " distinguishing oneself,"
and hence the signification mentioned above. Herzfeld ( Geschichte i. 415) interprets it : "A^
bright sounding song," and supposes it to refer to the person who was to sing it solo. The
translation of the Septuagint, hg to riMc, indicates according to Theodoret; that the
Psalms so designated are to be sung, at the Jinal time when that which is foretold in them
should be fulfilled. The Talmud Tract. Fesachim 117 a. takes the same view, and Hilarius'
interpretation is similar, at least, since he indicates by the title in finem, that he under-
stands the Psalms so characterized as prophetic, since they must necessarily contain the ab-
solutely perfect doctrines, and the types of eternal good things.
4. Binginoth, follows the word just considered in Pss. iv., liv., Iv., ixvii., Ixxvi. It was
probably inserted according to Delitzsch, before the leading title, which designated the class
to which the Psalm belonged, and the author, by the hand of the musical director of the
Temple. For this expression indicates " with the accompaniment, xlix. 5, of harp-playing "
rather than " with string instruments." Ewald supposes it to depend upon the following
nv:DS and at present adopts the interpretation [DieDichter, i. 251) : to the leader of the
musical instruments, and more specifically of " the harps," that is of the temple music. Hup-
feld regards this connection as possible, while Delitzsch contests it on account of Hab. iii. 19.
Hitzig also translates it, " to the leader of the harp," which the parallel expression dl negi-
nath Ps. Ixi. might seem to favor. It is ordinarily taken as status construct, which is regarded
as standing for the absolute, or is supposed to require the pointing of the plural [oth], which
is purely arbitrary. Hengstenberg accordingly joins this word to the following and trans-
lates " To the leader of the harps of David." But the termination atk is rare in Hebrew, and
the prevailing feminine form in the Phoenician (Gesenius, ^ 80 Anm. 2 a). This expression
therefore decides nothing. It may mean "upon stringed instruments." The opinion, that
the technical expression above continually and inaccurately translated, £v vfivocg^ by the Sep-
tuag. contains the beginning of a model song, is scarcely probable.
5. El-hannechil6th, follows the expression lamenazzeach in Ps. v. The Septuag., refers
it to the contents of the Psalm, translating it, v-rrlp r^g K?.T/pnvofio{ja?jg, which is followed by the
Vulgate and Luther in the translation, " For the inheritance." Among the recent expositors
Keil translates it, " In reference to the inheritance; " Hengstenberg, who adopts the adj. pass.
translates " That which is inherited, — possessed ; " in the plural " the possessions, the lots,"
and in fact those of the righteous and sinners. A musical significance, however, is suggested
by the position of the words. Now the flute, as a hollow reed (Hupfeld) is called chalil, and
its use in the service of the second temple cannot be doubted, vid. § 11. It is not to be trans-
lated, as many modern commentators, following the Chald. have done, " for flutes," but for
"flute playing" (Delitzsch) ; hence el is added (Redslob) and not 6.1. In answer to the ob-
jections of Ewald and Hengstenberg, Hupfeld remarks that the flute occurs among the in-
struments of sacred song of the sons of the prophets 1 Sam. x. 5 ; and again at the anointing
of Solomon 1 Kings i. 40, and on the festal pilgrimages. Is. xxx. 29 ; and the possibility of
their earlier use in the temple music is not to be contested. Saalschutz [Archdol. i. 280),
erroneously refers to Ps. Ixxxviii. 7, as an example. But a more recent Jewish commentator
referred to by Delitzsch, regards it as the first word of a song of the bees, according to which
melody this was to be sung,
6. After lamenazzeach, in Ps. xxxix., follow the words lidith{in=to Jeduthun, Septuag.
'iSvBoiiv. The form with ith for this proper name is found in 1 Chron. xvi. 38 ; Nehem. xi. 17 •
yet, in every case, with the q^ri of the fuller form uth. The words dl-jediithun, Ps. Ixii., dl-Jedi-
ihun, Ps. Ixvii., are to be explained with reference to this. Maurer's remark on the superscrip-
g 12. THE CONTROVERTED MUSICAL EXPRESSIONS IN THE PSALMS, 83
tion to Ps. vi., that all the titles introduced with d^contain the name of an instrument, is
without foundation. The preposition at stands before the model after which something is
patterned or sung, in the Syriac also, vid. Eichhorn in Jones, Poes. Asiai. Comment, prcef.
xxxii. The name of an instrument, therefore, is not given here, as Gesenius and others, fol-
lowing the Eabbis, have maintained ; but the chorister of David, 1 Chron. xvi. 41 f. ; xxv. 1
f. ; 2 Chron. v. 12, who appears, however, to have received the name Jeduthun, only after
his appointment in Gibeon, 1 Chron. xvi. ; while this is undoubtedly the same person who
in 1 Chron. xv. is called Ethan. It is therefore the name of the one to whom the practice of
the song was entrusted (Delitzsch), or the name (2 Chron. xxxv. 15; Nehem. xi. 17) of the
family of Jeduthun (De Wette, Keil, Hitzig) as that of a choir of singers, to whose leader
the Psalm in question was assigned for liturgical use.
7. 'Al-haggittith. This, the superscription to Pss. viii., Ixxxi. andlxxxiv., according to some
{vide M.ich.ae\. iSuppl. ad lex, Sebr.), signifies a song sung at the treading of the grapes. The Sep-
tuag. vTTlp Tuv lrn>Civ^ favors the interpretation. The contents, however, although of a joyous
nature, do not harmonize with such an interpretation. Eedslob translates it : " for playing
on stringed instruments." This derivation is, however, forced. The majority take it as the
adj. fern, of the name of the town of Gath; not Gath-Eimmon, in the tribe of Dan (Chald.,
De Wette), but Gath of the Philistines. There is a difference of opinion, however, whether
to refer it to an instrument from that place (Chald. ) or to a kind of tone and melody (Forkel
1. 1 ff.).
8. 'Al-hascheminith, Septuag., iirhp rvg hyS6rjQ, the superscription of Pss. vi. and xii. cannot
mean, as is generally assumed, that the song was designed to be played upon an instrument
of eight strings. It can only refer, philologically, to something arranged according to the
number eight. To this, a tone is more appropriate than an instrument. In considering 1
Chron. xv. 21, the choice of the base tone, the octave, that is, the base voice, seems to be re-
commended (Gesenius, Delitzsch, ei al.). The tone of both Psalms and the contrasted ex-
pression in Ps. xlvi. seem to favor this interpretation.
9. Ps. xlvi., namely, is to be rendered al dlamoth. According to 1 Chron. xv. 20, this de-
signates the higher part ; " maiden-like style" It is certainly not to be translated with Bott-
cher (De iw/em, p. 192), ad voces puberes, instead of ad puellas puberes for the sake of obtain-
ing the expression, tenor voice. But we may be justified in supposing it to refer to the real
soprano voice, since Ps. Ixviii., at least, alludes to damsels who played upon timbrels at the
temple festivals. But we cannot interpret it "youths," like the Arabic translation of
Saadia (comp. \Haneberg on this transl., S. 47). We may think, with Delitzsch, that the com-
pass of the tenor voice extends into the soprano, and that the singers were of different ages — ■
some as young as twenty years, and that the Orientals, including the Jews, were fond of the
falsetto voice. Delitzsch introduces from the Mishna, Tr. Erachin 13 6, the statement, that
while the Levites sang to the string instruments, their boys, standing at their feet beneath the
pulpits, joined in their song, thus adding to it the harmony of higher and lower voices. Cer-
tainly the passage in the Chronicles excludes the supposition of " a musical instrument,"
which Simonis, in his lexicon, conjectures to have been the Phrygian flute of boxwood. But
we are not confined by the Septuag., ^repi Kpv^iav, to the derivation from alam=to hide, which
led the older expositors to the thought of a " still, gentle style." Forkel, 1. 142 compares it
to the maiden-like style of the chief singer.
10. In the superscription of Ps. ix., dl-muih labben, many recent commentators, following
Gesenius, have found simply a corruption of the word just explained. The fact that in many
manuscripts, as also in xlviii. 15, the first two parts of the expression are written as
one word, and that the Masora does not decide the matter, while most of the old translators
have so understood it, although with different renderings, are the grounds on which this view
rests. The Septuag. iTT^P Tcjv /cpt'0i6)v row wot), Vulgate, jtjro occM^^is/^n. Similarly the Arab,
and Ethiop., De mysteriis. M. Heidenheim {Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift fur engl theol.
Forschung und Kritik, Nro. viii., 1865, S. 470) traces this translation to an old Midrash, for
Jalkut ii. 613, after alluding to the two readings, here considered, translates it, " The secret
(sins) which the son commits and the day of atonement expiates." The derivation from
8
84 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
dlam^^to conceal, is likewise at the basis of this view. Aquil., on the contrary, veavidrTrroc.
Theod. and the five Greek translations vTrep aK/x^g think of " youth " and " youthful vigor."
Similarly a pesikta in Isaki, according to Hupfeld. Luther also " of beautiful youth ;"
Ewald: "The son has youthful vigor. Viewed in this sense, the word following is most
naturally taken as a. proper name, especially as among the Levites, 1 Chron. xv. 18, which
sang V. 20 to Nihla al hlamoth a Ben is introduced. According to the present Masoretic
reading only the words of an ancient song, in the style of which the Psalm was to be sung,
could be suggested. Grammatically the translation " to the (song), die for the son " is most
appropriate, which many expositors understand as referring to the martyrs, or " to the (song)
dying to the son "=" death of the son" (Symmach., Jerome), or "to the (song), die, expire'^
(Hitzig). Most of the Rabbis translate it "on the death of the Ben," which to Kimchi sug-
gests the Levitical singer, already referred to ; the other Rabbis find here the name of a hos-
tile prince. Some, following the Chald., take ben=ben, and understand it as referring to
Goliath, who is called, 1 Sam. xvii, 4, 23, Isch Aa66enm=champion. Some, however, trans-
late it, on the death of the son, referring it either to the death of Absalom, or to that of the
Messiah. A few only understand by it "an instrument," or like De Wette and
Winer, the name of a melody. On the assumption of an intentional displacing
of the letters, Grotius, following a few Rabbis, mentioned by Isaki and Kimchi (wkose
views, however, are contested by them), refers it to the death of Nabal, 1 Sam. xxv. 38.
Hengstenberg formerly assumed Nabal to be equivalent to "fool," and to contain also,
as a typical prophecy, according to 1 Sam. xxv. 26, an allusion to that Nabal.
Delitzsch remarks, " If we give up the traditional pronunciation, the song may have
treated of the death of the miserly Laban ; or it may have begun Death makes clean.' " But
why must the traditional pronunciation be regarded as false? Heidenheim explains it, from
1 Chron. XV. 20, and assumes it to have been a corrupt reading of the genuine Pimhj; h);
11. 'Al-ajjeleth hasckachar. This the superscription of Ps. xxii. cannot possibly designate
an instrument (Maurer). Its sense is (upon or) " to the tune of the hind of the dawn." The
translation of the Septuagint i'Trip r^g avTCA^feag rf/g kudcv^g, Vulgate, pro susceptione matutina,
rests upon its having been confounded with mS'N, v. 20. The Midrash discovers in it a
symbolic reference, and points to the Song of Solomon ii. 8, and also the Chald. Targum,
which refers it to the " lamb of the morning sacrifice," when the watcher, mounted to the
pinnacle of the temple and cried " the first beams of the morning shine." Luther also gives it a
symbolic interpretation (of the hind which is early hunted) and refers it to Jesus, who was
taken in the night and led before the high council. Hengstenberg also discovers in the hind,
the picture of persecuted innocence, and in the dawn finds an allusion referring us to v. 20
and V. 2, as figurative of the prosperity which follows immediately after adversity ;— in this
case to the resurrection of Christ at early dawn. Most of the expositors, nevertheless, follow-
ing Aben Ezra and Calvin, assume that it referred either to the name of a certain kind of tone
or to the first word, or, at least, the catch-word of a song, to the melody and rhythm of which
the Psalm was to be sung and which may have been selected on account of a correspondence
with its contents or expression. Nevertheless, the " hind of the dawn," is not the " hind
Dawn " which is chased, like a frightened deer by the sun, the huntsman (Olshausen) •
nor " the morning star," (Kimchi) but the dawn which precedes the early light whose first
beams are compared to the horns of a hind. Comp. David Lowy's Worterhuch des talmud,
Eebr., 1845, S. 83.
12. The words ofthe superscription to Ps.liii. Umachalath, (to which are added in Ps
Ixxxviii. the words leannoth=io sing, Ex. xxii. 18; Is xxvii. 21), are not to be explained by
altering the pointing, "upon flutes" (the majority) ; nor, following the Arabic, "a song for
stringed instruments " (Gesen.) ; rather likewise after the Arabic, " in a tardy manner "=
piano (Hitzig). Delitzsch, appealing to Ex. xv. 26, regards machalath, as either the name of
an elegiac tone, or the first word of a popular song of lamentation (according to Ewald a
very ancient song of contrition). Keil also supposes it to be the designation of a sono- of
which Ps. Uii is the translation, " concerning sickness," with the addition, in Ps. Ixx^iin
1 12. THE CONTROVERTED MUSICAL EXPRESSIONS IN THE PSALMS. 35
referring to the trial. Hengstenberg gives the same translation, (and the etymology allows
of it),but refera the superscriptions not to the catch-word of other songs, but to the contents
of the Psalms themselves. He regards the expression " sickness " in Ps. liii. as symbolical of
Bpiritual sickness, Ps. Ixxxviii. ( to be closely associated, in his view, with Psalm Ixxxix.) as
a designation of severe suffering, in which comfort was secured, through the praise of God-
No use can be made of the Septuag. translation vt^^p M.at'Kcd tov cnroKpid^vac.
13. The superscription al Shoshannim of Pss. xlv., and Ixix., likedZ shushan'eduth of Ps.
Ix. and el sohoshannim'eduth of Ps. Ixxx. is referred by many to a lily-shaped instrument (De
Wette) ; by others to a hexachord, of the shape of a turtle (Eichhorn, in Simon Lex. hebr.). The
recent expositors however, refer it to well known songs designated by catch-words — thus to
" the song of the lilies," " the lily of the testimony ; " and " lilies are witnesses." Ewald
translates it " like lilies," — i. e., pure, and innocent is the Law. Hengstenberg finds here a
symbolic designation of the lovely bride, alluded to in Ps. xlv. This, however, does not ac-
cord with the contents of other Psalms thus designated, and is also, unnecessary, from the
fia,ct, that Ps. xlv., is also designated shir Jedidoih, i. c, " the song of loveliness" (Aquil. ^a/ua
irpoaipiXiag), or "song of the beloved," so that beloved persons (Olshausen, like the Septuag.
V^if TOV ayaTTijTov)^ or beloved objects (Delitzsch), are the contents: or, as a song of love
(Ewald, Hitzig) or a bridal song (Luther) ; yet, certainly not in a worldly erotic sense, since
the same superscription marks also a Korite Psalm, which is also, designated as maschal. It
is particularly this statement, connected only with this Psalm (in the Septuag. elg rb rkTioq
virkp Tdjv aTOMLuSnoopihuv, departing entirely from the text), which the superscription under
consideration, does not touch at all. Luther puts always erroneously " roses " in place of
lilies. His translation of Ps. Ix however, " of a golden band of roses to instruct " refers to a
rose-shaped ornament for the head, which patrician women and maidens (noble women) wore
{yid. Bake), and which David is supposed to have employed as a symbol of his well organized,
government. In Ps. Ixxx. the words are separated by athnach ; and instead of ly we have
vX. Hupfeld and Hitzig therefore join 'eduth=teBt\m.0Ti.Y, with the following words " of
Asaph." Hengstenberg thinks of the Law, as the way of attaining salvation, the loveliness of
which is referred to in the preceding words.
14. 'Aljonaih elem reGhokim. This superscription of Ps. Ivi. has been generally regarded,
since the time of Aben Ezra, as the beginning of' a song, to the melody of which the Psalm
was sung and has been translated to the (song) " the dove of silence " (dumb dove) among the
distant ones ; namely : either men or places ; but with a change of pointing as proposed by
Bochart, to the song of " the dove of the distant Terebinth." Many, however, from the
earliest times, have referred these words symbolically to the contents of the Psalm, and un-
derstood them either of David (Aquil., Jerome, Kimchi, Calvin) with reference to his flight
before the Philistines ; or of his despised race (Symmach.) ; or of the exiled Israelitish people
(Alex., Chald.). Knapp refers the words to the contents, but departs from the original in his
translation: "On the oppression of foreign princes." He reads elim Ex. xv. 11. Hitzig
adopts the pointing ni7X taking it as a transposition of ^^, and translates: "Dove of
people in the distance." Septuag. vnip tov Tmov tov {hnh t&v dyiuv'j fiEju.aKpv/j.fiEvov.
15. Finally the words al taschchetk=" spoil not " are found in three Davidic Pss. Ivii., Iviii.,
lix., and in the Asaphic Psalm Ixxv. They are taken by most commentators, since the time
of Aben Ezra, as the beginning of a song, in the key of which, or after the melody of which,
it was to be sung. Still in that case, we should have to assume that al or al was omitted, for
the sake of euphony, or syntactic smoothness. Others, following the Chald. understand the
words, either as the motto or the epitome of the Psalm and regard it as a maxim, which
David had at this time especially laid to heart. Cocceius adds also, that David, when he af-
terwards wrote out this Psalm left it to the Church and believers of all times, that they also
might employ it in the midst of opposition and persecution. Hengstenberg finds the basis
of this maxim in Deut. ix. 26, and its echo in 1 Sam. xxvi. 9. Hitzig supposes the author
of the superscriptions to have referred directly to the latter i ossage. J. H. Michaelis asso-
ciates as also parallel to this, Ex. xviii. 28 ; Is. Ixv. 8. But the occurrence of the same words
36 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
decides nothing. It must be admitted, on the other hand, that the opinion which has become
current under the sanction of Aben Ezra, is with this, as in the case of other superscriptions,
nothing but hypothesis.
§ 13. THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE PSALMS IN THE CHRISTIAlir CHURCH.
As in general the Divine service of the temple and the synagogue were the models of the
earliest ordinances and usages of the Christian Church (comp. Vitringa De synagoga vetere)
80 with respect to the singing of Psalms this is especially clear. The transition was all the
more natural, since the example of Christ and His apostles, Matt. xxvi. 30 ; Acts xvi. 25 ;
Eom. XV. 16 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 15 sq. 26 ; Eph. v. 19 ; Col. iii. 16 ; James v. 13 ; to which Augus-
tine appeals expressly {Epist. 119) to prove the necessity of Psalm singing, must have already
prepared the way for it.
In the responsive chants of the Christians to which Pliny alludes {Ep. x. 98), and the
songs of praise and spiritual hymns to which the older church writers frequently refer, in
connection with Psalms (as Paul had done, Eph. v. 19 ; Col. iii. 16), we are, at all events, to
recognize an allusion to newly composed songs, simply resembling the Psalms — the models
and beginnings of the later church songs. Cp. Eusebius, H. E., v. 28. Apart from the ques-
tion whether such hymns are alluded to in Eph. v. 14; 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11 ; Eev.
iv. 11 ; V. 9, 10 ; vii. 12 ; xi, 15-19, there are frequent allusions to original hymns, called
idicjTiKol ipa?iUoij which are by some (Rheinwald, Kirch Archdologie, 1830, ^270, Anm. 8) de-
clared equivalent to apocryphal Psalms. They designate, at any rate, songs which had come
to be used in public worship, but were not entirely free from suspicion, since the council of
Laodicea, Can, 59, in the year 365, prohibited their further use in the church, and later
councils also at least limited and regulated their use. This was particularly the case at the
fourth council of Toledo, A. D. 633, Can. 13, in opposition to the rigorism of the Cone.
Braearens.i., A. D. 563, Can. 12, which had ordained "uf extra psalmos vel canonicarum scrips
turarum, N. and V. T. nihil poeiice composiium in ecelesia psallatur." Cp. Fr. Armknecht,
Die heilige Psalmodie, 1855, S. 60 f Zacharias' song of praise, Luke i. 68 f., on the contrary,
continued to be used in public worship, as likewise that of Mary, Luke i. 46 sq., that of the
heavenly host, Luke ii. 14 ; the angelic greeting Luke i. 28 ; and Simeon's words of leave-
taking, Luke ii. 29 ; likewise the Trishagion, Is. vi. 3 ; the song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. ; his
song of praise, Ex. xv. ; Hannah's song of praise, 1 Sam. ii. ; the song of thanksgiving. Is.
xii. ; Hezekiah's song of praise. Is. xxxvii. ; Habakkuk's prayer, Hab. iii., and the song of the
three men, Dan. iii. Cp.^on2i, Dedivina psalmodia ej usque causis, my steriiset disciplinis, 1643,
cxvi., 1 13. It is, however, quite as •certain, that individual Psalms were not only so exten-
sively in private use, that psalm-singing could be heard everywhere from the laborers in the
field and garden (Jerome, Ep. ad Marcell.), in the house (Tertul. Ad uxor, ii. 9) ; at meal-times
(Cyprian, Ep. ad Donat.; Clemens Alex., Pxd. ii. 4; Chrysost. in Ps, xli.) ; at morning and
evening prayer ( Ambros., Hsexann.^ v. 12 ; De jejun,, 15 ; Clemens Alex., Pscdag. ii. 41 ;
Chrysost., Horn, 1 de precant.), and from the lips of martyrs (Augustin, De civ. dei 18, 52 ;
Eufiu., Hist. eccl. 1, 35; Theodoret, Bist, eccl. 4, 10); but their use in public worship was
regulated from an early period, and they were employed to a wide extent. Cp. Th. Harnack,
Der Christliche Oemeindegottesdienst, 1854, S. 221 sq., and Ludw. Schoberlein, Ueber den
liturg. Ausbau des Gemeindegottesdienstes, 1859, S. 22-29.
Even in the Peschito there are found liturgically marked passages, six of which corres-
pond to the masoretic Sedarim, that is, arrangements, series, of which there are nineteen in
all. According to these, the whole Psalter, " the heart of God " was sung through during the
vigils preceding the festivals by the Syrian Church, which began almost all its public ser-
vices with Ps. 41 (Fr. Dietrich, Depsalterii usu publico et divisione in ecelesia syriaca, 1862, p.
;3). To break the monotony of the singing, a decree of the Cone. Laodic, A. D. 365, Can, 17,
ordained that prayers and the reading of the Scriptures should be introduced between the
Psalms. Later, among the Nestorians, songs also were introduced. References to the prayers
.'appropriated to the several Psalms are found in the manuscripts.. The first prayer which
preceded the Psalms with which the service began, was called the " foundation prayer." The
gl3. THE LITURGICAL USE OP THE PSALMS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 37
same name was thence transferred to every prayer preceding a new series of Psalms. In the
recitation of the entire Psalter, such a prayer preceded each of the fifteen customary divisions.
From this fact the division itself received the appellation marmi^Ao^" founding." Each
marmitho was again separated into four sub-divisions or subhe (sing, subho), thus making, in
all, sixty sub-divisions. Cp. Dietrich, in Delitzsch, Comm. ii. 475 f. Among some of the
Syrian clergy, the custom had formerly prevailed of praying through the entire Psalter daily;
as also among certain Egyptian monks. The time afterwards established for this devotional
exercise was the week.
In the Oreek Church likewise, the entire Psalter was prayed through every week, and was
divided for this purpose into twenty Kadiaiiara^ that is, sections, after which the congregation
was seated. Each of these again fell into three ardaei^^ that is, subdivisions, during the reci-
tation of which the congregation was standing. In this case, likewise, sixty divisions arose,
each one of which ended with the doxology after Eev. i. 6. This is manifestly modelled after
the Syrian custom alluded to. At the beginning of the third century, twelve Psalms were
usually sung at each public service. According to Athanasius (Z>e virginit.), this began
with the singing of the 63d Psalm, after each one present had oflfered a silent prayer of
confession, whereupon the recital of Psalms proceeded, beginning at the point where it had
ended at the previous service. Then followed biblical readings, originally without definite
order, alternating from the Old and the New Testament. It was only afterwards that readings
were first from the Epistles, and then afterwards from the Evangelists. Between these readings,
a Psalm was sung ( Consiit. apost. ii. 57), usually a hallelujah psalm, and most frequently the
150th (comp. Alt, Der christliche Kulius i. 184 f, 210 f ; Daniel, Codex liturg. i. 4).
In the ^thiopie Church the employment of the Psalms prevailed so extensively, that emi-
nent women not only learned to repeat the whole by heart, but the instruction of youth was
begun in it, and in Amharic the primary scholars are called pueri psalmorum (comp. Ludolf,
Comment, ad hist. jEthiop., 1691, p. 352 ; Dorn, De psalt. uEthiop., p. 10).
In the Latin Church, Jerome, in his charge to the priest Damasus, divided the Psalms
into seven parts, one for each day in the week, to be used in the horis canonicis, which were
also symbolically divided by the number seven, or perhaps eight, with reference to the divi-
(sion of the days into three times eight hours. In the breviary arranged for the daily use of
the clergy of the Eoman Catholic Church, the leading feature was the distribution of the
Psalms throughout the week, connected however with hymns, and the reading of Scripture,
and prayers. The restriction to the priests and friars is connected, on the one side, with the
fact, that in the earlier vigils, which were participated in with animation by persons of all
stations, the women were excluded by the Council of Elvira, A. D. 305, to avoid offence and
abuse {vid. Calvoer, Rituale ecd. ii. 640). But by the Council of Laodicea, Can. 16, the obli-
gatory and active participation was limited strictly to the singers belonging to the clergy.
Cp. Aug. Neander's Church History, ii. 679.
The service which Jerome rendered in prescribing the hours in which the Psalms were
to be sung was supplemented by Gregory the Great (f 604) with reference to the chief ser-
vices oi public worship, which had already been opened with the singing of one or more
Psalms, from the time of Pope Celestin. For the difference in practice of the oriental and
occidental churches, comp. J, Bingham, Origin, ecdes., 1722 sq , vi. 12, 34. With reference to
the employment of passages from the Psalms in the mass of the Eoman Catholic Church, be-
ginning with Ps. xlii., vid. in Daniel, Codex liturgicus i. 48 sq. Gregory selected from each of
the Psalms which had been previously employed two- verses which he associated with the
Epistles and Gospels already prescribed to be read. These initiatory verses, connected with
the Psalms from which they were taken, and with the Gregorian melodies for the use of the
Church, are given in Eeithardts, Psalmen fur den evang. Hauptgottesdienst, Berlin, 1856,
and have still retained their original Latin names, for the Sabbaths preceding and following
Easter, Esto mihi, from Ps. xxxi. 3 ; Invocavit from Ps, xci. 15 ; Beminiscere from Ps. xxv. 6 ;
Oculi from Ps. xxv. 15, 16 ; Lcetare from Is. Ixvi. 10 ; Judica from Ps. xliii. 1 ; Domini ne longe
(usually Palmarum) from Ps. xxii. 19 ; Dies viridium (Maunday Thursday) from Ps. xxiii. 2 (on
Good Friday the introitus, intonations and doxologies were omitted ; at Easter, the newly
88 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER,
baptized catechumens, clothed in white garments, were frequently received by the assembled
church with Ps. cxviii.) ; Quasimodogeniti, referring to 1 Peter ii. 2, followed by Ps. Ixxxi. ;
Miserecord. Domini, from Ps. xxxiii. 6 ; Jubilate, from Ps. Ixvi. 1 ; Cantaie, from Ps. xcviii. 1,
2; Rogate, from Is. xlviii. 20; Exaudi, from Ps. xxvii. 7. Cp. Fr. Strauss [Das evan<j. K,r-
chenjahr in seinem Zusammenhange, 1850). Gregory, in a similar manner, abbreviated and
arranged the Graduate, that is, the verses of the Psalms which were sung upon the steps cf
the reading desk, after the reading of the epistle, followed usually with the hallelujah ; like-
wise the offertorium and the communio, that is, the Psalms which were sung during the pre-
sentation of the offerings by the church between the credo and the prayer of thanksgiving, as
also during the communion. He retained, however, for the secondary services the use of the
unabbreviated Psalter, regulating however more precisely its use. The customary morning
song was here also Ps. Ixiii., the evening song, Ps. cxli., or the nunc dimittis^ Luke ii. 29.
The division of the Psalms for the week days, according to the regulations of the Benedic-
tines, associated with explanations of certain passages, is given by Cartier in the Fsalmodiae
ecclesiasticoe delueidatio, 1734. On their suitability to the present time t^icf. Armknecht, Z>ie
H.au'pt=und Neben=zQottesdienste der evang. luther. Kirche vom liturgischen Standpunkte
1854 ; L. Schoberlein, Der evang. Hauptgotiesdienst in Formularen fur das game Kirchen-
jahr, 1855 ; and the information imparted by the Evang. kirchlichen Ameiger of Berlin. A
division of the Psalms for use as a prayer-book is given also by O. Thenius, i)er Psalter, 1859,
p. xi. — xii., and G. Chr, Dieffenbach, Ev. Mausagende, 2 Aufl., 1859, p. 840.
Gregory labored no less sedulously with reference, to the manner of rendering the
Psalms. The singing constantly alluded to, was at first, simply the transfer to the Church of
the chanting of the synagogue, with its responses (Isidor. Hispal^Z>e eccle-siast. offic. i. 5), which
was neither an invention of the Therapeutae (Philo), nor an institution of the Emperor Con-
stantine, and the monks Diodor. and Flavian of Antioch (Theodoret, H.E. ii. 24 ; Suidas, s. v.
X^fJ'ig). These can only have been the cultivators of this style. Ignatius even, had introduced
the responsive style of singing into Antioch, (Socrates H.E. vi. 8, prompted by a vision) and
Basil the Great (f 379) refers {Ep. 96 ad Christian.) to the agreement of all the Churches in this
custom. But partly in connection with the effort to counteract the errors in doctrine, which
had been introduced among the people by means of attractive melodies and pleasant songs,
especially by the Arians (Sozomen. If.E. viii. 8) ; there was the song proper, already preva-
lent in the Orient, and although the i>a?iTdi, the appointed Church choristers, had from the
middle of the fourth century Cone. Laod. Can. 15, chiefly to do with the leading of the cus-
tomary Psalm-singing ; there was nevertheless rapidly developed a more artistic song, in part
affected and theatrical, in part passing over into a sweec and tender style, which called forth
the censures of Jerome (Ad Eph. v. 19) and Chrysost. [0pp. vi. 97). References and
warnings, occasioned by such phenomena are found in Augustine [Confess, x. 33) associated
with the lively recognition of the great influence and rich blessings, which he had personally
experienced (/. c. ix, 633) in Milan, from the melodious Church songs, introduced there by
Ambrose, and from thence scattered throughout the entire Occident. He did not learn to
sing Psalms, properly so called, until later [Proem.in P». xxi.), probably in Africa. In con-
trast with this artificial alternating style of Church music, abounding in rhythm and metre ;
but, secundum morem orientalium partium [I. c. ix. 7) which afterwards fell into disuse, and
became greatly deteriorated (Forkel ii. 164), Gregory returned to a uniform and somewhat
monotonous, though severe and earnest Psalmody. He selected, from the earnest and digni-
fied tones of the ancient Greeks, four, from which he derived by changing the position of the
fundamental tone, four other tones. These are the so-called eight Church tones. From each
of these Gregory arranged one of the melodies of the Psalms of the Old Testament, still ra
existence, and in use, to which he added for the remaining songs, of the Old Testament and
the Psalms of the New Testament a ninth, the so-called ''foreign tone" [Cf. Bona., Dediv.
Psalm, xviii. § 4 ; Gerbert, De cant. lib. ii. P. I. p. 250 ; Antony, Lehrbuch des Gregor.Kirchenge-
sangs, S. 4). " The melody rests essentially upon one tone, the first as the second half of the
verse concludes with a cadence of from two to five tones, under which an equal number of
closing syllables were put, while all the preceding syllables were upon the chief tone of the
3 13. THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE PSALMS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 39
melody, only the first verse, begins with, three or four ascending tones. The length of par-
ticular notes, was determined by the value of individual syllables. (O. Strauss, Ueber den
Psalter ah G€sang=und Oebeibuch, 1859, S. 19). These nine Psalm tones are also given by Fr.
Ad. Strauss [Liturg. Andachten der Kon. Hof=und DomUrcke, Berlin, 3 Aufl., 1856) and
by Armknecht [Die heil. Psalmodie, 1855") in the present style of musical notation, ac-
cording to the Psalmody of Lukas Lossius, the enthusiastic advocate of the Gregorian song
in the Lutheran Church. The tonus peregrinvs was originally intended only for Ps. cxiii-
(Hebrew numbering cxiv. and cxv.) and was transferred on the part of the Protestants to the
BenedictuSj and the Magnificat. By numerous deviations in the cadences which gradually
became familiar, the nine chief tones were extended, to more than fifty melodies ; but the
power of the parallelism of numbers passed out of view since the ninth century, because from
that period, as at present in the Anglican as well as in the E-oman Church, the changes were
made in accordance with entire verses. Against the assertion of E. Naumann ( Ueber Einfiihrung
des Fsalmengesanges in der evang. Kirche, 1856, S. 17 f.) that this was the original arrangement
vid. O. Strauss, Ueber den Psaltery S. 30 f. Gradually a solemn style of chanting for the feast
days separated itself from the /ena/s of the week days. The voice of the congregation, whose
active participation is alluded to as late as the time of Basilius and Ohrysostom, was gradually
silenced first in the vigils, then restricted in public service, to the cry of Xyrie eleison since
the ninth century, from which the softlies so-called, in the courses of prayer, and the like
were gradually brought to silence. The clergy, it is true, were instructed, in their own singing-
schools, whose rules descended to the most minute prescriptions, as to the inward frame, and
outward delivery of the songs (Gerbert, /Sfcrtp^ores eccles. de mus. sacra, 1784, i. 5; Antony,
Lehrbuch, S. 150), but they soon however, dispatched their business, with a rapidity, con-
trary to all purposes of edification, which Luther styles " a howling and a sounding " (" Loren
and Tonen "). On the relation of the Gregorian to the Ambrosian singing vid. Wackernagel,
Das deutsche Kirchc/Uied, S. xxiv.
In the Anglican Church, the Psalter is distributed through the month for daily morning
and evening service without the distinction of hours. It is delivered partly according to the Gre-
gorian tones, partly according to numerous yet similar melodies, either by a double choir, or
alternately by the clergy and the congregation, or simply by the congregation, sometimes
with and sometimes without the support of the organ [cf. O. Strauss, I. c. S. 25). The list of
Psalms appropriate in part for daily morning and evening prayers, in part for the higher fes-
tivals, is printed from the Common Prayer Book by Em. Ohly {Evang. Haus=und Handbuch
Jur gute und bose Tage, 1866). On the peculiarity of the Psalm tunes employed in the Church
of England, vid. Herm. Oesterley {Der Gottesdienst der englischen und der deutschen Kirche,
1863, S. 73). [Comp. also the Psalter and Canticles with the Ancient Church Tones as pointed
in the Book of Common Prayer with Ritual Song. Ed. E-ichard Redhead. — C. A. B.]
In the Evangelical Churches of the Continent the liturgical use of the Psalter was
still more limited and rightly confined to the subordinate service, in which, after the general
shipwreck of the eighteenth century, it begins again to be revived. For the chief Divine
services, Luther himself had especially abbreviated the graduale in the Formula ■missce, and
assigned the longer forms to private use. This thorough-going change was wrought, however,
by the introduction of congregational singing to which the German Eymn Book at present so
fiilly appreciated, was adapted. This was not simply a restoration of the old hymnology, but
an enlargement and deepening of its evangelical tone, rendering it suitable for systematic
employment in public service. In the Lutheran Church several Psalms were added, — ^the
following by Luther himself, Pss. xii., xiv., xlvi., Ixvii., cxxiv., cxxviii., cxxx. They were
entirely transformed, however, into new songs, adapted to music, partly to songs already exist-
ing, and partly to melodies newly composed. In the Reformed Church, on the other hand,
the Psalter itself was employed as the Church Hymn Book, translated into rhymed verses in
the languages of different countries {vid. ^ 14), and provided with melodies. It is however .
to be noted, that the latter system has not been entirely foreign to the Lutheran Church.
But it acquired only a local prevalence, and gradually disappeared as out of harmony with
the fundamental view mentioned above. The chujches of the reformed confession, on the
40 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
other hand, frequently recurred to the use of hymns, properly so called. According to the
records of the chief Lutheran Church of St. Maria at Elbing, the Lobwasser version had
ceased to be sung in the year 1655, c/. G. Doring, Choralkunde, 1865, S._52, Anm*
3; 14. TRANSLATIONS OF THE PSALMS.
Among the numerous translations of the Psalms, we can here allude to those only which
have acquired an importance, either from their extensive employment in Divine worship, or
from their scientific value in understanding the Psalms. Sometimes they are of value in both
respects. This is conspicuously true, of the oldest, the Alexandrian version of the Psalms.
For this translation, which, at the earliest arose, not before the middle of the third century
B. c. [vid. g 4), among the HeUenic Jews of Egypt, has enjoyed the highest estimation, not
only among the Alexandrian Jews, but also among those of Palestine, and it is of special sig-
nificance to the Christian Church also, from the fact that by far the greater part of the cita-
tions from the Psalms in the New Testament are from the text of the Septuagint; partly on
this account also, that it has been the basis of the most celebrated of the ancient translations
in the Church. It was made from a Hebrew text which cannot have deviated in many pas-
sages, from the readings of the present well-known texts, which it renders with essential
truthfulness, and often most happily j sometimes, however, lacking in clearness, even to the
point of being unintelligible from being too literal. Since the latter had, however, not yet
been pointed, we find here and there renderings which do not harmonize with the text estab-
lished by the Masora. Occasionally there are slight interpolations, and sometimes again, we
find slight omissions. Its poetical character has entirely disappeared. "We must add to this
the fact, that a very early (Frenkel, Vorstudien, S. 62 f.) and continually increasing corruption
of the text had arisen, which could be prevented neither by the gigantic labors of Origen in
the Hexapla (preserved to us only in fragments), nor by the labors of the Presbyter Lucianus
of Antioch, which are entirely lost to us, nor by those of the Egyptian Bishop Hesychius.
And this has become all the more important, since from this Alexandrian version, — and
in fact, after the koiv^^ the old Latin translation, the so-called Itala has sprung, to the text of
which, the expositions of the Latin fathers refer, viz., Augustine, Hilar., Ambros., Prosper, and
Cassiodor. As revised by Jerome, it formed the Psalterium Romanum which again revised in
Bethelem, after the Hexapla text of the Septuag. became the Psalterium Gallicanum, and
has remained as the text of the Vulgate. For, while the independent translation of Jerome
of the other books of the Old Testament, from the Hebrew text, became about two hundred
years after his death, the Vulgata of the church ; his translation of the Psalter, of so much
scientific importance, juxta hebraicam veritatem (printed 0pp. ed. Vallarsi ix. 3), was ex-
cluded, because the general liturgical use of the text already in existence, constituted an in-
separable obstacle.
The Alexandrian Version, was followed with more or less faithfiilness (the Hexaplian
Eecension, in part) in the fourth century, by the Lower Egyptian, or ( Coptic) Memphitic;
the Upper Egyptian or Sahidic and the Ethiopian translations ; in the fifth century by the
Armenian ; in the sixth by the Qregorian or Grusinian, and likewise by the Syrian of Poly-
carp, in the seventh by a Syrian translation made by a Monophysite which is identical according
to Pococke's translation from Abulfaragii hist, dynast., 1663, p. 100, with the commonly
called versio figurata (vid. Keil, Lehrbuch der histor. Jcritisch. Einl., S. 551), still later by sev-
eral Arabic translations and the Gothic translations of Ulfilas. Yet we must remark that both
tue Coptic (M. G. Schwartze, Psalterium in dialect, copt. ling, memphiticam translatum, 1843, p.
xlii.) a^ well as the ^thiopic version (Dorn, De Psalt. ^th., 1825, p. 17 sq.), do not follow, as is
generally affirmed the Cod. Alex., but frequently the Cod. Vatic, and sometimes a text deviating
entirely from that of the Septuagint, containing sometimes also, matter quite peculiar to itself.
* [Binnie : " The PsalmB retain to this day something of their ancient prominence in the Genevan and French chnrchee.
—In Holland, a numerous party in the Reformed Church scruple, like the primitive African Church, to employ in public
worship any hymns but those of the Psalter ; and it is well known that the same scruple is somewhat extensively prevalent
in Scotland and the United States of America. In the course of last century, the use of Watts' Adaptations of the Psal-ua
led the way to a general introduction of modern hymns among the English Nonconformists, to the exclusion of the Bible
psalmody, and a similar change took place, contemporaneoualy, in the greater part of the American churches.'"— 0. A. B J
gl4. TRANSLATIONS OF THE PSALMS. 41
Originating in the second century, we have tlie Feschito, independently translated how-
ever from an unpointed text, although, frequently drawing from the Septuag. and sometimes
from a Chald. paraphrase. This was the prevailing translation of the Syrian Church, and
several Arabic translations have directly originated from it. Tropical expressions it frequently
changes, and aims generally at expositions, and the removal of difficulties. It omits the his-
torical and musical references in the superscriptions, substituting others occasionally, which
originated with the Church fathers, and contains many departures from the Hebrew text,
besides its peculiar division of the verses.
A translation, likewise independent, and following a text sometimes differently vocalized
from our present text, was made in the first half of the second century, by the Jewish prose-
lyte, Aquila of Pontus, exceedingly well versed in the Greek and Hebrew. The work was
done for the benefit of the Jewish brethren and enjoyed among them an estimation above
that of the Septuag. Jerome also, occasionally, conforms to it, although he censures it
severely, for its opposition to the interpretation of the Church. He endeavors to render the
Hebrew with the greatest possible faithfulness, and as much as possible to adhere to the
etymology, in his translation.
Another Jewish proselyte, Theodotion of Ephesus, attempted soon afterwards with the
assistance of Aquila, an improvement of the text of the Septuag. From this, the book of
Daniel was actually taken into the Greek Bible, in place of the previous translation. The
Hexapla of Origen has preserved to us of this translation, the book of Psalms, like the
other books, only in fragments. This is also true of the freer translation of Symmachibs the
Ebionite of somewhat later date, who attempts to give the sense simply of the original ; and of
the anonymous Greek translations, which Origen could only designate as quinta, sexta,
eeptima.
How the Psalms were understood by the Synagogue, in the first centuries of the present
era, wc can learn from the text of the Ihrgum, i. e. the Chaldaic translation of the Psalms,
which is known unfortunately only in a very much neglected form of the text. This was less
paraphrased, than the other books of the Old Testament. This translation, the Aramaic
idiom of which resembles that of the Syriac, belongs to the group of Jerusalem Targums
(Geiger, Urschrift und Uebers. der Bibel in ihrer Ahhdngigkeit von der innern Entwickelung
des Judenthums, 1857, S. 166 f ), but is under the influence of earlier traditions, since we may
safely say " there were written Aramaic translations of the greater part of the books of the Bible,
as early as the time of the Hasmonseans " (Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vortrdge der Juden,
1832, S. 61.)
Luther's German translation, does not, it is true, give us the Hebrew text, in its rhyth-
mical numbers, and it is defective from some misinterpretations unavoidable in the state of
Hebrew philology of his days, but it is written with such a spiritual experience, and theologi-
cal insight drawn from the understanding of the heart that it breathes the original spirit and
life of the text. By its side also, in the Lutheran Church, the Psalter is especially esteemed
as published by Joh. Magdeburgius, Frankfort, 1565, with a preface by Tileman Heshusius
" In the Form of Songs in German Rhyme," and also in the Latin paraphrase and versified
form, composed partly under the influence of Melanchthon, e, g., by Eobon Hesse, Joh.
Major, Jak. Micyllus, Joh. Stigel et al. The Psalms by Hesse, which Veit Dietrich anno-
tated, attained such an appreciation, that they went through forty editions in seventy years,
serving, however, like all the paraphrases simply the uses of private edification, or aesthetic
and literary ends.
In the Reformed Church on the other hand " The entire Psalter of David" was arranged
in the form of hymns, and furnished with tunes, and was intended, in a narrow sense, firom
the beginning, for use in the Church, and obtained even in the Lutheran Church to the time
of crypto-Calvinistic controversies extensive use and approval. Then the Psalter of Burcard
Waldis, who after similar efforts by Joh. Zwick, 1536, Jak. Dachser, 1538, Hans Gamersfel-
der, 1642, brought out the Psalms in 1553, " With New Tunes and Artistic Rhymes in order
to banish oppressive thoughts and devilish trials,'" with for the most part excellent tunes, in
spite of its songs of from nine to twelve lines, (von Tucher, Schatz des evang. Kirchengesan-
42 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
ges Th. 2, S. 318). Then still more the French Psalter in verses begun by Clemens Marot,
finished by Theodore Beza (1562) with melodies by Claude Goudimel (1565), the teacher of
Palestrina, prepared in a German translation by Jmbrosius Lobwasser, 1565, but first issued
in 1573 (comp. A. Ebrard, Ausgewdklte Ps. Davids naoh Goudimers Weise, 1852).
As Eymn Book of the Evangelical Churches, outside of Germany, there appeared during
the period of the Eeformation, various books of Psalms, in the languages of different coun-
tries. (Comp. G. Doring, Chloralkunde, 1865, S. 57 f.) Thus in the Flemish tongue, in 1540,
with 159 tunes ; 1562 in English ;* 1567 in Dutch (as a translation from the French). The
year 1579 brought out the first Dutch translation of the Lutheran Psalter; 1578 an
Italian ; 1580, a Polish translation, still in use, by Joh. Kochanowski, after the appearance
in the same language in 1554-5 of a metrical translation by Nicol. Key (During, S. 434) ; 1582
a Danish translation in which the previously published ''Beautiful great Psalm Book by
Hans Thomisen," was alluded to ; 1585 a Swedish.
More philological and literary interest than theological importance, is attached to the
Psalms^ verse by verse, with brief expositions from Augustine and Gassiodor., by Notker Labeo
(11022) in St. Gall (vid. H. Hattemar, BenTcmale des Mittelaltera, 1844 f. Bd. 2). The same is
true, of the German interlinear versions from manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth cen-
turies, published by C. G. Graflf, 1839.
Apart from the translations added, by almost all the commentators, to the Psalms or in-
terwoven in their works, a considerable number of translations, mostly of a poetical or met-
rical character have been published, since the middle of the eighteenth century with short
introductions and expository remarks, partly for the purpose of rendering them more
thoroughly understood, partly to extend to a wider circle, a more correct appreciation of the
Psalms. Among them, we refer to the following : Die (jooet) Uebers. von J. A. Cramer with
(instructive) treatises, 1763 f. 4 Theile ; J. D. Michaelis with remarks for the unlearned (6
Th. des. A. T.), 2 Ausg. 1771 ; Gotth. Frang. Zacharia (free and explanatory), 1773 ; J. G.
Hasse (in his Idiognomik Davids), 1784 ; G. C Knapp (with learned remarks, 1778, 3 Ausg.
1789; Mos. Mendelssohn (metrical in close dependence upon Luther's version'!, 2 Ausg.
1788 ; Chr. Gotth. Kiihnol (metrical), 1799; J. Chr. Casp. Nachtigall, 1797; J. Eud. Scharer,
1812 ; Stnhlmann, 1812 : Franz Volkmar Eeinhard, 1813 ; K. W. Justi {Nationalgesdnge
der Heb., 1803-18, 3 Bde ; Blumen althebr. Dichtkunst, 1809 ; Sionitische Harfenkldnge^
1829) ; J. G. Eichhom (after his death by E. G. von Hieronym.),1834; Mich. Sachs, 1835;
J. B. Koster (in accordance with their strophical arrangement with introduction and remarks),
1837 ; W. Krahmer (metrical with expositions), 2 Bde. 1837 ; J. G. Vaihinger (rhythmical
with expositions), 1845; 2 (Title) Ausg., 1856; G. Meier, 1850 ; Camphausen (as part of Bun-
sen's Bibelwerk, retaining the Lutheran version as far as possible and with great skill), 1863.
J. Maurer 1838 issued a Latin translation with grammatical remarks.f
g 15. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS.
The expositions of the Church fathers, including those of Origen himself, who was not
unacquainted with Hebrew, are based entirely upon the text of the Septuagint, and from the
translations originating li-om it. They do not give expositions of the passages in a strict
sense, but simply devotional, and frequently very practical and valuable observations, based
upon them. They were frequently also sermons, with partly a dogmatic, but more frequently
an ethical development of the thoughts which were called forth by them ; but written from a
* [Wordsworth : "The English Version in our Book of Common Prayer was made in A. D. 1535 and revised A. D. 1539
It was not formed from the original Hebrew, but, for the most part from that Latin version which is called the Galilean
Psalter, and which was derived mainly from the Septuagint and was due to St. Jerome {circa A. D. 390), and is in substance
the Vulgate, or commonly received Version of the Psalms in the Latin Church. St. Jerome afterwards executed a transla-
tion of the Psalter from the Hebrew text; but, on account of the previous general reception of the Galilean Psalter in the
musical services of th-i Church, this more correct translation has never obtained that popularity to which, on account of its
greater accuracy, it was justly entitled. The same may be said of our own English Version of the Psalter, in our authorized
Translation of the Bible, which was made by command of King .James I. in A. D. 1610, from the original Hebrew. Inferior
to the Prayer Book version in rhythmical beauty and musical applicability, but much superior to it in critical accuracy
It will never supercede that Version in the choral service of the Church."— C. A B.] '
f [The English translations will be mentioned in connection with the Comm. at the end of the next section. C. A Bl
215. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS. 43
New Testament stand-point, and without historical discrimination, full of allegorical and mys-
tical references, continually misunderstanding the economy of the old covenant. We possess,
moreover, only fragments of Origen's expositions of the Psalms, translated by Rufinus, and
nothing but translations of Jerome [vid. ^ 14), for the Breviarium in Psalterium in his 0pp.,
Ed. Vallarsi viii. 2 is not genuine. The commentary of Eusebius Pamphilii (on Ps. i.-cxiv.
hebr.) alluded to by Montfaucon ( Collectio nova Pair, et Script. Graze. T. I.), is of special impor-
tance, on account of its citations from the Hexapla. The short expositions of Athanasius are
entirely dependent upon Philo, in their references to Hebrew names and words : his letter to
Marcellinus, however, hq ttjv ipuveiav rav ^aXfiav translated into Latin by Jos. Reuchlin, and
into German by J. Spalatin, gives some statements on the use of the Psalms, classified accord-
ing to certain points of view, and with reference to the riches of their contents, and their
manifold adaptations to the various conditions of life and frames of mind. Most highly
prized by the Greek Church, of all the works of Chrysostom, was his very comprehensive
commentary on the Psalms, of which we possess little more than the third part. It is all
homiletical, occasionally introducing the Hebrew text from Origen's Hexapla, and comparing
it with the various Greek translations. Comparisons with the latter were contained also in
the Comm. of Theodoret, forming the much needed beginnings of grammatical and historical
exposition. Little profit can be derived from Euthymius Zigabenus in the twelfth century.
Compilations from all the Greek fathers, and from some whom we know only by name, are
contained in the Catena of which the most complete collection was published in 1643 at
Antwerp in 3 Vols, by the Jesuit Corderius. From the Latin Church, we must allude to the
strongly allegorical Tractatus super Psalmos of Hilarius Piktav., drawn from Origen and
Eusebius, also to the Enarrationes in Ps. of Ambrosius drawn partly from dictation, partly
from notes of sermons, full of warmth, enthusiasm and vivacity, and finally to the Enarra-
tiones of Augustine, likewise taken from sermons {Sermones) from which Cassiodorus drew
chiefly his Expositiones in omnes Ps. Schluter in 1865 drew from them " apothegms " and
translated them into German. The younger Arnobius, the semi-Pelagian, based his para-
phrastic Commentary, not on the Itala but upon the translation of Jerome.
In the middle ages, the labor on the Psalms did not cease. But being entirely ignorant
of the Hebrew, wholly dependent upon the letter of the Vulgate, lost in mystical and alle-
gorical references, given up to dogmatical views, (in which some independence was exhibited,
as in the labors of Thomas Aquinas, Alexander of Hales, Bonaventura and Albertus Magnus),
they could not really advance the proper understanding of the Psalms. They nevertheless
in such labors as these of Alcuin, Haymo of Halberstadt, and Remigius of Auxerre of the
ninth century, and of Bishop Bruno of Wurzburg in the eleventh, and of Peter Lombard in
the twelfth century, as compilations and Catena, preserved the treasures of the older in-
terpretations of the Church, drawn as they were chiefly from Augustine, and a few others
among his predecessors. The samples of Syriac Expositions of the Psalms, by Gregor Barhe-
brseus of the thirteenth century, are quite similar in their character. The great prevalence
of an allegorical tendency, is particularly manifest in additions of Paul. Burgensis to Postilles
of the Franciscan, NicoLof Lyra, whose expositions were of a more historical character. It
was quite prominent also in the twelfth century in the words of Rupert of Deitz ; less so in
Hugo of St. Victor who uses the ascetic element and the popular and practical application
especially in his exposition of the Psalms.
We have similar expositions also from the Synagogue which labored more upon the
Midrash on the Psalms than with the text itself, carrying to still greater extremes the fancies
and trivialities of the Talmud and the Rabbis (vid. Zunz, Gottesdienstl. Vortr., S. 2Q6, on
the Midrasch, Schdchar thob, which according to Delitzsch ii. 442 the poet Jedaja Penini ex-
plained in the thirteenth century; and the Midrasch-catena under the title ofjalkuth). But
from the beginning of the tenth century, especially under Arabic influence, the grammatical
and lexicographical studies of the Jews have gradually contributed to the explanation of the
Psalms. We know but little, however, of the Arabic translation and expositions of the Saadia
Gaon except from the selections by Haneberg (1840) and Ewald (1844) ; the same is true of
the commentary of the Karaer Jefeth of Boszra known through the Abbot Barges (1846)
*4 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
(comp. Delitzsch, Anehdota zur mittelalterUchen Scholastik unter Juden und Moslemen, o.
314). But the first expositions of the Church, which were founded upon the knowledge of the
Hebrew, and have since been extensively used, were based upon the commentaries of the follow-
ing distinguished Rabbis. — 1. R. Salomon, ben Isaac (since the time of Zunz, cited as Isaki, but
earlier erroneously cited as Jarchi; and even Raschi), f 1105; rich in correct explanation of
words, but richer still in Judaistic frivolities, with traditions from the Midrash and the Tal-
mud scattered through it in great profusion. 2. E. Abraham ben Meier, ben Ezra, usually
Aben Ezra, f 1167, especially important for his citations from older commentators' philologi-
cal investigations, whose works are lost, but more ingenious than happy in his own inferences.
3. E.. David Kimchi, f 1250, chiefly grammatical and historical in his expositions but con-
sciously opposed to the Church, and especially to Messianic interpretations. Among the
latter expositors, Delitzsch praises the conciseness and clearness of the commentary of Obadia
Sforno, 1 1550, the teacher of Eeuchlin.
The value of the newly acquired philological helps to exposition, were in the Roman
Catholic Church especially recognized in the sixteenth century by Aug. Justiniani, in selec-
tions from the Midrash and Sohar, by Pagnini and Felix Pratensis in reference to the text
and translation, and by Genebrardus, with reference to their exposition ; in the seventeenth
century especially by Anton Agellius, De Muys, M. Este, and Bellarmin while by Cornel, a
Lapide, and Joh. Maldonat, the usual views of their most eminent predecessors were trea-
sured up : in the Analysis of the Jesuit Le Blanc and in th.Q Commentarius in ps. in 6 folios,
by John Lorinus, exposition was swallowed up in Scholasticism. In the eighteenth century
the current turned in favor of the practical and religious tendency through the expositions of
De Lacy, Berthier, and La Harpe, but especially in the Comment. Liter alls of Calmet, the
Benedictine, a learned and reflective method was again realized, which in the nineteenth
century acquired a profounder and fresher tone, under the stimulus of Protestant exegesis.
This is apparent in the translations of the Old Testament, began by Brentano and continued
by Dereser and Scholtz ; and particularly in the exposition of the Messianic Psalms by Joh.
Bade (1851), and Laur. Reinke (1857); in Peter Schegg (1857 f.), Translations and Ex-
position of the Psalms for the *^ Information and Consideration " of a large circle of readers ;
and in the ^'Theologie der Fsalmen," by J. Konig (1857). As "Beitrag zum erbaulicken
Schriftstudium " and as "Trost und Erbauungsbuch " there appeared the metrical translation
of the Songs of David, Joh. Bapt., Konig, 5 Bde., 1830, and W. von Gulick, 1858, described
" das Psalierium nach seinem Hauptinhalte in seiner wissensch. und prakt. Bedeutung '\
There appeared in the period of the Reformation, important for all subsequent times, in this
domain, the expositions of Luther (since 1519), especially on the penitential Psalms, and those
of Calvin (1564), edited by Tholuck (1836). The former whose whole heart was in the
Psalter was distinguished especially for his grasp of the unity of both testaments, although
Messianic and at times allegorizing in opposition to the principles which he himself so
energetically announced; the latter historical and psychological in prevailing typi-
cal exposition ; and both were executed with warm appreciation of their religious and ethical
contents.
A spirit kindred to that of Luther's exposition of the Psalms, speaks forth from the
Interpretatio in Librium Ps. (1524), by Joh. Bugenhagen, with a preface and commendatory
notice by Luther. It has for two centuries fructified this field of labor. Upon it was based
the commentary of Joh. Brenz ( 0pp. 1578 sq.)^ the Hypomnemata of Victorin. Strigel, 1563 ;
the Brevis ac perspicua explicatio in the Biblia of Luc. Osiander 1588 sq. (many times also
in German); the Comment. in Ps. passionales ; decern priores ; graduum/poenitentiales of Joh.
Tarnow since 1621 ; and the Adnotationes also of John Quistorp 1648, contributed by learned
exegesis towards understanding the Psalms, whilst on their foundation, such comprehensive
labors as "Der ganze Psalter," by Selnecker \x\.fol. (1565) 1581 ; the Enarratio Pss. by MoUer
in 3 vols. 1573 originating from lectures ; "Auslegung aller Psalmen," by Hieron. Menzel
1694; the Commentary of Gesner in fol. 1609 ; along with his Meditatio genera lis Psalterii 1597 •
the Comment, aureus, by Erp. Schnepf, 1619 ; the Psalter, of Eckhard in fol. 1624 ; the Cith-
aroedus mysticus by G. Chr. Renschel, 2 Bde. 4, 1666 ; the Labores psalteriales iheoretico-prao-
g 16. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS. 45
iici, by Christ. Dauderstadt, in fol. 1679 ; and especially the Comment, exeget. practi. by
Reinhard Bake, full of rich and interesting information (1664) 1683, explained their religious
value, although at times very dogmatically and schemingly, and were the means of their
practical Valuation until finally Abrah. Calov in the Biblia illustrata 1672 sq. and Mart.
Oeier in the Coram, in Pss. (1688), 1709/o^.., employed the contributions of their predecessors in
learned independent labors written from the stand-point of the dogmatics of the church, and
Joh. Arndt expounded and explained "Den ganzen Pscdter Davids, des Konigs und Pro-
pheten" in 451 sermons, 1686 fol. We must also here allude to Valer. Herbergers "Paradies-
hlumblein " from the pleasure garden of the 150 Psalms (2nd Aujl. mil Vorwort von C. M. Otto
1862) brought by the author only down to Ps. xxiii. 3, and after his death in 1867, continued
by his son Zacharias.
In the Reformed Church before the time of Calvin, the Pss. Lihri Vad Ebr. veritatem
versi et elucidati by Martin Bucer, originally published in 1526 in fol. under the name of
Aretius Felinus, deserves a special mention ; and also the Comment, of Conr, Pellicanus, 1532 ;
after Calvin, besides the compilation of Aug. Marloratus 1562, and that of Wolfg. Musculus
1550, and Joh. Piscator, f 1626, in the Comment, in nmnes JAhros V. T. 1646, that of Mos. Amy-
raldus, Paraphras.in Pss. cum annott. etargum, 1662, is particularly valuable, on account of
its careful presentation of the contents and their connection. Principally derived from Cal-
vin, and appearing contemporaneously, (1556), is that of Rob. Stephanus, generally cited
under the title of Vatdbulus, and with an annotated translation of the lAber Pss. Davidis ;
afterwards republished with notes from Grotius by G. J. L. Vogel 1767. By false use of his-
tory and parallel expressions of heathen writers, the theological understanding of the Psalms
does not receive its just value from Grotius {Annottat. 1644) ; while in spite of his linguistic
attainments, the historical exposition of Joh. Coccejus {Comm. in Pss. Davidis, 1660) is
spoiled by his false typology. Hence the judgment of former times, that Grotius finds Christ
nowhere, Coccejus, everywhere in the sacred Scriptures. Richly suggestive, very peculiar but
too much given to historizing is the Latin paraphrase with an Introduction and notes by
Ezron Riidinger (1580 and 81 in 4), first a pupil with Melanchthon at Wittenberg, and after-
wards Prof, among the Bohemian brethren. Of permanent importance are the three vols, of
the Critici sacri, and two vols, of /Synopsis criticor., of Matthew Polus, expositions compiled
from learned investigators of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The learned side of the Ps. was represented in the eighteenth century, by Joh. Clericus,
in the style of Grotius, but with still greater theological shallowness {Libr. hagiograph. edited
after his death by J. Barbayrac 1731) ; by Herm. Venema {Comment, in Pss. 6 vols. 4to, 1762
aj.), critical, but without' taste; by J. H. Michaelis {Annott. uberior.,1720), with comparison of
dialects and many selections from his predecessors ; by J. A. Dietelmair (1755) in vol. 6 of the
so-called English BibleworJc, predominantly practical and popular in its purposes ; it acquired
a deeper theological character in the style of Bengel through Phil. Dav. Burk ( Gnomon 2 vol.
4, 1760) and Chr. Aug.- Crusius {Hypomnemata, 1764), which was lost again in mere verbal
exposition, with numerous untenable citations from the dialects, which Gottl. Ringeltaube, in
his translation, with notes, 1790, of the first fifty Psalms, made use of in a more judicious
manner. Among the interpretations in Germany intended especially for edification, the most
prominent are those of Aug. Herm. Francke, published by his son, G. A. Francke, in two vols.
4to. Erkldrungen der Psalmen Davids (1730) and Introductio in Psalterium generalis et spe-
cialis (1734 in 1 vol. 4) ; Joachim Lange, Davidisch-Salomonisches lAcht und Becht 4
(1735) ; Sigm. Baumgarten, Erbauliche Erklarung 2 Bde. 4 (1759) ; Joh. Dav. Frisch, Nea-
Uingende Harfe Davids (3 Auf,. 1731) ; C. Herm. Rieger, Kurze Betrachtungen (2 Aufl. 1859) ;
Fr. Chr. Oetinger, Die Psalmen Davids nach den 7 Bitten des Oebets des Herrn^ neue
verbess. Auf,. 1776 (also in the Sdmmtlichen theosophisch. Schriften Oetingers Bd. iii., newly
edited by Ehmann). Valuable hints may be also found in the Beitrdge zu J. A. Bengela
Schrifterkldrung^isBuedhj Osc. Wachter, 1865. The Berlenburger Bible (1772 ff.), 2 Ausg.
1756 f. is to be used with even greater caution for the Old Testament than for the New ; like-
wise Emanuel Swedenborg's Condensed Exposition of the inner sense of the Prophetical Books
of the Old Testament, and the Psalms of David, 1852.
48 INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALTER.
The Scholia of E. R C. Rosenmuller, especially in the 2d ed, 1821 sq., 3 vols, (condensed
into 1vol. 1831) have acquired a lasting*value in the nineteenth century, on account of their
selections from the ancient translations and Eabbis and rare treatises. De Wette 1811 (5 Aufl.
by G. Baur 1856) gave a new impulse to the exposition of the Psalms, in represerfting them
after Herder as the national poetry of the Hebrews; likewise J. B. Koster 1837, by empha-
sizing their atrophic arrangement; H. Ewald also 1836, (3 Aufl. 1866 as the 2d part of ''Die
Dichter des A. B" the 1st part of which, 1839, 2 Aufl. 1866, contains the important
General Introduction to Hebrew Poetry), by his remarks respecting the origin and
contents of the poetry of the Psalms, their turns of expression and the like; F. Hit-
zig in the Historical Commentary, 1836, attached to his Uebersetzung der Psalmen, 1836
(both fally revised 1863, *65), by his ingenious, although sometimes far-fetched philo-
logical, critical, and historical remarks, which aimed to establish a positive criticism, in
the place of the mostly negative criticism of De Wette ; J. Olshausen, 1853, by philological
minuteness and severity, which yet is accompanied with many complaints as to the corruption
of the text, and a conjectural criticism, just as extended as in the spinning out of assumptions
of Hitzig of Maccabean Psalms, falling into a groundless historical criticism; H. fiupfeld, 1855
to 1862 (4 Bde.) [H. Aufl. herausgegehen von Ed. Riehm, 1869 sqq. with many valuable notes by
the editor. — C.A.B.], by his thoroughness as to the language and history with attempts at bibli-
cal and theological exposition, which, however, are frequently disturbed, and diverted from the
right track by his opposition to Hengstenberg, which is carried out even to bitterness. The
commentary of the latter is far richer in its contributions of every sort (4 Bde., 1842-47. II.
Aufl., 1849-52) [Eng. translation, 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1857, J. B. H.], and is more judicious
than L. Clauss [Beitrdge 1831) and R. Stier (70 ausgewahlte Psalmen, 1834-36, 2 Bde.), and has
again decidedly resumed the path of the views of the Church. This, in connection with the
Commentary of Fr. Delitzsch (2 Bde., 1859, '60) [Neiie Ausarbeitung mit Beiirdgen von Prof.
Fleischer und Wetzstein, 1867, in connection with the series of Comm. on the Old Testament
by Keil and Delitzsch, English Translation, 3 vols. Edin. 187L— C. A. B,] rich in spiritual
perception and rabbinical learning, is especially to be commended to students. The Ausle-
gung of C. von Lengerke (2 Bde. 1847), is a worthless compilation from Hitzig and Heng'
stenberg. G. Ph. Kaiser, Zusammenhdngende historische Erkldrung, 1827, is unimportant.
Worthy of consideration, however, is the commentary of C. Bohl (12 Messian. Psalmen, 1862)
and Kurtz, Zur Theologie der Psalmen, 1865; likewise Fr. Bottcher, Neue exegetlsch-kritische
Aehrenlese, Ahtheil. 2, 1864, published after the author's death by Ferd. Miihlau.
In addition to several translations with notes alluded to at the end of § 14, the following
occupy the middle ground between the learned and practical exposition of the Psalms :
Tholuck, " Uebersetzung und Auslegung der Psalmen fur Oeistliche und Laien " 1843 [Eng.
Translation, Phila., 1858] ; Fr. C. Umbreit, " Christliche Erbauung aus dem Psalter," 2 Ausg.
1848; with which we have to compare the same author's" Orundtone des ^. V. " 1843
" Keue Poesle aus dem A. Tl" 1848. Appropriate remarks and practical hints are found not
only in the works of the Old Testament by Lisco and 0. von Gerlach but also in H. and W.
Eichter, Erkldrie Hausbibel, 1834-40.
From the number of works on the Psalms for practical use, the following are specially
worthy of mention : Christ. Gottf. Koster, " Die Psalmen, mil Einl. und Anm^rh. ah Hand-
buch der Erbauung fur fromme Oemuther;' 1832 ; Erich Stiller, " Die Psalmen als Er-
bauungsbuch" (1852), 3 Aufl. 1862 ff; Fr. J. Gunther, '' Chri^tliche Andachien fiber die Psal-
men 1856 ; G. J. L. Reuss, Die Psalmen zum Oebrauch in den sogenannt&n Befstunden "
1860; F. Schaubach, '' Ausgewahlte Psalmen im Anschluss an die Evangel, des Kirchenjah-
res " 1863 ; P. Diedrich, Die Psalmen kurz erklart fur heilsbegierige, aufmerksame Bibellese
1862-64 ; E. Taube, Eurze Auslegung, 1858 ff. (for the present 4 Hefte embracing 25 Psalms
each). We have finally to mention in this connection Irmler, Die Psalmen als Choralgesange
1835; M. M. Zille, Die Psalmen meist nach kirchl. Sangweisen ilbersetzt, 1844; E. Miiller
Davidsharfe, Eur Kirche, Schuh und Haus, 1844 ; Hoflferichte, Deutsche Akkorde auf der
davidischen Harfe, 1845 ; Fr. Aug. Kothe, Die Pmlmen in Kirchenmelodien iibergetraqen
1845 ; S. F. G. Schneider, Die Psalinen Davids in Eirchenli^dem fur die hdusliche Anda hi
_ \ 15. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS. 47
1854; Chr. Blumliardt, PWw^iec^er, 0£?er d/U Psalmen in singbare Lieder umgesetzf [IBiS] ,
2 Aufl. 1864 ; H. von Sydow, Sabbathweihe, Bearheitung der Psalmen Davids von frommen
deutschen Dichtem, 1859 ; H. Eytel, Der Psalter im modernen Gewande, 1862 ; Jos. Hammer,
Die Psalmen der Heil. Schriftin Dichtungen, nebst Elnleitung und Erlduterungen, 1861.
[Englisli literature is rich in expositions of individual Psalms. The Puritan divines es-
pecially expounded them at length in sermons, often with judicious explanations and applica-
tions, but not unfrequently transcending the proper sphere of the text. These are mentioned
and cited in Spurgeon's Treasury of David (1870-72). The prince of devotional commenta-
tors is Matth. Henry, whose work on the Psalms is a model of its kind. Scott is likewise
useful. Bishop Home's Devotional Comm. first ed., 1771, 2 vols, (often republished), with an
introduction by Edward Irving (Glasgow ed., in 3 vols.), has found a wide circulation and
appreciation. Among the translations and critical commentaries we may mention Ham-
mond's Paraphrase with notes (first ed., 1653, new ed., 1845) ; Bishop Horsley's Translation
and Notes (1815, posthumous) ; Dr. Mason Good's Historical Outline and also his Translation
with notes: J. Jebb's Literal translation and dissertations (1846) ; Phillips' Psalms in Hebrew
text, with exeg. andphil. commentary for Hebrew students; J.Addison Alexander, 7%ePaa/m« tran-
slated andexplwined (N.Y.,1850, 3 vols., mainly based upon Hengstenberg, yet with original and
valuable suggestions and a thorough digestion of Hengstenberg's views and a rejection of much
that is inappropriate) ; Noyes' New Translation with an Introduction (1851, Zd ed., 1867) ;
B. Weiss, New Translation and chronological arrangement with critical notes on the Hebrew text
(1858). Among the more recent works we may mention : Thrrpp's Emendations [Journal of
Class, and Sacred Phil. 1850) ; J. M. Neale, Comm. on the Psalms from Primitive and Medie-
val Writers and from the Various Office-books and Hymns of the Soman, Mozarabic, Ambro-
sian, Gallican, Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and Syrian rites, 3 vols. (London, 1860, 2c? ed.,
revised by R. F. Littledale, 1869-71, a mystical and liturgical Commentary, a revival of the
Mediaeval methods of interpretation) ; Perowne, The Book of Psalms, a new Translation with
Introduction and Notes explan. and crit. (London, 1864-8, Id ed. revised, 1870, a very judi-
cious, able, and valuable work) ; Wordsworth, The Book of Psalms (London, 1867, as part of his
Cmnm. on the Holy Bible, a learned work full of citations from the fathers, yet fanciful and
finding in the Psalms " a prophetic Creed," "the great doctrine of Christian Faith gradually
revealed with greater clearness and fulness ") ; Didham, A new Trans, of the Psalms, Part L,
Pss. i.-xxv. (1869) ; W. S. Plumer, Studies in the Book of Psalms, being a critical and exposit.
Comm. with doct. and pract. remarks on the entire Psalter (Phil a., 1870) ; Wm. Kay, The Psalms
translated from the Hebrew, with notes chiefly exegetical (Lond., 1871) ; Albert Barnes, Notes crit,
explan. and pract. on the Book of Psalms (New York, 1871, 3 vols., an excellent work for the home
and the school) ; Henry Cowles, The Psalms with notes crit. explan. and pract. designed for both
pastors and people (New York, 1872). The most important homiletical and practical work of
the age on the Psalter is the Treasury of David, by Charles H. Spurgeon, 3 vols, of which have
been issued (London, 1&70-72), full of the force and genius of this celebrated preacher, and
rich in selections from the entire range of literature, especially from the Puritan divines. This
work will probably be completed in six vols. The articles on the Psalms in Smith's Diet, of
the Bible, and Kitto's Cyclopsedia may be consulted with profit • and as a " pathway into the
Psalter,"' W. Binnie, The Psalms, their History, Teachings and Use (London, 1870) ; and for
the peculiarity and genius of the poetry of the Psalter, the work of Isaac Taylor on the SpiHt
of Hebrew Poetry. We must finally mention the excellent Bevised Version of Dr. Conant,
with an introduction, pub. by the American Bible Union, 1871. An improved version with
brief philological notes was prepared by Dr. Conant for this volume.— C. A. B.].
THE PSALTER.
FIRST BOOK.
PSALMS I.— 2: LI.
PSALM I.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord ;
And in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
That bringeth forth his fruit in his season ;
His leaf also shall not wither ;
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so :
But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous ;
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Division and Composition. Four Codd. Ken-
nic, and 3 De Rossi, as many of the Jews and
the Fathers take the first and second Psalms to-
gether as one whole ; comp. Wetstein on Acts
xiii. 33, where the Apostle. Paul cites a passage
from our second Psalm as from the first Psalm
(according to the corrected reading). This how-
ever does not decide, for two Codd. De Rossi do
not number our Psalm at all, and the Apostle
Paul may have shared that conception, in ac-
cordance with which Basil calls it a "short pre-
face" which the compiler placed before as an
introduction (Calvin, Amyraid [Hupfeld, Riehm,
Hitzig, et alii]). Besides some similarity in the
structure of the strophes, there are, it is true,
turns in the closing verse of the 2d Psalm which
are strikingly similar in part to the beatitude
with which the 1st Psalm begins, and in part to
the threatening with which the 1st Psalm closes;
and in the hagah, Ps. ii. 1, there is an antitheti-
cal reference to Ps, i. 2. These facts cannot be
overlooked. But with the diversity of subject
and treatment which otherwise prevails, they do
not even justify the conclusion of one and the
same author, whom Hengstenberg supposes to
be David, Hitzig the compiler of the Psalms.
These are not without predecessors. ISeverthe-
less, design may be acknowledged at any rate
only with reference to the arrangement, and not
with reference to the poetry. This is clear from
the following facts : (1) that two Psalms, with-
out titles, should stand at the beginning of a
group of Psalms which have David's name in
their titles, the second of which carries out into
a concrete historical situation the truth ex-
pressed in Ps. i. in general terms ; (2) that the
entire first book is opened (i. 1 ; ii. 12) as well as
closed (xl. 4; xli. 1) by two Psalms, with "'^K'N
ashri. But Ps. xxxii. of the same book likewise
begins with ashre, so also Pss. cxii. ; cxix. ;
cxxviii. in a later book.
Again, the mention of David as the author by
some of the Fathers and of the MSS. of the Sep-
tuagint has no historical foundation. The his-
torical application of the subject to the persecu-
tion of David by Saul (Venema) or to the rebel-
lion of Absalom, is a false use of history. So
likewise the explanation from the circumstances
of the Maccabean age (Riidinger, Olshausen,*
* [This Olshausen is an entirely diflTerent person from the
author of the well-known commentary on the New Testa-
ment. J
49
60
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Hitzig). We would urge against so late a com-
position not so much the simplicity and fresh-
ness of the Psalm (Koster) as the following con-
siderations : 1) The designation of the scorner
leads to the sententious style of the age of Solo-
mon, to which also the loose structure of the
strophes points [Delitzsoh]. 2) Ver. 2 decidedly
looks back to Josh. i. 8, whereas ver. 3 is car-
ried further out in Jer. xvii. 5-8. Ezech. xix.
10, 11 expresses only a corresponding thought
in a similar form [Riehm]. The same idea is
particularized, Ps. xcii. 12. There is a possible
allusion, 2 Chron. xxii. 5.
[Ewald supposes this Psalm to be an introduc-
tion to a more ancient and smaller collection of
Psalms, giving the pith of many of them, the dis-
position with which an ancient poet selected and
grouped them, and the spirit with which he
would have them read. Delitzsch says that
the collections of the prophecies of Isaiah
and the Psalms are alike in that they both
begin with a prologue. Barnes considers
it as a general introduction to the book
of Psalms, stating the general principle of the
Jewish theocracy, " that a righteous life will be
attended with prosperity and happiness, and
that the life of the wicked will be followed by
sorrow and ruin."* The true view is this : The
Psalm was probably composed as an introduc-
tion to the earlier collection of the Davidic
Psalms, made in the age of Solomon, perhaps un-
der his direction, retaining its place at the head
of the entire collection after it had been formed.
— C. A. B.]
Of the three verses of the 1st strophe, two are
of many members; those of the 2d strophe are
all of two members, but they run along en-
tirely parallel in their subject, that is : the de-
scription of the righteous and the wicked ac-
cording to their respective behaviour and destiny.
Sir. I. Ver. 1. '''\Wii = AshrS, etymologically,
from the signification of the straight and direct
course, gives the idea of welfare, grammatically,
it is an exclamation of congratulation, or rather a
declaration of recognition and of praise: beati-
tudines illius viTi.-\ The substantive renders the
language more emphatic than the verb fin., Ps.
xli. 2, or the panic , Prov. iii. 18. Luther
aptly : " The prophet, when he sees that there
are few such people on earth, suddenly bursts
forth and says, 'Blessed is the man.' "
The use of the plural to mark the abstract
with emphasis is ancient, especially in the He-
brew (EwALD, AusfUkrliches Lehrbuch VII. Ausg.
I 179).
* [Wordsworth regards the two first Psalms " as distinct,
and as constituting a general introduction to the whole
book, and as addressed to the whole world ; and aa the whole
book is a composite one, not due to David alone, these two
Psalms, which are a prologue to it, are not identified with
him. These two Psalms form a pair. The first of them looks
backward to the law of Moses (ver. 2) ; the second looks for-
ward to the Gospel of Christ. They join the two Testaments
together. Both of them speak of the blessings of obedience
and of the malediction which is reserved for rebellion against
God. They stand at the beginning of the Psalter, like a Ge-
nzim and an Ebal ; — and they revt-al the awtul transactions
of the Great day of Doom, when the Judge will gather all
nations before Him, and place some on the right hand and
others on the left."— C. A. B.]
t[Hupfeld: Like the formula of the beatitudes, Matth. v.
Walketh — standeth — sitteth, etc. — The
three perfects in ver. 1, the change of the verbal
into a nominal sentence in ver. 2 a, Ihe future
(correctly called imperf. by Ewald) in ver. 2
b give a shading to the thought. This shading
cannot be entirely expressed in translation ow-
ing to an entire difference between the Hebrew
and the English conjugations. It is effaced by
the remark of Aben Ezra that the Hebrew au-
thors used for the present partly the preterite
and partly the future. [The perfect is used to
give the abstract present of our language, indi-
cating an already long-continued and still en-
during conditioii or characteristic, vid. Ges.
Heb. Gram., edit. Rodiqeb XX. Auf. ^ 126.
EwALD, g 135. Barnes: "It is the character-
istic of the man, always and habitually that he
does not thus walk." — C. A. B.]
It is questionable whether the three members
of ver. 1 form only three parallel clauses of like
signification as poetical variations of the thought
that we must have no intercourse at all with evil
in any way (Musculus, Rosenm., De Wette,
Hengst., Hupf.), or whether there is not illus-
trated in the choice of expression an intensifica-
tion of the possible participation in the chief
forms of iniquity (Aben Ezra, Stier, Delitzsch,
Hitzig [Barnes)] somewhat after the type impii
corde, peccatores opere, illusores ore. By the for-
mer view we are usually referred to the asser-
tion of David Eimchi, that going, standing, and
sitting are the three chief conditions of the hu-
man body when awake. The latter view is not
shaken by the fact that we cannot ascribe to
J^iy") ra,sha\ etymologically the meaning of wild
restlessness, and passionate agitation, whence
follow disturbances of the peace (Geier et alii).
Hitzig supposes from the iElhiopic that the fun-
damental meaning is forgetfulness (of God).
Bdltcher [Neue ezeget, crit. Aehrenlese, II. 220),
likewise from the uEthiopic interprets it as
greasy, stained, soiled, and hence derives the
idea of guilty. Hupfeld finds in the idiomatic
use of the word a simple contrast to pHlf. This
general meaning, extending far beyond the idea
of guilty (Sachs), suits very well the use of the
word in the 2d strophe of the Psalm. In any
case the characteristics of rasha'im, given in Is.
Ivii. 20, remain essentially indisputable, and
the statement is of a H^fj; == council of these
same persons who might serve as a model and
measure for the walk of others. This is shown
by the construction of halach with 3. This ex-
pression always refers to the sphere of sinful
emotions of the heart whether we are to think
of the resolutions of the will formed within the
heart or the counsel imparted to others. [Hup-
feld states that n^fJT, like the Latin consilium,
has a twofold meaning: 1) absolutely, a resolu-
tion formed within the heart ; 2) relatively, work-
ing upon another either as example or advice. He
thinks that it is here used in the relative sense
especially as example.— C. A. B.] There is no
occasion for the correction mj; gdah = congre-
gation, company (Olsh., Emendationen zu?n A. T.,
1826). For there is no reference to place except
in moshab, whether this word denotes dwelling
(Koster), or seat (Sept., Vulg., Hengst., Schegg)
as 1 Sam. xx. 18, 25, or session (Syriac, Arab
PSALM T.
61
For derech is a figurative designation of manner
of acting, conduct.
We cannot see why 'amad, witli 2, should not
retain the meaning of stand fast, persevere in,
the more since, according to Hupfeld, we need
not infer with De Wette from the fundamental
meaning of NDn, " slip, fall," that of '* evil from
weakness or ignorance ;" but rather are brought
to that of " sinning habitually."
Moreover the description of the scorner in the
proverbs of Solomon (appropriately explained
by Hupfeld) reaches the climax of wicked-
ness. In the pictorial description, however, we
are not to take every expression as dogmatic.
The translation of |*7 by pestilence, which ex-
pression Schegg applies to the influence of the
devil, has no support in the language. Neither
is the fundamental meaning that of turning (Pau-
lus), but partly of lisping and stammering, partly
of laughing and mocking. [Hupfeld : " This
is not a scorner of religion in our sense, nor one
who says there is no God, because the religion
of the Old Testament was not theory, but essen-
tially disposition, practice. He is one who is fri-
volous, disregarding the Almighty, making sport
of all things, of the worst class of the wicked."
Barnes: "We have here a beautiful double gra-
dation or climax, in the nouns and verbs of this
verse, indicating successive stages of character ;
walking, standing, sitting; irreligious men in
general, those who disregard known duty and
violate human obligation, and tffose who openly
mock at virtue and scoff at the claims of reli-
gion." Hengstenberg says that " scorners of re-
ligion are as old as the fall. Is. v. 19 ; Jer.
xviii. 15." Ewald: '* He who meditates evil is
already a J^i^n, oue driven by passion, he who
does the advised evil is NCOn, a sinner, he who is
already so accustomed to suppress a good con-
science that he scorns and perverts good in so-
ciety, is yi, a scorner." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. On the contrary. — DN ''3, literally,
"but if," after negative sentences introduce the
contrast with emphasis (Ewald, §354 a). With
Josh. i. 8 in view, which is anticipated, Deut. vi. 6
sq.; xi. 18; xvii. 19, we cannot doubt that the thorah
(literally instruction) does not mean here the reve-
lation in general (Michaelis, Stier) but the writ-
ten law of Moses [De Wette, Hupfeld, Hengst.,
et al.l (Ps. xl. 7, the volume of the book). The
repetition of this word in the second member of
the verse is not tautological, so that we could be
induced to regard th6dah=pr&iae (Paulus), and
not the thdrah, as the subject of the meditation.
The remarks of Geier : ^^Repetitur denuo nomen
legis ceu rei adeo carx ac pretiosse cufus vel solo no-
mine intime delectantur pii,'* certainly misses the
sense. Hagah might, in itself, be a poetical desig-
nation of discourse, Ps. xxxv. 28, especially as the
etymology leads back to the idea of murmuring,
and has formed the meaning of thinking, medi-
tating, only from the point of view of discourse
within the soul. But the latter signification is
set aside, not so much by its connection with 2
as by the phrase day and night ; for there is no
reason to understand the phrase as figurative of
happy and unhappy times. But it does not mean
a brooding over the letter in the sense of Juda-
ism, nor any other kind of theoretical contempla-
tion, as is shown partly by the mention of de-
light (literally inclination), partly from the con-
text which is throughout practical (Clauss against
De Wette). [Delitzsch beautifully : " The quiet
soliloquy of investigation and meditation." — C.
A. B.]
[Day and night. — Hupfeld regards it as the
usual formula for continual, perpetual, as in all
languages, Pss. xxxii. 4; xlii. 8. — C. A. B.]
The expression "night" has a special ap-
propriateness here, in that among the Jews the
night was from 6 o'clock in the evening till 6
o'clock in the morning.
Ver. 8. And so he is like a tree planted
by brooks of water. — The perfect with
vav consecutive shows that we have here not
the reason of the beatitude, but a further ex-
pansion of it by a statement of the consequences
of the conduct of the pious, just described.
The etymology of "'J/S (Alex. 6i'e^oSol) does
not compel us (Hupfeld) to think of canals (De
Wette). [Hupfeld : J^3 = cleave, divide. The
usual name of brooks in Hebrew, as in Arabic
and .^thiopic, for streams. Riehm : " Because
brooks and streams cleave and divide the sur-
face of the earth."— C. A. B.] The double plu'-
ral refers partly to the abundance of water,
which is very important in the Orient; partly to
the rich distribution of brooks for the fructifica-
tion of every tree of that kind.* Luther re-
minds us of the ever green date palms in the
Jordan valley at Jericho, Sir. xxiv. 18 ; Deut.
xxxiv. 8.f [Delitzsch: " In the relative clause
the emphasis is not entirely upon "ir\J^3 (Calvin)
but V^i) is the first and ir^^3 the second em-
phatic word. The fruit expected, it affords, and
indeed at the proper time, without ever in the
course of the seasons disappointing the hopes."
" The fresh foliage is a figure of faith, which
changes the water of life of the divine word into
sap and strength, and the fruit is the figure of
works which gradually ripen and spread their
blessings around." — C. A. B.]
vD cannot be nominative, for the intransitive
meaning of the following verb (Sept., Vulg., Va-
tabl., Rosenm.). rests only upon the doubtful
* I Barnes supposes that there is an allusion to the Oriental
methnd of making artificial rivulets to irrigate their land.
He refers to the practice in Egypt and in the gardens of Dar
mascus. This is, however, a great mistake The Psalmist
alludes to those brooks or streams which, having their source
in some perennial fountain, flovi' through the wadiea and val-
leys, fertilizing the land. Wherever these brooks are found,
as at Engedi and in the wady Urtas, their banks are crowded
with a rich luxuriance of plan's and trees. These were the fa-
vorite streams in the time of Solomon, and the Psalmist proba-
bl V had them in mind, vid. Robinson Bib. Researches, J., 477,
605. Ps xlvi. 4; Ixv. 9; Song of Sol. i. 14; iv. 12-16, e<c. It
is true these brooks were diverted into many channels in or-
der that their blessing mitrht be more widely diffused, as U
the case with the Abana at the present day. Its waters are
divided by art into a hundred water courses, using every drop
of water to fertilize a hundred villagei But this is a deri-
vative idea, and was not the ('palmist's ideal, which was the
living brooks from the perennial fountain — an allusion to the
garden of Eden with th- river of life and the tree of life, fre-
quently alluded to in the Fsalms vid., Ps. xxxvi. 8 sq.; xlvi.
4, eic.—G. A. B.]
f [The fertility of the plain of Jericho is caused by the largo
fountains of Es Sult3,n ami Dtik, with the streams they pour
forth over the land, vid. &ob. Bib. Researches, I., 656.— C. A. B.J
52
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
pointing of Judges xviii. 5. The subject of
the sentence is either in the causative significa-
tion Jehovah, or since this is too distant, and the
transitive signification is the usual one, the pi-
ous. Some suppose that tree is the subject be-
cause TW}J and vh^S are used with it, Is. v. 4 ;
xxxvii. 31; Ezech. xvii. 9, 10; but such a repe-
tition would be feeble and cold [Hupfeld].
Str. II. Ver. 4. Not 'so. — These words are
repeated at the end of the first member of ver. 4
by Sept., Vulg., and Syr. The following figure
describes not only the destiny, but, at the same
time, the condition of the wicked contrasted
with the figure of the righteous, which likewise
embraces both points. If this be overlooked, we
mistake the close connection with ver. 5.
[Hupfeld, '^lJ=drive, or chase away. In the
East the threshing-floors are in the open air,
upon heights (Is. xvii. 13), on which the winds
more readily blow the chaff away. (De Wette and
Barnes, in loco; also Robinson Bib. Researches,
I. 550, II. 83; Smith Bib. Diet. 'Agriculture.')
"Hence it is the usual figure of the rapid and
traceless destruction of the enemiesof Godand the
ungodly. Ps. xxxv. 5; Job xxi. 18; Hos. xiii.
3; Matth. iii. 12. There is here also an illus-
tration of their inner condition, their emptiness
and nullity, in contrast with the good grain,
which remains behind and abides." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 5. [Therefore. Hupfeld: "not a conse-
quence of the moral condition of the unrighteous,
as indicated in the figure of the chaff", but rather
a logical consequence from ver. 4. From the
general statement of the destiny of the un-
righteous follows the special : that they are by
Divine judgment severed from the congregation
of God."— C. A. B.]
Many of the older interpreters suppose that
there is in D^p an exclusion of the wicked from
the resurrection (Sept. ovk avaaTTjaovrai). But
this is against the menning of the word and the
context. The judgment is not directly nor even
exclusively the Messianic (Chald. and the Jewish
exegetes), still less human judgment or judgment
in civil cases (Rosenm.), but it is the Divine
■ judgment, ver. 6. For it is made prominent in
Jehovah, as well by the participle as the charac-
teristic attribute, that He knowe.th the way of the
righteous. That this knowing is not only a
theoretical knowledge, but a nosse cum affeclu et
effectu, is involved in the fact that it is Jehovah
of whom this is declared. Therefore it gains the
closer meaning of "acknowledge in loving care."
Yet this meaning is not to be brought into the
vocabulary of the word (Kimchi, et al.). Since
now the participle precedes, ver. 6 a merely
confirms the consequences threatened before, the
sure occurrence of which rests upon the fact that
.error and deception are excluded by the idea of
Divine judgment. The most of the interpreters
push into the text itself that which should only
be its consequences as a comforting applicatioa
to the pious. Moreover, they often give to
way, ver. 6, a different meaning from that of
ver. 1, viz. (quite frequently), that of destiny,
the way in which they are led. But they
thereby sensibly weaken the last member of the
verse, with its dreadful closing word, which
1„„
««iU:n~ r ii
the prospect of Abaddon (Prov. xv. 11 ; Job
xxvi. 6 ; xxviii. 22).
The Codd. and the ancient interpreters of the
Vulgate do not read in ver. 5 in concilio, as the
later editions corrected according to the Hebrew;
but in consilio, according to the reading of the
Septuagint, h j3ovX^. The Vulgate follows the
Sept, version likewise in ver. 4 b, only that,
weakening the proper figure still more, it under-
stands 6 x^ovg the dust ; bv eKpircTEi 6 avefiog awb
Trpoa^TTov Tfjq yfjg. According to our exegesis the
verse does not treat of a sudden, still less of a
premature, but rather of an inevitable ruin of
the ungodly, bearing the character of just pun-
ishment brought on by Divine judgment; and
the closing verse contains not only an expression
embracing both sides of the fundamental thought,
rounding off the Psalm, but it directs its glance
to the inevitable and endless destruction of the
wicked. [Delitzsch: " This same fearful ^^Ki^
closes Ps. cxii., which begins with "''IIJ'X." —
C. A. B.] '"'
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. For ethical and religious consideration
there is only one, yet a decided contrast among
men, before which all other differences retire,
that is: the contrast between the ungodly and
the righteous. Their lot in time and eternity
corresponds with their disposition towards God.
2. The ungodly, even, partially and for a while
unite with one another, come together in socie-
ties, in which they converse about evil things to
their heart's desire, plunge ever deeper into sin,
and mutually strengthen one another in their
wickedness by evil counsels, bad examples, and
cunning wiles. Yet only the righteous form a
congregation, that is: a people of God, organized
according to Divine order, based on Divine in-
stitutions, governed according to the word of
God.
3. As long as the congregation of God remains
in this world it U opposed not only by external
bands of the wicked, but it has sinners in its own
midst, partly because its true and living members
are not yet perfect and sinless saints, partly be-
cause there are false brethren, hypocrites, apos-
tate and wicked men mingled with the congre-
gation in its external appearance, as it presents
itself in moral and human forms under the in-
fluence of its relations to this world,
4. On this account the external society, con-
nections, and points of contact are more extensive
than the internal membership relntions and in-
fluences. Yet this doe.s not cause a perplexity
of conscience, or a suppression of the righteous,
or an equality in the lots of the evil and the good.
But there are characteristics which mark the
ungodly and the righteous, as well as a Divine
saving and sifting judgment, and a reward cor-
responding with the moral and religious conduct
of men.
5. The marks of the righteous are negatively,
principally, their turning aroay from the counsels,
the walk, and the companionship of the wicked-
positively, their/oy in the revealed word and will
of God and their occ?z;,«^ion in meditating upon
the testimony of the Lord given as the mt Lrf
PSALM I.
63
regard to the changes of the hours. Contrasted
with this are the counsels of the wicked, wherein
they disclose the thoughts of their heart, as their
walk is opposed to the manner of life ordained
by the law of the holy God, and their assembly
is the opposite of the assembly for the worship
of God. They are to be earnestly avoided ; for
it is much easier and more frequent for men,
when in the circle of the scorner, to be ruled by
the prevailing tone of the company, and even to
be carried away with it, than to withstand it,
and witness against it, and confess the Lord as
those who love His word and His way.
6. The ungodly are not always, and especially
not immediately at the beginning, in the lowest
grade of wickedness, in which the scorner is, who
cannot be taught or improved, but in the over-
flow of haughty presumption (Prov. xxi. 24 ;
comp. i. 22; ix. 7, 8; xiii. 1; xv. 12, etc.) hates
correction, and scorns discipline, and replies with
scoflf and persecution, and in the intoxication of
boasting, treats everything except himself with
petulance, and especially makes sport and scorn
of holy things. But the gradations of evil pass
ever into one another, and often tread closely
upon one another. Even the first steps are al-
ready in opposition to the will of God, and evil
thoughts are no less worthy of condemnation
and dangerous than evil deeds. Those only can
be called happy who do not associate in any way
with the ungodly, or their practices, devices, or
eiforts.
7. Pieit/ gives the righteous the power to with-
draw from the society of the wicked, and to with-
stand their temptations. It nourishes him in
the marrow of his life, and strengthens him by
the supply of heavenly nourishment; whilst by
his absorption in the holy law of God, it sinks
the roots of his life into the revealed ground of
salvation, and by his delight in the instruction
of the Lord, affords the constant supply of the
streams of grace, which make the man who be-
longs to God to grow and mature in fruits of
righteousness.
8. Consequently man is righteous, not by birth,
or nature, or through his own power, skill, or
activity, but by the Divine agency, through the
means of grace which Divine mercy has estab-
lished for us ; as a tree planted by an abundant
and flowing brook, if he, like the tree, take up
into his own life from the means afforded him
by God, that which is necessary to his life and
growth. Then he has the experience described in
1 Tim. iv. 8, of the blessings of righteousness.
9. Although the ungodly are in similar cir-
cumstances with the righteous, yet they derive
no profit from this favorable circumstance. They
are spiritually dead and withered. That which
has matured in them has faded prematurely ; for
they have not appropriated to themselves the
nourishment of life, and they have not formed in
themselves the faculty for this appropriation.
Without root and without sap they have not at-
tained any vigor, nor brought forth any fruit,
(Matth. xxi. 19). Thus they have ripened only
for distraction ; unsubstantial and worthless as
chaff; the sport of the wind, until scattered by
the storm they go to destruction, and leave no
trace behind but the way on which they are
vhirled away to a ruin whose misery is in-
conceivable ; for the way proves itself a " lost
way."
10. This sad condition of the ungodly, as well
as their terrible fate, may be for some time con-
cealed from themselves and others, but both will
be disclosed by the divine judgment, which has
its foundations in the ever ruling righteousness
of the Almighty, its execution in the judgment
of the world; yet its operation already appears
in history, judging and sifting in theocratic acts,
yea, according to the threatening (Lev. xx. 2)
with respect to certain kinds of wickedness, al-
ready vindicates itself in bitter earnest in the re-
gular administration of justice. " If the Scrip-
tures speak of the ungodly, then see to it that
you do not refer it to the Jews, or the Heathen,
or any other people, but tremble yourselves at
this word, for it concerns you and means you."
(Luther).
11. There is here a strong encouragement on
the one side to turn away from all kinds of ini-
quity, and on the other to continue in righteous-
ness by a conscientious use of the means of grace
in the possession of the congregation. For God
desires a pure and holy congregation (Lev. xi.
44 ; Eph. vi. 27), and He knows the way of the
righteous. There is no reference here to the well-
known heathen maxim: that it must fare well
with the good, and ill with the wicked; but the
emphasis is upon this fact that Jehovah, the God
of historical revelation, who has ordained and
called His people to be a righteous congregation,
is also the experienced Guardian of the purity
of this congregation, and the infallible Judge
and Rewarder. There is a striking parallel in the
New Testament, 2 Tim, ii. 19. Now, since no
one except Jesus Christ is perfectly righteous',
the most of the ancient interpreters have by di-
rect Messianic interpretation, referred the first
strophe to Him, as the ever green tree of life;
and since no one is justified by fulfilling the law
in his own strength but by faith in Jesus Christ,
many, especially of the Evangelical interpreters
(Calov. Bib. lllust.) have referred to the close
connection between the first Psalm, the summa
legis, with the second Psalm, the summa evangelii.
HOMILBTICAL AND PRACTICAL,
Either blessed or lost — so God's word declares,
so God's judgment warns. — The pious and the
wicked are together in the world ; but their ways
are entirely different from beginning to end. —
Man's lot is not determined by chance, but by
righteous and infallible judgment. — It is not
enough to avoid this or that single sin, we must
walk in the way of life. — The Divine law shows
the way in which the pious walk, and keeps God
Himself in view as knowing that way. — He who
would remain in the congregation of the righteous
must avoid the society of the wicked, whilst he
must use diligently the means of grace entrusted
to the congregation of God. All things finally
redound to the salvation of the righteous and the
destruction of the wicked. He who is planted
where the waters of life flow, should appropri-
ate them in order that he may grow as a tree of
life, and bring forth fruit in his season. — The lot
of the pious is as delightful as that of the wicked
is terrible. — Tell me the way in which you walk
64
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
and the company you keep, and I will declare to
you the end which you will attain. — The things
in which you delight will either make you
blessed or destroy you. — Divine judgment comes
certainly, strikes surely, judges righteously, and
decides our everlasting weal or woe. — He who
diligently seeks communion with God, will ear-
nestly avoid intercourse with the ungodly. — How
shall we distinguish between the righteous and
the wicked ? The one keeps God's law with de-
light, the other transgresses it with contempt:
the one associates with scorners, the other re-
mains in the congregation ; the one prospers with
God's assistance, the other perishes by God's
judgment. — True fear of God receives the no-
blest praise, the best blessing.
Stakke: a Christian is not only to avoid the
commission of sin, but as far as possible is to
avoid temptation. — Sin grows constantly : At
first we pass it by, then we stand still, then we
sit with scorners. Blessed are those who shun
the beginning (Sir. xxi. 2; Job iv. 6). — It is
true, believers have their greatest pleasure in
the Gospel, yet the law is likewise agreeable to
them in Christ, for they are freed from its curse,
and it is their joy by it to know God's will, and
to fulfil it with the power given unto them. —
Among other characteristics of a state of grace is
this: that we have a heartfelt desire for the
word of God, and indeed that we are no more
tired of it than a sound body is of its daily bread.
As with a palm tree, all that is in it is profitable,
leaves, wood, and fruit, so also with the Chris-
tian, all that he does is to redound to the honor
of the Divine name, and the benefit of his neigh-
bors.— It is as foolish to rely upon the ungodly
as to fear them — they are like chaff. — Choose in
time, and prudently, the society in which you
wish to remain forever. — LuK. Osiander : To
err and fall is human, but to continue in error
and sin is the work of the devil. — One thing is
necessary ; to hear and learn the word of God
(Luke X. 42; Rom. i. 16; 2 Tim. iii. 16).— Sel-
NEKKEB : Piety and the fear of God mean : (1) to
avoid false doctrine and a scandalous life; (2)
to desire the law of the Lord; (3) to freely and
openly confess and speak of it. — No one can know
the nature and the will of God without the Di-
vine word. — Where there is no fear of God nor
truth, talent and intellect are mere poison. — We
must, as the fig and palm trees, show the fruit
before the leaves. — Four promises are given to
those who desire and love the word of God: 1)
The grace of God ; 2) fruitfulness and usefulness
in their calling; 3) a sure and constant employ-
ment; 4) blessing and success. — Geier: We all
naturally seek happiness; but only those attain
it, who seek it in the revealed word of God. All
depends upon the way we choose (Matth. vii. 13).
— Renschel: Avoid evil and keep God's word,
then you will be happy in this world and the
next. — Frisch: Thou standest between two ways
which lead to everlasting weal or woe. Open
your eyes and choose the best. — The Psalm be-
gins with blessing and glory, but it ends with
woe, in order that where the hope of blessedness
is not strong enough to encourage us to the ser-
vice of God and pieiy, the fear of the unhappi-
ness and misery to bo endured may deter us from
wickedness. — Ribgeb : The fear of God teaches
the righteous to avoid evil, whether quiet as a
counsel, or common as a way, or fixed as a seat.
— Without attachment to the good the bate of
wickedness is not constant. — What is there in an
ungodly man ? A counsel and trust in his de-
ceit ; a way and a defiance of the crowd which
travel in it; a seat from which he will not be
driven. But what will become of him ? Be-
cause he has no weight of truth from the Divine
word in himself, he will be driven away as chaff.
Since he has made so light of it in his mockery,
he will be obliged to experience how incapable
he is of standing in the judgment. Since he has
ever sought only the society of sinners he will
not then remain in the congregation of the right-
eous when he most desires to retain a place with
them. So long as they are in the way many may
think that they are as good as those who are
called righteous, who likewise have their faults ;
but the issue will be different from what they
expect — Otto VON Gerlach: The ungodly main-
tain their position by chance because it is calm,
and outward circumstances are favorable to
them ; but since they have no vital power, no
support in God, the first misfortune drives them
away. — Tholuck : He who has nothing sure in
heaven can have nothing fiirm on earth. — Taube:
He who has pleasure in God's word, exercises
himself therein without ceasing.
[Matt. Henry: The ungodly are forward to give
their advice against religion ; and it is managed so
artfully that we have reasons to bless ourselves
from it, and to think ourselves happy if we escape
being tainted and ensnared by it. — We must not
only set ourselves to meditate upon God's word,
morning and evening, at the entrance of the day
and the night, but these thoughts should be in-
terwoven with the business and converse of every
day, and with the repose and slumbers of every
night. — Barnes: If a man desires permanent
prosperity and happiness, it is to be found
only in the ways of virtue and religion.
— Spurgeon : Our worst things are often our
best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in
the wicked man's mercies, so there is a blessing
concealed in the righteous man's crosses, losses,
and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a di-
vine husbandry, by which he grows and brings
forth abundant fruit.— The righteous man ploughs
the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest there,
which shall never be fully reaped till he enters
the enjoyments of eternity ; but as for the wicked
he ploughs the sea, and though there may seem
to be a shining trail behind his keel, yet the
waves pass over it, and the place that knew him
shall know him no more forever. The very
" way " of the ungodly shall perish. — C. A. B.]
PSALM 11.
55
PSALM n.
1 Why do the heathen rage,
And the people imagine a vain thing ?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord, and against his Anointed, sayinfff
3 Let us break their bands asunder,
And cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh :
The Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
And vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my King
Upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree :
The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ;
This day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen /or thine inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings :
Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear.
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish /rorra the way.
When his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Character and Composition. The 1st Psalm
first declares the truly pious servant of Jehovah
blessed, without deciding whether the description
is only an ideal one, or there is truly such an
ever green tree of life; and then draws the
counterpart without intimating the possibility or
way of salvation of those who walk in wrong
wa^^s to destruction. The 2d Psalm, which in
isolated expressions reminds us of the 1st Psalm,
begins with a description of the world rebellious
against God and His government, which passes
over into a dramatic tone (vers. 1-3) ; describes
over against this the action of Jehovah likewise
running out into a dramatic mode of expression
(vers. 4-6) ; then, without naming Him, makes
the anointed of Jehovah Himself speak so that He
explains the decree of Jehovah by a reference to
a former ordinance of Jehovah (vers. 7-9) ; and
closes with an exhortation to the rebellious to |
repent, which passes over into a declaration of '
the blessedness of those who make' known their
allegiance to the kingdom of the Messiah (vers.
10-12).
The prophetic or direct Messianic explanation can
alone explain this Psalm (all ancient Jewish and
ancient Christian interpreters, with some from all
periods) ; neither the typical (Hofmann), nor the
historical (the later Jewish and many recent
interpreters), nor the poetical (Hupf., as a
general glorification of the theocratic kingdom),
nor indeed the explanation to be found in the
transition from the typical to the prophetic
(Kurtz) can suffice. This the explanation which
follows will show. [Perowne : "He begins to
speak of an earthly king and his wars with the
nations of the earth, but his words are too great
to have all their meaning exhausted in David,
Solomon, or Ahaz, or any other Jewish monarch.
Or, ere he is aware, the local and the temporal
are swallowed up in the universal and eternal.
The king who sits on David's throne has become
glorified and transfigured in the light of the pro-
mise. The picture is half ideal, half real. It
66
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
concerns itself with the present, but that only so
far as it is typical of greater things to come.
The true king who, to the prophet's mind, is to
fulfil all his largest hopes, has taken the place
of the visible and earthly king." — C. A. B.]
The author is unknown. Most interpreters,
indeed, from different stand-points, think of
David, whilst they grant that Acts iv, 25 is not
decisive.* They differ likewise widely from
one another in their estimate of the his-
torical situation (comp. De Wette). [Perowne
refers it to the events 2 Sam. x. The con-
federacy of Syrians, Ammonites, and others
who had formerly been subdued (2 Sam. viii.
3, 12), and who now make a last effort for
independence. — C. A. B.] Rosenm. (I. Edit,
only), Paul. Ewald, Bleek, think of Solomon.f
Maurer thinks of Hezekiah with reference to 2
Chron. xxviii, 18; Hitzig of the Maccabean
prince, Alex. Jannaeus ; Delitzsch thinks of
the period of the prophecy of Immanuel, Is.
vii. — xii., perhaps the prophet Isaiah himself,
partly because of the similarity of circumstances,
partly on account of the similarity of subject and
even modes of expression.
Str. I. Ver. 1. Why. — The question thrown
up by the Psalmist, which already begins to be
solved in ver. 1 6 as the change of position and
the mood of the verb show, is only a rhetorical
one, a question of displeasure, of astonishment,
and of derision^wherefore then? why then?
[De Wette: "The poet transports himself at
once into his situation and feelings. He looks
upon the undertakings of the rebels with indig-
nation and contempt, and breaks forth in the
exclamation. Why ?=:to what end?" — C. A. B.]
Rage. — The Hebrew verb does not denote
actual rebellion, but that intimation of the
speedy outbreak of rebellion which is given by
crowds surging in gloomy and confused resent-
ments, murmurs and alarms.
[Imagine. — In old English this word had the
meaning of scheme, devise, plot, vid. Woecester's
Diet. This meaning has now passed out of use. It
is better, therefore, to substitute deoise, with the
meaning of meditating evil. This is the same word
as is used Ps. i. 2 b. De Wette: "of wicked,
Prov. xxiv. 2, here of rebellious undertakings;"
Ilupf : "of wicked and deceitful devices," Ps.
xxxviii. 12; Is. lix. 8, 13. — Vain thing. —
p'"), "here substantive, a foolish and vain de-
vice— what is proved to be idle by the result." —
C. A. B.]
* [Delitzsch: "Because in the New Testament David's
Psalm and Psalm are corresponding terms." This is gene-
rally admitted by German commentators, though it is not
generally allowed by English and American writers, such at
Wordsworth, Barnes, Alexander, etc. Delitzsch is probably
correct in his statement. — C. A, B.]
f [Ewald: "In this Psalm we hear the voice of a king
who, a short time before, was solemnly anointed in Zion.
The tribuUry nations are rebelliom and threaten to regain
their freedom. The young king stands over against them,
self-possessed, conscious of his union with J<?hovah aa His
sou and representative, inspirited by the prophetic word at his
anointiug, and strong in the power of Jehovah. This young
king was Solomon — this Psalm his own composition like
those mentioned 1 Kings iv. 32." It is more than likely that
the tributary nations plotted together, hoping to throw off
the yoke of the young king, it is not necessary to suppose
an actiml rebellion. The Psalmist speaks of rebellious
thoughts and designs. I think that this Psalm and the
former are Psalms of SolomoD. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. The idea of sitting together passes
over into that of deliberation, here that of con-
spiring. This is described by the perfect as an
accomplished fact, as ver. 1 a, and as preceding
the hostile setting themselves, which in the im-
perf. appears aa enduring and still continuing,
as ver. 1 b, and as finishing the description in
ver. 1 a.
Ver. 3. The rebels are immediately introduced
speaking, and they speak in figurative language,
taken from refractory bulls, which express their
carnal love of liberty and their unruliness.*
Str. II. Ver. 4. The ancient translations ex-
press all the imperfects in the antistrophe ver. 4
sq. by the future, [so A. V.]; Ewald, Delitzsch,
et al., at least those in ver. 6 [this is better — C.
A. B.] ; but, according to HiTpfeld, they are all
to be regarded as present, though subsequent to
one another. Laughing is often an expression
of the feeling of security and of the conscious-
ness of sujperiority in contrast to fear ; scorn re-
jects the presumption of the impotent with de-
served contempt, and discloses their weakness :
wrath punishes them. [De Wette : "With the
rage and exertion of his enemies the poet sets in
beautiful contrast the laughing quiet of his God,
who can with one word bring these proceedings
to naught." Hupfeld: "A beautiful gradation in
thought from the quiet laughing to the agitated
scorn, and from this to wrath, which breaks out
in the following verse in word and act." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 5. Jehovah speaks here with real words,
not in thunder (Herder), although the words
whiz and roll along like thunder and lightning
[in the style] ; and 7713, according to Hupfeld,
is frequently used for terror, which confuses, and
especially that which is caused by God, and
drives into mad flight and leads to destruction.
Ver. 6. [Yet have I.— De Wette: "1 often
makes a contrast — here it is with the riotous
proceedings of the kings. The pronoun / is em-
phatic."— C. A. B.] Bottcher has shown
{Aehrenlese, p. 4) that we must not translate:
anointed, but set (according to the Sept. and
Vulg,). Some translate "But I have been con-
stituted king by him."— [My King. — Hupf.:
"My king so far as he is appointed by God as
king over His realm, comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 1, and by
virtue of the theocratic idea, His representative."
— C. A. B.] Zion was not the anointing place
either for David (1 Sam. xvi. 13; 2 Sam. ii. 4),
or for Solomon (1 Kings i. 39), or for Christ
(Zech. ix. 9), but the seat of government of the
Anointed (Ps. ex. 2; 2 Sam. v. 9), The assertion
that Zion in the Old Testament constantly is used
as the equivalent of Jerusalem, and that it is the
name of a special height is disproved by 2 Sam.
V. 7, 9 ; 1 Kings viii. 1 ; Hupfeld, however, as-
serts that according to prophetical and poetical
usage it indicates synecdochically the entire holy
mountain city as the seat of God, and naturally re-
j ects the translation of J. H. Michaelis and Hofmann
|r;f 7J;; *al zion, over its citizens, the people of God;
* [Wordsworth: "At Christ's passion the heathen world
represented by the imperial power of Rome, c )mbined with
the rulers and people of Israel against God and His Messiah
' We will not have this man to reign over us ' was their lan-
guage, Luke xix. 14—' We have no king but Cresar ' Joim
PSALM II.
57
BO likewise the translation, mountain of my so-
vereignty (Herder, Rosenm., efai.). [Delitzsch:
"Zion ia the hill of the city of David (2 Sam. v.
7, 9; 1 Kings viii. 1) including Moriah. That
mountain of holiness, holy mountain, which is the
place of the Divine presence, and therefore towers
above all the heights of the earth, is assigned to
him as the seat of his throne." — C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 7. Declare. — In this strophe it
is not the poet which speaks, but the anointed
of Jehovah. This is not David nor any other
historical king of Israel, moreover not the per-
sonified theocratic kingdom, but the Messianic
king; not in bodily reality, it is true, nor speak-
ing magically from the Psalm, but appearing in
the Psalm dramatically as a person.* This does
not mean, by any means, as a poetical figure.
For the person of the Messiah, as promised by
God, and therefore surely coming, existed iti the
faith of the Psalmist not less than in the faith of
the prophets and the church, although, in lyri-
cal parts of Scripture the expressions of faith
concerning him appear in different forms from
those in the historical or didactic, and the pro-
phetical writings in a narrower sense. The Mes-
sianic king in this place appeals for the expla-
nation of ver. 6, not only to a feigned oracle (De
Wette) but to a pn, an ordinance (whether regu-
lation or arrangement). There is also in its
meaning a reference to an express, inviolable,
and peculiar declaration of Jehovah of a histori-
cal kind, such as that which is found for the re-
lation in question, in 2 Sam. vii. 14 sq., alone.
This promise of God, given to David through Na-
than before the birth of Solomon (2 Sam. xii. 24),
is the historical root of the biblical prophecies
of the seed of David, who likewise stands in the
relation of sonship to Jehovah. This expression
does not denote the divine origin of royalty, or
a management of the government according to
the will of Jehovah (De Wette), but, first of all, a
relation of love to Jehovah, and especially
with reference to care and training, which
however, at the same time, includes a reference
to faithfulness, so much the more as the covenant
of God with Israel is regarded as a marriage co-
venant (Hengst,, Hupf.) In this last turn of
thought there is a thread of meaning, which has
been for the most part neglected; yet which
alone can lead us to a correct undei'standing of
the passage, viz. : If Israel stands partly in a re-
lation of sonship to Jehovah, the God of histori-
cal revelation, partly in a marriage covenant
with Him as the only living, true, and faithful
God of the covenant, and indeed the latter, in
the sense of Monogamy, over which God watches
with jealousy; then the following consequences
ensue, viz.: (1) That every attempt to make a
parallel with the sons of Elohim (whether angels
or princes, Ps. Ixxxii. 6) and with the children
of Zeus is entirely unsuitable, and entangles the
entire conception. (2) That the use of the word
1 '^ (which seldom means to beget, but gene-
* [Delitzach : " The Anointed Himself now takes the word,
and speaks out what He is, and what He can do in virtue of
the Divine decree. There is no word of transition, no for-
mula of introduction to indicate the leap of the Psalmist from
the word of Jehovah to the word of His Christ ; the poet is a
Beer; his Psalm is a mirror of that which is seen, an echo of
that which is heard."— C. A. B.]
rally to bear) is not to be regarded as merely a
rhetorical variation of the idea of sonship, but
gives rise to this thought; that in a determined
case some one has been placed in this relation by
God Himself, and indeed in the midst of the his-
tory of revelation, in which sense Israel also is
called i\xQ first-born son of Jehovah (Ex. iv. 22).
(3.) That in such a case to-day has not only a
mere poetical, or indeed a metaphysical, but a
historical meaning. The meaning is not of an
eternal, or of a temporal, or spiritual begetting
of a person, a setting him in existence; so also
not as is frequently supposed of the establish-
ment of an Israelitish king in the government,
which was disputed by mighty opponents. In
connection with this supposition an unknown
writer in Paulus, Memorab. III., regards the
Psalm as a coronation address composed by Na-
than when Solomon ascended the throne.
It is certainly a king of Israel, an anointed of
Jehovah, who speaks, but this happens partly af-
ter his establishment on Zion by Jehovah, and
partly as a demonstration, not indeed of his theo-
cratic title (for this he had as the one appointed
by Jehovah), but of his personal capacity for the
government in question, which was to overcome,
and embrace the world. Moreover, a general
call to the position of sonship to Jehovah would
not have been suflScient, because such a call is
also ascribed in general to pious Israelites, Dent,
xiv. 1 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 15; Prov. Sol. xiv. 26. There-
fore in this place he appeals to a special ordina-
tion, and indeed so that he refers to an appoint-
ment of Jehovah with reference to this very thing,
as a word spoken to him as a personal being
who already was in existence; that is, the
speaker wishes to make known : (1) That he, and
no one else, is the one to whom this appointment
applies; (2) that he has not been made the son
by it for the first time, but declared to be the
son ; (3) that this declaration was in time and
not in eternity, and has the meaning of a histo^
rical recognition. At the same time the form of
the declaration shows it to be an explanation,
and indeed not only of the previous oracle in ver.
6 (Herder, Hupf., etal.), but also of the appoint-
ment of Jehovah mentioned. There can be no
doubt but that 13D has this meaning of "more
exact account or explanation," Ps. 1. 16. Even
this shows this declaration to be an advance in the
declarations of Revelation. But the same is
also shown, in fact. For a word of Jehovah
of this kind is found only, Ps. Ixxxix. 27 sq.,
mentioned with reference to David, and 2 Sara,
vii. 14 with reference to David's son. But in the
passage Ps. Ixxxix. 27, it is likewise not David
who speaks, but this passage and the prophecy,
2 Sam. vii. 14, indeed first after his death, were
rather referred to him and his seed, and interpre-
ted as Messianic, so that a remarkable agreement
is evident with the passage in which we are now
engaged. Both Psalmists already treat that
historical word of God as Messianic, and find the
right to this conception in the fact that the pro-
phecy of Nathan treats of the government of the
world with invincible power and of eternal du-
ration. This declaration prevents the necessary
consideration of the immediate reference of the
oracle to Solomon, and in connection with other
prophetical statements respecting the seed of
58
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
David, especially after the death of David and
Solomon, gives to his Divine sonship a narrower,
a specific, namely a, /!/esaiam'c signification. This
also comes forih, in the Psalm before us, not
merely typically, but directly. For David can-
not be the speaker introduced by the Psalmist,
since the ordination of Jehovah, to which the
sovereign who claims the name Son of God ap-
peals, is referred to the son of David and we
cannot think of Solomon, because the circum-
stances alluded to in the Psalm do not at all suit
his government, which is expressly mentioned as
peaceful (1 Kings v. 4, 6, 18). If, then, we are
compelled to go beyond this king, there is no
further support for the typical idea in any one
of the succeeding rulers, and the historical ex-
planation is satisfied only when it finds the ful-
filment of the declaration of this Psalm in Jesus,
the historical Messiah, that is to say, treats it as
directly Messianic, as is frequently the case in the
New Testament. Comp. the doctrinal and ethi-
cal thoughts which follow, and my exposition of
£[eb. i. 5. [Alexander: " These words are cited
in Acts xiii. 34, and Hebrews i. 6, to prove the
solemn recognition of Christ's sonship, and His
consequent authority by God Himself. This re-
cognition was repeated, and as it were, realized
at our Saviour's baptism and transfiguration,
where a voice from heaven said (Matth. iii, 17;
xvii. 6) : * This is My beloved son, in whom I am
well pleased, hear ye him.' " — C. A. B.]
Ver. 8. Ask of me and I vrill give thee.
— [Perowne: "A poetical figure, by which is re-
presented God's willingness to give to His an-
ointed the kingdoms of this world. The Father's
love will withhold nothing from the son." God
will have His own son. His beloved, ask of Him ;
He delights in giving, but He likewise delights
in being asked, and exhorts to the asking with
promises of bestowing. As with all His chil-
dren, so with the Messiah above all. In this con-
nection it is well to recall Jesus' habit of prayer
to the Father. This verse asserts the share of
the Gentiles in the blessings of the Messiah's
rule, yet not as heathen, but as submissive to the
Messianic kingdom. This is the constant idea
of the Psalmist and the Prophets. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 9. Break. — According to the Sept., with
other vowel points, "to rule" [^Troi/Liaiveiv'] with
reference to Micah vii. 14. The Messiah is thus
represented also. Rev. xii. 5 ; xix. 15. This al-
ready shatters the objections of De Wette and
Hupfeld to the Messianic interpretation. This
form, moreover, presupposes the prophecy. Num.
xxiv.- 17, and has its internal reasons in the fact
that the Messiah is at once Judge and Saviour,
vid. Doct. and Ethical. [Potter's vessel. — De
Wette: "With little trouble, and to entire de-
struction, Jer, xix. 11 ; Is. xxx. 14." — C. A. B.]
[Str.IY. Ver. 10. Delitzsch : " The Psalmist
closes with an application of that which he has
seen and heard, to the great ones of the earth.
The warning is directed not to those who have
been seen in rebellious commotion, but to kings
in general, with a glance at that which he has
seen and understood in prophecy." — Judges of
the earth. — Delitzsch: "Not those who judge
the earth, but those judges and regents who be-
long to the earth in its length and breadth."
Ver. 11. This verse stands in beautiful con-
trast to ver. 3, as it is based upon what has been
seen in prophecy, vers. 8 and 9. — Serve the
Lord vrith fear.— This must be taken in a re-
ligious sense, as is usually the case, but the po-
litical sense is likewise involved, as we see from
vers. 8 and 9. The religious and the political
submission are combined in the Messianic king-
dom {vid. Riehm and Perowne). — Rejoice Twith
trembling. — Delitzsch: "Their rejoicing lest
it should turn into security and pride, is to be
with trembling, trembling with reverence and
self-discipline, for God is a consuming fire, Heb.
xii. 28."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 12. Kiss the son. — That is, do homage
to him (1 Sam. x, 1 ; comp. 1 Kings xix. 18;
Hos. xiii. 2 ; Job xxxi. 27.) The Aramaic 13
for |3 is also found, Prov. xxxi. 2, and the ab-
sence of the article suits entirely the Messianic
interpretation. The word then stands in the
transition to a proper noun. According to the
example adduced by Delitzsch, an Arabic inter-
preter would explain: kiss a son and what son?
All the ancient translations, except the Syriac,
have different interpretations, whilst they either
take 13 as an adverb = pure, clean (Aquil.,
Symm., whom Jerome follows: ador ate pure) ; or
read 13 (= purity, chastity, modesty) and
pl!/J in the sense of lay hold of, embrace. Hence
Spd^aa&E naiSdaq (Sept.), apprehendite disciplinam
(Vulg., Chald.), lay hold of purity (Ewald,
Koster). The Arabic translation of Saadia in-
terprets : Prepare yourself with purity, that is,
with sincerity, to obey Him. Hupfeld regards
the original meaning of the verb as to join, to
follow, and translates: "submit yourself sin-
cerely and honestly." But since there is no evi-
dent use of 13 in this sense, he supposes, with
Olsh., a mistake, and would read 13 = submit
yourself to Him (join Him); whilst he grants
that even this construction is not found else-
where. The same objection applies to the trans-
lation: Submit yourself to duty, namely, obedi-
ence (Hitzig).*
The kiss, as a sign of reverence is, in the Ori-
ent, for the most part given on the hand, or the
clothing of another (Rosenm., Alles and Neuea
Morgenland, III., no. 496; IV., no. 789), yet at
times even on the mouth, or thrown by a move-
ment of the hand, which is regarded as an act
of homage.
Even with the Messianic interpretation, it is
* [Hupfeld : " The language does not allow of the transla-
tion of 13 as Son, for tho following reasons, (1) "^3 in this
sense is not a Hebrew word, but an Aramaic word, and only
occurs in Prov. xxxi. 2, in u passage of very late composition,
which has likewise other Chaldaisms, whilst this Psalm is
tho pioduct of tho best period of literature, and it is incon-
ceiv.tble that poetical license even would excuse such a word.
(2) It is without sense apart from Jehovdh, and without the
article. (3) The subject of the following clause is Jehovah,
as in tho preceding verse, which makes it improbable that a
new subject fchould step in between. It is difficult to take
"13 in any other way than as an adverb, as Svm and Je-
rome." Hupfeld is corr<'ct here, I think ; we must not be
misled by the beauty of the idea, kiss tho fon, or a desire for
another Messianic allusion. There is sufficient reference to
the Messiah in the id strophe, and this allusion would have
no significance apart from that. Then again ?3 is used in
that strophe for the Messiah. It would seem strancre for th»
Psalmist to select an Aramaic form so soon after. 5 A B 1
PSALM II.
59
questionable whether the subject of the follow-
ing clause is the son (Henget. ), which is the most
obvious, or Jehovah (with Abeu Ezra and most
interpreters, with the supposition of a change
of subject which is frequent in prophecy and
poetry) because this corresponds better with the
consciousness of the believing Israelite. But
both clauses, with lest and when, contain merely
confirmed warnings in the mouth of the Psalm-
ist, entirely the same as that which immediately
before he has had the Messiah speak; and if
there is in the closing clause the word often used
of believing refuge in Jehovah, yet this does not
decide, in view of the Divine majesty and power
ascribed to the Messiah. It would rather seem
to be decided by the fact that in ver. 11 already
again Jehovah Himself is named as Sovereign,
wliom the kings and judges of the earth are to
serve. But this very passage favors, in the high-
est degree, the Messianic character of the entire
Psalm, For the discourse is of the previously
heathen princes and leaders of the nations, who
are not to be made Jews by compulsion, as it
happened for the first time under Alex. Jannaeus,
to whom on this account Hitzig brings down this
Psalm; but who are exhorted to conversion to
Jehovah, ere the crushing judgment of the Mes-
siah shall be fulfilled on all those who are not
members of the people of God, even the mighti-
est. These also declare, with all their expres-
sions of joy, still ever that holy awe, and that
indelible trembling of the creature before
the Almighty and Holy God, which is mentioned
likewise in the New Covenant, e. ^,, "working
out salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. ii.
12; Heb, xii. 28). The context itself is against
the interpretation of the hypocritical joy at the
homage festival, of those who have been over-
come by force, and who obey from fear (llgen in
Rosenm., and part also Hengst.)
[From the way. — Alexander: ".ffy the
way.^' Riehm : " In order that you may not pe-
rish with regard to the way = go in a way which
is destruction for you. "j'lT is an accusative of
reference, (Hitzig, of limitation.)" So also
Delitzsch, et al.—G. A. B.]
The construction of the closing clause being
disputed, we cannot gain from it any evidence
of the Messiahship of the Anointed, but since this
Messiahship is proved elsewhere, the contents of
the clause forbid a reference merely to an earthly
king, Ps. cxviii. 9 ; cxlv. 3, but not to God's
King, whose solemn name of Messiah and Son
of God has here its first biblical expression and
abiding support. Instead of " lilile " some trans-
late with the Sept., "in short," "-soon;" but in
hypothetical connections only the first meaning
of the Hebrew word can be safely shown. Sachs'
translation "as notliing," is too strong. [Hup-
feld, 13 ""Din, " not to put their trust in Him, but
to seek or take refuge with Him." So Hitzig et
al. This meaning is clear in npHD ^ refuge,
in the shadow of His wings, Ps. xxxvi. 8 ; Ivii.
2; under His wings, Ps. xci. 4; Ruth ii. 12 ; of
a rock, shield, etc., Ps. xviii, 3, 81; cxliv. 2 ;
Deut. xxxii. 37, etc. — C. A. B.]
With Bugenhagen we say, at the close of this
Psalm, " epiphonema dignius ut mediteris guam ut
ime tractetur."
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. When those who are without the kingdom
of God oppose it and attack it, even though they
assemble themselves in masses, riot against it
after the manner of the nations, according to the
ways and in the interests of the kingdom of this
world, combine under mighty princes and wise
leaders, yet their rebellion is not only deplora-
ble, but is also miserable, abject, and blameable ;
yes, it is from the beginning condemned as with-
out reason and without eifect. They consult to-
gether, it is true, but nothing comes of it. They
would undertake something, but they cannot, and
properly they are not allowed to. They are as
cowardly as they are boastful. They merely ex-
cite one another, and stimulate one another with
presumptuous words to wicked and impotent pre-
tensions. Furit in unum populus et miseretur om-
nium Christus.
2. The enemies of Divine sovereignty on earth
are of many minds and split into parties, yet they
agree in the wish to limit its extension as far as
possible. So far as it is in heaven, they do not
trouble themselves about it, but with every ad-
vance it makes in the world, they feel that their
interests are threatened. Although they are still
without its limits they have a presentiment that
Divine Sovereignty is in all earnestness an ab-
solute Sovereignty embracing the whole world.
They feel that by this very fact they are assailed
in their natui-al claims, which they call human
rights, and in their native tendencies, to cherish
which they regard as their most sacred necessity.
When it is demanded that they should obey the
will of God, and submit to His ordinances, which
bind all men without exception, they regard it
wiih indignation as a direct attack upon their
human rights of sovereignty, and consequently
as a personal insult. They little think that the
cords thrown out to them from the kingdom of
God are holy bands of moral communion, and
cords of love to assist them in pious discipline
and life. That which is weaving itself about
them and their children into a net of grace for
their salvation, they regard only as a yoke of
compulsion to their unsubdued hearts, and abuse
it as a fetter to their freedom, and a restraint to
their consciences. It seems to them a point of
honor, based on natural rights, and enjoined by
circumstances, to tear away and strip off tliose
cords which are wound about them, and hold
them in this way. " Even to-day we see that all
the enemies of Christ find it as burdensome to be
compelled to submit to His authority as to un-
dergo the greatest shame," (Calvin).
3. The internal contradictions of such reflec-
tions upon the world are truly great, but the
blindness of those who are entangled therein is
equally great. Their pathos is as hollow as their
power and their rights; their talk as empty as
their counsel ; their efforts as frivolous as their
conceit; their ability as vain as their intentions.
Thus^they perform a drama whose fearful ear-
nestness they are no more able to conceive than
the absurdity of the part they play in it, and
whose comic side ceases to excite laughter when
history discloses it as really tragedy, and reveals
to the anxious heart of man, that even the bright
60
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
glance of the serene eye of God emits the light-
nings of wrath, which work ruin and set the
world in flames ; and that the word of the
scorner will come forth from the mouth of the
Almighty in the crushing thunders of judgment.
" Thus God decrees, that the ungodly should
storm and rage against the pious, excite all their
counsels against them. But all this is as the
stormy, swollen waves of the sea, which rush
along as if they would break down the shore,
but before they reach the shore they quiet down
again, vanish in themselves, or break up with a
little foam upon the shore." Luther.
4. And yet God has made preparations in his-
tory against the destruction of the world, and
these are embraced in the Messianic institutions
of salvation, which were not only typically sym-
bolized in the theocratic institutions of the Old
Covenant, but were historically prepared and
foretold by the prophetic words of Revelation.
From these prophecies, even in the darkest
times, the severest afflictions, the bright light of
consolation streams forth, because these not only
point with certainty to the providence of God in
history, but also to the indestructible power, the
sure and constantly approaching victory of the
kingdom of God over all the powers of the world.
As these prophecies are consoling to the citizens
of the kingdom of God, so are they threatening
and calculated to terrify its foes.
5. The Messianic prophecies explain the en-
tire history of the world and of salvation, illu-
minating it with the light of Divine revelation.
These again have their centre of light in the de-
clarations respecting the person of the Messiah.
The faith in this person, that He will surely come
and appear in history, has its living root in the
hearts of believers. But this root does not spring
from the soil of human longings, or the national
spirit of the people of Israel, but it grows under
the influence of the Divine Spirit from the soil of
special Divine revelations made to Israel, and it
develops in testimonies, which may become pro-
phecies, as in the circumstances of this Psalm.
And these prophecies on the one side strengthen
and nourish faith, and on the other find their
true development and progress in history. —
" Such a hope as this we must firmly maintain,
and not deviate from it for any cause whatever,"
(Luther).
6. On account of this historically growing and
developing character of Biblical prophecy, it is
possible that its elementary beginnings, which
on account of their germinal nature embrace and
contain in embryo the forms which afterwards
appear separately, were neither clearly under-
stood by their contemporaries, nor always ex-
plained in the same way by subsequent writers.
If, however, the explanations maintain the di-
rection indicated by the writing itself, and lay
hold of that thought which is prominent, and
which alone is authorized, then there is not the
least occasion for ambiguity, or of a perplexing
manifold sense. But these thoughts, which alone
are authorized, have found their expression suc-
cessively in the Scriptures themselves, so that we
need not seek for any other rule. The fulness
of meaning in the biblical expressions Anointed,
and Son of God, cannot be derived either simply
from etymology of the words, nor directly from
the first historical use of these terms ; it can be
gained only from a consideration of the use of
these terms made by the biblical writers in the
time of the fulfilment in the New Testament. If
therefore ver. 7 of this Psalm makes the first
biblical use of this expression with reference to
the Messiah, on the basis of a Divine decree,
then we can conceive the right of the Messianic
use of this and other verses of this Psalm in the
New Testament in various forms. This is the
case in express citations, as Acts iv. 25 sq.,
where Peter and John, with the rest of the Apos-
tles, treat as a fulfilment of the words, Ps. ii. 1,
2, the rebellion against Christ, in which the un-
believing Jews had shown that they were en-
tirely agreed with the princes of the heathen,
who not only ruled them but led them; further-
more. Acts xiii. 33, where Paul derives from ver.
7 the propriety and reasonableness of the resur-
rection of Jesus as the Son of God ; finally Heb.
i. 6, where the argument for the super-angelic
nature and rank of Jesus as the Messiah is de-
rived from the same verse. So also these words
are used literally, in the Messianic sense ; thus
Heb. V. 5, where the idea is advanced in connec-
tion with words from ver. 7, that Jesus Christ
was placed in the glory of His high priesthood
by God, who had declared Himself his Father
long before, and in contrast to His predecessors ;
furthermore, Rev. xii. 5; xix. 15, where the ju-
dicial activity of the Messiah is described with
words from ver. 9. Finally there are parallel
facts mentioned, such as the wrath of the Lamb
(Rev. vii. 16), the Sovereignty of God and His
Messiah over the world (Rev. xi. 16), which
might have been suggested by other passages, it
is true, but which yet confirm the Messianic cha-
racter of the Psalm. If we should reject this
Messianic character we would be finally forced
to the evasion made by the Arabic translation of
Saadia, which translates in ver. 7 the Hebrew
ben with friend, because the most obvious mean-
ing cannot be understood.
7. It is worthy of special consideration that
in this Psalm the generation referred to Jehovah,
or rather the birth of the Messiah, is understood
as a Divine declaration of the Messiah as Son of Je-
hovah, made by a word of revelation upon a histo-
rical day ; that likewise the corresponding Di-
vine declaration, Ps. Ixxxix. 27, transfers the
tide of first-born, which was previously given to
the people of God, to the Messiah in His type
David; that then John and Paul, in connection
with the deeper insight of the New Testament
into the idea of the Divine Sonship applied the
name of first-born to Jesus, the historical Mes-
siah, (Dan. ix. 24, 25 ; Luke ii. 11 ; John i. 49),
and indeed partly with reference to His birth
from God, before the creation of any creature
(Col. i. 15), partly with reference to His relation
to the Church brought about by His resurrection
from the dead (Col. i. 18; Rom. viii.29; ICor. xv.
20; Acts xxvi. 23; Rev. i. 6). Again, in close
connection with this is the fact that Paul, Acts
xiii. 33, treats the resurrection of Jesus as the
actual fulfilment eifected by God upon a histori-
cal day of the declaration of the Messiah as
His Son, expressed in the words, Ps. ii. 7
(comp. Rom. i. 4) ; furthermore, that Heb. i. 6
immediately after the use of the Psalm already
PSALM II.
61
mentioned, briefly speaks of the exalted Messiah
with reference to His second advent^ under the
nume of the first-born ; finally that in Rev. xii.
5 the entrance of the Messiah upon His sove-
reignty over the world, when snatched away to
God and to His throne, is regarded- as a birth
from the Church according to the analogy of Is.
Ixvi. 7; Micah iv. 4 ; v. 1, 2, Once, when Me-
lanchthon was asked by some one, through his
servant, why we sing every year, at Christmas,
♦'Born to-day," answered, "Ask your master
-whether he does not need the consolation to-
day."
8. The kingdom of God is not oniy to acquire
a historical form on earth among'xhe people of
Israel and in the land of Canaan, but is to be
spread abroad among all nations, even to the
ends of the earth, yet not in the form of the theo-
cracy of the Old Covenant, but in the Messianic
form, or the Christocracy. The assurance that
the power of the Divine kingdom over all people
is conferred upon the Messiah rests upon
the will of Jehovah guaranteed by the promise
(comp. Ps. Ixxxii. 8) ; but the historical fulfil-
ment of this promise is made dependent upon a
demand yet to be made by the Messiah, whose
time, manner, circumstances and conditions are
not mentioned here, compare Luke xxii. 29 ;
Kev. xi. 15.
9. The Messiah's power over the kingdom of
God is destined to be a Divine government, not
only to embrace the world, but also to conquer
the world : and it has not only this destiny, but
has also sufl&cient means in its own constitution
to accomplish both of these purposes. We must
distinguish, however, (1) the means of grace,
which are offered previously to all the world
(Matth. xxiv. 14; xxviii. 19), the use of which
conveys a blessing to all those who willingly
submit themselves to him (Mark xvi. 16), so that
those who take refuge with God and His anointed
are not cast down and buried beneath the ruins
of a world which is judged by the Lord (Luke
xxviii. 30), but they find deliverance; and (2)
the powers which infinitely surpass all the pow-
ers of this world, and which are greatly to be
feared when they unfold in their strength, in the
exhibition of wrath (Rom. ii. 5), in the Messianic
judgment (John iv. 22).
10. In the intervening time the Divine word
addresses itself not only to the lowly and the
weak, but very emphatically to' the powerful and
those in high positions in the world, who are in
especial danger of over-rating themselves and of
boasting, and, in consequence of this, of misun-
derstanding, neglecting, and transgressing the
Liws of the kingdom of God, which lie at the
basis of all human order, and therefore they need
an earnest and gracious admonition to be mind-
ful of their responsibility to the Heavenly King
and Judge, and to lead their subordinates in wit-
nessing faithful obedience to their Lord and God,
who not only has established the office of magis-
trate in the world and maintains, protects and
blesses the power of the magistrate among men,
but also would stand in a personal relation and
communion with those who are clothed with this
power, in order that the sceptre and sword, mo-
ney and property with which they have been in-
vested by Him, may be used to the glory of God,
the good of the kingdom, and the benefit of men,
and that they may work out their own salvation
on the one side with fear and trembling, and on
the other with sacred joy. Spes sine tremore luxu-
riat in prsesumtionem, et timor sine spe degenerat in
desperationem (Gregory).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is as impossible to destroy the kingdom of
God on earth as to take heaven by storm. God
will not allow Himself to be dethroned. — The so-
vereignty of Christ is to believers an easy yoke,
to unbelievers an oppressive fetter; therefore,
obedience is to the former a sweet pleasure — to
the latter an insupportable burden ; but it can-
not be shaken off — the sceptre of blessing be-
comes a rod of iron. — All persons in authority
should assist in the carrying out of God's will on
earth, and use their powers to this end ; but it
is allotted to the Son of God alone to set up the
kingdom of God and carry it on in the world.
Rebellion against the Lord and His anointed is
shameful as it is presumptuous ; foolish as it is
daring ; impotent as it is wicked and audacious.
— The higher our position in this world, the,
greater our accountability to God. — The Lord
proclaims the presence of His grace, as well as
His coming to Judgment, and so no one has ex-
cuse. God gives time for repentance to the in-
dividual as well as to nations ; blessed is he who
uses this time of grace and takes refuge with the
God of all salvation, who reveals Himself iu
History as Saviour and as Judge.
Starke : — Where the kingdom of Christ breaks
forth with power, the world is excited and re-
bellious, but all in vain. — This is a perverse ge-
neration which finds the snares of Satan easy
and pleasant, but rejects as cumbersome the
cords of Jesus' love. — He who would be a true
anointed of the Lord cannot and must not oppose
the Messiah, but must build up this kingdom. —
The Lord and His anointed are so inseparably
united that their enemies must combat them both
together. — It is pleasurable to be a servant of
sin (Rom. vi. 12), and at the same time a servant
of perdition (2 Peter ii. 19) ; but to be a servant
of God and of Jesus is regarded as too trouble-
some for the flesh (Acts xxiv. 25), prejudicial to
freedom (John viii. 83), and dishonorable (John
ix. 28). — When our Lord in His time had suflB-
ciently proved the faith and perceverance of His
Church, He deprived His persecutors of their
courage, so that those who had previously been
the source of fear to every one, feared ana trem-
bled themselves. — Christ was, according to His
office, a preacher; according to His majesty, a
King on Mount Zion, therefore, true man ; a
Son begotten to-day, therefore true God ; a
wonderful Hero and Lord ! — Christ is a universal
King, therefore He has His Church in all parts
of the world. — The enemies of Christ suppo.se
that His sceptre is still a reed, as in the time of
His sufferings; but they will be obliged to expe-
rience, some day, to their greatest shame, ihe
iron sceptre in His hand. — Generally those who
are the highest in dignity acquire self knowledge
and humility with difliculty, yet this is indispen-
sable to their improvement. — What is more rea-
sonable than that those who have received more
G2
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
honor than others should render the most reve-
rence to God? (2 Sam. xii. 7 sq.). — Those are
the best friends of magistrates who remind them
of their duty to the Son of God, in order that
they may not be exposed to His wrath. — How
great a change of heart there must be, if we are
to resolve to serve and truly hold Him for our
Lord whom formerly we despised and opposed. —
Christ is gracious, so that He willingly allows
Himself to be kissed ; but if he is not kissed at
all, or with a Judas kiss, He can be as angry as
He is gracious.
Moller: — God speaks to the ungodly more by
His arm than by His mouth. — Selnekker: All
will go well with those whose hopes are in Christ,
who know Him by faith, accept Him and confess
Him. — Dauderstadt: We have only God to
serve with fear, not Satan, not the flesh, not the
world. — Geier : The flesh always seeks release
from restraint, but to its own destruction. — To
be truly wise is to know ourselves and our dan-
ger at the right time. — Francke : Just as it is
the part of man constantly to ask, so also is it
the part of our Heavenly Father constantly to
give. — Renschel : Although the enemies of
Christ rage still, yet He remains King. — He who
serves and honors Him will live with Him for-
ever.— His kingdom, the Church, will survive
when all His enemies perish. — Herberger: The
Lord Jesus has many and mighty enemies, but
He is greater than they all ; therefore, the best
advice is to gain His love and be blessed forevtr
by Him. — The enemies of the Christian religion
speak their own shame. — The longer the storm
is coming, the harder it beats; the longer God
withholds His wrath, the more terrible the pun-
ishment.— That which has been established by our
Heavenly Father, no devil or tyrant will over-
throw.— The Church is oppressed, but not sup-
pressed.— Beware of God's wrath, for wrath and
destruction are close together. — Bengel: In the
kingdom of Omnipotence all things must be ar-
ranged for the best. — Umbreit: Only those
who reject the breath of love, feel the iron
of justice. — R. Stibr: The kingdom of the An-
ointed Son of God, which is ever invincible to
rebels, will be graciously ofi'ered to faith, before
it is asserted with judgment. — Guenther: Da-
vid beholds the victory of his successor on his
eternal throne, and shall we tremble when unbe-
lief seeks its booty on Christian thrones — Taube :
Christ is the Man of decision for all; in Him is
rooted the contrast between the righteous as be-
lieving subjects, and the ungodly as unbelieving
enemies. — Diburich: When human powers are
opposed to the Messiah's kingdom they are like
earthen vessels to iron.
[Matt. Henry: One would have expected that
so great a blessing to this world should have been
universally welcomed and embraced, and that
every sheaf should immediately have bowed to
that of the Messiah, and all the crowns and scep-
tres on earth should have been laid at His feet;
but it proves quite contrary. Never were the
notions of any sect of philosophers, though never
80 absurd, nor the power of any prince or state,
though never, so tyrannical, opposed with so
much violence as the doctrine and government
of Christ. A sign it was from heaven, for the
opposition was plainly from hell originally. —
Spurgeon: We shall not greatly err in our
summary o'f this sublime Psalm if we call it the
Psalm of Messiah the Prince ; for it sets forth
as in a wondrous vision the tumult of the people
against the Lord's Anointed, the determinate pur-
pose of God to exalt His own Son, and the ultimate
reign of that Son over all His enemies. Let us
read it with the eye of faith, beholding as in a
glass the final triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ
over all His enemies. — It was a custom among
great kings to give to favored ones whatever
they might ask (Esther v. 6; Matth. xiv. 7), so
Jesus hath but to ask and have. — There must
ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian's
joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a
sweet smell, and we must see to it that we burn
no other upon the altar. Fear without joy is
torment; and joy without holy fear would be
presumption. — Our faith may be slender as a
spider's thread, but if it be real, we are in our
measure blessed. The more we trust, the more
fully shall we know the blessedness. We may
therefore close the Psalm with the prayer of the
Apasties: "Lord, increase our Faith."
Plumer: It is easy for God to destroy His
foes . . . Behold Pharaoh, his wise men, his
hosts and his horses, ploughing and plunging, and
sinking like lead in the Red Sea, Here is the
end of one of the greatest plots ever formed
against God's chosen. Of thirty Roman empe-
rors, governors of provinces, and others high in
oflfice, who distinguished themselves by their zeal
and bitterness in persecuting the early Chris-
tians, one became speedily deranged, after some
atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own son,
one became blind, the eyes of one started out of
his head, one was drowned, one was strangled,
one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead
in a manner that will not bear recital, one died
of so loathsome a disease that several of his phy-
sicians were put to death because they could not
abide the stench that filled his room; two com-
mitted suicide, a third attempted it, but had to
call for help to finish the work, five were assas-
sinated by their own people or servants, five
others died the most miserable and excruciating
deaths, several of them having an untold com-
plication of diseases, and eight were killed in
battle, or after being taken prisoners. Among
these was Julian the Apostate. In the days of
his prosperity he is said to have pointed his dag-
ger to heaven, defying the Son of God, whom he
commonly called the Galilean. But when he was
wounded in battle he saw that all was over with
him, and he gathered up his clotted blood and
threw it into the air, exclaiming, "Thou hast
conquered, 0 thou Galilean." Voltaire has told
us of the agonies of Charles IX. of France, which
drove the blood through the pores of the skin of
that miserable monarch, after his cruelties and
treachery to the Huguenots. — C. A. B.]
PSALM III.
63
PSALM IIL
A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.
1 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me I
Many are they that rise up against me.
2 Many there be which say of my soul,
There is no help for him in God. Selah.
3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me ;
My glcJry, and the lifter up of mine head.
4 I cried unto the Lord, with my voice.
And he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
6 I laid me down and slept ;
I awaked ; for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people.
That have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O Lord ; save me, O my God ;
For thou bast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone ;
Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord :
Thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
A Psalm of David when hefUdfrom Absalom his
gon. — The title Mizmdr and the use of Selah {vid.
Introduction) indicate the use of this Psalm in
the service of the temple. It is particularly
suited by its tone and subject for a morning
Psalm (ver. 5) in times of trouble, especially in
the dangers of war.* There is not the least oc-
casion, in fact, or in the language, to deviate
from the traditional view of the origin of this
Psalm as it is expressed in the title. There are
reflected in this Psalm the particular features of
the story of the trouble of David in his flight
from Absalom, especially 2 Sam. xv. 13 ; xvi. 7
sq. ; xvii. 1, 11. [Delitzsch: "The derision of
David as one forsaken by God, 2 Sam. xvi. 7;
the danger by night, 2 Sam. xvii. 1, the myri-
ads of people, 2 Sam. xv. 13, xvii. 11, and the
high and honorable position of the Psalmist." —
C. A. B,] The expressions, especially of ver. 6,
transcend the description of the troubles of a
private man of piety. If this fact is recognized
against Seb. Schmidt, Olsh., Hupf., the suppo-
Bition of an unknown king (De Wette, Sachs) is
an unjustifiable criticism of the traditional view ;
for nothing speaks against David, and many
things for him. The transfer of its time of ori-
* [Delitzsch : " The first two Psalms, which are prologues,
are suice ded by a morning Psalm, Ps. iii., and an evening
Psalm, Ps. iv., as we would naturally expect such Psalms to
come firbt in a Psalm book.''— 0. A. B.]
gin to the period of the supremacy of Saul, es-
pecially the troubles of David after the destruc-
tion of Ziklag by the Amalekites, 1 Sam. xxx. 6
(Hitzig) is incompatible v^ith ver. 4 [vid. exege-
sis of the verse). It is true there is no apparent
reference to Absalom, and many exegetes miss
it; but they do not notice that we have here a
lyrical effusion of a specific religious character,
and this not here the expression of the experi-
ence of a sick and anxious father, as 2 Sam. xv
11, but the lamentation and the trust of a chief-
tain and sovereign, who is hard pressed, yet
cheerful in prayer, and these experiences re-
sound in such terse sentences and pithy v^rords,
that the reader hears the royal Psalmist sigh,
cry, and weep from his inmost soul. [Ewald :
" The grandeur, color, and language of David
are unmistakable." — C. A. B.]
At the same time, the rythmical arrangement
of the four strophes (three according to Geier)
is so artistic that it may properly be regarded as
written down at a later time, and yet we have no
reason to suppose that it was a later composition
(Rosenm.), or that there was a long time between
its conception and its production (Hengsten-
berg). Moreover, the origin of this Psalm of
prayer does not, most naturally, fall upon the
evening (Hengst.) of the first day of the flight,
2 Sam. xvi. 14, (Kimchi), on which David went
bare-footed and weeping up the Mount of Olives,
and experienced many bitternesses and mortifi-
cations, but in the morning hours, after the in-
tervening night, in which Ahithophel would have
64
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
fallen upon him, 2 Sam. xvii. 1, (J. H, Michaelis
[Ewald]).
The Hollanders sang this Psalm according to
their Psalm-book when they marched against the
Belgians, Aug. 1st, 1831.
Str. I. Ver. 1. [How. — Mak, an expression
of lamentation (De Wette), on account of the
crowd of enemies (Hupf.) — Increased. — Barnes:
"How are they multiplied; or how numerous
they are. Perhaps the idea is, that at first they
seemed to be comparatively few in number, but
had now so multiplied as to endanger his crown and
life." — Hupfeld: "That trouble me— in gene-
ral of enemies or opponents. — Rise up against
me. — Properly not rebels, but adversaries in
general, those who stand up against him to op-
pose him." — C. A. B,]
Ver. 2. [Hupfeld: "His need has become so
great and threatening that many doubt his
deliverance, and deny that he has any help
to expect from God." — C. A B.] — My soul.
— This circumlocution for the person is not
without significance (most interpreters). It
is used in Hebrew not only with reference
to the life (Gesen. [Barnes]), but also with
reference to the spirit, and will (Hupfeld), and it
here expresses the fact that the words spoken
partly about David, and partly to him, as well by
open enemies (Hiizig), as by friends who have
become perplexed, wound his inmost soul fHeng-
stenb.), and pass in judgment his inmost charac-
ter, and his personal relation to God (Delitzsch).
— Help. — According to the context, the refe-
rence is to deliverance from danger to his life,
which it is pretended "Pavid has no longer to ex-
pect from Elohim. The speakers here are not
Atheists, who mistake the Divine power (De
Wette), but men, who regard the ruin of David as
unavoidable, and wish to express the opinion that
now even prayer will not help. Herein is ex-
pressed their view that God will not, or does not
wish to help the afflicted one; and this turn of
expression must have stung the soul of David
with all the more bitterness, as his heinous sin
with Bathsheba had already brought upon him
a series of Divine chastisements. But we
are not to infer from this, that the speakers
would say that there is now no more sal-
vation with God for David, or he has been
thrust out from the Divine grace (Delitzsch).
The termination athah [termination of the He-
brew word for help— C. A. B.] is neither inten-
sive (Kimchi), nor demonstrative (Gesen.), nor
euphonic (Aben.Ezra and the most of the later
interpreters), but the accusative of design (Hup-
feld [Delitzsch]), which in the Hebrew is about
to pass out of use, and is only preserved in frag-
ments in certain feminines in fr— in the poets
(derived from the view of direction towards an
end).
Str. II. Ver. 3. [Hengstenberg cites Luther as
saying : " The Psalmist here contrasts with the
previous clauses three others. He has spoken
of many enemies, he opposes them with, the Lord
is his shield. Then, as they have set themselves
against him to disgrace him before the world, he
opposes them with, the Lord sets him in honor.
Finally he laments over those who slander and
insult him, against whom he boasts that it is the
Lora who lifts up his head." — C. A. B.]
[Shield. — Vid. Gen. xv. 1, where God is Abra-
ham's shield, Deut. xxxiii. 29, where he is Is-
rael's shield. It is also a favorite expres-
sion of David, Pss. vii. 10 ; xviii. 2 ; xxviii. 7.
— For me. — '?i''3. A better rendering is
" around me," " about me," " round about mc," so
almost all exegetes. Hitzig: "Jehovah stands
behind him, and holds His shield before him
(Zech. xii. 8; 2 Sam. vi. 16)." Alexander:
"Covering the whole body, not merely a part of
it, as ordinary shields do." — My glory, —
Hengstenberg: "Because David's glory, the
exalted digniiy with which he was clothed,
had its source in the Lord." Ps. Ixii. 7.
— Lifter up of my head. — Hengst.: "Indi-
cates that he is delivered from the state of de-
pression in which he went about in sadness,
without spirit, and with bowed head." De-
litzsch, upon this verse as a whole, says:
" Hourly he has to fear that he will be fallen
upon and ruined, but Jehovah is the shield which
covers him. His kingdom has been taken away
from him, but Jehovah^ is his glory. With co-
vered head, bowed to the ground, he ascended
the Mount of Olives, 2 Sam. xv. 30 ; but Jeho-
vah is the lifter up of his head whilst He com-
forts and helps him." — C- A. B.]
Ver. 4. My voice. — Most exegetes suppose
that '"^Ip is the accusative of instrument, or ac-
cording to Ewald more correctly accusative of
closer definition, and indicates that the call was
a loud one. Hitzig, on the other hand [Begriff
der Kritik, p. 23), Bottcher {Collectanea, p. 116),
and Hupfeld, suppose that there is here a poeti-
cal use of a double subject, and that the active
member appears, first, as the nearer subject in
the nominative, and then, the person himself ap-
pears again in the verb. It is disputed here
whether the imperf. is to be taken in the
historical sense as preterite (Hupf., Hitzig,
Baur), or as an expression of continued action,
Delitzsch, et al. If we separate the imperf.
in the latter sense with De Wette from the
poet's real hour of affliction, and regard it as a
description of the constant state of his soul, so
that the perfects in ver 5 must, contrary to
usage, be taken in like sense ; then this expla-
nation which reduces it, '' to be accustomed," is
clearly wrong. But the strict historical expla-
nation is likevrise carried too far when Sachs
translates the following imperf conversive: "and
he has answered." Hitzig puts even ver. 6 in
the past. But the poet expresses rather, what
he has in Jehovah now and at all times, according
to his faith and his experience (ver. 3), in connec-
tion with his prayer (ver. 4 a), and with the pro-
mise that he should be heard ver, 4 b) ; and then
passes over to the description of what has hap-
pened to him through Jehovah's help, since the last
evening (ver. 5 a) until the present morning (ver.
5 b), and in what frame of mind he now is (ver.
6). It is out of this frame of mind correspond-
ing with the dangers of his situation that the true
cry of prayer then breaks forth.* — Holy hill.
Hitzig would think of the hill of God (1 Sam x*
* [Barnes : " He gave utterance to the deep anguish of his
soul in words. So did the Saviour in Gethsemane (Matthi
xxvi, 39^. —Kj, A. B.J
PSALM III.
66
6), or the Mount of Gibeon (1 Kings iii. 4, comp.
2 Chron. i. 3; 1 Chron. xxi. 29), if not of Sinai
(1 Kings xix. 8), or Basban (Ps. Ixviii. 16). But
there is no reference to a consecrated mountain
on which at any time Jehovah appeared and
spoke to men, or accepted their worship ; but to
the abiding-place of the revelation and authority
of Jehovah among His people, whither the prayer-
ful turn with the assurance of receiving an an-
swer. This place was from the time of Moses
above the ark of the covenant, and the ark had
been brought by David from Kirjath-jearim to
Jerusalem, 2 Sam. vi.; 1 Chron. xiii. 5, and in
his flight from Absalom it was not taken with
him, 2 Sam. xv. 25. It can therefore only mean
Mount Zion. The entire hypothesis of Hitzig is
thus shattered. [Delitzsch: " He was now sepa-
rated from the place of the Divine presence by
hostile power. But his prayer presses through
to the throne of the cherubim, and there is no
wall of separation, either in space or the creature,
to the answer given by Him who is there en-
throned."—C. A. B.]
[Str, III. Ver. 6. I laid me down and
slept. — A reference to the past night (Delitzsch).
Barnes: "Notwithstanding these troubles and
dangers, I had such confidence that God hears
prayer, and such calm trust in His protection,
that I laid me down gently and slept securely.
The Psalmist mentions this as a remarkable
proof of the Divine protection and favor." —
I awaked. — "Still safe and secure" (Barnes).
Delitzsch: " It is because Jehovah has sustained
him, the hand of God is his pillow, the gracious
and omnipotent hand is under his head, he is in-
accessible and without fear."
Ver. 6. Barnes : "This exaltation may be re-
garded in some measure as the result of the calm
and refreshing slumber which he had enjoyed.
The mind as well as the body had been refreshed
and invig^irated. With the bright light of a new
morning he looked with more cheerfulness and
hope on the things around him, and felt new
strength to meet the dangers to which he was ex-
posed.—Ten thousands. — Myriads without any
definite number being thought of, only a very great
multitude. This is not a supposed case, for all
Israel had gone over to Absalom (Delitzsch).
Delitzsch: ''Selah is lacking at the end of this
strophe, because it is not spoken in a tone of
triumph, but of humility, and as a quiet expres-
sion of confidence and faith." — C. A. B.]
Str. IV. Ver. 7. Arise. — The accentuation
kumdh instead of kumah (Rise up ! arise 1 a cry
to Jehovah, for the first time. Num. x. 35) is best
explained by Hupfeld as : with the design of spe-
cial emphasis [Delitzsch : " God arises when He
interferes to decide the events of this world."]
The cry for help is based upon the following
clause with 'Z) ; and the perfects are the so-called
prophetical perfects, which indicate the action as
one certainly to be expected (De Wette), but a
real one (almost all recent interpreters). The
objection of De Wette that then the prayer would
be superfluous, because no more enemies were
present, is not to be refuted on the ground that
/D, kol, all, is not to be regarded as numerical
(Hupf.), or refers to many particular events (De-
5
litzsch). The word refers rather to the myriadi
which now surrounded the Psalmist in hostility.
He fears them not, because in previous cases God
has always brought the enemies of the poet (my
enemies) to shame and ruin, whether many or few.
[The perfects here are real perfects, with Ewald,
Delitzsch, Hupf, Alexander, Barnes, etal., and the
reference is to the foreign enemies, Philistines,
Amorites, etc., and his enemies of the house of Saul,
whom the Lord had destroyed before him. This
is the most natural and logical order of thought.
The Psalmist, in the last strophe, strengthens
himself with reference to the experience of the
past night, and in this strophe by remembrance
of the experiences of his past conflicts with his
enemies. As the experience of the past night
gives him confidence, the experience of the past
deliverances stimulates him to renewed prayer
as he recalls his present dangers. — C. A. B.]
As God is represented under the figure of a
warlike hero and hunter, so the enemies are re-
presented under the figure of ravenous beasts,
from whom all power of injuring the friend of
God has been taken away by crushing their
jaws, and the teeth fixed therein. God prepares
for them a complete and shameful overthrow
(Hengst. and Delitzsch). The double accusative
of the object, ver. 7 b, should be noticed.
Ver. 8. "In the lamed of possession and the
generic article before 7\}}W'' there is an exclu-
siveness of possession and the free power of dis-
posal" (Delitz.). — [Thy blessing be upon. —
This is not the statement of a fact (A. V.: Thy
blessing is upon Thy people), but an intercessory
prayer. David prays for his own deliverance,
and then, that the salvation of the Lord may rest
upon his people. Thus almost all recent com-
mentators.— C. A. B.] The closing word which
" casts a clear light into the depths of the noble
soul" (Ewald) turns now from the personal to
national aflfairs (De Wette). It refers not only to
that part of the people which had remained
faithful to David, as the only genuine people of
Jehovah (Aben Ezra), but it implores blessings
instead of curses, and has as its antitype the
words "Father, forgive them" of the other Da-
vid whom His people had crucified (Delitzsch).
Bottcher, however, considers this verse as a
later liturgical addition. Bugenhagen, aptly :
^^benedictio Dei est Dei beneficcntia."
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. If the first word in severe affliction is to
call upon the name of the Lord, then lamentation
is changed into prayer, and the soul no longer
swims in a sea of trouble, it lays hold of God
again, and begins to believe and to hope.
2. The conspiracy of the adversaries is worse
than their number ; and the arrows of scorn are
sharper than the sword, in piercing the heart.
But the heart is wounded much more deeply when
the complaints and condemnations of opponents
cannot be refuted by a pure conscience as merely
hateful slanders and wicked abuse. Then to the
external affliction there is added internal con-
flicts which beget sufi'ering for the soul, and lead
to spiritual struggles. George von Anhalt showed
his brother John three remedies against such
66
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
struggles: Faith in the forgiveness of sins, in
the resurrection, and in an eternal life.
3. In spiritual conflicts human judgment does
not decide. Only the afflicted must not allow
themselves to be pressed away from God, or to
be wearied and lamed by doubting the Divine
mercy. For those who resign themselves to
Him, God is always as the faithful Ood of the
Covenant, a Shield protecting on all sides, as He
was for Abraham, Gen. xv. 1, and for all Israel,
Deut. xxxiii. 29. It is God, who not only main-
tains the honor of His servants, restores them
again when disgraced, and surrounds the abused
king with the splendor of majesty, but He Him-
self is the essential idea of all honor, majesty,
and glory ; and the world cannot deprive the
pious of Him even in the uttermost misery.
Moreover, it is God who not only lifts up the
head of the afflicted which is wearied, and has
fallen upon the breast, and raises again the crown
of fallen princes which has been thrown down;
but does the same thing to the penitent sinner
who has bowed his face to the dust, and with the
down-trodden righteous man whose head lies upon
the ground.
4. The assurance that prayer will be heard is
a great comfort to the afflicted, especially if
these have already had personal experience of
it. Although separated from the place where
God has previously given them the experience
of His gracious presence, yes, although they are
obliged to be deprived of the help of Divine ser-
vice, and all the ordinary means of grace, the
voice of prayer presses above all to God, and the
answer of the Lord comes to those who sincerely
supplicate Him.
5. Those who awake after a night full of dan-
ger, and give the Lord the glory with thankful
recognition of the protection and assistance of
the Almighty, whose hand has been under the
head of the slumbering (Song Sol. ii. 6), those
are usually filled with fresh courage and
faith. From the thankfulnrss of the morn-
ing psalm springs joy fulness for the work
of the day ; fearlessness, in spite of all the
enemies which surround him, and heartfelt
confidence in Divine help; and thence again
prayer and supplication take a fresh start with
an earnestness and a fervor which urges to the
boldest importunity, yet without overstepping
the bounds assigned to the creature.
6. Whoever has the true God for his God may
be forsaken by all the world, and experience
that human assistance is of no profit ; but " if
all kinds of misfortune, affliction, and tribula-
tion, are heaped upon him, yet it is the Lord
who then saves him ; in His hand is help and
blessing" (Luther); and whoever, on the basis
of the revelation of the covenant is in communion
with Him by faith, makes the experience in his
heart through faith, that he is comforted by Di-
vine promises, and has the experience in his life
that to the previous help he has received from
the hand of God, new deliverances are constantly
added.
7. However it is not enough merely to have
a God, to believe in Him and call upon Hira;
the question is : What God ? For Jehovah, the
God of the historical revelation, is the only God
who possesses and distributes those things which
afford help, deliverance, and salvation, in bodily
and spiritual needs, for time and for eternity.
8. Those who are truly pious think not only
of their own deliverance, and their personal sal-
vation; if they earnestly care for this, Ihej pray
at the same time for Divine blessings upon the
whole people, that Divine judgment may be
turned away from the guilty, and for the salva-
tion of all who return in repentance to God.
Deus est satis idoneus patientix sequester. Si in-
juriam deposueris apud eum, ultor est; si damnum,
restitutor est; si dolor em, medicns est; si mortem,
resuscitator est [Tertull. de patient. 15).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
To truly flee for refuge is to flee to God, for
that leads us, 1) from the tumult of the world
into the peace of God ; 2) from earthly oppres-
sion to everlasting salvation; 3) from the power
of men to the hands of God.— He who can pray
in time of need is in the way of salvation ; for
1) he looks beyond the multitude and strength
of his oppressors, to the power and favor of the
Most High ; 2) he hears not the scorn and threat-
enings of his enemies, but the comforting voice
and answer of his God; 3) he experiences, amid
all the afflictions and anxieties of his heart, the
comfort of communion with Him, who is the sole
help in time of need, and the true deliverer of
the faithful. — 'The sword of the enemy threatens
his body, the scorn of the ungodly aims at his
soul, but God is a shield and protection against
both. — He who prays in faith, casts all his care
on the Lord, therefore he goes to sleep trusting
in DiYine protection ; even after a day full ol ca-
lamity he is calm, and awakes to the battle of
life full of fresh boldness of faith, with renewed
prayer for the help of the Lord. — Let him, who
would not be ruined in time of danger, take re-
fuge with the Lord, for then : 1) He does not
complain, but prays; 2) he does not doubt, but
trusts in the living God; 3) he does not tremble,
but gains hope and courage. Personal expe-
riences of grace bring an enduring blessing;
for: 1) They protect against the scorn of unbe-
lievers in times of calamity ; 2) they strengthen
the assurance that our prayers will be heard in
time of strong opposition ; 3) they lead to a
lively resignation to God in days when all hu-
man greatness, skill, and power, seem to be no-
thing.— Against the enemy of our country we
fight not only with the sword, but with those
spiritual weapons : 1) prayer ; 2) trust in God;
3) humiliation under the strong hand of God;
4) exaltation in the name and power of the Lord.
— The necessity of the times is no sign that we
are forsaken by God, but, 1) reminds us of our
weakness ; 2) refers us to the works of the Lord;
3) encourages us to pray ; 4) warns us against
devotion to the world; 6) exhorts us to seek the
blessing of the Lord. — He who gives the glory to
God, makes the best provision for his own eleva-
tion: 1) From a previous fall; 2) from present
need; 3) from impending death. — A king can
present to his people nothing more noble than a
lively piety ; nothing more precious than salva-
tion by Jehovah; can ask nothing better than
the blessing of the Lord. — We may have many
enemies, but our help comes from one only true
PSALM IV.
67
God, who is the heat friend to those who trust in
Him. — The blessing of God belongs to the people
of God.
Starke : David had fled from God his true
Father, now he must flee from a rebellious son.
This is the retribution of God; like with like. —
Even blood relationship is destroyed by sin and
Satan. — Unhappy children, who drive away their
parents ; blessed parents, who are driven to God
by the wickedness of their children. — Pray to
God, who is able to convert even lost sons. — If
the Lord show thee the multitude of thine ene-
mies, He will likewise show thee the riches of
His help. — We must not heed the talk of the
enemy, but hold fast to the word of our God —
The world judges perversely ; the pious are al-
ways accused of being ungodly, whilst on the
contrary the irreligious would be considered
nearest God. — God often lets His children appear
to be forsaken in their own eyes, and the eyes of
others, that their faith may be tried, their belief in
the Word of promise purified, and their childlike
hope crowned. — Faith and prayer go together.
For faith, is experienced by prayer and prayer
receives from faith its true form and validity. —
Our strength is derived from both. — If the danger
and the necessity are great, the inward strength-
ening of God is regulated accordingly. — Whoever
desires God to grant his prayers for assistance,
must be able to call the Lord his God, not only
because He is Creator and Redeemer, but also
because He sanctifies those who accept Him. —
With the pious the cross has ever a sorrowful
beginning but a joyful ending.
Luther : There is no trouble, however severe
it may be, that is to be compared with that
against which Jeremiah (xvii. 17) prays with
trembling, when God contends with man.
Osiander: When God's promises are received
with faith, they give to a godly man a peaceful
heart, because he trusts himself to God, his true
Father. — Strigel : We must above all notice the
gradation of thought : When attacked he prays,
when he prays he is saved, when saved he gives
thanks. — Selnekkeb: Whoever will serve God
must suffer persecution, and must have the whole
world, yes, his own flesh and blood, for enemies;
but whoever trusts God belongs to Him, and
shall remain His, though the whole world per-
secute him. — Arndt : It is the essential charac-
ter of faith: 1) That it lays the care and burden
of the heart upon God ; 2) that it expels fear
and terror ; 3) that it trusts God against all ene-
mies.— Frisch: When faith brings peace into the
heart the body is likewise benefited. — Herber-
GER: Distress teaches to pray, and prayer drives
all trouble away. — The heart as well as the head
belongs on high. — Rieger : Although relief is
delayed, still the blessing of the Lord is with His
people.
[Matt. Henrt: True Christian fortitude con-
sists more in a gracious security and serenity of
mind, in patient bearing and patient waiting, than
in daring enterprises with sword in hand. — A child
of God startles at the very thought of despairing
of help in God ; you cannot vex him with any-
thing so much as if you ofi^er to persuade him
" there is no help for him in God." — A cheerful
resignation to God is the way to obtain a cheer-
ful satisfaction and confidence in God. — Pro-
mises of salvation do not supersede, but engage
our petitions for it. — Barnes : That we are
" awaked " in the morning, after a night's
refreshing slumber ; that we are raised up
again to the enjoyments of life; that we
are permitted again to greet our friends, and
to unite with them in the privileges of devo-
tion, should always be regarded as a new proof
of the goodness of God, and should lead to acts
of praise. — Who has not experienced the influ-
ence of the slumbers of a night, and of the light
of the morning, in giving new vigor, and inspi-
ring new hopes, as if the returning day was an
emblem of brighter scenes in life, and the pass-
ing away of the shades of night a token that all
trouble and sorrow would flee away? — Spur-
geon: May we ever wait with holy confi-
dence in our hearts, and a song upon our
lips. — Search Scripture through and you must,
if you read it with a candid mind, be persuaded
that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is
the great doctrine of the Word of God. — C. A. B.]
PSALM IV.
To the Chief Musician on Neginoih — A Psalm of David.
1 Hear me wlieii I call, 0 God of my righteousness:
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress ;
Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2 0 ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame ?
How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing ? Selah.
3 But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself:
The Lord will hear when I call unto him.
68
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not :
CommuDe with your own heart upon your bed, and be stiil. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.
6 There he many that say, Who will shew us any good ?
Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart,
More than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep :
For thou, Lord, only
Makest me dwell in safety.
EXEGETICA.L AND CRITICAL.
Title and Division. — This Psalm, assigned to
the chief musician [vid. Introduct.), was not to
be accompanied with wind instruments, or in-
struments of alarm, but only with string instru-
ments [Neginoth vid. Introduct.]. This agrees
with the character of the Psalm as an evening
Psalm (ver. 8), and with the soothing rhythm
especially of the last strophe. This last strophe,
which brings the Psalm as well as the Psalmist
to repose, is of three members, as the first strophe,
which contains a cry to God for help; whilst the
three intermediate strophes are of lour members.
Of these, moreover, the first two are divided by
Selah into a warning and an exhortation ; the
third, which contrasts the courageous faith and
joy in God of the pious Psalmist, with discou-
raged and earthly-minded men, has not the mu-
sical interlude. Whilst Seb. Schmidt, Glaus, De
Wette, Ilupf., etal., deny the marks of David, and
regard the individual features at once as general,
Olshausen at least has recognized their indivi-
dual character, and Ewald has beautifully ex-
plained the Davidic features of the Psalm. With
the most of the interpreters he puts this Psalm
side by side with the previous one in the dan-
gerous times of the rebellion of Absalom. Even
Hitzig recognizes the connection between these
two Psalms, bat he assigns it as previously Ve-
nema, to the situation of David, according to
1 Sam. XXX. Lightfoot and J. H. Michaelis sup-
pose it refers to the rebellion of Sheba, 2 Siui.
XX. [Delitzsch : "A Davidic evening Psalm fol-
lows a Davidic morning Psalm. The connection
is clear from the mutual reference of iv. 6 to iii.
2, and iii. 5 to iv. 8. These two are the only
Psalms in which the language of others is cited
with 'many that say.' The one is explained his-
torically from the title of the other. It follows
from iv. 2, 'how long,' and the words of the faint-
hearted, iv. 6, that Ps. iv. is the later one."
Perowne: "The thoughts and turns of expres-
sion in the one are not uolike those in the other.
As in the former he heard many saying to his
soul, 'There is no help for him in God' (ver. 2),
60 in this he hears many saying, 'Who will show
us any good V (ver. 6). As in that he knew that
though at a distance from the Tabernacle, he was
not at a distance from God, but would receive an
answer to his prayer from the 'holy mountain'
(ver. 4), BO in this, though the priests have re-
turned with the Ark to Jerusalem, he can look
for the 'light of Jehovah's countenance,' which
is better than the Urim and Thummim of the
priestly ephod."— C. A. B]
Str. I. Ver. 1. My God of righteousness
[0 God of my righleousness — A. V.]. — This trans-
lation embraces very well the various references
of the Hebrew expression. "Jehovah is the
possessor of righteousness, the author of right-
eousness, the Judge of righteousness, and He
justifies righteousness when it is misunderstood
and persecuted" (Delitzsch). The following
translations are likewise grammatically indispu-
table: God of my right (De Wette), comp. Ps.
xvii. 1 ; God of my righteousness (Hupfeld
[Wordsworth, Perowne]) ; my righteous God
(Hengst. [Barnes]).
The following perfect is limited by Hitzig to
the deliverance from the calamity which he hag
just experienced and lamented in Ps. iii. Hengst.,
Delitzsch, et al., on the other hand, refer it to a se-
ries of previous experiences, and therefore trans-
late it as present. [Delitzsch : " Many times he
had been in straits, and God made room for him.
The idea is of the expansion of the breathing and
of space. It means — space for the anxious heart,
Ps. XXV. 17 ; Is. Ix. 5 ; space for the straitened
situation, Ps. xviii. 19; cxviii. 5." — C. A. B.]
Ewald and Ilupf. regard it as a relative clause,
on account of its position between two impera-
tives. [Perowne: ''Thou (that) in straiiness
hast made room for me." This seems to be the
best rendering. It makes the strophe more har-
monious. It then refers to the deliverance from
that critical situation in which he was placed
before he received intelligence from Jerusalem,
and crossed the Jordan into a wider and safer
region. Here he could breathe more freely and
make preparations to meet his foes. — C. A. B.]
De Wette, in spite of the failure of the vav con-
sec, views it as imperative, and supports this
view by citing parallel passages, which he falsely
explains.
Str. II. "Ver. 2. Sons of men. — According to
Hitzig, denotes men in contrast to women, and
refers to those which accompany David. Ac-
cording to Hupfeld, it refers to the human weak-
ness and carnal mind of the many (ver. 6), who
might be addressed emphatically as : ye children
of men. [Barnes: "As having human feelings,
passions, and purposes, in strong distinction from
PSALM IV.
69
that righteous God to whom he had just made
his solemn appeal." — -C. A. B.] According
to most interpreters, the reference is to the
prominent men among the crowd, among
whom, then, here, the few unsatisfied and per-
pljpsed companions of David, the heroes (Tho-
luck), beloved men (Luther), or since Kimchi,
the aristocracy, whose instrument Absalom was,
the "great fellows" in Luther's margin, who
dishonored the royal dignity at the same time
that they violated David's personal honor. [It
does not seem necessary to give to 'isA an empha-
tic signification. There is no contrast here with
'adam. The contrast is with God, as Hupfeld
and Barnes show. Yet the reference is not so
much to human weakness and a carnal mind, as
to the fact that whilst men dishonor him, God
has honored him, and will honor him again by
hearing his prayer. And then when man is con-
trasted with God, even though a vir or an ^ish
there is necessarily implied in this contrast human
weakness and littleness. — C. A. B.]
Vanity. — This hardly means : worldly vanity
(De Wette), but either the vanity of their de-
signs (Kimchi), or, still better, the vanity of
their reasons, to which they appeal in their re-
bellion, which conceal from themselves and
others its true character. It is not necessary,
therefore, to regard the rebellion itself as marked
with the name Lie [^Leasiriff — A. V. Old English
word for lying and falsehood. — C. A. B.] (Calv. ).
Lying and deceit have been the means of their
demands. Comp. 2 Sam. xv. 7 sq. (Hengst.).
The Septuagint follows a different reading :
viol hvd'puTTuv eug ndre papvK&pdtoi ; so also the
Vulgate, many ancient Fathers, and Augustine.
The graves corde are then supposed by the inter-
preters to be: people either of idle and cowardly
or of hard, obstinate and unfeeling hearts.
Ver. 3. "Wonderfully selected [set apart
■ — A. V.]. — The verb contains the idea of discri-
mination (Ex, viii. 18), more closely, the meaning
of extraordinary distinction in the Divine go-
vernment (Ex. xxxiii. 16; Ps. cxxxix. 14). The
comparison of Ps. xxxi. 21 with Ps. xvii. 7 only
shows that there is no essential difference be-
■ tween H/fln and k13T\ (as 87 Codd. Kennic,and
28 De Rossi read here Kwiin, Deut. xxviii. 59;
Is. xxviii. 29). It cannot be decided from the
word itself, whether we are to suppose here Di-
vine distinction=wonderful guidance in general
(Luther and most interp., Sept., ed-av/LidaruaE,
Vulg., mirificavit, for which, in many Psalters.
admirabilem fecit or magnificavit, which already
inclines to the other explanation^, or whether
there is meant here special selection=elevation
to the royal dignity. With this last interpreta-
tion Calvin, partially following the example of the
Syriac with Rabb. Isaki and Kimchi, unites di-
rectly to the verb the 17 which follows somewhat
later in the passage; whilst Hengst enberg unites
it closely with the noun which immediately pre-
cedes it, as those do also who advocate the first
mentioned explanation. These, then, translate,
mostly, "A{* holy one" (the plural of the Vulg. is
against the text), ana take it in the ethical
sense^his pious one, following the Sept.: rbv
haiov avrSv. The grammatical connection is then
usually more correctly explained after the ana-
logy of Ps. xvii. 7 (Rosenm.), at the same time,
with a different meaning of the word. Thus
Evvald, Maurer, Olsh , De Wette translate: he
that is faithful to him ; Camphausen : he that is
devoted to him; Hitzig: his friend; J. H. Mi-
chaelis: graiiosum sibi. Hupfeld endeavors to
show that the parallel passage, Ps. xxxi. 21, fa-
vors the connection of w with the verb, and that
T'DFl, a denominative of Hpn, must derive its
meaning from the specific idea and terminus
of the grace and mercy of God, first of all towards
Israel, then towards the individually pious; and
that the passive form of the verb also, according
to the passive meaning=favored, standing in a
condition of grace, in a covenant of grace with
Jehovah in the Old Covenant, is almost the only
prevailing meaning ; whilst the meaning accepted
here by Calvin [benignum), and by him and
Hengstenberg (one who has and exercises
love), as the original and justifiable usage,
seldom occurs (e. g., of God's grace towards
men, Ps. cxlv. 17 ; Jer. iii. 12 ; of the kindness
of men towards one another, Ps. xii. 1 ; xviii.
25 ; xliii. 1 ; Mich. vii. 2 ; as a religious practice
well pleasing to God, Hos. vi. 6, according to its
nature and derivation as T'On of Elohim or Je-
hovah, 1 Sam. X. 14; 2 Sam. ix. 13), and ori-
ginated from transfer, which goes to tJie farthest
extent, Jer. ii. 2. Delitzsch hesitates respecting
the derivation and meaning of this word upon
which he erroneously lays the chief emphasis.
But the emphasis, according to position and
sense, belongs partly to the verb which, accord-
ing to him, means not only mere selection, but
wonderful selection, partly to the pronoun, whose
position also at the end of the sentence, accord-
ing to the grammatical connection which he ap-
proves, in any case attracts attention, and ac-
cording to my view expresses this thought: that
he who is distinguished by God is, in his posi-
tion of grace and honor, not only of some import-
ance for men, but also for God, and is designed,
and stands ready for the Divine service and
glory. This suits the situation better, and
means more than if the Psalmist merely said
that to which the grammatical separation of v)
from the verb would lead: he has not been
brought into his high position by men but by
God, or also he has already experienced previ-
ously many wondrous guidances. But the ana-
logy of Scripture is against the view that he
sought the reason of his election, elevation, and
support, in his subjective piety, goodness, or any
other moral excellence, or that he would base on
these the assurance that his present prayer would
be heard. But it is frequently to be seen in sa-
cred history that Jehovah has selected from the
crowd of those whom He has favored, some one
for His special use, who also is conscious of this
relation, and may appeal to it for comfort.
Sir II. Ver. 4. Tiemhle.— I'' Stand in awe,'*
A. v.], viz.: before the wrath of God. The
translation of the Septuagint bpyil^eG-&e, as Eph.
iv. 6 \_Be ye angry and sin not'\ is grammati-
cally possible, for the Hebrew verb denotes in
general, to be shaken, to be unquiet ; and indi-
cates as well, trembling on account of wrath as ,
of fear (Augustine, Luther, Hitzig), But in no
case can the negative be drawn to the verb, (ag
70
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Dathe, and even Hengstenberg). The context
favors the view that here also, as in most cases,
the trembling of the creature before the appear-
ance of God (Hupf.) is used as the motive of
warning. [Delitzsch: " He vparns His adversa-
ries of blind passion, and advises them to quiet
meditation and solitary consideration that they
may not ruin their own salvation." Riehm;
" You may continue to be angry (until by Divine
help your anger is shown to be unreasonable),
but at least do not sin by abusing the man who
is favored by Jehovah, but instead of giving vent
to your anger in abusive words, speak in your
heart upon your bed, and be silent. This suits
the context, and since ragaz can scarcely mean
holy fear of God without ''Ji3D this explanation
is preferable." Wordsworth supposes that
"David now turns from his enemies to his
friends, and checks their wrath. David may
be supposed to be addressing such zealous
partisans as Abishai his nephew, who, when
David was flying from Absalom, was trans-
ported with indignation against his persecu-
tors, and craved leave to take off the head of
Shimei, who cursed David, and was restrained
by him in the spirit of this Psalm. See also Da-
vid's merciful charge with regard to the life of
Absalom himself, 2 Sam. xviii. 5." The histo-
rical allusion of Wordsworth seems to be the
most correct, the grammatical explanation of
Eiehm the most proper. It seems more harmo-
nious with Wordsworth {yid. further below) to
make the change from enemies to worldly-minded
friends here, ver. 4 instead of ver. 6, as is gene-
rally done.— C. A. B.]
The addition of in your heart \^^with your
heart,'" A. V.] indicates the speaking \_^^com-
mune," A. V.] as an internal one, which every
one does within himself, and indeed as spiritual
consideration and deliberation ; for the heart,
according to Hebrew ideas, is not so much the
pathological seat of the feelings, as the sphere
of ethical, rational consideration in order to form
determinations of the will. The quiet of evening,
and the silence of the night which works mightily
upon the inner life of man, is especially suited to
such consideration and reflection as involves mo-
ral resolutions. The couches are therefore to be
regarded as beds (Aben Ezra) and not as divans
in the assemblies (Mich. Or. Bibl. X. 126),
Be still, could mean the silence from calum-
niation (Aben Ezra, Ewald, Koster, Olsh.) or even
the keeping quiet, as well in the sense of quiet sub-
mission to the Divine will in contrast to murmuring
and contradicting, as in that of discontinuing his
movements (Hupf.) It is not correct to suppose
that it is the discontinuance of the raging of the
rebels in consequence of reflection (Hengst.,
Delitzsch). The explanation of Hitzig: those who
are excited to anger might occasionally be angry,
but not lend any words to their ill-humor tow-
ards God lest they sin, leaves entirely out of
consideration the fact that even the language of
anger kept close in the heart is a sin, and that
Jehovah is a discerner of the heart. [However
they might quiet their anger by meditation in the
still hours of the night. And if this is addressed
to his own followers, Joab and Abishai, etc., they
had reason for righteous indignation, to be angry
in the sense of the Apostle, but not to sin. They
were to restrain their wrath by meditation, and be
still, lest it should burst forth beyond its just
limits and become sin. Perowne : *' Let the still
hours of the night bring calmer and wiser
thoughts with them." — C A. B.J
Ver. 6. Offer sacrifices of righteous-
ness.— The difficulty of finding the true connec-
tion vanishes with the consideration that already
in the previous verse the rebels received a Sum-
mons in the form of a warning to act righteously,
and indeed essentially with reference to religion,
and that this demand already passed over into
direct exhortation ; furthermore, that the rebels
who were in possession of Jerusalem performed
the sacrifices, but lacked the proper disposition
which was likewise demanded by the law ; finally
that there is expressed not so much a contrast to
a mean and vain trust in their own prudence,
power, and earthly possessions, (De Wette),
which their opponents were, it is true, in pos-
session of (ver. 7 b.), and still less an encourage-
ment to his timid companions to trust in God,
but rather the contrast between those who de-
pend on Jehovah, and those who depend on the
ceremonies and lip service which they practice;
for the rebellion against the Anointed of Jehovah
can be consistent only with the latter and not
with the former.— Sacrifices of righteousness
are not only those which are performed correctly
according to the ritual; not only the sacrifices
due on account of sins that have been com-
mitted, after the presentation of which they
are to turn with hope to Jehovah (Ewald,
Olshausen) ; so also not righteous works and
moral actions in a symbolical sense (with which
interpretation Hitzig regards as most correct,
righteousness itself as the sacrifice which is to be
brought, and indeed perhaps not righteousness
towards the Psalmist, but proper behaviour to-
wards Jehovah, whilst the glory due to Him is
given, and the obligated trust is bestowed upon
Him) ; but true sacrifices performed with a
disposition in accordance with the will of God,
and the meaning of the law.*
Str.IV. Ver. 6. Many.— These are no longer
those previously addressed (the most interpre-
ters, even Hitzig) ; but also not the people in ge-
neral (Calv. ) ; nor men of the world, who long after
earthly blessings (Hupf. [Barnes]); nor compa-
nions in sufl"ering in general, especially among the
fellow-countrymen of the Psalmist (De Wette);t
nor unsatisfied complainers (Sachs) ; but those
constantly increasing in. number in David's lit-
tle band who were discouraged. The words are
not an ordinary proverb of the carnal disposi-
tion of the multitude ( Venema), nor a question of
impatience or of reproach (Hupf J, but a doubt-
ing question of despondency in view of the future
(Delitzsch). It is better to take it as a question
* [Wordsworth, in accordance with this view, whicb eeems
to be more correct, speaking to his followers : " Ye are now ex-
cluded from the privilege of access to God's altar on Mount
Zion ; but still you may offer sacrifices of righteousness, the
sacrifice of the heart. Offer sacrifices of righteousness in
mercy and meekness, not with hands stained with blood."—
0. A. B.]
t [De Wette supposes that the Psalmist reflects upon the
many who suffer with him, and includes them in his nraver
The prayer is the optative expressing the longings of their
soul and his own. "Othat we might see prosperity "—0.
PSALM IV.
71
than aa an optative, (De Wette) although the lat-
ter is possible.
Lift upon us the light of thy counte-
nance. These words are treated by Uupfeld
and Camphausen as still the words of the many,
but it is more suitable to ascribe them to the
author, in whose intercession the two solemn ex-
pressions of priestly blessing, Num. vi. 25, 26,
^ ^ make shine,'' ^ '■^liftup'' melt pregnantly together.
It is doubtful whether there is not still a third
reference entwined with the others by an allusion
of the form HDJ (for the pointing compare Som-
mer^ B Bibl. Abhandl. 1. 110) to OJ=banner, stand-
ard (Sachs: let stream; Delitzsch, better: let
wave). But since Delitzsch himself grants that
the derivation (Isaki, Rosenm. ) from ODJ is not
allowable, and the reference is only to be recog-
nized by the eye, and not by the ear, it is ad-
visable, with Aben Ezra, Luther, et al., to hold
fast to this ; that HDJ is like tttCJ (which is in-
t: t : ^
deed the reading of 1 Codd. Kenn.), especially as
the last mentioned form of the imperative is
used also in Ps. x. 12 instead of the usual form,
Niy. E. von Ortenberg [Zur Textkritik der Psalmen,
1861, p. 2) wishes also to make the alteration even
there. The Vulgate has signatum est, according to
the Sept.: kajj/nec^drj^made known by a sign,
which is explained by most interpreters : it beams
so that it may be known. [Riehm: "instead of
despairing, he believes ; instead of complaining,
he prays. He opposes his own prayer to the
unbelieving question of the many." — Upon us,
Alexander : " indicates the expansive, comprehen-
sive spirit of true piety, extends the prayer to
his companions in misfortune." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 7. Greater than [3/ore than — A, V.]. —
This sentence is very much contracted, and con-
tains really three ellipses: (1) of an adjective,
greater or better; (2) of the idea compared, joy ;
(3) of the relative either after lime (Gesenius),
or after new wine (J. H. Mich.), especially if we
would translate according to the accents: than at
the time of their corn and new wine, when they
are abundant ; and if we would not take the fol-
lowing ^3T as an independent clause: they are
many. For the particulars comp. Hupfeld. Aben
Ezra, Kimchi, Flaminus, Sachs, avoid the ellipses
with the exception of that of the relative by the
translation : since that their corn, etc. This
translation is, however, connected with historical
explanations which are entirely untenable The
translation of the Vulg. follows the reading of the
Sept.: of the fruit of their corn and wine and oil
they had abundance. But instead ofafructu, many
ancient Psalteries read [vid. Schegg) a tempore,
which leads to the reading <i7rd Katpov instead of
airb Kapizov. Ewald, Olsh., Caraph. explain the
suffix as impersonal. Hupfeld refers it to the
many (ver, 6) ; most others, correctly, to the
enemies of the poet, and indeed most properly
thus: that the quiet joy of the royal Psalmist,
who rejoices in God, whilst he is suffering want
in a time when food can only occasionally be
brought to him, owing to the hostility excited
against him in almost the entire land (2 Sam.
ivi. 1; xvii. 26 sq.), is set far above the loud
raging of his enemies, who revel in the abundance
of harvest; consequently the historical reference
is maintained even here against the supposition
that the poet merely uses a proverbial expression
(Hupf , Hitzig, Camphausen, et al.) in order to
put his religious joy higher than the highest
worldly joy.
[Delitzsch: "David had come to Mahanaim,
whilst the rebels were encamped in Gilead. The
land round about him was hostile, so that he had
received provisions as stolen for his support, 2
Bam. xvii. 26-29. Perhaps it was about the time
of the feast of the Tabernacles. The harvest of
grain and wine was past. A rich harvest of corn
and new wine had been brought into the barns.
Absalom's collectors of revenue had a strong
support in these rich provisions of which they
had the disposal. David and his little band had
the appearance of a band of beggars and free-
booters. But the king, who has been brought
from the sceptre to the beggar's staflf, is even
more joyous than the rebels. What he has
in his heart is a better treasure than they
have in their barns and cellars," Words-,
worth: "Many among you (David is speak-
ing to his followers, who accompanied him
in his flight from Jerusalem over the Mount of
Olives, and look wistfully and despondingly on
the city from which they were driven), many
among you are saying, Where is any hope left?
Who will show us any good? And he turns from .
them and raises his eyes to God: * Lord, lift,
thou up the light of thy countenance upon tis.' We
cannot now, it is true, offer the sacrifices of vic-
tims before the Ark at Jerusalem, but we may
offer the sacrifices of the spirit. We have not ac-
cess to the Urim and Thummim on the High
Priest's breast-plate in the sanctuary ; but God
will lift up the light of His countenance upon
us. We cannot now receive the benediction of
the Priests: 'The Lord bless thee and keep
thee : the Lord make His face to shine upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace '
(Num. vi. 24-26); but the Lord Himself is ever
present with us to bless us, and He lifts up the
light of His countenance upon us. There is our
true good. There is our genuine gladness, —
a gladness of heart, — greater than any which our
enemies can feel on account of the increase of
their material blessings of corn and wine (ver.
7)."— C. A. B.]
Str . V . Ver, 8. The rapid change of experience
which is admitted to prevail is so inconceivable
to some interpreters, that they do not even re-
gard the assurance of the praying Psalmist that
he has received joy from the Lord, as a princi-
ple derived from experience (with Hupfeld), to ■
which the praying man can refer in joyful re-
membrance, with a glance towards the gracious
light of the Divine countenance; still less, with
Hengstenberg, do they allow without question
that it is an expression of the comfort of faith
received into the heart in consequence of the
prayer just uttered, and of the assurance of faith
in its being heard ; so also they do not put a pause
somewhere between vers. 6 and 7 as indispensa-
ble, that the agitated breast of the poet may have
time to breathe, in order that his feelings may be-
come composed ; but they suppose a longer space,
and postulate for it a joyful heart, which then Hit-
zig has spun to the conjecture that vers. 7 and 8
might have been subsequently added by the poet. »
72
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
If a particular event is insisted on between
vers. 6 and 7, then it is easier, instead of con-
jecturing any unknown good fortune, to suppose
the fact well known to all experienced believers,
that in ardent prayers made in times of severe
calamity, they receive a Divine promise of cer-
tainly being heard, and are transported with a
bound from sickness to joy by the gracious coun-
tenance of God shining upon them personally in
the most fearful night of calamity. But even
this spiritual explanation is entirely unneces-
sary here, for the supposition of a change of
sentiment is simply forced into the text. Al-
ready in ver. 3 the Psalmist has expressed
the confidence that his prayers would be heard,
in the assurance of his peculiar relation to God,
and from this position called upon his enemies to
repent. From the same situation and confidence
he continues to speak when he draws forth from
their sighs and murmurs, the question circulating
among his followers which had remained true to
him, though discouraged. This question must
be answered, and he answers it at once, but not
theoretically or didactically, but practically, re-
ligiously and ethically, so that the hearers who
are spiritually wretched may be drawn into his
comforting exercise, viz., to prepare themselves
a peaceful and quiet sleep in the midst of their
enemies by invoking Divine grace, by thankful
confession of blessings already experienced, and
by resignation to the protection of the Al-
mighty.
Directly will I lay me down and sleep. —
The adverb, according to Hupfeld, is without em-
phasis and merely serves to unite two synonymous
verbs. But it is this very coincidence of that which
the two verbs thus combined express, that is here
undeniably expressed by the adverb, Ps. cxli. 10;
Jer. xlii. 14 (Ewald, Delitzsch, Camph., Hitzig),
which, after Aben Ezra, is explained by
some: at the same time with my enemies; by
others: together with my enemies. [Perowne :
At once will I lay me down and sleep — as soon as
I lie down, I sleep, not harassed by disturbing
and anxious thoughts. — C. A, B.] — Alone in
safety. — It is doubtful whether the adverb is
to be connected with Jehovah according to the
authority of the Punctators, for which, among
recent interpreters, Ewald, Olsh., Camph. decide,
and Hupfeld also at least inclines to this, because
the reference to Jehovah as the only ground of
his safety corresponds with the previous con-
trast (Calvin : the alone sufficient One, who recom-
penses the whole world) ; or whether it belongs
to the speaker in the signification ^' alone," ^^ se-
parate," with which the idea of safety and inti-
macy is connected (especially clear in Jer. xlix.
31). 1 decide for this last interpretation, which
is found in Sept., Vulg., and all ancient transla-
tions, and Sachs, De Wette, Von Lengerke, De-
litz,, Hitzig, among recent interpreters, because
this not only gives a good sense, but because only
Deut. xxxii. 12 can be adduced in the language
for the possibility of the first signification, whilst
all other passages are in favor of the latter,
especially Deut. xxxiii. 28 is analogous, and per-
haps typical, just as for the last words of the
Psalm, Lev. xxv. 18, 19. Hengstenberg, who
makes this prominent, would unite both references
and adduces as a real parallel, Deut. xxxiii. 12.
[Riehm : " The thought that Jehovah is the only
protection, is without motive in the context, as
it is not said that he lacked other protection, nor
of the many that they sought other protection
anywhere else. The 113^ and nC337 are pa-
rallel, and express a common idea as the two
verbs in the first member." So Alexander:
"Alone in safety thou wilt make me dwell."
These remarks of Riehm are convincing. De-
litzsch: "The iambics with which the Psalm
closes, are as the last sounds of a cradle song,
which dies away softly, and as it were, falling to
sleep itself. Dante is right; the sweetness of the
music, and harmony of the Hebrew Psalter, has
been lost in the Greek and Latin translations." —
C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who knows the moral nature of God,
stands in a gracious personal relation to Him,
and experiences Divine assistance ; has, even in
severe times, joyfulness in prayer, courage for
the struggle ordained for him, confidence in the
help of God, and comfort with reference to the
issue of his affliction.
2. Righteousness and Grace are not opposed
to one another in God, but man must not forget
that he must enter into positive and active
relations with reference to both of these at-
tributes of God, if he would obtain and re-
tain righteousness, peace, and joy. " He
who is perplexed with Divine government
amidst the confusion in the world's move-
ments, and asks: where then is Providence?
demands that he should be directed to the sun in
clear noonday" (Chrysostom).
3. He who is assured of his election, and his
favor with God, loses all fear of man. But he
must value the position given him, and should not
only defend himself therein against calumniation,
and «/anrfoM< against assaults, \>Mish.Q\x\& strengthen
himself in it by submission to God, and remind
others, even his adversaries, of their duty, and
stimulate them by warning, admonition, and
summons, to perform their obligations.
4. Where God causes His face to shine, there
man is enabled to behold what he desires to see
for his comfort and consolation in hours of gloom,
which either he could not perceive in the hour of
affliction, or could not profit by it, owing to the
care, and fear, and unbelief, and doubt, which
darkened his soul. The hope of faith is opposed
to the doubt of unbelief, and the protection of
God is better than many thousands of guards,
and warlike companions.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
We do well, first of all, to speak with God, and
then to transact business with our neighbors.
When the world is at enmity with us the friend-
ship of God is: 1) The best consolation; 2) the
surest help.— There is no night too dark to be illu-
minated when God shows us the light of Bis counte-
nance— The best care for our welfare ia: 1) The
thankful acknowledgment of God's mercy; 2) the
consideration of God's justice ; 3) the fervent sup-
plication for confirmation of God's faithfulness
and omnipotence. — All the ways of the pious be-
PSALM IV.
73
gin and end with trust in the faithful God. — He
who appeal8 to his state of grace must see to it:
1) That he makes his own calling and election
sure ; 2) that he helps others to be saved. — The
pious have these constant gains : 1) Righteous-
ness, from faith in the grace of God ; 2) joy in
God, raised above all anxiety and desire for the
world ; 3) the peace of God which passeth all
understanding. — A pious man may be sorely af-
flicted in the world, yet he will never feel that
he is forsaken by God. — The righteous have al-
ways joy and peace. — The worst darkness is that
of the soul which believes it can see no future
good. — He who lives in the favor of God, serves
the Master by day, commits himself to God's pro-
tection by night, and so has joy and peace. — Our
happiness does not consist in eating and drink-
ing, but in having a gracious God and a good
conscience.
Starke: Prayer is the comfort of a sorrowful
heart ; for we know that God hears our prayers.
— When we pray to God we should, as it were,
support the prayer with the previous mercies of
God; for experience worketh hope, which maketh
not ashamed, Rom. v. 14. — Whoever would be
great with God must be unimportant in the eyes
of the world. — All that worldlings esteem to be
great is only vanity, nothingness, and perishable ;
when they regard it as in the highest degree ne-
cessary, yet it does not last, or stand the test. —
God's ways, in dealing with His own, are not
crooked ways, which lead to hell with lies and
deceit of a corrupt nature, but He leads them se-
cretly, in holy truth and wisdom. — All disorderly
aflfections are sinful ; learn, Christian, to be still,
and to judge with composure that which would
move you to anger. — The sacred fire of indigna-
tion for the honor of God and against evil, must
on no account be confounded with the strange
fire of carnal anger. — He, who is honored with
the favor of God, can easily overcome the con-
tempt of the world. — That security which is to
be condemned, comes from the flesh, but that
which is blessed comes from faith, and produces
true peace. — There is no true rest or safety to be
found without communion with God ; no hurtful
disquiet or danger need be feared when under
the gracious protection of the Master. — Luther :
What can goodness have, which God has not?
— Bogenhagen: No one can truly hope in God,
and trust in Him alone, without offering to Him
the sacrifices of righteousness. — Osiander:
When we suffer similar need, we may yet be
cheerful, if only we have a gracious God. — He
who trusts in God is safe from all danger, or is
sure, in the midst of danger, of having by His
action a safe issue, — Selnekker: Do what is
commanded thee, — do not mind the cunning and
artfulness of others,— commit all that to the right-
eous God, — He will smooth all difficulties. — Mol-
LER : Many who' seek rest, sin through impa-
tience, because they do not console themselves
with the mercy of God. — Arndt : The joy of the
believer should not come from the flesh, but from
God alone. — Bake: I have prayed, and pray
BtiU, and will pray all my life ; I will die a sup-
pliant.— Frisgh : The movements of the heart
cannot be prevented so far as their first impulses
are concerned ; yet a believer may refrain from
giving his approbation, and prevent an outbreak
in gesture, word, or deed. — Taube : The blessed
relation of a child of God to the world : 1) He is
alone in the world, but depends entirely upon
his God ; 2) he testifies before the world of their
evil life and ways, as well as of his God and his
religious life, and both in the spirit of truth and
love ; (3) he rests in God, with a joy and peace,
which the world does not possess or know.
[Matt. Henry : Godly men are God's separated,
sealed ones; He knows them that are His, hath set
His image and superscription upon them. — ■
Spurgeon : Observe that David speaks first to
God, and then to man. Surely we should all
speak the more boldly to men, if we had more
constant converse with God. He who dares to
face his Maker will not tremble before the sons
of men. — Election is the guarantee of complete
salvation, and an argument for success at the
throne of grace. He who chose us for Himself,
will surely hear our prayers. The Lord's elect
shall not be condemned, nor shall their cry be
unheard. David was king by Divine decree, and
we are the Lord's people in the same manner;
let us tell our enemies to their faces that they
fight against God and destiny, when they strive
to overthrow our souls. — Stay, rash sinner, stay,
ere thou take the last leap. Go to thy bed and
think upon thy ways. Ask counsel of thy pil-
low, and let the quietude of the night instruct
thee! Throw not away thy soul for naught!
Let reason speak ! Let the clamorous world be
still awhile, and let thy poor soul plead with thee
to bethink thyself before thou seal its fate and
ruin it forever. — Corn and wine are but fruits of
the world, but the light of God's countenance is
the ripe fruit of heaven. "Thou art with me,"
is a far more blessed cry than " Harvest home."
Let my granary be empty, I am yet full of bles-
sing, if Jesus Christ smiles upon me ; but if I
have all the world, I am poor without Him. —
Sweet Evening Hymn ! I shall not sit up to
watch, through fear, but I will lie down ; and
then I will not lie awake, listening to every rust-
ling sound, but I will lie down in peace, and sleep,
for I have naught to fear. Better than bolts or
bars is the protection of the Lord. — A quiet con-
science is a good bed-fellow. How many of our
sleepless hours might be traced to our untrusting
and disordered minds. They slumber sweetly
whom faith rocks to sleep. No pillow so soft as
a promise ; no <?overlet so warm as an assured in-
terest in Christ.— Spurgeon's Treasury of David.
— Thomas Watson: We set apart things that
are precious ; the godly are set apart as God's
peculiar treasure (Psalm cxxxv. 4) ; as His
garden of delight (Song Sol. iv. 12); as Hia
royal diadem, (Is. xliii. 3) ; the godly are the ex-
cellent of the earth, (Ps. xvi. 8) ; comparable to
fine gold, (Lam. iv. 2); double refined, (Zech.
xiii. 9). They are the glory of creation, (Is.
xlvi. 13). Origen compares the saints to sap-
phires and crystals ; God calls them jewels (MaL
iii, 17),— C. A. B,]
74
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM V.
To the chief musician upon Nehiloth, a Psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my meditation.
2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God :
For unto thee will I pray.
3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ;
In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness :
Neither shall evil dwell with thee.
5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight :
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing :
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy:
And in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies ;
Make thy way straight before my face.
9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth ; their inward part is very wickedness ;
Their throat is an open sepulchre ; they flatter with their tongue.
10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled
against thee.
11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice:
Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them:
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
12 For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous;
With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Respecting the title, vid. Introduction. This
is a morning prayer, which is not only in gene
ral a testimony to the Divine grace and right-
eousness in defending and blessing the pious, and
in excluding the wicked from their society, to
their own destruction (Venema) ; or a prayer
against hypocrites and false prophets who mis-
lead the people of God and the inheritance of
Christ with their human precepts (Luther); but
the prayer of a pious man, surrounded by un-
godly enemies, which are deceitful rather than
powerful; and he prays for Divine guidance,
blessing, and protection for himself, and punish-
ment for his enemies, who are at the same time
adversaries of God; and he bases both petitions
on the righteousness of God, who rules over Is-
rael as king.
We thus have not only a subjective source for
a didactic Psalm, in which the poet speaks in the
abstract as a righteous person (Hengst.), but the
reference is to a special circumstance, which yet
does not appear in such a way, that we are
obliged with the Rabbins to consider Doeg or
Ahithophel as the real opponents of the Psalm-
ist. Ver. 7 is not necessarily against David as
the author of this Psalm {vid. exegesis). The in-
terpreters differ very much in the analysis of
this Psalm. It seems to me most natural; since
the symbolism of numbers, accepted by Heng-
stenberg, is not favored at all by the structure or
contents of the Psalm, and there is no sign of a
homogeneous structure of the strophes, to divide
according to the contents: a) An introductory
invocation of God. vers. 1-3 ; b) reasons for the
Psalmist's confidence in prayer, vers. 4-7 ; c)
petition for his own person, with reasons, vers.
8, 9; d) petition with respect to his opponents,
PSALM V.
75
ver. 10 ; c) closing statement respecting the con-
sequences of such a prayer being heard, with
reasons, yers. 11, 12.
■ Sir. I. Ver. 1. Hear my sighs \J^ consider my
meditation" A. V.] Theconstructionof the verb
with the accusative, does not allow the transla-
tion "listen to." Instead of sighs it may be
translated "meditation," (Syr., Rabb., Hengst.),
since this word, which occurs only here and Ps.
xxxix. 4, is derived from a root which denotes
thinking, as well as a dull tone, a low sound.*
Either translation gives a suitable contrast to the
loud cry mentioned, ver. 3,
Ver. 2. My king. — [Hupf. : " Here, and gene-
rally in the Old Testament, not only in a gene-
ral sense as Ruler of the earth, as the ancient
nations called their gods kings, but in a special
theocratic relation to the people of Israel, as a
subject to his king, whose righteousness and
protection he invokes, and can expect with
confidence, Psalms x. 6; xliv. 4; xlviii. 2;
Ixviii. 24; Ixxiv. 12 ; Ixxxiv. 3; 1 Sam. xii. 12."—
C. A. B.]
Ver. 3, In the morning. — This word has the
same meaning in both members of the verse, its
first use and its repetition. Hupfeld even has re-
jected the figurative, soon, early, but yet would
find in the local reference only a poetical force ;
whilst Delitzsch, on the contrary, in justification
of Hengst., remarks that then the allusion to the
daily morning sacrifice would be done away with.
But p;7 is the usual word for the arrangement
of the wood of the off'ering. Lev. i. 7, and of the
pieces offered, i. 8, 12 ; vi. 5 ; the holy lamps,
Ex. xxvii. 21 ; Lev. xxiv. 8 ; the show bread,
Ex. xl. 23 ; Lev. xxiv. 8 ; and the arrangement
of the wood for the lamb of the morning sacrifice
was one of the first duties of the priest as soon
as the day began. Ps. Iv. 17 mentions three
times for prayer. [Wordsworth: |' David lays
his prayer on the altar as a sacrifice to God.
The wood and the victim are of no avail without
the spiritual sacrifice of the heart of the offerer."
C. A. B.] This figure, Look out {Look up, A.
v.), is used, Mich. vii. 7 ; Hab. ii. 1. [Barnes:
"The idea is that he would watch narrowly and
carefully (as one does who is stationed on a tower)
for some token of Divine favor. — This is perhaps
equivalent to the Saviour's oft-repeated command
" watch and pray !" Perowne : "As the priest
might look (or as Elijah looked on Carmel) for the
fire from heaven to descend and consume the vic-
tim."—C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Ver. 4. For thou art not a God, etc.
— The Psalmist bases his courage in drawing near
to God in prayer, and his confidence of being
heard on attributes which are derived from the
Being of God; and indeed his confidence is based
on the holiness of God, and his courage on the
abundance of Divine grace; the former nega-
tively, the latter positively.
Be a guest ["rf«)eW," A. V.]. *1^3 is usually
connected with DJ7, but also with the accusative,
and indeed of the person, when the idea of place
is applied to persons (Hupf) Corap. Pss. Iviii.
4; Ixviii. 18; cxx. 5; Gen. xxx. 20. It indi-
cates not only the right of external entrance into
• [" MeditatUm " is the better translation adopted by
Ewald, Hupfeld, Perowne, Delitzsch, et aZ.— G. A. B.]
the temple, but the enjoyment of the rights of
hospitality which include that of protection.
The same figure is used, Pss. xv. 1 ; xxiii. 6 ;
xxvii. 4; xxxi. 20; xxxvi. 8; Ixi. 4; Ixxxiv. 4.
[Thus Ewald, Hupf., Perowne, et al. Perowne*
"Evil (personified) cannot be a guest or friend
of Thine ; cannot tarry in Thy house, as xv. 1 ;
Ixi. 5 ; not merely, however, with a reference to
the temple, but to that spiritual abiding in the
presence of God, and in the light of His counte-
nance, which is the joy only of them that are
true of heart. To the wicked the light of God's
countenance is a consuming fire." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 5. In this connection it is proper in the
following verse to think of the privilege of stand-
ing before the eyes of God. It may mean how-
ever not to endure the judicial glance of God, as
is usual. Instead of fools comp. Pss. Ixxiii.
3 ; Ixxv. 4, others translate vain-glorious and
haughty, or mad, raging. For the etymology of
the word and its many meanings, vid. Hupfeld m
loco. [Hupfeld thinks of the privilege of the no-
bles and others, who stand in the presence of the
King, Prov. xxii. 29, and the angels which are
said to stand before God, Job i. 6; ii. 1. Pe-
rowne seems to favor this view. It is the pri-
vilege of the pious to stand before God as a gra-
cious symbol of their intimate relations with
Him as Sovereign and Friend. This idea makes
the entire strophe harmonious and beautiful.
The three negative clauses, vers. 4 and 6 a, are
followed by three positive clauses, vers. 5 h and
6, which unfold and carry out the ideas advanced
positively and emphatically. There is a beautiful
gradation and correspondence in the six clauses.
Thus the statement that God has no pleasure in
wickedness is carried out into, " Thou hatest all
workers of iniquity ;^' that evil cannot be a guest
with Thee, that is, have Thy care and protec-
tion, and enjoy Thy hospitality passes over
into, "Thou destroyest them that speak lies;
that the foolish cannot stand in Thy sight," that
is, in Thy favor, regard, and affection, as Thy
friends and favorite subjects, becomes, "the
bloody and deceitful man doth the Lord abhor.'*
— C. A. B.]
Ver. 7. Palace I" temple," A. V.]. The pre-
ceding word '■^ house" had already made many
interpreters doubtful of the Davidic authorship
of this Psalm ; the expression '^palace " seems
to them entirely irreconcilable with it. As far
as the former is concerned we know that bait
(beit) in the Semitic languages denoted origi-
nally, the place where the night was passed, and
that the signification afterwards became more
general ; but the reference to night-time, espe-
cially, passed out of use {vid. Fleischer in De-
litzsch, Comm. on the Psalms). It is in accord-
ance with this that the place where God appeared
to Jacob in the open field was named Beth-El,
Gen. xxviii. 17. Accordingly every place of
prayer, as the place of the Divine presence might
bear this name. And is it otherwise with "/>o-
lace" ? As soon as God is conceived as King
this reference is natural and proper. That it
does not at all matter about the material, follows
from the designation of heaven as the palace of
God, Pss. xi. 4; xviii. 6; xxix. 9, and that we
are not compelled to think of a large building,
but that the reference is to the place of Jehovah'a
7G
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
throne, is proved from the fact that it is just the
most holy place that is called the palace of the
house, 1 Kings vi. 3. Naturally also the entire
temple of Solomon might be called the palace, as
well as the house of God (2 Kings xxiii. 4). But
the assertion that the entire manner of the refe-
rence presupposes the temple, cannot be proved.
On the contrary, the heavenly relations are
throughout the ideal and type of that vi^hich is
presented on earth. Accordingly, Moses even
beholds the pattern of the tabernacle (Ex. xxv.
40 ; xxvi. 26 sq.; Heb. viii. 5), and the legal places
of sacrifice were according to Ex. xxiii. 19;
xxxiv. 26, to be in the house of the Lord. The
real sanctuary bears the same name, Josh. vi. 24,
and at the time of David, 2 Sam. xii. 20. What
form then had the *' tabernacle " which David
erected over the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 17? We have
as little knowledge of this as of the form of the
house of God at Shiloh, which in 1 Sam. ii. 22 is
called '■^tabernacle of testimony " (Luther, "taber-
nacle of the covenant"), but 1 Sam. i. 7, 24,
'■'■ house, ''^ and 1 Sam. i. 9 ; iii. 3, ^^ palace'" of
Jehovah (Luther always translates hekal by
temple). The same interchange of names Ps.
xxvii, 4, 6; comp. Ezek. xli. 1. In this passage
the reference is not to "prayer in the temple,"
but of turning in prayer to the holy place of
the throne of Jehovah, In this I agree with
Hengst., but not in the statement that the object
of the future coming and worship was the
thanksgiving here promised on account of the
deliverance wrought by the divine grace, as Ps.
Ixvi. 13. The reference is certainly not to the
greatness of love towards God, but to the divine
grace ; but so that its fulness is designated by
him as the accomplishment of the Psalmist's
entrance into the sanctuary^ It is necessary to
regard the imperfects as future, on account of
the character of the Psalm as a morning prayer,
but the contrast with the preceding words limits
the potential coloring=I may and will (Hupf.,
Delitzsch, Hitzig). Oraturi quasi caelum ingressuri
ei coram majestate infinita locuturi (Hugoj.
Sir. III. Ver. 8. Lead me in Thy right-
eousness, according to some, at least Heng-
stenberg, refers to the attribute of God as the
righteous helper and avenger, Ps. xxxi. 1, 3.
But the opponents, although not exactly called
" capricious " ( Aquil., Jerome, and most others),
are yet described, not as oppressors threatening
with external danger, but as those who prepared
danger with their mouths, and this character of
these persons is expressed ver. 9 as the reason
of the petition, that God would lead the pious
Psalmist in righteousness, which discloses itself
in an inoffensive walk (Ps. xxvii. 11). This
righteousness, however, is not merely the virtue
which God demands and is well pleasing to Him
(De Wette), but a characteristic of the pious,
which is indeed well pleasing to God, but yet at
the same time has its source and its standard in
God Himself (Hupf.), whose action is in all
respects righteous.
Make thy way level before me [straight
before my face, A. V.]. — Either make it straight
before me that I may see it and find it (Hilzig),
or better, make it level for me to walk. Yet
this does not suppose an easy exercise of motion,
without trouble, but a removal of hindrances,
which are not in the person who walks, but
which lie in the Divine way of righteousness, in
which the Psalmist would have God lead him.
In order that he may walk in safety, he requests
Divine help, and indeed either by removal of the
mountains of trouble, the ambushes of enemies,
or the setting aside of stones of stumbling, and
occasions of temptation. The decision on this
point must be in accordance with the explana-
tion of the preceding member of the verse, since
this second member is added without any con-
necting word. Even with the latter interpreta-
tion, which we prefer, the connection with the
following clause which gives the reason of the
petition, although overlooked by Hupfeld, is
very evident. According to another reading,
approved by Grotius, the Sept., Vulg., Arab.,
translate : " level my path before Thee.'''' But
Syr., Chald., Aquil., Symm., Theod., follow
already the present text, and it is confirmed by
the investigation of Jerome.
Ver. 9. In their mouth. — The singular suf-
fix among nothing but plurals, and referred to a
plural, is not so much a collective as a distribu-
tive (Delitzsch) "m ore uniuscujusque eorum."
fX is separated from its genitive by a word
which is shoved in between, as Pss. vi. 5 : xxxii.
2. — Abyss ["I'cry wickedness," A. V.] either
of destruction (Pss. xxxviii. ]2; Iii. 4; Iv. 11;
Prov. xvii. 4), or the wicked lust (Prov. x. 13;
xi. 6 ; Micah vii. 3 ; perhaps Ps. Iii. 7 ; comp.
Hupf.).
Ver. 10. By their own counsels, so that
these are the cause of their fall=overthrow, as
Hos. xi. 6, etc. (Hengst., Hupf., Camph.). Others
(Olsh., De Wette, Ewald, Delitzsch), comparing
Sir. xiv. 2, refer these words to the frustration
of their counsels and translate " from," or add
to it "away" [Ewald, "let them fall from
their plans." — C, A. B.], Luther even in the
sense that the enemies should fall, be ruined,
without being able to carry out their counsels.
Hitzig maintains his explanation in accordance
with the Arabic figure of "down from the
counsel which they ride." So also in the fol-
lowing member many translate : " owing to,"
"on account of," and understand the thrusting
out [''cast out,'' A. v.] as their overthrow.
But since the verb in question is very frequently
used for the rejection of the Israelites, and their
dispersion among foreign nations, it probably
means here "their thrusting away'' (Sept., Vulg.,
Mich., Rosenm., Delitzsch), and, indeed, whilst
they thought to live in their sins, John viii.
21, 24— [For they have rebelled against
Thee. — Perowne. "The enemies of David are
the enemies of David's God. * Whoso touch-
eth you, toucheth the apple of Mine eye,'
' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ? ' " —
C. A. B.]
Ver. 11. And they will rejoice ["Zci—
rejoice,'" A. V.].— Luther continues the impera-
tive of petition. The imperfects may indeed be
taken as optative, but it is better to regard them
as future, since these clauses state the lot of the
pious and their behaviour subsequent to the
hearing of their prayer and the judicial act of
God. ''llle placet Deo, cui placet Deus" f Augus-
tine). ^ ^
[Ver. 12. Shield.-The H^^, Tsinnah, is a
PSALM V.
77
large shield, larger than |JD, magSa, covering
the whole body, used of the shield of Goliath,
1 Sam. xvii. 7, vid. Smith's £ib. Diet., Art.
Arms.—C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who sides with God, must be prepared
as well for hosliiily and persecution on the part
of the ungodly, as he is assured of protection
on the part of the Almighty ; but he must also
hold fast to his communion with God, and culti-
vate it by prayer and Divine service, and show
its power by walking in the ways of righteous-
ness.
2. Walking in the way of righteousness has
its difl&cultiea, restraints and dangers ; but God
makes the way level for those who fear Him ;
God leads those who are devoted to Him upon
it; (jso6. protects in it those who trust in Him.
3. To be reminded of the nature and Provi-
dence of God is a terror to the wicked, but a
consolation to the pious ; for the former are
condemned, the latter saved thereby: therefore,
also, the former feel that they are frightened
away from the place where God reveals Himself
and is worshipped ; the latter, on the other
hand, are drawn to this place ; and whilst the
latter render prayer, praise and thanksgiving ;
the former commit grievous sins with their
tongue without shame or repentance. The
frightful extent of natural corruption, since the
fall of Adam, appears everywhere in essentially
the same characteristics, hence the use made of
this Psalm, in Rom. iii. 11 sq.
4. If those who blame us are to be declared
liars, those who complain of us, slanderers,
those who persecute us at the same time fools
and evil-doers, and if our adversaries in general
are the enemies of God, then we ourselves must
be found in the closest communion with God
and therefore we must diligently and faithfully
make use of all the means of His grace.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL,
We cannot solemnize the morning more pro-
perly than hy prayer and worship; we cannot
consecrate the day better than by walking in the
way of righteousness: we cannot make the
evening more delightfully blessed than by prais-
ing the name of God, and by again committing
ourselves with thankfulness to His protection. —
The righteous government of God shows itself:
1) in the judgment with which He punishes the
wicked ; 2) in the grace with which He blesses
the pious. — God has revealed His name not only
that we may know Him ; we ought likewise to
call upon Him, and praise Him, that we have
not received the grace of God in vain. He who
would receive grace must likewise use the
means of grace. The ungodly devices of the
wicked are the reason of their fall, the cause of
their destruction; on the other hand, the pious
are saved, not by their righteousness, but by the
grace of God in which they have taken refuge
by faith. — Blessed is the man, whose mind is
fixed in righteousness, whose life is supported
by the Divine grace, whose daily work is sur-
rounded and penetrated with prayer. — God hears
not only the cry, but also the sigh of prayer.
Pious kings regard themselves as the subjects of
God.
Starke : God is righteousness and piety it-
self; therefore it is impossible that the un-
godly should stand before Him, — It is true, that
believers have sins in themselves, but they are not
evil-doers, who wantonly sin and make a business
of sinning. — Although the vices of lying, blood-
thirstiness and deceitfulness are in the highest
degree accursed and injurious, yet they are usu-
ally found together. — 0 man, learn to tame thy
mouth and bridle thy tongue, else thou art like
a wild beast in human form. — The man who is
guided by God is not led astray ; he who is led by
God does not err or stumble, neither in faith, nor
in life ; and this grieves his enemies. — What an
abomination is an unconverted man ! What a
poisonous, wicked heart man has by nature !
No sin is too great for him to commit, if not re-
strained by the grace of God. — The reason of
condemnation is not the lack of grace, the love
of God, and the redemption of Christ, but the
guilt of wanton obstinacy. The joy of believers
in the righteous judgment of God upon the un-
godly, is no revengeful satisfaction in the mis-
fortunes of their enemies, but a sacred satisfac-
tion in the preservation of the Divine truth, ho-
liness, righteousness, and the honor of His name.
— The grace of God is the believer's ornament
and crown, but likewise his shelter, protection,
and shield. Grace adorns him with righteous-
ness, and protects him from condemnation. —
Here is the labor, there is the reward ; here is
the conflict, there the crown ; a crown of grace
instead of the crown of thorns borne in this
world. Although we should pray for our ene-
mies, who either have slandered our persona, or
persecuted us from ignorance of the truth. Matt.
V. 44 ; yet we ought not to pray for those who
blaspheme against known truth, or persecute
those who confess it; for they sin against the
Holy Ghost and unto death. Match, xii. 32 ; 1
John Y. 16 ; yet we may likewise pray against
them not from revengeful feelings, but from a
zeal for God, Ps. lix. 6.
Luther: We should be pious before man, and
stand in fear before God. — Calvin : God Him-
self will be to us such a God as we need ; and we
can and should make such a God of our God.
— OsiANDER : Althongh God has no bodily ears, for
He is a Spirit (John iv. 24) ; yet He hears very
sharply (Ps. xciv 9). — We should avoid giving
our enemies occasion to blaspheme the name of
God and His holy Gospel, on account of our ill
treatment of them. — Arnut : The righteousness
of faith and Christian life are a mighty protec-
tion and victory over bodily and spiritual ene-
mies.— Trust in God brings blessing and grace,
— Menzel: We should hold fast to the righteous
God and His sure Word; come what will, it will
have a good issue, as the contrary does not fail
that crowd which forsakes Him.— Franke : When
the children of the world are in need and
misery, they run about and seek here and
there for help, and leave God in the heavens.
On the other hand, a true child of Gud lets all
others go, and goes to his Father in his need.
— Renschel : Sin without fear, and hypocrisy,
have as their reward punishment and hate:
rs
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
piety has the crown of grace. — Frisch : In or-
der to overcome the enmity of the world, David
goes first to the sanctuary, then he gives iiimself
to prayer, humiliates himself before God, and
calls upon Him lor help and assistance for the
sake of the Messiah; finally he undertakes to
walk in God's ways, and resigns himself to the
holy government of God. — Even the righteous
and pious have still so many weaknesses that
they cannot do without the Divine guidance.
— Herbebqer: The more wickedly our enemies
rage, the riper are they for punishment, the
nearer their ruin. — What God roots out and casts
away you should not plant, cherish, and praise.
— What we lack in our houses, we may seek in
the house of God. — As the wagon goes on two
tracks so Christianity runs on in two parts, in
pure faith and irreproachable life. — It is better
that God should precede us with his favor, than
follow us with the sharp rod. — He who is to dwell
in the heavens, God crowns with four crowns :
(1) With the crown of grace and mercy, Ps. v. ;
(2) with the crown of virtue and piety (Sir. i.) ;
(3j with the crown of the cross and adversity,
Is. xxii. 17 ; (4) with the crown of life, of honor,
and of everlasting bliss (James i. 12). — Rieger :
To walk before the eyes of our heavenly Father
is very desirable. — The more we know and ex-
perience of the world and human wickedness the
more we desire the gracious government of God.
— Taube: a model of a prayerful life for the chil-
dren of God. Notice (1) how devout David's
soul is towards God ; (2) how well acquainted
he is with God; (3) how humble before God;
(4) how bold towards his God; (5) how happy
in his God.
[Matt. Henry: Four things David here pro-
miseth, and so must we. (1) That he will pray;
that he will make a conscience of it, and make a
business of it ; "unto Thee will I pray." Others
live without prayer, but I will pray. Kings on
their thrones must be beggars at God's throne.
(2) That he will pray in the morning. Morn-
ing prayer is our duty; we are the fittest for
prayer when we are in the most fresh, lively,
and composed frame, got clear of the slumbers
of the night, revived by them, and not yet filled
with the business of the day. (3) That he will
have his eye single, and his heart intent on the
duty. As a marksman directs his arrow to the
white ; or as we direct a letter to a friend at
such a place. (4) That he will patiently wait
for an answer of peace. We must look up
or look out, as he that has shot an arrow looks
to see how near it has come to the mark. —
— Spubgeon : There are two sorts of prayers —
those expressed in words, and the unuttered
longings which abide as silent meditations.
Words are not the essence, but the garments of
prayer. — Here is a grand argument why God
should answer prayer — because He is our King
and our God, We are not aliens to Him: He is
the King of our country. Kings are expected to
hear the appeals of their own people. We are
not strangers to Him; we are His worshippers,
and He is our God ; ours by covenant, by pro-
mise, by oath, by blood. — While the dew is on
the grass, let grace drop upon the soul. Let us
give to God the morning of our days, and the
morning of our lives. Prayer should be the key
of the day and the lock of the night. Devotion
should be both the morning star and the evening
star. — We should be careful to keep the stream
of meditation always running ; for this is the
water to drive the mill of prayer. It is idle to
pull up the flood-gates of a dry brook, and then
hope to see the wheel revolve. — Neither on earth
nor in heaven shall evil share the mansion of
God, Oh, how foolish are we if we attempt to
entertain two guests so hostile to one another as
Christ Jesus and the Devil ! Rest assured Christ
will not live in the parlor of our hearts if we en-
tertain the Devil in the cellar of our thoughts.
— Spurgeon's Treasury of David. — Gubnall:
For want of looking up, many a prayer is
lost. If you do not believe, why do you
pray? And if you believe, why do you not
expect? By praying you seem to depend on
God ; by not expecting, you again renounce your
confidence. What is this, but to take His name
in vain? 0, Christian, stand to your prayer in
a holy expectation of what you have begged upon
the credit of the promise. — Haldane : What
proceeds out of their mouth is infected and
putrid; and as the exhalation from a sepulchre
proves the corruption within, so it is with the
corrupt conversation of sinners. — C. A. B.]
PSALM VL
To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
0 Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger,
Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord ; for I am weak :
O Lord, heal me ; for my bones are vexed.
My soul is also sore vexed :
But thou, O Lord, how long ?
PSALM VI.
79
4 Return, O Lord, deliver my soul :
Oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee :
In the grave who shall give thee thanks ?
6 I am weary with my groaning ;
All the night make I my bed to swim ;
I water my couch with my tears.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief;
It waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity ;
"For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord hath heard my supplication ;
The Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed :
Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Respecting the title, compare the Introduc-
tion. The Church has with propriety made this
Psalm the first of the seven penitential Psalms
(vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., cxliii.).
For we recognize here, not the prayer of one
who was greatly troubled (Francke Introductio
p. 64), but. the supplication of a man who has
been brought by Divine chastisements (ver 1)
to the border of the grave (vers. 5-7), who yet
is assured of being heard (vera. 8, 9), directed
(ver. 2), and sustained (ver. 4) by grace. And
yet he feels the wrath of God not in sickness
(Aben Ezra, Ewald), but in distress through
ungodly enemies (vers. 7, 8, 10), and he grieves
80 much, that bodily weakness is the consequence
of his anguish of soul (vers. 2, 3, 6, 7). The
opinion, that the description of sickness is only
a highly colored illustration of trouble (to which
Hupfeld inclines), is not supported by the text,
still less the conjecture that the sufferer is the
Jewish nation, or the better part of it which
was in exile (Aben Ezra prophetically, De Wette
historically). The points of contact with Jere-
miah (Hitzig, Maurer, Olsh.) are of the kind that
they presuppose rather the greater antiquity of
the Psalm ; for Jer. x. 24, corresponding with
this Psalm, is directly followed, ver. 25, with
words from Ps. xxxix. 6 sq. (Delitzsch). Heng-
stenberg, very properly against Hitzig, refers to
1 Sam. XXX. 6; 2 Sam. xii. 16 sq. ; xv. 30, as
historical proofs of a similar disposition in
David, and Delitzsch reminds us of the conse-
quences of his intercourse with Bathsheba, whilst
Ruding refers to the rebellion of Absalom. Not
a few of the penitential hymns of the Church
have grown out of this Psalm.
Sir. I. Ver. 1. Rebuke me not in Thine
anger. — The position of the words shows that
an emphasis is to be put upon ^^ anger." But in
the course of the Psalm the Psalmist supplicates
for the deliverance of his soul and body, and is
finally convinced of his complete deliverance
from the power of those who afflict him. He
prays moreover not for a loving chastisement (Pss.
xciv. 12; cxviii. 18; Prov. iii. 11 sq.), for the
Bake of training the favored one, in contrast to
a chastisement in anger as it comes upon the
unconverted ungodly ,• so also not for a moderate
punishment in contrast to a severe passionate
treatment ; but simply for a prevention of the
chastisement, which because it is received as
the punishment of sin, has an essential connec-
tion with the wrath of God, and would bring
about the ruin of the one thus punished, unless
it should be prevented by grace, Jer. x. 24 sq.
(Calv., Hengstenberg, Hupf. ). Domine quousque?
was Calvin's motto.* [Riehm : "In his pre-
sent condition it is as if he prayed, 'punish
me no longer.'" Perowne: "The Psalmist
prays that the rod may altogether be removed,
and that because body and mind are alike grow-
ing weary. The chastisement has been so heavy
and has endured so long, and his sense of sin
is so grievous, that he begins to fear lest God
should shut up His tender mercies in displeasure
and should consume him in His wrath." — C.
A. B ]
Ver. 2. [I am weak — ""JX ' 7P?*> umlal ani
The pronoun ani was supposed by Gesenius to
be for the af&rmative=*'P77pN first pers. perf-
of the pulal of 7pN=to languish, to droop as
plants and flowers, and thus by transfer, of trou-
ble and care. Others (Hupfeld, Hitzig) regard
it as part. pulal^SlDKD, the D being omitted,
as not unfrequently in' this participle, and the
kametz shortened into pathach on account of the
accentuation, the two words having in fact but
one accent. It is better, however, with Ewald
(Lehrbuch, g 157 b) and Delitzsch to regard it as
an adjective, like the form pj?/}, with the same
change in the kametz, kindred to / 'P^?, Neh.
iii. 34. Barnes: " Here applied to a sick per-
son whose strength is withered and gone. The
condition of such an one is beautifully compared
with a plant that withers for lack of moisture ;
and the word is here used in this sense as re-
ferring to the Psalmist himself when sick, as
the result of his outward and mental sorrows."
— C. A. B.]
* [It is 8aid the moat intense p:rief and trouble could not
extract from him another word.— -C. A. B.J
80
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Bones. — Hupfeld shows that this in poetical
usage denotes, not only the frame of the body
or tlie entire body, in all that concerns the feel-
ings of life, but also the entire man as a sensi-
tive being, and indeed alio in spiritual or ethical
and religious relations and expressions of life,
comp. Pss. XXXV. 10; li. 8. Yet there is here a
reference to a shaking of the body, because the
still more violent commotion of the soul is directly
mentioned (ver. 3), Therefore also the soul
(ver. 3) is not a circumlocution for the person,
or substratum of the suflFering subject (Hupf.) ;
so also not a designation of the life which is
endangered (J. H. Michael., Hengst.); but that
real soul, which after death continues its exist-
ence with departed spirits in Hades, but yet has
no complete life in itself. [Wordsworth: "The
Septuagint has here r) tpv^^ jiov Erapdx'dV' words
adopted by our Lord Himself in His sufferings
(John xii. 27: Ps. xlii. 3-7)."— C. A. B.]
Str. I[. [Ver. 4. Return. — Perowne: "For
it seems to the sufferer as if God had been absent
during his affliction ; and there is no hope for
him but in God. Therefore the repeated prayer,
'Do Thou be gracious unto me: how long wilt
Thou be absent? Return Thou,' e/c. And ob-
serve not only ' be gracious for I languish,' but
' deliver me for Thy loving-kindness' sake.' Any
man may use the first; only one who has tasted
that the Lord is gracious can use the last." —
C. A. B.l
Ver. 6. For in death there is no remem-
brance of Thee. — The petition has as its mo-
tive the fact that the Divine interest itself is
concerned in the deliverance of the man who can
render thanks well-pleasing to God, only as
living and not as one lost in death and swal-
lowed up in Hades. Yet this is only one side of
the thought. The other side (which is fre-
quently overlooked) is likewise brought ^nto
view, namely, that the petitioner has at heart, to
render thanks and praise to the glory of God.
The relation is therefore in no respect a selfish
one, in which the interests of selfishness prevail,
but a moral and religious one. The etymology
of Sheol [incorrectly renaered in A. V. ''grave.''
— C. A. B.] is doubtful, but not the idea which
the Old Testament has of it as the gathering-
place of departed spirits in a gloomy and sor-
rowful place under the earth, from which there
is no possible escape by human help, and in
which the departed lead a shadowy existence
rather than a real and complete life. Christ has
not only made a change in the ideas concerning
the condition of the dead, but has also partly
brought about and partly made possible a change
in the condition itself.*
* [ /IXiy. Oesenius, Ewald, Bdttch., Maurer, et al., regard it
as from tha r. ot '7J^iy='7Xiy=tC' dig, hollow out, like Sj'ti^=
li'iUow of the hand. 7'lJ?^D=l'oilo\v wny, thn^i meaning a
hollow, subterranean place. Germ., noll(>=Hohlc=hollow,
cavern ; Bug., hell. Hupfeld derives it from SnB', an old
root similiir to ^W, hh\if, llhli/, hwi, the radical letter
oeiDg 7i with the idea of loose, .lax, hanging down, in a
double direction, expressing the idea of sinking down and
separation (as x°^'^- 't'" x*^'*'"- ^'c), hence the derivative
idea of being swallowed up, abyss, depth (as in the poetical
y*^Xn r\Vr\nn). »-^<^ "!»" that of cha'^m. hollow, empty
BpacBj as in Qerm. Hoiie aud in xdana, xaos (also used for
Ver. 6. I make of my bed a flood of
tears [" I water my couch with my tears," A. V.].
— Camphausen literally: "I make my bed to
flow away." We are not to substitute counte-
nance for eye (most interpreters since Vatabl ).
The life of the soul as well as the body is mir-
rored in the eye; therefore in descriptions of
bodily and spiritual condition and qualities it is
often mentioned as the representative of the
countenance and the entire man (Hupf.).
Ver. 7. Hupfeld justifies the signification grief
against Hengstenberg as a poetical generaliza-
tion of the word which certainly in Hebrew
means primarily indignation and ill-will, particu-
larly with respect to another's folly aud unfaith-
fulness. [Alexander: "Mine eye has failed,
grown dim, a common symptom both of mental
and bodily distress ; from vexation, not mere
grief, but grief mixed with indignation at my ene-
mies." Barnes: "It waxeth old, experiences
the effects commonly produced by age in blunt-
ing the power of vision. This is not an uncom-
mon effect of grief and sadness." — C. A. B.]
Str III. [Ver. 8. Alexander: " Here the key
abruptly changes from the tone of sorrowful
complaint to that of joyful confidence. No
gradual transition could have so successfully
conveyed the idea, that the prayer of the Psalm-
ist has been heard and will be answered. The
effect is like that of a whisper in the sufferer's
ear, vi^hile still engrossed with his distresses, to
assure him that they are about to terminate.
This he announces by a direct and bold address
to his persecuting enemies." Perowne: "Mark
the sudden change as of sunrise up6n night.
Already the prayer and the weeping have been
heard. Already faith has triumphed." — C. A. B.l
Ver. 10. They will be ashamed. — The im-
perfects are not to be taken as optatives \^^' Let
all mine enemies be ashamed,'' etc., A. V.], but as
futures, for the hearing of his prayer is so cer-
tain to the Psalmist that he has already, on this
account, called out to those who afflict him in a
tone of triumph: depart from me (ver. 8).
hell). So also Delitzsch. The former derivation is preferable.
Delitzsch : " The Psalmist knows only one gathering-place
for the dead in the depths of the earth, where they indeed
live, but only a quasi life, because they have departed from
the light of this world, and what is more lamentable, from
the light of the Divine presence." The Hebrew Sheol and
the Greek Hades were alike. As the grave was the place of
the dead body, Sheol or Hades was the place of departed
spirits. This was taken for granted in the Old Testament,
together with the doctrine of immortality, and there is a
remarkable absence of revelation concerning it. The joy
of God's people was in the theocracy as existing in this
world, and in the Messianic future, and it was not until the
Messiah came, and died, a?id passed through the grave to a
resurrection, that light shone upon the abode of the departed
spirits, and even here a littht only so far as that the light of
a glorious resurrection shines through the riven grave and
Hades (2 Tim. i. 10). Perowne: "The argument here em-
ployed is no doubt characteristic of the old dispensation.
They who then feared and loved God, nevertheless walked in
shadows, and their hope was not yet full of immortality.
Hence their cHrnest clinging to life, so different from St.
Paul's 'desire to depart,' to which there is nothing parallel
in the Old Testament. It was not that they dreaded annihi-
lation, but rather a kind of disembodied existence apart
from the light of God's presence.— The Old Testament saints
pleaded with God for life, in order tliat life might be conse-
crated to His service. And it is very touching to see how,
with the weakness of man's heart, trembling at dissolution
there mingles the child-like confidence which fears not to
advance the plea that God's glory is concerned in irrantine
its request." Compare Hezekiah's sickness, Is xxxviii 18
19, also Moses' prayer for the life of the people Num Tiv'
13_2i._c. A. B.J ^ ' *^^'
PSALM VI.
81
2W [A. v., return] means not penitential turn-
ing back of his enemies to the Psalmist (Aben
Ezra, Kimchi), is moreover not an auxiliary to
express the adverb, again, anew (Venema, Paul),
but it means the external side of the failure of
their attack, as l^U [A. V., be ashamed'], the
interDal. Delitzsch calls our attention to the
musical cadence.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1 Sm draws after it punishment, and the judg-
ment of an angry God is terrible ; but only the
impenitent sinner is lost, not the penitent. It
is true, in bitter, heartfelt grief over his sins, he ex-
periences a sorrow, which not only grieves the
soul, but also withers the body ; but he feels at
the same time that he is mightily drawn towards
God by this godly sorrow. He confesses his
guilt and the justice of the punishment with
which the holy God visits him, and makes known
that he is well aware how richly he deserves the
disfavor and wrath of God, and how he has
forfeited his life with his sins. But he perceives
in this very punishment that God is still inter-
ested in him, and he himself has still a longing
after God. He can still believe in grace, and
therefore ^ray for life; and in this consists the
saving change which takes place in his condi-
tion. Ne desperando augeamus peccata, propositus
est pcenitentise portus; rursus, ne sperando augeamus,
datus est dies mortis incerlus (Augustine)
2. As long as nothing is to be* expected after
death, but a realm of shades in the world below
for the gathering of departed souls, so long fear
of death is the prevailing power with the sinner,
and his prayer for deliverance is chiefly directed
towards the preservation of his life which is
threatened. A germ of further development
lies in the recognition of the fact that this pre-
servation is a work of grace. But as long as
communion with God is not yet recognized and
desired as the true good in the life which has
been saved by grace, and there is not found at
the same time in this deliverance which is longed
for, a restoration to this communion which has
been destroyed by sin, so long there is lacking
the assurance that there is a life higher than the
earthly, and that life with, for, and in God is
the only true life. But such assurance now
forms ihe fruitful soil for thoughts of eternal
life, and for faith in the resurrection of the
dead. Yet this does not come into consideration
here. However a step in this direction is taken
by the expression of the conviction that God
can receive the recognition, honor and praise
due Him, only from the living, and not from the
dead.
3. The relation of man to the world in gene-
ral, and to other men in particular, very
much depends upon the relation in which he
stands to God. If a man is regarded as for-
saken of God, the number and audacity of his
enemies increase , he is regarded as an easy
prey, and those who are themselves evil-doers
think that they can judge, condemn and crush
their opponent on account of his sins. But if
God turns His grace upon the penitent, and ac-
cepts the contrite again, so that the hand of God
is seen in his affairs delivering and blessing him,
t>
then people look more to the change of his con-
dition than the reason for it, and but seldom
does it accomplish their conversion ; but they
feel ashamed and retire. Quanio benignius de Deo,
ianto indignius de me sentire cogor (Anselm).— .
Egrediente natura ingreditur Deus (Tauler).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The severest afflictions are turned into bleaa-
ings, if they (1) remind us of our guilt by which
we have drawn upon us the wrath of God; (2)
if they urge us to the godly sorrow of repent-
ance ; (3) if they stir us up to believing suppli-
cation for the grace of God. — It is better to fall
into the hands of God than of men, for God
punishes earnestly in His righteous wrath ; but
He likewise is gracious towards those who turn
to Him in repentance. — The most bitter part of
affliction is the sense of Divine wrath ; but this
bitterness is a healing remedy, if it excites us to
seek with penitence and lay hold of the grace
of God by faith. — We learn to overcome even
the peril of death, if we attain to the point of
seeking life with God and gaining the preserva-
tion of life from God. — Prayer and tears are the
strongest weapons man can have ; by them God
allows Himself to be overcome. — The most for-
tunate turns in life take place (1) when we turn
to God as converts; (2) when God turns again
His grace upon us; (3) when our enemies turn
away ashamed.
Luther: To realize sin aright is torment
above all other torments. — To wait, is in all the
movements of the heart very hard and irksome.
— Stakze: God lays hold of the ungodly with
the punishment of His wrath, but the pious
with the chastisement of discipline, in order
that, those who bring forth fruit, may bring
forth more fruit. — Nooue-can be strengthened by
God, or rightly experience the grace of God,
without first experiencing his own weakness
(2 Cor. xii. 9). — We do not deserve any grace
by the toil and anguish of our penitence for
sin ; yet we can present it before God, because
He has promised iu such disposition of the
bruised heart for Christ's sake to bestow His
grace. — How long? how long? are the usual
words of lamentation of cross-bearers in ge-
neral, but especially of those who are inex-
perienced, which God is ready to receive favor-
ably, if only they are not without faith and
tranquillity. — When God turns away with His
grace from man, it is the soul's greatest sorrow ;
when God turns again to man with His grace,
that is the redemption and hope of the soul. —
The children of the world desire a long life for
the sake of carnal gratification ; but the chil-
dren of God in order to glorify the Divine
name ; and thus a Christian may ask for a pro-
longation of his life. — Christians should not be
ashamed of tears ; in those who are truly peni-
tent they are the witnesses of a painful sorrow for
sin. — It is not for the laughing mouth to be truly
penitent ; it demands the inner repentance of the
heart, body, and soul, and all the powers. — 0 great
folly to make so much of the external beautiful
form of the body, and make a show of it! how
soon may it be destroyed by sickness of body or
82
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
of spirit. — What sad consequences sin has when
conscience awakes ! — Truly he must be a loving
Father who hears the supplication, weeping, and
prayers of His children, even when He seems to
be angry and punishes them on account of their
sins. — Let no one delay to repent and be con-
verted; for God's punishments descend suddenly.
— AuausT.: Woe to human life, be it never so esti-
mableand precious, if the mercy of God is not there.
— OsiANDER: We need the chastisement of God;
but we should pray that this may not be too hard
for us to bear (1 Cor. x. .13). — Thus it happens,
that as good days swiftly pass, one day spent in
trouble and anguish appears to be a year long.
Trouble and internal vexation consume all the
powers of body and spirit; but God can give us
new powers again. — Bdobnuaqen: Only he
who implores the mercy of God can escape the
wrath of God. — Selnbkker: When thou art
frightened on account of thy sins, and know
not how to get rid of them, flee to God, and
confess thy sins to Him; uncover them to
Him, in order that H-e may cover them.
— Eccaed: It is very dangerous for a man, when
it comes to this, that God punishes him in His
wrath, and scourges him .in His fury. — Oh and
woe are among all men the be^t teachers and
tuners of prayer. — We should flee from the an-
gry God to the reconciled God, and we should
appeal from His strong righteousness to His pa-
ternal goodness and mercy. — Three heart break-
ers most violently assail us: (1) When God lays
hold of that part of us which gives the most
pain; (2) when many needs and sorrows come
together ; (3) when they last long, and as it
eeems to us, without end. — Baumgarten : As
God's grace is better than life, so is His wrath
worse than death itself. — Renschel : God has
two modes of punishment: (1) The. punishment
of wrath ; (2) that of discipline. — We may very
properly pray for the prolongation of temporal
life, chiefly for this purpose, that we may
declare the praise, honor, and name of God.
— Frisch: God sees not so much the weeping
eye as the broken heart. — Herberger: On the
sick bed there is no work more sacred than con
fession and repentance. — When misfortune hurts
the body, the soul has its consolation ; when it
hurts the soul it only lasts a little while to the
pious. — Not to be in favor with God is the great-
est pain. — Thinking and thanking belong toge-
ther.— The best and the most profitable sorrow
in the world is for the sins we have committed,
— The prayers of the pious do not vanish in the
air, but press through the clouds of heaven. —
Rieger: Where a man has not attained the ex-
perience of his nothingness and weakness, and
that all carnal ability, strength, and wisdom, go
to ruin in him, he cannot share in the grace of
God. — The sighing of the soul includes the whole
of repentance, painful regret, faith, desire of Di-
vine grace, hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness.— Tholuck: To the man of God the bit-
terest drop in the cup of trouble is the
sense of the wrath of God, which he expe-
riences in the chastisements 9f God. — Guen-
ther: It very naturally happens that when
we will not humble ourselves under the strong
hand of God, the first affliction is only the
weak beginning of a chain of afflictions, in which
we will at last be choked unto eternal death.
[Matth. Henry: Those heap up wrath who
cry not when God binds them ; but those
are getting ready for mercy who, under God's
rebukes, sow in tears. — David, that could
face Goliath himself, and many another threat-
ening enemy, with an undaunted bravery, yet
melts into tears at the remembrance of sin, and
under the apprehension of Divine wrath ; and it
is no diminution at all to his character. —
Spurgeon: This is the right way to plead with
God if we would prevail. Urge not your good-
ness or your greatness, but plead your sin and
your bitterness. Cry, " I am weak," therefore,
0 Lord, give me strength, and crush me not. —
Send not forth the fury of Thy tempest against
so weak a vesseL Temper the wind to the shorn
lamb. Be tender and pitiful to a poor withering
flower, and break it not from its stem. — When
we seek pd,rdon, we are not asking God to do
that which will stain His banner, or put a blot
on His escutcheon. He delighteth in mercy. It
is His peculiar, darling attribute. — Repentance
is a practical thing. It is not enough to bemoan
the desecration of the temple of the heart, we
must scourge out the buyers and sellers, and
overturn the tables of the money changers. A
pardoned sinner will hate the sins which cost
the Saviour His blood. Grace and sin are quar-
relsome neighbors, and one or the other must go
to the wall. Weeping is the eloquence of sor-
row. It is an unstammering orator, needing no
interpreter, but understood of all. Is it not
sweet to believe that our tears are understood
even when words fail ? Let us learn to think of
tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a con-
stant dropping of importunate intercession which
will wear its way right surely into the very heart
of mercy, despite the stony difficulties which ob-
struct the way. — 0. A. B.]
PSALM VII.
Skiff ffaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cash the Benjamite.
1 O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust:
Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me :
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion,
Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
PSALM VII. 88
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this ;
If there be iniquity in my hands ;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me ; '
(Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
6 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it;
Yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth.
And lay mine honor in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O Lord, in thine anger,
Lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies :
And awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about :
For their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The Lord shall judge the people:
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity
that is in me,
9 Oh let the wickedness of the -wicked come to an end ; but establish the just:
For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
10 My defence is of God,
* Which saveth the upright in heart.
11 God judgeth the righteous.
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he turn not he will whet his sword ;
He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death ;
He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity,
And hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit, and digged it,
And is fallen into the ditch which he made.' ,
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head.
And his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness: -t
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Title. — For an explanation of Shiggaion, vid.
Introduct. Ev^ald, Maurer, Qt. Baur, Hitzig, find
the tradition of the composition of this Psalm
confirmed by its contents and language. Yet
Hitzig refers to 1 Sam. xxvi., whilst Hengsten-
berg more properly regards 1 Sam. xxiv. as in-
dicating the circumstances ; but he aptly re-
minds ua that the greater portion of Benjamin
for a long time adhered to the house of Saul (1
Chron, xii. 29), and is disposed to refer the ti-
tle to the author himself. Most interpreters pro-
perty take Cush to be a proper name, but sup-
pose, on account of the time, not the message of
Cushi mentioned (2 Sam. xviii. 32), but one of
the tale-bearers mentioned only in general (1
Sam, xxiv. 9). There is no occasion to find in
Cush the figurative designation of a man of black
wickedness (the Jewish interpreters, except
Aben Ezra), and then think particularly of Saul.
Eimchi and Hengst. find even a reference to his
father Kish. The reference to the slanderer Shi-
raei (Luther et al.) with a similar figurative in-,
terpretation does not agree with the time of com-
position. [Riehm: "Since ver. 4 6 agrees en-
tirely with the fact that David, according to 1
Sam. xxiv. and xxvi., protected Saul's life from
his companions in arms, David, also at that
time, as in this Psalm, asserting his innocence
and appealing to the judgment of God, (1 Sam,
xxiv. 12 sq., 16; xxvi. 18, 23 sq.), the supposi-
tion that David composed the Psalm towards tho
end of the persecution of Saul is very reasonable.
We might then conjecture that the slander of this
Cush caused his departure to the king of Achish
of Gath," — C. A. B.] It is not to be recom-
mended to translate: ^^ with regard to," as Jer.
vii. 22; xiv. 1; Deut. iv. 21, instead of "on ac-
count of the words."
The structure of the strophes is very uneven,'
and not very complete, hence they have been
very differently divided. In my opinion, after'
the introductory cry for help which the threat-
ened Psalmist makes, vers. 1, 2, there follows a
84
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
strong protestation of his innocence with respect
to the accusations raised against him, vers. 3-5.
On this he bases his invocation of Jehovah to
begin and carry on his judgment, vers. 6, 7.
The Psalmist then, with, a good conscience,
claims this judicial activity of God especially for
himself, vers. 8, 9, expresses his trust in Divine
protection, as well as his confidence in the pu-
nishment of the unconverted by God, vers. 10-13,
sees the ruin of his enemies already before his
eyes, vers. 14-16, and closes with the assurance
of his joyful gratitude, ver. 17.
[Perowne. "'Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right,' might stand as the motto of this
Psalm. In full reliance on God's righteousness,
David appeals to Him to judge his cause. The
righteous God cannot but save the righteous and
punish the wicked." — C. A. B.]
Str. I. Ver. 1. [Delitzsch : " With this word of
faith, hope, and love, this holy captatio benevo-
leniise, David begins likewise, Pss. x. 1 ; xvi.
1 ; xxxi. 1 ; compare Ixxi. 1. The perfect is in-
choative : in thee have I taken my refuge=
in thee do I trust. — Ver. 2. The pers. cutors
are regarded as wild beasts, as lions who rend
their prey and crush their bones. Thus do they
thirst for his ^ soul,' that is for his life." — C.
/.B.T
Sir.' II. Ver. 3. [Barnes: O Lord, my God.
— " A solemn appeal to God for the sincerity and
truth of what he is about to say." — C. A. B.]
— If I have done this. — Most ancient inter-
preters refer this to the accusation of his op-
ponents presupposed as known, most recent in-
terpreters since Rosenm. following Isaki, to that
which follows; vid. however the reasons for the
former reference in Hitzig, which are worthy of
consideration. Most ancient translations then
unite J7'1 ■'D/ti', ver. 4, whose accentuation also
most MSS. have and give as the sense : If I have
recompensed him, who has recompensed me with
evil. So also among recent interpreters: Sachs,
Bottcher, Olsh., Hitzig. Hitzig rejects the as-
sertion of Hengst. and Hupf. that alU has the
meaning of recompense only in the Fiel, yet he
translates : " If I do evil to him who recom-
penses it to me." He prefers the connection of
the words which is indicated in only one MSS.,
an Erfurt Codd. (vid. variations in J. H. Mich.),
yet which lies at the basis of the translations of
the Chald., Kimchi, Luther, Calv., Rudinger,
Hengst., Hupf., De Wette, Delitzsch. All of
these however find the idea of friend expressed
(literally, he who is at peace with me), according
to the fundamental meaning of the word in ques-
tion, in the Kal : to be whole, that is, negatively,
unhurt; positively, perfect, thence partly, ready,
complete ; partly, well, sound, in good condi-
tion ; then by transfer, favorable, moral en-
tireness and freedom from harm (Hupf.), comp.
Pss. XX. 10; xli. 9; Jer. xxxviii. 22. /ID J more-
over means not only recompense, but properly to
render something to some one (comp. 1 Sam. xxiv.
18) with the idea of meritoriousness or obligation
of such action — And plundered, etc. — This
clause, regarded as defective by Olsh., is taken as
a parenthesis with the Rabbins by Calv., Rud., J.
H. Mich., Ewald, Koster, Thol., Hupf. [A. V.J, and
explained in the sense rendered possible by the
signification of the word: ''Rather I delivered." But
the propriety of the use of the word for booty taken
in war, is derived from the fundamental mean-
ing of the word in the Kal: to draw off (shoes,
clothes) which also occurs in the Aramaic for the
Piel, and in Hebrew is at least undeniable in the
noun, whilst otherwise at least the signif.: "draw
forth, deliver," (Ps. vi. 4), is proved in the Piel.
The majority, even Hengst. andDelitzsch, refer it
with this interpretation to the occurrence in the
cave where David cut off the skirt of Saul's gar-
ment (1 Sam, xxiv. 4, 6). Hitzig, with Chald.,
supposes a metathesis for the sake of the expla-
nation: and oppressed, etc. The interpretation
of the Sept,, and Vulg., as conclusion and im-
precation, = then will I retire from my enemies
empty, that is, conquered, misses the sense.
Ver, 5. Honor means either dignity, and in-
deed as well particularly the royal dignity of
David (Calv., Geier, J. H. Mich.) as personal
honor in general (Hitzig), otherwise also desig-
nated as crown (Ixxxix, 39; Is. xxviii. 1) and
power (Is. Ixiii. 6); then the dust indicates the
smut of the deepest humiliation; or as Pss. xvi.
10; XXX. 12; Ivii. 8; cviii. 2; Gen. xlix., soul
here = life, then dust == grave, Isa. xxvi. 19
(Rabb. most interpreters). Disgrace and humi-
liation are included in the expression at all
events (Hengst., Hupf.). Respecting the soul as
thereflection of the Divine TI33, vid., Delitzsch,
Bibl. Psychol, II. ed., 1861.
Str. III. Ver. 6. Arise.— So Ps. ix. 19; x. 12,
after the example of Moses (Num. x. 35; comp.
Ps. iii. 7). It is parallel with the following lift
up thyself, as Ps. xciv. 2; Is. xxxiii. 10, and
avrake, as Pss. xxxv. 23 ; xliv. 23 ; lix. 5. The
character of the expression as merely figurative
follows from Ps. cxxi. 4. — For me isa pregnant
construction. We must supply : txim. For the
Psalmist requests first of all judicial interfe-
rence. Yet we cannot translate: Up for me in
judgment! Thou makest booty (Hitzig), or:
stir up judgment for me, (Chald. and some in-
terpreters mentioned by Rosenm.), or: awake
for me in judgment that Thou hast commanded
(Sept., Syr., Jerome [A. V.J). Moreover the
last clause is not imperative: order judgment
(Rosenm., De Wette). Yet it is allowable to
unite the last clause with the relative (Koster,
Hengst.) for which Ewald puts the participle, or
with a particle of cause (Geier, et al.), since the
Psalmist bases his prayer on the general Divine
arrangement of justice, and His administration
in judgment (Calv., Hupf.) [Hupfeld translates
thus: "Awake for me; judgment hast thou com-
manded." This seems to be the best construc-
tion.— C, A. B.J Instead of against the over-
flowings, Sept., following a false derivation,
translates: "In the limits." [^'Because of the
rage of mine enemies,'^ A. V., is incorrect, it should
be, " against the rage of mine enemies." — C. A. C.J
Ver. 7. [Let the congregation of nations
surround Thee. — It is better to take this as
an optative in harmony with the preceding; so
most interpreters. The Lord is exhorted to
"arise," "lift up Thyself," awake, and so also
to assemble the people about Him to witness His
judgment, His vindication of the Psalmist, Over
it {for their sokes, A. V., is incorrect). — Perowne:
"God is represented as coming down to visit tht
PSALM VII.
85
earth, aad to gather the nations before Ilim, and
then lis retiring and sitting down above them
on the judgment seat." Delitzsch : "The
Psalmist now arranges, eo to speak, a judgment
scene : the assembly of the nation is to torm a
circle about Jehovah ; in their midst He hold-
eth judgment, and after judgment has been pro-
nounced. He is to return, ascending back to
heaven as a conqueror after battle." — C. A. B.]
— On High is not the judicial seat (Tarnow,
Geier, Maur., et al), or the high seat on Zion
(De Wette), in which God will sit down again
after that He had apparently left it in the inter-
mission of His judicial activity (Kimchi, Calv.,
Hupf., yet with a reference to heaven) ; but
heaven, whither God returns after having ac-
complished judgment in the midst of the as-
sembly of the nations (Ewald, Delitzsch).*
The Psalmist asks the Judge of the world for
historical justice, and in mentioning the Divine
triumph, not only expresses the assurance that the
historical transaction of justice for which he has
called upon God, will be successfully carried out,
but he asks God that He will carry it out without
delay. Thus all the pretended difficulties vanish.
As the tribes of Israel are called ''people," Gen.
xlix. 10 ; Deut. xxxiii. 3, Jerome, Kimchi, Hitz.,
et al., think of them here, especially because
congregation is mentioned, as Gen, xxvi. 3 ;
XXXV. 11. But the reference is not to a political,
but a judicial assembly (Hupf.), and it is a
Divine attribute, as the following general clause
directly declares, to be judge of the nations.
Str. IV. Ver. 8. In order to escape these con-
vincing reasons, Hitzig supposes that pi^to
direct, govern the opinion, manage, and does not
allow that there is a reference to Gen. xviii. 25,
for an explanation, but to Micah iv, 13. It cer-
tainly does not mean that from the highest court
the highest jijstice is to be expected, and that
God, because He judges the peoples, is therefore
the regular Judge of the individual, in which
case " children of men " should be placed in-
stead of "nations." No more is the thought
expressed, that God by His Spirit leads the as-
sembly of the elders, which represents the tribes
of Israel, being invisibly present in their midst
(Deut. xxxiii. 5 ; Lev. xxvi. 12), in order that,
in the judgment of the nations, not human
riehteousness, but the Divine decision, might
have authority. The Psalmist expresses rather
* [Hupfeld : " But the reference to that which God does after
the judgment is not only a very simple and feeble addition,
but is also contrary to that which follows in the context where
the Divine judgment is carried still further out; yes, it is in
a certain measure contrary to the entire course and spirit of
the Psalm, and the Psalms generally, which would represent
God as stepping forth from His retirement, as from a cloud
which hitherto concealed Him, and as actively at work, and
would not lead Him back again." "The distance between
the heavenly seat of the Judge and the earthly assembly is
Dot to be measured mathematically, but must be regarded
according to its nature from a poetical point of view, in
which the cleft between heaven and earth vanishes, just as
we see it overleaped in the constant interchange of the
heavenly and earthly seats of God, heaven and Zion. The
idea is this, God in contrast with His previous inactivity is
again to judge, that is, to interfere and reinstate j ustice, which
has been ignored and disturbed." "It is true, this is a
limited human conception of the Divine government and
righteousness which is ever the same and uninterrupted ; yet
it is a feeling natural to religious feeling and an almost un-
avoidable anthropomorphism, the same as there is in the
Jbrmula, Arise, awake, ver. 6, and the like."— C. A. B.]
the thought, that his cause is not a private affair,
but is of historical importance to the world.
— To me ["ira me," A. V.]. — It is most in ac-
cordance with the context to find the thought of
recompense expressed in ver. 8 (Chald., Ulsh.),
and then it is more correct from the language to
supply: come (Hupf.), than the explanation
"happen to me" (Rosenm., De Wette). The
language likewise permits the supposition that
it is an emphatic repetition of the suthx with «
relative supplied (Vatab., Geier, et al., [A. V.J).
Thereby the attribute of righteousness would b<
made prominent, yet not as a finishing stroke of
the pencil (Hitzig), nor as a shield about the per-
son (Hengst. I.), but as the quality found in
the person yet to be distinguished by Him
(Delitzsch).
[Ver. 9. Hupfeld: "The personal petition is
generalized into the petition that God would
make an end of the doings of the unrighteous,
but would protect the righteous, as it is to be
expected from the omniscience of the Judge who
searches the secrets of the heart." — For the trier
of hearts and reins is a righteous God —
Riehm : " The reins as the seat of strong feelings,
inclinations, impulses." Barnes: "The particular
idea here is, that as God searches the hearts of
all men, and understands the secret purposes of
the soul. He is able to judge aright, and to de-
termine correctly in regard to their character,
or to administer His government on the princi-
ples of exact justice. Such is the ground of
the prayer in this case, that God, who knew the
character of all men, would confirm those who
are truly righteous, and would bring the wick-
edness of the ungodly to an end." — C. A. B.]
Str. V. Ver. 10. Upon God ["o/ God," A.
V.]. — This can mean that the protection is the.
duty of God (Venema, Ewald, Hengstenb.), but
better: God has undertaken it (Hitzig, Delitzsch).
The usual translation "with God" is too feeble.
Bottcher conjectures ingeniously that originally
instead of /J^, the text was wJT, over me=who
covers me.
[Ver. 11. Delitzsch: "Although God finally lets
His wrath break forth, yet He does not do this
without previously having threatened the un-
godly every day. Comp. Is. Ixvi. 14 ; Mai. i. 4.
He lets them experience this His wrath in ad-
vance that they may be alarmed for their good."
— Angry. — Hupf.: " That is, toward the wicked
staking vengeance, punishing, inasmuch as the
wrath, that is, the abhorrence which holiness has
of evil, is the principle of all Divine punishment."
— Every day. — Barnes: "Continually; con-
stantly; always. This is designed to qualify
the previous expression. It is not excitement.
It is not temporary passion such as we see in
men. It is not sudden emotion, soon to be suc-
ceeded by a diflferent feeling when the passion
passes off. It is the steady and uniform attri-
bute of His unchanging nature, to be always
opposed to the wicked, — to all forms of sin ; and
in Him, in this respect, there will be no changCi
The wicked will find Him no more favorable to
their character and course of life to-morrow
than He is to-day ; no more beyond the grave
than this side of the tomb. What He is to-day,
He will be to-morrow, and every day." — C. A. B. j
86
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 12. If one turn not ["i/" he turn not,"
A. V.]. — In the first clause the subject is the
wicked man, in the following clause God (the
ancient translators and most interpreters), yet
80 that it does not mean the special enemy of
the Psalmist, but the ungodly as a class (Hengst.,
Hupf.). Others regard the first word as a par-
ticle of assertion, and take the verb in the sense
of the adverb " again," but differ from one an-
other, in that some (Olsh. ) regard Jehovah as
the subject, others (Ewald, Baur) the wicked man,
who will truly whet his sword again, etc. Still
others understand likewise the entire descrip-
tion, vers. 12, 13, as the verses which follow, in
the latter sense of the wicked man and regard
the words, if he does not turn, (but) whets his
sword, etc., either as the conclusion of the pre-
vious verse (Rosenm. following Kimchi), or as
the antecedent of vers. 14, 15 (Syr., Geier, et
al.). These then suppose I/, ver. 13, which is
placed before with emphasis, to be reflexive and
indeed either=to his purpose (Kimchi, Ew.),
or, to his destruction (Aben Ezra). With our
explanation of the wicked man not previously
mentioned, the subject appears plainly as the
object aimed at. — [He hath bent his bow. —
In Hebrew, he hath trodden his bow, alluding
to the ancient mode of bending the large and
stout bows used instead of modern light artillery,
with the feet rather than with the arm and hand.
— C. A. B.]
Ver. 13. The arroTVS are made into arrows of
fire usual in sieges (Cocceius and recent inter-
preters), not into sharp or poisonous arrows ; or
hotly pursuing (vid. Rosenm.); or for the burn-
ing (Sept., Vulg., Syr.), which according to
Ferrand means consumed with wrath, according
to Chald., Isaki, Kimchi, Calv.: the persecutors
themselves (so A. V.). It is difficult to follow
the change of tense in these verses. The first
two imperfects, it is better to take as futures on
account of the judgment which is surely im-
pending ; the perfects then describe the actions
which follow and the circumstances described as
future ; the last imperfect is incidental, thus a
real imperfect, that is relative time instead of
the participle; or we are to regard "his arrows "
as in apposition and the following as a relative
clause (Hupf.).
Str. VI. Ver. 14. The imperfect stands first,
then two perfects follow. Therefore the ancient
and usual interpretation is incorrect, which re-
gards the travailing and conception as indica-
ting design, and contrasts it with bringing forth
as expressive of the consequences, and thus is
compelled to accept a hysteronproteron in the
position of the travailing. For the same reasons
it is not advisable to refer the first verb 12T\ to
conception according to the Arabic (Seb. Schmidt,
Hitzig) in order to derive the gradation which
Luther supposes there is in the thought. The
first clause rather (as the accents indicate) is in
contrast with the two following ; yet not as
Calv., J. H. Mich., and Hengst., express by the
insertion of " but," as if the first clause expressed
the evil design, the contrast consisting of two
parts, its consequences ; but rather that the first
member of the verse states the proposition in
general, the second explains it more definitely
according to both its factors (Ewald, Koster,
Olsh., Hupf., Baur., Delitzsch) which specify the
transition from the thought of the heart 'to its
expression (Kimchi). Besides, Hupfeld shows
that the nouns have a double sense, and designate
the wicked at once as nothingness, and as a
curse. [Barnes : " The allusion here is to the
pains and throes of child-birth, and the idea is
that the wicked man labors or struggles, even
with great pain to accomplish his purpose of
iniquity." "It is mischief when conceived,
it is falsehood when brought forth. The idea
is that after all his efforts and pains, after
having formed his scheme, and labored hard
to bring it forth, it was abortive." — C. A. B.]
Whilst in J1X the moral idea of evil passes
over into the physical of mischief, destruction, it
is entirely the reverse with 7D^, which literally
means fatigue.
Vers. 15 and 16. Some put that which is here
said in the historical past, on account of the
' tenses, and suppose particularly Saul's destruc-
tion (Kaiser, Hitzig). But they are prophetical
perfects followed by the imperf. conversive,
which often expresses merely the consequences
of that which has gone before. Hupfeld con-
tends against taking the relative clause as pre-
sent, but Hengst., Delitzsch, Hitzig, maintain it;
comp. Gesenius, § 123, 3 a. The enemy is still
working at the pit of waylaying, Avhen the Di-
vine judgment strikes him, and indeed in the
form of retaliation. The reference back to ver.
2 is to be noticed ; so likewise the reference of
vers. 1, 7, to ver. 8i.
Str. VII. Ver. 17. Hence David in the conclu-
sion does not praise some future thanksgiving
after an actual deliverance, but from a thank-
ful heart he begins to praise God, whose revela-
tion of Himself is the source of his correct know-
ledge of Him, and whose name the-refore is the
pledge of His righteous dealings, which are
eternally the same, as well as the means of true
prayer to Him, and the object of thankful praise.
'Ely on is not to be connected with shem as an
adjective (Hitz.) but is to be taken as in apposi-
tion to Jehovah on the basis of Gen. xiv. 22—
Sxpe or&tio, quern paene desperantem recipit, exul-
tantem relinquit (Bernard).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. If a man commits himself personally to
God, he may also with good courage refer all his
affairs to God, and even when he is in the worst
relations with mighty and embittered enemies he
may resign himself to the protection of God, and
appeal in the confidence of a good conscience to
the Divine judgment.
2. From the omnipresence of God, by which
He fills heaven and earth, is to be distinguished
His manifestation in history by means of acts of
revelation, whereby He makes Himself known,
and proves Himself to be Saviour, as well as
Judge of the individual, as well as of nations.
But since omnipresence is essential to God, it is
not done away with by the actual operation of
His presence and government in the world. But
the personal execution of the special acts of the
government of the world by the God of Revela-
PSALM VIL
87
tion is illustrated by the figure of His coming
down upon earth i likewise the conclusion of
suoh special acts is described as the reascension
of God to the heights of heaven ; both, in con-
nection with the form of expression, that God as
infinitely exalted above all beings in this world.
Almighty and Holy, has His throne in the Heavens.
3. In like manner in connection with the hear-
ing of prayer the special acts of God in judgment
and salvation are represented as His awaking,
atariding up, raising Himself, although the Di-
vine government of the world suflFers no inter-
ruption, and has no pauses.
4. The righteous rule of God demands that
He should not deceive the trust of the believing,
who seek in Him preservation, protection, and
help, and that He should take those who devise
evil, and endeavor to prepare destruction for
others, in their own snares, and cause them to
fall into the pits which they themselves have dug.
But we may at the same time ask God •' that He
also may become warm, when the ungodly are
red-hot, and cast out the flames of their rage,"
(Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God's assistance is the strongest, quickest, and
surest help ; yet He would be asked in faith. —
He who takes refuge with God should not forget
that God is a righteous Judge. — Without God,
lost; saved by God; therefore escaped to God,
remaining with God ; and with God, the world,
and all enemies overcome. — He who can oppose
the accusations of his enemies with a good con-
science, may likewise flee to God with the con-
fidence of faith, against their strong assaults; —
It is easy to do no injury to a friend ; but it is
difficult to do no harm to an enemy, who is given
ilito our hands, especially when he persecutes us
without caiwe.-i— The Lord in heaven is likewise
Judge on earth; in this the pious have consola-
tion, the wicked terror, all a warning — God does
not overlook individuals, although He rules and
judges the entire world. — God beats the enemies
of His servants with their own weapons, but He
» has likewise His own peculiar weapons. — The
righteousness of God defends the innocent.
Starke: It is proper for us to assert our in-
nocence ; for by continual silence we would make
even our good cause suspected. — Trust in God
must be maintained and increased by prayer. —
If God decrees it, tyrants treat the pious as badly
as wild beasts of prey the weak lambs. — It is a
great consolation in persecution that we can op-
pose our enemies with the power and strength of
God. If God has commanded the authorities to ex-
ercise righteousness. He cannot refuse them a
suitable protection, — God and His honor are inte-
rested in protecting the pious. — The righteous-
ness of faith before God must be distinguished
from righteousness and innocence of life before
man ; yet a true Christian must be able to con-
sole himself with both. — God does not allow the
righteous to fall, but the more honesty He finds
in their hearts, the more He strengthens them in
His grace. — God tries the ungodly as a righteous
judge, but the believing as a righteous but re-
conciled Father. — A Christian throws away the
shield and sword of his own revenge, and yet
does not remain naked and defenceless before his
enemies ; for the hand of the Lord strives for
him, and covers him with a strong shield. — If
the ungodly have reason to think of the right-
eousness of God with trembling, the believing re-
member it with joy, and praise, and thankful-
ness.— The punishment of retaliation is the surest
mark of the Lord's care for the actions of the
children of men.
Calvin : The door is closed to prayer unless
it is opened with the key of trust. — Osiander :
No one will deceive the Lord God with his
hypocrisy. — It is the most pleasant of offer-
ings to God when we celebrate His benefits, '
in order that others also may know His
goodness and turn to Him. — Bugenhaoen:
No one can injure another without injuring
himself much more severely in his conscience. —
Franke : Three chief principles of prayer: 1)
A childlike trust in God ; 2) a good and cheerful
conscience ; 3) God's righteousness and strong
government. — Renschbl : God is not a Judge
who punishes daily, but who threatens daily;
for if God should punish us always, and as often
as we deserve it, the world would no longer en-
dure ; therefore thou shouldest know, that God'a
long-suffering invites thee to' repentance. — Her-
berger: To suffer with an innocent conscience
is nothing but favor with God. It is faith's
crown of glory that we can say: "Lord my
God !" — God is a searcher of hearts : mark that,
thou who sinnest secretly. — Hast thou prayed
with tears, then return thanks with joy. —
Thanksgiving is the best tune and song. — In
prayer and thanksgiving no one should waver.
— Tholuok: David was not one of those visionary
pious men who, while mindful of that which God
will do in heaven and in the future, forget that
which He does daily in the present and upon earth.
—Stiller : The ungodly have their time when
they rule; but God has likewise His time when
He pushes them from their seats. — Tafbe : How
precious to a believing Christian the testimony
and blessing of a good conscience in the calami-
ties allotted to him : 1) he can step quietly before
his God and pray for help; 2) he can prove his
good cause with entire cheerfulness and call
upon God to judge ; 3) he knows and praises
the righteousness of God which is in favor of
the pious and against his enemies, — Kurtz:
The kingdom of God comes not only with grace
to the penitent, but also with judgment to the
impenitent.
[Matth. Henry : The sinner's head with its
politics conceives mischief, contrives it with a
great deal of art, lays his plot deep, and keeps
it close ; the sinner's heart with its passions
travails with iniquity, and is in pain to be de-
livered of the malicious projects it is hatching
against the people of God. But what doth it
come to when it comes to the birth? It is a
falsehood, it is a cheat upon himself, it is a lie
in his right hand ; he cannot compass what
he intended, nor if he gain his point, will ha
gain the satisfaction he promised himself.
— Spurqeon : As the shadow follows the sub-
stance, so envy pursues goodness. It is only at
the tree laden with fruit that men throw stones.
If we would live without being slandered we
must wait till we get to heaven. Let us be very
88
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
heedful not to believe the flying rumors which
are always harassing gracious men. If there
are no believers in lies there will be but a dull
market in falsehood, and good men's characters
will be safe. Ill-will never spoke well. Sin-
ners have an ill-will to saints, and therefore be
sure they will not speak well of them. — We can
not pray too often, and when our heart is true,
we shall turn to God in prayer as naturally as
the needle to its pole. — God defends the right.
Filth will not long stick on the pure white gar-
ments of the saints, but sliall be brushed oflF by
Divine providence to the vexation of the men
Dy whose base hands it was thrown upon the
godly. — Truth like oil is ever above, no power
of our enemies can drown it — The best day that
ever dawns on a sinner brings a curse with it.
Sinners may have many feast d.iys, but no safe
days. From the beginning of the year even to
its ending, there is not an hour in which God's
oven is not hot and burning in readiness for the
wicked, who shall be as stubble. — God's sword
has been sharpening upon the revolving stone
of our daily wickedness, and if we will not re-
pent, it will speedily cut us in pieces. Turn or
burn is the sinner's only alternative. — Curses
are like young chickens, they always come home
to roost. Ashes always fly back in the face of
him that throws them. — C. A. B.]
PSALM VIII.
To (he chief Musician upon Gitliih, A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth I
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
Because of thine enemies,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger, •
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him ?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him ?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ;
Thou hast put all things under his feet :
7 All sheep and oxen.
Yea, and the beasts of the field ;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth I
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Title and Character.— Even Olsh. finds no
occasion to give up the Davidic authorship of
this Psalm, which has since been maintained by
Hitzig in a new way. This as well as all Psalms
placed in relation to Gittith [vid. Introduction),
resounds with the praise of Jehovah.
The use made of passages from this Psalm
in Matth. xxi. IG ; 1 Cor. xv. 27 ; Heb. ii. 6 sq.,
with various references to Messianic circum-
stances is entirely difi'erent from the Messianic
nature of the entire Psalm, which has been
maintained by many interpreters of all periods.
The author rather on a moonlight and starlight
night (ver. 3), under the sense of the majesty
of the Creator (ver. 1 c) beaming from the fir-
PSALM VIII.
89
mament, praises the goodness shown towards
frail man by the God of the Covenant, Who is
identical with the Creator. This goodness is
partly shown in the sovereignty of man as the
image of God over all creatures, and partly is
declared in the revelation and grace of the
true God given to the members of the people
of the covenant. It is true that the latter
reference is not developed here, but it is not
only presupposed in the Psalmist's position in
life, but it governs his entire feelings and
thoughts, so much so that the reflection called
forth in him by looking upon the starry heavens
begins and closes by mentioning it with praise.
We have no sure support for a nearer indication
of the time of composition. The reference to
the youth of David as the shepherd boy (Nachti-
gal., Tholuck) is very unlikely, or indeed to the
time immediately after his victory over Goliath
(Sachs with reference to ver. 2). Hitzig sup-
poses a reference to the time of the war against
the Amalekites, with reference to 1 Sam. xxx.
1, 2.*
Str. I, Ver. 1. Our Lord. — The speaker is
not the congregation (Delitzsch) which has only
appropriated the Psalm, but a believer, who not
only declares himself to be a member of the
congregation whose Lord is Jehovah, but also
acknowledges this Lord of the congregation per-
sonally, and as His servant and worshipper, now
makes conspicuous with emphatic praise the
glory of that name, which God has throughout
the world among men as the Creator, over against
that book of nature revealing the Divine majesty,
shining down from heaven. That this is the
fundamental idea and all-prevailing sentiment
of the Psalm follows necessarily from the position
of the relative clause after the principal clause,
and from the introductory address to God. —
Thou who hast put Thy majesty upon the
heavens. — The language of the present text is
very much disputed (vid. the thorough discussion
of Hupfeld), because the form HJI} occurs only as
imperative, and as such cannot be connected with
the relative (comp., however, Bottcher, j^hrenl.
42, Neue jEhrenl. II. 224) ; and the proposed
explanations are so questionable that many inter-
preters propose other vowel points, as Paulus and
* [Perowne : " We sea him in his lonely watchinga, now
casting a vigilant glance around him lest any beast of prey
threaten ' those few sheep in the wilderness,' and now lifting
a loving and observant eye to heaven, and as the bright
stars come out one after another in the Eastern sky, with a
brilliancy and splendor almost unimaginable to us, his heart
fills with the thought that it i% Jehovah, the God of Israel,
who has set His glory thei'e, to be seen of all eyes, to be
praised even by the tongues of children. But from heaven
his thoughts turn again to earth, from the glory of God to
man formed to acknowledge that glory. And his first thought
is, as it must be in any case, an humbling one. What is
man, man in his frailty, his littleness, his sin ? What is man
in His sight who made yon heavens, and planted in them
those glittering orbs? And then comes the correcting
thouglit, the thought of man's greatness and dignity as made
iu the image of God, and appointed by Him to have dominion
over all the creatures of the earth." Delitzsch: "This Psalm
is a lyrical echo of the Mosaic account of creation." "As
the gospels contain no words of Jesus before the time of His
baptism, and the New Testament Canon has no writings of
the Apostles before Pentecost, so the Old Testament has no
Psalms of David before he was anointed. From the time when
he was anbinted by the God of Jacob, he is the sweet Psalmist
of Israel, on whose tongue is the word of Jehovah, 2 Sam.
xxiii. 1 sq." It is probable that this Psalm dates from the
earlier part of David's life, some time during his wanderings
in the wilderness when pursued by Saul.— C. A. B.]
Kurtz n5i7^=whose glory is praised, or Ewald
njr^=raise3 itself, Sept. erd^pdi], or stretches
itself out (ClausB, e« aZ.), whilst Hitzig, in order
to gain the last meaning, and to support it by a
closer etymology by derivation from pH removes
the n as an article to the following noun, leaving
jP. Hupfeld, however, with the ancient trans-
lations, would read Jinnj, because the phrase
T-T i'
i}l nin |nj=to put authority upon, to invest
with authority, is frequent, and a finite verb is
indispensable. [But, as Riehm shows, this is a
very violent correction, and then the application
of this phrase to God in the usual sense of His in-
vesting the heavens with His Divine majesty has
serious objections. It is better, with Riehm,
to fall back upon the explanation of Ewald.
"Thou whose glory raises itself above the hea-
vens, or ^ rises above' the heavens." — C. A. B.]
But whatever we may do with the language
of the text, the position of the clause does not
leave it doubtful, but that the emphasis of the
sentence is upon these witnesses to the glory of
God whose pt"ovince is the entire earth, and
which therefore are in relative contrast to the
witnesses of the Divine glory, whose sphere is
on the one side the people of God and on the
other the heavens. Since now the account
of the creation. Gen. i. 1, resounds in the
contents of the Psalm itself, and the refer-
ence is neither prophetical to the worship of
the God and King of Israel among all nations,
nor can this be historically the reference
(even without regard to the re-echo of ver.
4, in Job vii. 17) ; moreover, it is not allowable
to refer the name of Jehovah here in the narrow
sense to the name applied by the Israelites to the
God of the Covenant and of Revelation, but we
must think of the splendid and majestic name,
with which men, throughout the world, even
where the true nature of God is still unknown,
ignorantly praise the true God as the God whose
glory shines down upon them from the firma-
ment; it is therefore easy to see why the explana-
tions of some of the older interpreters, " whose
glory above the heavens, etc., is praised by an-
gels," is untenable. Kurtz speaks besides even
of "the song of all the spheres, of all the worlds
of the heavens," which is entirely contrary to
Hebrew ideas.
Sir. II. Ver. 2. Out of the mouth.— This
specification does not allow us to find merely an
expression of the general thought that God ac-
complishes the greatest things on earth, and re-
veals His glory by means of the weakest instru-
ments and the least means. The expression is
not the periphrase of the subj. = "from the
size of a boy," but has a manifest reference back
to the name, ver. 1 b. We might therefore think
first of all of the religious expressions of chil-
dren from the lisping of sucklings, and the stam-
mering prayers of little children under the im-
pression of the wondrous magnificence of the
evening heavens, even to the confession of the
true God in the mouth of the young, especially
as sucklings three years old were common in Is-
rael, and the parallel Hebrew word refers to still
more matured boys, 1 Sam. xv. 3; xxil. 19, who
ask bread, Lam. iv. 4, and play in the street,
90
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
Jer. vi. 11 ; ix. 20. In this sense also Jesus
makes use of this passage, Matth. xxi. 16, and
this use is still more appropriate if with the Sept.
and many interpreters ?j? is regarded as
praise. This meaning however is possible only
in special connections. Originally and properly
this word means, firmness, might, Kpdrog. Since
now there is a reason for this given, it would bo
more in accordance with the text to think, not
indeed of the living breath of the lately born,
the first cry of the suckling (Umbr., et al.), or of
themouthas the organ of suckling (Kimchi) which
would only refer to the wonder of the existence
and support of the human race; but rather to
find a reference to the wonder of the capacity of
speech (Aben Ezra, Tholuck, et al.), to which Um-
breit also is partially inclined when he finally
mentions the movement of the mouth in order to
form the sounding word. It is by speaking that
man is specifically distinguished from the other
inhabitants of earth, and which is very particu-
larly calculated as a Divine force (Calv., et al.)
to hush those who show themselves to be the ad-
versaries of the honor of God; the enemies of
the recognition of His glory on earth ; the re-
vengeful oppressors of the people of Jehovah.
SEwald: "What a contrast! There the wild,
efiant enemies thirsting to destroy, here the
weakest of creatures, and yet his joyful, lisping
mouth is sufficient to defend the Creator against
all the blasphemies of the enemy." So like-
wise Hupfeld: "God has founded for Himself
out of the mouth of sucklings and children a
strong (invincible) stronghold against His ene-
mies, that is: He has out of their mouths a
mighty (incontrovertible) apology (of His good-
ness and greatness) which is sufficient to bring
all His opponents to silence." This is by far the
best interpretation. — C. A. B.]
The Hebrew text does not allude to their de-
struction (many interpreters following the an-
cient translations). Hitzig is too narrow in his
reference of the entire passage to the special fact
that the Amalekites in the surprise of Ziklag did
not avenge themselves on account of the massa-
cre, 1 Sam. xxvii, 8, 9, but killed none, 1 Sam.
XXX. Isq., which David now refers to the pro-
tection of Jehovah, who by the crying of the
children excited in the souls of the national
enemy a humane pity, which tamed his fury.
With the Messianic interpretation, the passage
is usually (Calov, Geier, Schmidt, J. H. Mich.,
Stier) referred to the founding of the Christian
Church, and the praise of God in the gospel by
vi^TTiot, or people of a similar spirit to children.
Str. III. Ver. 3. "When I consider, etc. —
'3 is hereaparticleof time, and not of cause (for)
as Stier erroneously regards it. The concluding
clause, ver. 4, is an exclamation of astonishment,
yet of humility, prayer, and trust, in view of the
loving and careful condescension of the Creator
towards man, who is intentionally named endsh,
aa the weak. The reference back to the creation
begins with ver. 6. Here the expressions, (as
well those which describe man, as those which
describe the Divine care over him), refer too
clearly to the present testimonies of the goodness
of God towards man, born of mortals, that we
should with Hupf. regard the imperf. here aa
preterite, and should think of the free and firm
resolution of love, from which the creation, and
especially the creation of man, originated.
Str. IV. Ver. 6. And so thou lettest him
lack a little of divinity. — l^"' For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels." A.
V.]* The following words show that the Psalm-
ist has in view the sovereignty which has been
given to man, created on earth, "in the image
of God," Gen. i. 26. We are here therefore to
think of the Divine image in man, which endows
him with the royal prerogative over the crea-
tures of the world. The connection of the cau-
sal piel of IDD with the object by jJp does not
allow us to regard the Psalmist as saying, there
was little lacking and man had been like God,
He says : There was not much lacking but that
man should have been placed in that class of be-
ings which embraces God and the angels, that is
to say the Elohim. Elohim may indeed, it is true,
express merely the abstract divinity (Hengst,,
Hupf.) but with this limitation, including the
angels (Hitzig) a very suitable sense would be
given. Since now, Pss, Ixxxii. 1, 6; xcvii. 7,
9, aff^ord a more comprehensive use of the word
Elohim, and this with the article means at times
only a supernatural creature, 1 Sam. xxviii. 13 ;
Zech. xii. 8, we have here suflficient reason for
clearness of explanation even to suppose that it
is a designation of a class. If now, God caused
that inan should lack a little of that which the
Elohim possess as such, this can hardly be any-
thing else than immateriality (Kimchi, Delitzsch).
It is not allowable, however, with the ancient
translations and the Rabbins to think merely of
angels, [A. V.] or indeed according to the Sept. to
regard the " little " as for a short time, whereby
with the Messianic interpretation this passage
refers to the state of humiliation as the following
member of the verse to the exaltation of Jesus
Christ, vid., Comm. on Heb. ii. 6 sq. The verbs
are all imperfects, and refer to the fact that
these peculiarities man has retained since the
creation in spite of the fall, and indeed as the
connection of ver. 6 with ver. 4 shows, in conse-
quence of the provision of Divine love. The
perfect is found only in the closing clause of
ver. 6 h., which recapitulates and expresses the
firm assurance and constant arrangement (Hup-
feld). This suggests the application to the king-
dom of Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 27. " Out of the very
depths of this consciousness, how little man ap-
pears when contrasted with God, arises faith in
the love of the heavenly Father who is not for-
getful of the weak children of men, whom He
has called into existence." (Umbreit).
Str. V. Ver. 7. Sheep. — -In Hebrew the word
is a poetical form of a word which means the
small cattle of the herd, and especially the
sheep and goats. The following expressions
likewise appear in poetical forms which lead the
eye in increasing breadth of vision over the
entire realm of human sovereignty. ■}• Bott-
* [Many commentators regatd thia and the following
clauses as still dependent upon ^2, that (Ewald, Perowne, rf
al.), but it is better, with Hupfeld and Hitzig, to regard
these clauses as independent, for otherwise the sentence
would be too much involved for Hebrew poetry. C. A. B.l
t [The sovereignty of our first parents in Eden was com-
plete, the sovereignty of man now is merely ^orttaJ, but the
second Adam regained that sovereignty in its fuineas fo|
PSALM VIIl.
91
cher, on account of yer. 8 b, which is certainly
very singular and striking, refers to the men
who make their way through the agitated paths
of the sea. So also previously Aben Ezra and
jKimchi. [The proper reference is to the other
inhabitants of the sea, from the leviathan down
to the smallest creature which moves on the
waters, vid. Ps. civ. 25, 26, — C. A. B.]
[^Slr. VI. Ver. 9. Delitzsch : "The Psalmist
has now proved what he stated ver. 1, that the
name of Jehovah, the glory of which radiates
from the heavens, is also glorious on earth.
Thus the thought with which he began the
Psalm is repeated as a conclusion with fulness
of meaning, and thus the Psalm is wound to-
gether as a wreath."]*
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The congregation confesses that the re-
vealed God is its sovereign, and hopes that the
name in which God has manifested Himself ac-
cording to His true nature, will be proclaimed
sometime, in all lands, and be praised as glorious
in the entire earth. But it recognizes, also, that
among all nations religious feelings are espe-
cially awakened by looking at the starry heavens,
and that therefore the most glorious names are
everywhere given to the Divine Being whose
majesty shines down from the firmament.
2. Among created beings it is especially man,
whom God has made use of upon earth as the
instrument of His communications and organ of
His revelations. He has given man the capacity/
of speech, and thereby, even in the mouths of
the smallest children. He has prepared for Him-
* self that /jower which is best adapted to refute
the adversaries of the Church of God, and to
spread abroad His true and holy name; the
power of speech, especially of the word which
comes from God and testifies of God. Thus on
the one side man is distinguished from all other
earthly creatures, and placed in a special rela-
tion to God ; and on the other side it gives the
most suitable means not only of religious com-
munications in general, but of overcoming the
deification of nature by faith in Divine revela-
tion.
3. Man, when compared with the magnificent
phenomena of the heavens, may appear very
trifling and insignificant, but when considered
as the object of Divine care his preeminence
over all creatures becomes manifest, and he
should be thankful in remembrance of this, and
maintain true humility with all the greatness
bestowed upon him, confessing his frailty and
his descent from men of Adam's race.
Himself and His redeemed, and it is realized again according
to prophecy in the Messianic kingdom, Is. xi. 6-9.— C. A. B.]
* (^Wordsworth : " How fully was the language of the Psalm
realized in that night when the stars were shining on those
fields of Bethlehem where David had kept his father's sheep ;
and the angels chanted in the ears of shepherds the gratu-
latory hymn, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good-will toward men,' for the descent of the Son of
God to become Son of Man; and when the nature of man
was exalted in Christ to a higher elevation than that of the
angels themselves ; and when the new star in the heaven
shone to lead the Gentiles to His light, and kings to ihe
brightness of His rising (la. Ix. 3) ; and again, at that day
when the ' men of Galilee,' who were despised as mere babes
by the wise men of this world, stood on the Mount of Olives,
and saw. Him exalted in glory above the heavens." — U. A. B.]
4. Man is horn in the image of Adam, he was
yet created as the image of God, and in conse-
quence of this he has that within him, which
gives reason to reckon him almost to the class
of supernatural creatures. This is his ra-
tional and moral nature. By this he has a
nature which makes him capable of attaining
his destiny, of being as an image of the glory
and majesty of God, sovereign over the world
which surrounds him. For the true fulfilment
^f this destiny we are referred from the Old to
the New Covenant.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who would rule properly must serve God
properly. — The conflict between the Divine pur-
pose and the present condition of man ; whence
it comes, and how it is to be obviated. — The
glorification of the name of God in the congre-
gation, and by the congregation over the entire
earth. — Man is like the rest of the world, God's
workmanship, but he is designed to be ruler of
the world, as the image of the Divine glory and
majesty. — Man belongs to two worlds, the visi-
ble and the invisible; hence he has a great and
difficult task; let us see what hinders and what
promotes its fulfilment. — The high position and
dignity which God has given man among the
creatures, imjposes upon him responsibilities
which he can fulfil only as a member of the
Church of God. — Man is prevented from fulfill-
ing his destiny less by his natural frailty, than
by his Adamic nature. — No man is too insignifi-
cant, weak, poor, or little for the service of
God; God makes even of the smallest children
arms of His grace and instruments of His power.
— What God does even to sucklings reveals His
glory more than the magnificence of the stars.
— It is true we may know something of God and
His glory from the works of creation, so that
even the heathen praise God after their fashion ;
but only in the Church can we truly learn who
God is, and what we have in Him, and how to
serve Him aright. — We need not only the crown
of eternal life, but we must also be mindful of
the crown of thorns, and the crown of righteous-
ness.
Starke : The beginning and end of this
Psalm are in harmony ; can it be impossible for
God to make it thus with the beginning and end
of the New Testament Church ? — The more we
recall to mind, with shame and humility, our
own unworthiness, the greater and more glori-
ous will be our portion of the gracious benefits
of God, in Christ. — The sovereignty over all
creatures, lost by Adam, Jesus has regained, and
bestows it upon His people ; hence they may use
all creatures with a good conscience in the Di-.
vine order, 1 Cor. iii. 21 sq.; 1 Tim. iv. 4. — The
Gospel has glorified the name of the gracious
God in all parts of the world — whilst under the
law scarcely anything was known of this name
even in the Holy Land. — Frisch: Despise not
the smallest and weakest instrument ; God is
mighty in weakness. — Baumgarten : We can
reverence nothing more than the name of God,
that is, what He has revealed and made known
of Himself and His perfections. — Herberger ;
Those are the best musicians who allow them-
92
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
selves to be used for the glory of G-od. — Taube :
All knowledge and worship of God has its first
and last roots in the name of God. — The Al-
mighty uses weakness, in order that the power,
and therefore the glory, may be of God, and not
of man. — Umbreit: Humanity without religion
is brutality. — Dibdeich: It is the delight of the
pious that God has made for Himself by His
government a glorious name in all lands. — No-
thing in nature should prevent us, if only we
are in right relations with God.
[Spurgeon : We may style this Psalm the song
of the Astronomer : let us go abroad, and sing
it beneath the starry heavens at eventide, for it
is very probable that in such a position it first
occurred to the poet's mind. — He who delights
in the songs of angels is pleased to honor Him-
self in the eyes of His enemies by the praises
of little children. What a contrast between the
glory above the heavens and the mouth of babes
and sucklings ! yet by both the name of God
is made excellent. Spuroeon's Treasury of
David: — Chalmers: There is much in the
Bcenery of a nocturnal sky to lift the soul to
pious contemplation. That moon and those stars,
what are they ? They are detached from the
world, and they lift us above it. We feel with-
drawn from the earth, and rise in lofty abstrac-
tion from this little theatre of human passions
and human anxieties. The mind abandons itself
to reverie, and is transferred in the ecstacy of its
thought to distant and unexplored regions. It
sees nature in the simplicity of her great ele-
ments, and sees the God of nature invested vpith
the high attributes of wisdom and majesty.
— Thomas Watson : Meditation fits for humilia-
tion. When David had been contemplating the
works of creation, their splendor, harmony, mo-
tion, influence, he lets the plumes of pride fall, and
begins to have self-abasing thoughts. — C. A. B.]
[There is in ver. 6 a wonderful rebound of
feeling ; cast to the earth by his humiliating re-
flections upon the wonders of the heavens, and
the insignificance of man, he rises, lifted up by
the consciousness of the honor and dignity be-
stowed upon him by God in making him greater
than all these wonders of nature. — C. A. B,]
PSALM IX,
To the chief Musician upon Muih-labben, A Psalm of David.
1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart ;
I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee:
I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High.
3 When mine enemies are turned back,
They shall fall and perish at thy presence.
4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause ;
Thou satest in the throne judging right.
6 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked,
Thou hast put out their name forever and ever.
6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end :
And thou hast destroyed cities ; their memorial is perished with them.
7 But the Lord shall endure forever:
He hath prepared his throne for judgment.
8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness,
He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble.
10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee:
For thou. Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion:
Declare among the people his doings.
PSALM IX.
98
12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them :
He forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that
hate me,
Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death :
14 That I may shew forth all thy praise
In the gates of the daughter of Zion : I will rejoice in thy salvation.
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made :
In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth :
The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
17 The wicked shall be turned into hell.
And all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten :
The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, O Lord ; let not man prevail :
Let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
20 Put them in fear, O Lord :
That the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its contents and chabacter. A Psalm of
thanksgiving (vers. 1, 2) after a victorj (ver. 3)
over tiie heathen wrought by Divine judgment
(vers. 4-6), expressing confidence in His constant
protection of the oppressed (vers. 7-10) ; there-
fore the pious hi\,ve to thank God (vers. 11, 12),
and pray to Him in every time of need (vers. 13,
14). The judicial government of God causes the
enemies finally to perish and saves the sufferers
(vers. 15-18) ; therefore the prayer (vers. 19, 20)
which shows the dangerous position of the Psalm-
ist and his people. The people of Israel were
indeed very generally in such circumstances as
this (Hupf.), but this does not imply that it is
here merely a supposed case (Hengst.). If the
thankful remembrance (ver. 1) embraces the en-
tire series of former benefits, yet ver. 6 refers to
what has just happened, and indeed to great
overthrows of a foreign enemy after severe dis-
tress in Israel, which has not even yet entirely
ceased. There is no sufficient reason to descend
into the times after the exile (Ewald), still less
for the Maccabean times with reference to the
death of Judas Maccabeus (Venema). This
Psalm cannot have originated in the exile itself
(Ferrand) on account of the " gates of the daugh-
ter of Zion " (ver. 14), and we may not place it
too early, because ver. 11 already mentions Zion
as the royal seat of Jehovah. In agreement with
this is the reference which some overlook to the
death of Goliath (Chald. et al.) or to Absalom (Ru-
ding.), or Nabal (Grot.) Maurer thinks that the
king Hezekiah was the author of this Psalm after
his deliverance from the siege of Sennacherib.
De Wette refers to the Assyrian times with re-
ference to. Is. xxxiii. Most interpreters abide
by David, and indeed either without attempting
to mark the time more closely (Dathe, Knapp,
Rosenm.), or refer it to the Ammonite and Sy-
rian war (Mich., Muntinghe, et al.), or what is
best, to the wars with the Philistines after the
event, 2 Sam. v. 7, (Hitzig, Delitzsch). Hitzig ad-
duces as marks of its composition in the earliest
times of psalmody : the rough and broken lan-
guage, the terseness of expression, peculiarities
in the use of words and forms. He gives pro-
minence to the many resemblances with those
Psalms, which are decidedly Davidic, by the apt
remark that we must not draw the lines too
closely in distinguishing the ideas and language
of David (comp. 2 Sam. i. 19-27; vii. 18-29;
xxiii. 1-7); and he remarks that we meet the
alphabetical arrangement of verses, nowhere in-
deed before the time of Jeremiah, but that the
arrangement in the order of the consonants is
here very freely used, and is not carried out ; a
later author would not have ventured to proceed
so loosely.*
The Psalm is so complete in itself, and has
with many strong resemblances to the following
Psalm, such a different tone that the fact that
* [Delitzsch : " These two Pealma [ix. and x.] show that
David composed acrostics. And why not? Among the Ro-
mans also Ennius already composed acrostics {Cicero de divin.
II., 54, g 111) who did not belong to the leaden, but to the iron
age, from which the golden subsequently arose ; and our most
ancient German heroics are in the form of alliteration. More-
over, the alphabetic form is popular, as we see from Augus-
tine, Retract, I. 20. It is not merely a weak substitute for
the departed spirit of poetry, it is not merely an external or-
nament for the eye, it haa itself a meaning. The didactic poet
regards the row of letters as stairs up which he leads his pu-
pil to the sanctuary of wisdom, or as the casket of many parts
in which he places the pearl of his wisdom. And the lyric
poet regards them as the harp upon all the strings of which
he plays in order to express his feelings. Even the prophet
does not scorn to allow the order of letters to exert an influ-
ence upon the order of his thought, as is clear from Nah i. 3-
7. When now among the nine alphabetical Psalms (ix., x.,
XXV., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., cxix., cxlv.), four bear the
name of David (ix., xxv., xxxiv., cxlv.) we will not regard
them as not by David because the alphabetical arrangement
is more or less thoroughly carried out." — C. A. R-J
94
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalm X., which is without a title, partially car-
ries out the alphabetical arrangement used in
this Psalm only to p, does not justify us in re-
garding both Psalms as originally one connected
alphabetical Psalm, which afterwards was broken
up and revised in two parts (although impor-
tant reasons may be adduced for this. They are
best presented by Hupf. and G. Baur in De
Wette's CoTOffi. ). Nor does it justify us in accord-
ance with the Sept. and Vulgate to unite them
again into one Psalm (Ewald, Krahm, Sachs).
[Hitzig regards them as two co-ordinate halves
of a whole of higher unity. To this Delitzsch
assents, and this seems to be the best statement
of the case, for the agreement is close and re-
markable as well in the Psalms themselves, as in
their giving parts of the same alphabetical order.
Hupfeld shows that the difference in tone is not
unusual in the Psalms. Such changes of feeling
are frequent [vid. Pss. xxvii. ; xl. ; and in Ps. ix.
itself, in vers. 13 and 14).— C- A: B.]
An attempt has been made by Delitzsch to ex-
press the alphabetical arrangement of the He-
brew in German. It would, however, injure our
efforts for perspicuity if we should adopt it. It
only remains to remark that the introductory
strophe, which states the contents, has the same
initial letter N in all four lines; that a strophe
with T is entirely lacking ; also one with PI, un-
less this is contained in the holy name of God
(ver. 7, Hupf.); and that the closing strophe has
p instead of 3.
[Sir. 1. Ver. 1. "With my -whole heart. —
Hupfeld: "Partly with the heart, not merely
with the mouth, (Is. xxix, 13), sincerely,
hence cxix. 7, ' with honest heart;' partly,
zealously, with all the powers of the soul, as
love and trust in God should be, Deut. iv. 29;
vi. 5; X. 12, etc. In this is contained the idea
that all the honor is given to God, allis ascribed
to His grace, and it is not divided between him-
self and God (Calv.)"— C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Ver. 3. In the turning of mine
enemies back. — All the ancient versions re-
gard 2 as temporal, and indeed the equiva-
lent of when in the antecedent, to which the se-
cond member of the verse then forms the conse-
quent in the future [So A. V.] Most interpre-
ters, however, find here stated the subject and
reason of the joy = on account of that, but they
translate the infinitive, in whose stead imper-
fects directly come, in the rule by the perfect,
and thus loosen somewhat the connection be-
tween the fact of the victory and its celebration,
which are so closely connected in the Psalm.
[Delitzsch regards the preposition 3 as indica-
ting time and reason at the same time, like Latin
recedeniibus hostibus meis retro r= in the turning
of my enemies back. So Ewald, Alexander. Pe-
rowne renders it as reason, " because mine ene-
mies are turned backward (because) they stum-
ble and perish at thy presence." Hupfeld re-
gards it as dependent upon the previous joy and
praise as the ground or reason of it, and trans-
lates, " that mine enemies retreat back, stumble
and fall before Thy countenance." This is the
best rendering. — C. A. B.]
The perfects in vers. 4-6, however, are in con-
trast with the imperfects in ver. 7 sq., and show
that the Divine judgment is not expected first on
account of His righteousness (De Wette and the
ancients who also interpreted this Psalm as Mes-
sianic), but has already taken place (Hupf. et
al.) The reference here, moreover, is not to
God's sitting on His eternal, heavenly, royal
throne, as ver. 7 a [A. V.], but to a historical,
and indeed judicial act of this eternal, all-em-
bracing Sovereignty of God, for the accomplish-
ment of which He has taken His seat upon His
throne of judgment (ver. 4i), which He has set
up (ver. 7 b), and from which also He will in the
future (ver. 8) hold judgment, and render deci-
sions respecting the nations.
Sir. III. Ver. 6. The enemy — destroyed
to ruins forever ; and cities hast Thou
rooted out; their memory is lost, even
theirs. — [A. V. is entirely astray here. •' 0 thou
enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end ; and
thou hast destroyed cities ; their memorial is pe-
rished with them" — C. A. B.] Enemy is a col-
lective noun, and is to be connected with the
plural of the following verb. With this con-
struction the following words are to be regarded
as in apposition (De Wette), or as accusative of
effect (Hupf.). The most ancient translations
have followed another pointing which is found
still in same Codd.; swords instead of ruins.
According to some Codd., we must also trans-
late : cities hast thou forsaken. The translation
enemies instead of cities is unjustifiable. At the
close of the clause the pronoun is placed, notwith-
standing the suflBx has already preceded. The
emphasis which is thereby laid upon cities means
that their vanishment from history is sure, in
consequence of the Divine judgment. For the
various untenable attempts to explain this entire
passage, which is burdened with many difficul-
ties, vid. Rosenm. Hitzig explains very differ-
ently ; 0 thou enemy ! the abuse has an end for-
ever ; and the cities which thou forsakest, their
remembrance is blotted out forever. [This is an
exceedingly difficult passage. The author has
the true idea in which he follows Hupfeld. I
may mention, however, that the '^Thou" refers
back to the "Thou " of the preceding verses, and
is Jehovah Himself, and not the enemy. —
C. A. B.]
Str.Y. Ver. 9. Stronghold [A. V.: "Re-
fuge"'], literally height, as a place of refuge to
which one has been snatched away from enemies.
— Oppressed, literally down-trodden, pounded,
but constantly only in a figurative sense. —
Trouble, literally to be cut off, partly as ex-
cluding, a bar, partly as confining, distress
(Hupf.).
Str. VI. Ver. 12. For the avenger of blood
has remembered them [A. V.: " When he
maketh inquisition for blood." The ''3 is not
''when," as in the English version, but ''for,"
•'because," assigning the reason of the praise, as
Ewald and the author, or the subject of the de-
claration "//la^" as Hupf. and Delitzsch. — Hupf.:
" D'^pi ly^'l properly means the goel, the nearest
relative of the murdered man, who must avenge
him according to the Oriental custom ; here a
title of God as one who punishes, recompenses,
and judges; primarily of bloodshed — but it ia
not confined to this, but extends to the puniah-
PSALM IX.
95
ment of misdeeds in general." *' Blood is used
typically or synedochically, not only for death,
destruction in general, but also for injury, harm,
hurt of any kind. So 'blood-guilt' is also used
generally for wickedness, violence, and the guilt
or liability for it," vid. Hupf. in loco. "Thus
God is said to be the avenger of blood, as the
avenger of evil in general, derived from the most
conspicuous kind of wickedness and its punish-
ment."—C. A. B.]
The reading (ver. 12) is doubtful, mostly be-
tween U]''2^ and CIJ^. Hupf. seeks to prove
against Hengst. that there is no difference ip the
meaning, but Delitzsch maintains that the former
word means : those who are in a condition of de-
pression owing to afla.ictions which have befallen
them ; the latter : those who are in a condition
of internal commotion, that is, of humility and
meekness.
Str. VII. Ver. 13. Be gracious unto me
[A. v.: ** Have mercy upon me"]. — In the He-
brew figuratively, in an uncontracted form of a
word which, is usually contracted. Many inter-
preters, even Delitzsch and Hitzig, find in vers. 13
and 14 the prayer of the sufferer mentioned in
ver. 12; others, with Calv., regard the second
part of the Psalm as beginning here, the prayer
for help, for which the former part lays the
foundation ; others still, with Ruding., regard
the prayer as breaking forth in sudden change
of tone from a feeling of need that was still pre-
sent.
[Gates of death. — Sheol is here poetically
regarded as a prison with strong gates and bars,
from which there is no escape, vid. Ps. cvii. 18 ;
Is. xxxviii. 10. Hupfeld refers to the 'A'idau iriXat.
of Homer.— C. A. B.]
In the gates of the daughter of Zion. —
These are in contrast with the gates of death
(Calv.) ; but the daughter of Zion is not the hea-
venly Jerusalem with the praises of the blessed,
but the earthly Jerusalem, or, more properly, its
inhabitants. Cities and people were, in ancient
times, readily personified as females, now as
virgins, now as mothers, whose daughters then
were the inhabitants as a class. It may, how-
ever, refer to the filial relation of the people to
God, parallel with the expression "sow," in
which case it must be translated Daughter Zion,
as Is. xxxvii. "/» the gates^^ does not mean:
within the city, in the temple (Hengst.), but in
public, before a great assemblage, amidst a num-
ber of people. Hupf. has excellently shown that
the gates, as a place of public gathering and of
all kinds of public affairs, are to be regarded not
only as a noisy market-place, but also as set apart
for still higher purposes.
Str. VIII. Ver. 15. Sunk down— literally,
were plunged. If the perfect is regarded as
prophetic (Calv., De Wette, Hengst.), as if it
were here said with confidence that the preceding
prayers would be heard, the contrast with the
imperfects of the following strophe is lost. If
this is regarded as important, it may be taken as
expressing either merely a clause of experience,
as a basis for confidence in the future (Hup-
feld), or as referring to the recent historical past
(Delitzsch).
Str. IX. Ver. 17. Return [A. V.: be turned^.
>— This idea, according to Hupf., Delitzsch, Hitzig,
is not to be taken away from ^W. But when
Hupf. finally concludes that it here most natu-
rally refers to the idea of " again," with J. H.
Michaelis, and not to the place whither they go,
but to the state which they left, namely, the life,
which they lose again ; then not only a part of
the polemic against Hengst. falls to the ground,
but the fundamental idea of the remarks of Hitzig
upon the language of the passage, so sharply
emphasized by him, that the heathen must re-
turn thither whence they came, is lost; since now
Sheol is named as this place, the expression can-
not be entirely the equivalent of "becoming dust
again, sinking down to nothingness." A glance
is given into a dreadful condition after death,
which is in close connection with the condemned.
It is not their physical descent or their historical
origin which is here stated, but their home, or
the place to which they have shown in their
earthly life that they belong.
Sir. X, Ver. 19. Let not man grow strong
\_Let not man prevail — A. V, — Hupf. and Pe-
rowne, et al., agree with the author. The idea
is that God will not allow him to grow strong, so
that he may carry out his designs, ^^Prevail"
is too strong a word. Hupf.: "As God rises up,
man is to cease from being strong, and appears
in his weakness and nothingness." Delitzsch and
Ewald translate "defy," but without sufficient
grounds. — C. A. B,]
Ver. 20. Terror [A. V.: "/car"].— Most in-
terpreters regard nUD as an orthographical va-
riation from N^ID, so that the reference is to
terrors of God (Gen. xxxv. 5). So already Chald.
and Aquil. On the other hand, Sept., Syr., Vulg.
translate according to the pointing i<11D=Zaw-
giver, teacher. With Rabbi Isaki, however, A.
Schultens, J. H. Michaelis, et al., regard the word
of the text as Judges xiii. 6, and frequently, as
razor, and think of the cutting off of the beard as
the greatest shame. Hitzig finally believes that
the original reading was n'HDty=set a guard for
them, as an arrangement which hinders them from
8tTikmg=hindrances. (In the first edit, of his
Comm. he regards the word in question as a se-
condary form of min and as=pn, comp. Job
xiv. 13 ; Jer, v. 22, in order to get the same idea
of hindrances. Symm. also has v6/j.ov, but in the
sense, give them instruction.) The singular
B'lJX is here not a collective, but emphasizes
frailty as the characteristic of man when com-
pared with God.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who has lived to see and experience
the wonders of the Lord, feels compelled to nar-
rate them. It is well if he can do this with
thankfulness and jog. For it is the will of God
that the honor due Him should be given publiclg
and that His name should be declared among all
nations, in order that even the heathen may
become acquainted with Him. For God judges
the world and all who dwell therein; but He
saves also all who turn to Him, Therefore the
world is afraid, but the Church rejoices; their
hope will not be ashamed if only their faith
falters not. For God's temporal acts of judg-
96
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
ment and salvation are only preludes to that
which will take place at the end of days.
2. God does not postpone judgment and sal-
vation till the end of the world, although times
of trouble come for the pious and days of appa-
rent victory for their enemies. He already
judges in history individuals and nations, so
that all traces of them are blotted out from the
earth, and their name is forgotten. He likewise
saves, blesses and raises np others who take
refuge with Him and put their trust in Him.
In order that they may find Him and learn to
know Him, He has arranged and oiFered places
where He reveals Himself, and services which
bestow blessings, and means of grace and of
salvation, as He has also established His judg-
ment-seat in the midst of the world, and made
the people to know that though He is enthroned
in the heavens, He has not departed from man.
However, it is made known what man has to
expect at the last judgment, in that the names
of those upon whom the Divine punishment falls
will be forever blotted out, and that they will
not only die, but they are to be sent back into
the lower world as to their home; whilst the
pious are raised up from the gates of death, and
present their life in the Church as saved by
grace, and thereby they strengthen and deepen
their communion with the living and eternal
God of salvation.
3. There is no direct declaration here of the
resurrection of eternal life ; the foundations and
prerequisites of such a faith, merely, are laid and
it is hinted at negatively in that the frailty of
man is emphasized as a characteristic peculiar
to him from birth and nature, and it is brought
out prominently that his rebellion against God
is vain and destructive, and the entire descrip-
tion of the Divine treatment of the wicked in
His judicial dealings with them, leads to a sepa-
ration made by God, which has begun in spiritual
death, and has been continued in temporal death,
as brought on by Divine punishment, and whose
end is not yet announced, is also not yet to be
seen, upon which, however, a dreadful per-
spective is opened. Hsec est continua fidei in hac
vita ezercitatio, gratias agere de victoria, et miseri-
cordiam implorare, ut vincas (Bugenhagen).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The judgments of God are as unerring as they
are tmavoidable ; as terrible as they are fust;
as salutary as they are necessary. — The arm of
the Lord in just judgment casts down to hell
those who forget Him, and raises up by grace
from the gates of death to life in the Church
those who take refuge with Him in the fulness
of faith. — The rebellion of man against God and
His holy ordinances is no less foolish than
wicked, yet it is as guilty as it is weak and
audacious. — God is essentially the helper of the
needy ; on this base your trust in every time of
need. — God does not forget even those who for-
get Him ; how should He not be mindful of those
who daily call upon Him? It is likewise good
for the pious to be reminded of death, judgment
and hell. — The temporal consequences of sin are
often now more severe than man can bear ; but
when they are regarded and received as the
wel\-desQr\ed punishments of the righteous God,
the terrors which have fallen upon him on ac-
count of the Divine judgment may be wbolesomo
for him ; where they are not, death will bring
him no deliverance. — The good that the Lord has
done thee in silence, thou may est confess pub.
licly and thank Him for it in the Church. —
Thankfulness of heart and the song of praise
agree well together ; the one unites man closer
to God ; the other edifies the Church and draws
the attention of tRose who are without to the
wonders of the Lord. — He whose life is saved
by God from perils, will be used by God for the
benefit of His kingdom and His Church.
Starke : All the benefits received from God
are real wonders to the humble soul ; for it is
an inconceivable grace, that God the Lord should
show so much mercy bodily and spiritual with
wonderful wisdom and faithfulness to those who
are in the highest degree unworthy. — The cha-
racteristic of a holy joy well pleasing to God, is
that the heart and mouth are full of thankfulness
and the praise of God. — God fights for His chil-
dren, and he who fights against them fights
against God Himself. — The enemies of the Church
cannot be defeated at all by man or human
power; but only by the omnipotence of God j
for they are confederates of the mighty prince
of darkness ; therefore all the honor of the
victory belongs to the Lord alone. — Where the
fear of God retires there desolation follows ; the
curse presses upon that land and consumes it as
with fire. — Because God abides forever, there-
fore those who trust in God and put their hope
in God abide forever. — He who honors the name
of the Lord truly and actively can never lack
hope and faith. — Great is the kindness of God
that He should dwell with believers! Great is
His faithfulness that He should inquire for the
blood of those who are oppressed and should not
forget their cries. — The spiritual Zion is not
confined to any pli^ce, in the world, but the
Lord dwells everywhere where there are believ-
ers, and may be prayed to and praised in all
respects. — If a man should merely tell the grace
which has been bestowed upon himself he would
have material enough to praise God daily with-
out intermission. — It is a great blindness in the
heart of the wicked that they should suppose
God does not inquire after what is done in earth.
— A man's own words spoken in unbelief and
his actions are snares and judgment enough for
him. Forgetfulness of God is the source of all
ungodliness and consequently of everlasting
ruin.
LuTHEB : That is truly a new kind of men, that
live among the dead and are glad among the
suffering. — Selnekker: He who has not taken
refuge in time of need, easily supposes that faith
is a mere delusion on the tongue; buthe whn
enters the school where David has been, has a
very different opinion, — Bake : Prayer must not
originate with the tongue, but in the heart.—
Arndt: We should pray and fight with the
strength of the Spirit and of faith against great
deeds of violence, if we would have the victory.
— Herbergeb: Thanksgiving is the best sound at
the table, in the house, in the Church and in
the city ; it will also be the everlasting sound of
heaven.— God's gracious gifts are simply unde-
PSALM X.
97
served wonders. — Unrighteousness destroys the
land and the people. — Wicked advice does more
harm to those who contrive it than to any one else.
— CEtinger: Zion is indeed little and poor, but
yet God dwells there. — Tholuck: The true kind
of triumph in all our actions is to rejoice in God
and praise the name of the Most High. — Taubb :
Thankfulness and prayer are the two parts be-
tween which, as between two levers going up and
down, moves the entire militant Church of God,
and every Christian heart which fights the good
fight. — To true thanksgiving belong: 1) the en-
tire heart, not half of it ; 2) humility, to which
all the benefits of God appear as inconceivable
grace and pure wonders, as indeed they are ; 3)
modest faithfulness, which dous not stop with the
gift, but goes straight to the Giver and rests in
Him alone ; 4) the enlightened eye, which knows
the true name of the Giver and declares it in
accordance with the nature of the gift.
[Matth. Henby: The better God is known, the
more He is trusted. Those who know Him to be
a God of infinite wisdom will trust Him farther
than they can see Him, Job xxxv. 14 ; to be a
God of almighty power, will trust Him when
creature confidences fail, and they have nothing
else to trust to, 2 Chroa. xx. 12 ; and to be a
God of infinite grace and goodness, will trust
Him though He slay them, Job xiii. 15. Those
that know Him to be a God of inviolable truth
and faithfulness will rejoice in His word of pro-
mise and rest upon that, though the performance
be deferred and intermediate providences seem
to contradict it. Those that know Him to be
the Father of spirits, and an everlasting Father,
will trust Him with their souls as their main
care ; and trust Him at all times even to the end. —
Spurqeon: Gladness and joy are the appro-
priate spirit in which to praise the goodness of
the Lord. Birds extol the Creator in notes of
overflowing joy, the cattle low forth His praise
with tumult of happiness, and the fish leap up
in His worship with excess of delight. Moloch
may be worshipped with shrieks of pain, and
Juggernaut may be honored by dying groans
and Inhuman yells, but He whose name is Love
is best pleased with holy mirth, and sanctified
gladness of His people. Daily rejoicing is an
ornament to the Christian character, and a suit-
able robe for God's choristers to wear. — Thou-
sands may come at once to the throne of the
Judge of all the earth, but neither plaintiff nor
defendant shall have to complain that He is not
prepared to give their cause a fair hearing. —
How the prospect of appearing before the im-
partial tribunal of the Great King should act as
a check to us when 'tempted to sin, and as a
comfort when we are slandered or oppressed.—
Saints are not so selfish as to look only to self;
they desire mercy's diamond, that they may let
others see it flash and sparkle, and may admire
Him who gives such priceless gems to His be-
loved.— Prayers are the believer's weapons of
war. When the battle is too hard for us we call
in our great ally, who, as it were, lies in ambush
until faith gives the signal by crying out, "Arise,
0 Lord." — One would think that men would not
grow so vain as to deny themselves to be but
men, but it appears to be a lesson which only a
Divine school-master can teach to some proud
spirits. Crowns leave their wearers but men,
degrees of eminent learning make their owners
not more than men, valor and conquest cannot
elevate beyond the dead level of " but men,^' and
all the wealth of Croesus, the wisdom of Solon,
the power of Alexander, the eloquence of De-
mosthenes, if added together, would leave the
possessor but a man. — Plumer: An occasional
" God, I thank Thee," is no fit jeturn for ft
perpetual stream of rich benefits. — C. A. B.]
PSALM X.
1 Why standest thou afar off, 0 Lord ?
Wliy hidest thou thyself in times of trouble* ?
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute thc3 poor :
Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heari''s desire,
And blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after Godi
God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous ;
Thy judgments are far above out of his sight
As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
98
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved :
For / shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud :
Under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages :
In the secret places doth he murder the innocent :
His eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den :
He lieth in wait to catch the poor :
He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself,
That the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten:
He hideth his face ; he will never see it.
12 Arise, O Lord ; O God, lift up thine hand ;
Forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God ?
He hath said in his heart. Thou wilt not require it.
14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand :
The poor committeth himself unto thee ;
Thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked
And the evil man : seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
17 The Lord is King for ever and ever :
The heathen are perished out of his land.
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble :
Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear :
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may no more oppress.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its character. — The last four strophes (ver.
12 sq.) begin with the last four letters of the
Hebrew alphabet in their order ; ver. 1 with 7 ;
the six intervening strophes correspond in num-
ber with the corresponding letters ; but they are
not represented in acrostics. Many interpreters
are therefore inclined to regard this Psalm,
which is without title, but has many resemblances
inits language to the previous Psalm, as originally
a part of it, and indeed so that either the author
has not succeeded in carrying out the alphabeti-
cal order so strictly as in the preceding part
(most interpreters), or that the present vers.
z-11 are a later substitute for the acrostic verses
(Olsh.) But this very passage has a very
ancient color, and is full of obscurity and is
rough. Delitzsch, recognizing the peculiar sub-
ject of this Psalm as differing very widely from
the preceding Psalm, would regard it rather as
a copy of the form of the earlier Psalm ix.,
made not so much by David himself as by a
poet about the same time. But how then can we
explain the fact, that the alphabetical order,
which begins with 7 with so much purpose,
should be given up already in the second stro-
phe and reappear so long after? In the present
form it is inadmissible to unite it with the ninth
Psalm into one Psalm (as the Sept.). But the
similarity cannot be denied, and the thoughts of
the oppressed condition of the pious, who seem
to be forgotten for awhile by God, which are
expressed towards the close of the former Psalm
passing over into petition and invocation of Je-
hovah, are here carried out into lamentation.
There is a transition in ver. 12. God is called
upon to interfere; and he finally expresses the
confidence that he will be heard (ver. 17). For
this reason we may very well regard tnem as
belonging together as a pair of Psalms (Hengst.).
\_Vid. the introduction of the preceding Psalm.
— C. A. B,]
Str I. Ver 1. "Why. — For the explanation
of the accentuation as oxytone, in order to give
the word a firmness and emphasis especially be-
fore the name of God, vid. Hupf. The meaning
is not, that of searching for the reason, not that
of objection and displeasure, but it is a question
of lamentation, with the request that God will
draw near to judge and to help.
PSALM X.
99
[Standest thou afar off. — Perowne: " Like
an idle, passive spectator, unconcerned at the
misery which he sees, but refuses to relieve." —
C. A. B.] — Hidest. — The covering over is
here not expressed as reflexive = to conceal
one's self, but as active, so that we must sup-
ply: thine eyes (Is. 1. 15), or thine ears (Lam.
iii. 56).
Ver 2. Through the pride of the wicked
the afflicted man burns [A. V., The wicked in
his pride doth persecute the poorj. — It does not
mean the heat of persecution (many Rabbins,
(Jalv.), no more the heat of anger (Hengst.), but
the heat of anxiety (all ancient translators, and
most modern interpreters), the heat of affliction
(Clause., Stier). [Perowne: " Through the proud
dealing of the wicked their victims are placed
in the fire or furnace of affliction." — C. A. B.]
The collective singular is exchanged for the
plural in the second member. Since the subject
is not given more particularly, there is an un-
certainty whether the wicked are referred to as
taken in their own craftiness, or the afflicted
as taken in the plots devised by the wicked.
With the first interpretation the verb is regarded
as optative (Aquil., Jerome, Kimchi, Calv.), and
the clause as a parenthesis, a pious ejaculation
uttered in advance (Ruding). Most interpreters,
however, adopt the second view, regarding it as
indicative, with all the other ancient translations.
This short statement of thecircumstances is com-
pletely explained in the following verses, and
. thereby the propriety is proved of the lamenta-
tion which has been made.
Str. II. Ver. 3. Blesseth the defrauder.—
Hupf. maintains this interpretation, which is re-
presented by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Geier, et al ,
according to which the subject is contained ia
the verb, and the word which begins the clause
is in the accusative. (This word means not an
avaricious, covetous man or indeed a man who
makes a gain generally, but a man who makes
an unrighteous gain whether by craft or force).
Indeed those who regard the substantive as sub-
ject, and the verb as passive (Sept., Vulg., Syr.,
Michael,, et al.), or reflexive (Jerome, Venema,
Stier), which the language does not allow, gain
a similar sense. Others regard the subst. as
subject, and take the blessing either in a bad
sense=curse, abuse (Q-esenius and De Wette with
Other of the fathers), or they get this meaning,
which cannot be shown except in the language
of the Talmud, through the meaning : valedicere,
depart, forsake, renounce, which can certainly be
proved (Rosenm.,Ewald, Kost., Delitzsch, Hitzig),
whilst Hengst. and Hofm. explain: he blesses, he
reviles, no matter whether the one or the other.
— Despise th Jehovah. — [A. V., "toAowj the
Lord abhorreth." This is contrasted with the
♦' blesseth the defrauder," so Perowne, Words-
worth, et al. The authorized version is incorrect.
— C. A. B.]
Yer. 4. The 'wicked in his haughtiness:
" He doth not punish." ''Thinks " or '^speaks"
is to be supplied after haughtiness. Earlier in-
terpreters were in error in regarding these words
as the predicate of the ungodly, and translating:
he asks not, namely, after God [A. V] or Divine
commands; or he does not investigate ; or, indeed,
he asks after nothing. [Perowne: "He (God)
will not require it." Wordsworth: " 'God will
not make inquisition;' there is no judgment to
come. This is the impious and scornful spirit
of which the prophets speak (Isa. v. 19 ; Mai.
ii. 17), 'Where is the God of judgment?' and
which St. Peter describes, ' There shall come in
the last day scoffers, walking after their own
lusts and saying, Where is the promise of His
coming?' 2 Pet. iii. 4." Almost all modern in-
terpreters are agreed in a similar translation.
C. A. B.]— " There is no God ;" (thus) all his
calculations. —This clause others, in accordance
with the translations, regard as an exclamation :
" There is no God in all his thoughts " [A. V.j
''God is not in all his thoughts. ^'^ Mich., Ro-
senm., et al., following Kimchi, more properly
find the contents of his thoughts stated. Since
however the text does not apeak of thoughts but
of calculations, and even in the previous clause the
existence of God is not denied by the ungodly,
but the activity of God, and indeed His judicial
activity, Hengst., Hupfeld, Delitzsch, following
Calv. and Venema, explain it with more accuracy
thus: "God is not, are all His calculations,"
that is, they are a continual practical denial of
God.*
Str. III. Ver. 5. Strong [^K.Y . grievous"]. — Since
the entire passage is a description of the walk of
the ungodly, and not of his lot, the reference of the
Chald. " to the success of his undertakings," which
most interpreters follow, is not entirely correct.
We might rather, with Luther and Geier, sup-
pose a reference to the duration and perseve-
rance of his bad conduct; only this does not
agree very well with the clause : " at all times."
This would very well express the idea of daily,
constant, if we could, with Schroder, (Comm. in
Ps. X., Oroning. 1754) explain in accordance
with the Arabic : distorted = crooked are his
ways. But this meaning cannot be shown in the
Hebrew, but rather that of being strong. Is not
this meant to indicate the regardless and heed-
less, and therefore dangerous advance of the
wicked to their purposes, treading down many
persons and things ; as contrasted with every
kind of feebleness and sneaking conduct? The
ancient translations are all astray on ac-
count of false etymologies. — Are far above,
out of his sight. — [Barnes: "They are out
of the range of his vision. His thoughts
grovel on the earth, and he is never ele-
vafted in his view so as to see the great prin-
ciples of truth." Wordsworth refers to Job xxii
12, 13 "Is not God in the height of heaven ?
And thou sayest how doth God know?" — C. A. B.]
— He puffeth at them. — This could be said of
snorting in wrath, or thirst for blood (Chald.),
or of blowing away (Symm., Calv., Hengst.), and
blowing down (Isaki, Flam., Vatab.); it ia best
to refer it to a gesture of contempt (Syr., Je-
rome, and most others). [Hupf: "A descrip-
tion of the security of the wicked, all is favora-
ble to him, and neither God nor man hinder
him." Biehm : " The third clause describes his
relation to his enemies as the preceding his rela-
* [Hupfeld regards it as ■unnecessary to supply " speaks "
in the former clause, and translates thus : " The unrighteous
in his pride : ' he will not avenge it,' * there is no God,' are
aJt bis calculations." — C. A. B.j
100
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
tion to God ; he has neither God nor man to
fear, Luke xviii. 14."— C. A. B.]
Str. IV. Ver. 6. [Delitzsch : In his unbounded
oarnal security he lets his wicked tongue have
free course."— C. A. B.] The ll^fH brings into
prominence the dear / of the proud fool (Delitz.)
Others translate by '"/or," [A. V.], or seek by
a different pointing, to get the meaning of "suc-
cess," or failure, or .successful, never unfortu-
nate (Mich., Dathe, Kohler), or they change the
reading. Hupf. and Camph. refer the clause as
relative to the preceding word: generation:^
which is without misfortune. [Hupf, : "I shall
not be moved for generations, or from generation
to generation, which will be without adversity."
Riehm follows Hitzig thus : " "^liJii introduces
the direct discourse, as 2 Sam. i 4, and is put
back in the clause as in the corresponding pas-
sage, Zech. viii. 20, 23, "from generation to ge-
neration, that I shall not be in adversity."
Barnes: "The idea of the wicked is that they
and their families would continue to be prosper-
ous, that a permanent foundation was laid for
honor and success, and for transmitting accumu-
lated wealth and honors down to far distant
times."— C. A. B.]
Str. V. Ver. 8. Villages.— [Perowne refers
to the haunts of the robbers, nomad encamp-
ments of predatory Bedouins, who thence fell
upon helpless travellers." * Perowne: "There
is some confusion in the metaphors employed.
The wicked man is compared first to the lion
watching for his prey, and then to the hunter
taking wild animals in his net. Whereas again
iu ver. 10 we seem to have the image of the wild
beast crushing his prey." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 10. He stoops [A. V., " croucheih."'\ —
A continued description of lying in wait (Chald.,
Isaki, Vatabl., Ewald, 01 sh., Delitzsch). Others
regard the unfortunate one as the subject, and
translate with Aquil. and Jerome : and he sinks
down crushed (Rosenmiiller, Be Wette, Heng-
stenberg, [Alexander, Perowne]), or they
regard the adjective itself as the subject,
and the oppressed sinks down (Hupfeld).f
— His strong ones, according to Mich., are
the companions of the wicked, according to Je-
rome his powers, or according to the Rabbins, his
limbs. Most interpreters suppose a particular
reference to the claws or teeth of the lion.
Others, with Chald. and Calv., regard the plural
as indicating the abstract strength. Hupfeld,
since the verb is in the singular, although else-
where it is often connected with the plural of
the subject, connects it with the preceding clause
= and falls, on account of the singular which
precedes. He does not then decide whether the
* [Thomson, in the Land and the Boole, p. 314, alludes to
these verses thus : " A thousand rascals, the living originals
of this picture, are this day crouching and lying in wait all
over the country to catch poor helpless travellers." And
again, p 383: "It was somewhat novel to ha riding gaily
along this s ^litary shure with professed robbers, and these
bushy ravines swarming with their comrades, prowling about
like beasts of prey." — C. A. B.]
f [Thomson, Land and Book, p. 445, thinks that Pavid h 'S
the panther in view who " lies flat on his belly, and creeps
almost insensibly toward the flock. His color is like the sur-
rounding grass and stubble. He will thus manoeuvre for
hours, until finally within leaping distance, when he springs
with one tremendous bnund upon his terrified prey." This is
likely in the mixture of metaphorica. — 0. A. B.]
concluding words form an adverbial clause ^
6y his strength, the poor; or an independent clause
= the poor are in his power.
Str. VI. Ver. 11. [Hupfeld: "Refrain with
full meaning at the close of the lamentation,
ground and motive of the action just described,
and at the same time prelude to the following
prayer."— C. A. B.]
Str. VIL Vers. 12 and 13. [Delitzsch ; " In
contrast with those who have no God, or only
dead idols, the Psalmist calls upon his God, the
living God, that He will do away with the ap-
pearance that He was not the Omniscient, self-
conscious being. The names of God are heaped
up. He is to lift up His hand in order to pun-
ish."—C. A.B.]
Str. VIII. Ver 14. [Thou hast seen it —
Perowne: "An energetic protest against the
words immediately preceding, and also with a
reference to the ' He will never see,' ver. 11,
throwing back the words in the mouth of the
wicked. There is a time coming he feels, when
all this disorder will be set right. God is not the
passive spectator of human affairs which these
men deem Him." — C. A. B.] — To take in thy
hand — Most interpreters suppose a writing
upon the hand in order to call to remembrance.
Some, following Sept., Syr., Symm., Jerome, of
giving over to punishment, others following the
Chald., of punishment itself as requiting with
the hand [So A V.] Hupfeld finds here
a reference to the energy and practical con-
sequences of Divine knowledge, as a transition
to action.
Str IX. Ver 15. [A. V., " Seek out his wick-
edness till thou find none." Perowne : " When his
wickedness is sought for, let it no more be found."
Wordsworth : " Thou wilt exercise a searching
inquiry into all human actions, and wilt make a
full end of iniquity by utterly destroying every
vestige of it." Riehm regards Jehovah as the
subject, and the verb as imperative, as in the
first member, and translates : " And the unright-
eousness of the wicked mayest thou seek and not
find it, the idea being that the wicked should be
made so harmless that his wickedness should
disappear without leaving any trace, so that
God, when He seeks after it in order to pun-
ish it, may find it no more God ever con-
tinues to seek out wickedness ; but the Psalm-
ist desires that it may be that He shall find
nothing more to punish." — C. A. B.] Re-
specting the eternal sovereignty of Jehovah,
ver. 16, compare Zech. xiv. 9; Dan. vii. 14;
Rev, xi 15. — Jehovah is king forever. —
[Alexander: " He is not dethroned, as His ene-
mies imagine; He is still King, and will so re-
main in perpetuity and eternity, forever and
ever."— C. A. B.]
Str. X. Ver. 17. [Wilt prepare.— Hupfeld:
"Strengthen their heart; to make a firm, com;
forted heart, unwavering in its feelings (Pss. li^
12; Ivii. 8; Ixxviii. 37; cxii. 7), in contrast to
a heart agitated, trembling, shaken in its atti-
tude, inconstant, fluctuating between hope and
fear, and other opposite feelings. Here God
strengthens by hearing, or rather by faith, the
inner confidence that the prayer will be heard "
— C. A. B.]
Ver. 18. Terrify [A. V., "ojojorew."]— The
PSALM X.
101
play upon words may be expressed ia Latiu : ne
terreat — homo e terra. It may also be translated :
defy (Sept., Jerome, Luth., Geier, Hengst.), or
to be violent (Mich). The verb stands abso-
lutely (Calv.) so tliat'Hhey" (Kimchi) cannot
be supplied. This translation : no longer will he
(the wretched one) frighten mau from the earth
(Aben Ezra), is less appropriate; still less the
very different rendering : they or he (the wicked
man) will no more frighten the man (the misera-
ble) from the land (Syr., Rosenm., De Wette).
The earth is here not mentioned as the material
from which the endsh is made, but as the place
of his abode, from which he rises in wickedness.
Baur (in De Wette'sComm.) proposes to refer the
first words of the last line as parenthesis to the
oppressed = he is it no longer, to regard the last
words, however, as parallel with the previous
line, as a statement of the kind of Divine help
= frightening the rabble from the land. Bott-
cher translates : Let not the weak flee terrified
from the land. [Riehm: "iVb longer will man
inspire with fear from the earth." The Psalmist
expresses the confidence at the close correspond-
ing with the wish, Ps. ix. 19, " that it will re-
sult from God's 'judgment that no wicked man,
or that no man will any more be terrible to
others, but Jehovah alone in heaven." " This
completely remedies the lamentation, ver. 2." —
C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The enemies of the pious are not only
strong, crafty, unscrupulous, cruel, and eager to
devise the ruin of their opponents, but they are
likewise without faith, and godless even to the
extent of denying that there is a God. But
whilst they rage, scorn, and blaspheme, and in
their pride wickedly disregard all Divine com-
mands, and offend against all human order and
rights; God sees how they act and how His ser-
vants suffer ; and God reveals to them both the
power of his hand, as the God who is always
and eternally King.
2. On this very account the pious very pro-
perly commit themselves to God, and this secures
them from despair. But the time, before Divine
help appears, is often very long, and it is hard
for him to wait. It is well for him if he then
strengthens his hope and revives his trust in
God, and arms himself for patience in suffering,
by prayer.
3. In the anguish of external trouble and in-
ternal affliction the pious may, with propriety,
urge God to hasten to their relief; but although
the voice of their lamentation may resound, yet
it must not contain a complaint against God, as
if He improperly delayed, or as if He left the af-
flicted in continual danger without reason, or as
if He had purposely shut His eyes and ears
against their need and prayers. In the realiza-
tion of their weakness, they must give themselves
and their cause entirely into the hands of God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who has nothing under him but the earth
upon which he walks and stands, may indeed at
times in wicked presumption be arrogant and
proud &B if there was no God; but he will ere
long be cast down by the everlasting King, whom
he blasphemes and denies. — Many speak about
God, but act as if there were no God. — God sees
all that takes place on earth. He neglects no-
thing. He forgets no one, but He will not have
the time, the place, or the form of the revelation
of His righteousness prescribed to Him,-»-We
should learn patience by the patience of God.
With God there is indeed delay, but no neglect,
— He who would see the fulfilment of his hopes,
must not only believe that God is, and that He is
a rewarder of those who seek Him ; he must
likewise pray to God and wait upon God. — As
sure as God is everlasting King, so sure is the
final and complete ruin of the ungodly, and the
final and eternal salvation of the pious. — If God
has taken anything into His hands we need not
trouble ourselves with care ; but we must at all
times humble ourselves under His powerful
hand, and lie in His hand of grace.
Starke: God often hides His face from us,
and postpones His help, only that we may pray
more earnestly. — The more success the ungodly
have in their heart's desire, the less they car©
for God. — Pride and haughtiness make the un-
godly so unreasonable that they do not inquire
after man or God, and they regard all wholesome
reflection as folly. — The security and dissolute-
ness of man receive their support in not reflect-
ing upon the judgments of God. — If an ungodly
man believes in the word of God, he must like-
wise believe that his fall is near, that it will
surely come. Since however he does not believe
this, he must likewise regard the word of God as
lies. — The ungodly make lies their refuge and
hypocrisy their shelter; but the curse reaches
them. — To deny Divine providence is to blas-
pheme against God. — When God begins to search
after wickedness, then everything must come
out; for God sees even into the most secret cor-
ners.— As long as the enemies of Christ are un-
able to cast Him down from His throne of glory,
His Church will remain in spite of all the devils.
Osiander: Those who say that God does not
take up the affairs of men, do as much as deny
that there is a God, and blaspheme Him in the
most cruel manner. — Menzkl: What makes
the ungodly so secure in the world ? 1)
Their success and progress; 2) their great
number and adherents ; 3) their wicked
heart, which despises God, and does not
fear that He will punish their wickedness be-
cause He delays a little. Why are such com-
plaints of the saints described to us? 1) That
we may see how painful it is for the pious heart
when God seems to give way to the wicked ; 2)
that we may likewise know the weakness of the
saints; they have likewise flesh and blood, there-
fore they struggle wonderfully with their trials;
3) that we may learn that God can bear with
such weakness if only faith is maintained. —
Franke: The heart must first be brought into
the school of the cross, if a word that treats of
the cross, is to be relished by him, and give him
strength and nourishment. — Baumgarten : As
long as a man regards God as his enemy, he
wishes that there were no God. — Although some
things are forgotten for a time, and no creature
is troubled about them, yet God will in His time
102
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
inquire for them, and break the arm of the un-
godly.— Herberqeh: Hell is behind the. pride
of the ungodly ; heaven and eternal life are be-
hind the sufferings of pious hearts. — To err is
human, but to continue constantly in wicked-
ness is devilish. — Taubb: Pride and wrath are
always brothers. — The severest conflict, but like-
wise •the most brilliant victory in cross-bearing,
is the believing appropriation of the power and
grace of God to myself as an individual, and to
my present circumstances.
[Matth. Henry: We stand afar off from God
by our unbelief, and then we complain that
God stands afar off from us. — Where there is a
heart full of malice, there is commonly a mouth
full of curses. — Let those that suffer by proud
oppressors hope that God will in due time ap-
pear for them ; for those that are abusive to them
are abusive to God Almighty too. — ^Barnes : Pride
is at the root of all the Atheism, theoretical or prac-
tical, on the earth ; at the root of all the reluc-
tance which there is to seek the favor of God ; at
the root, therefore, of the misery and wretched-
ness of the world. Men act as if they were not
responsible to their Maker, and as if it were a
settled point that He would never call them to ac-
count— Spurqeon : To the tearful eye of the suf-
ferer the Lord seemed to stand still, as if He calmly
looked on and did not sympathize with His af-
flicted one. Nay more, the Lord appeared to be
afar off, no longer " a very present help in trou-
ble," but an inaccessible mountain, into which
no man would be able to climb. The presence
of God is the joy of His people, but any suspi-
cion of His absence is distracting beyond mea-
sure.— The refiner is never far from the mouth
of the furnace when his gold is in the fire, and
the Son of God is always walking in the midst
of the flames when His holy children are cast
into them. — It is not the trouble, but the hiding
of our Father's face, which cuts us to the quick.
— A smiling face and a rod are not fit compa-
nions. God bares the back that the blow may
be felt ; for it is only felt affliction which can be-
come blest affliction. If we were carried in the
arms of God over every stream, where would be
the trial, and where the experience, which trou-
ble is meant to teach us? — The only place where
God is not in the thoughts of the wicked.
This is a damning accusation; for where the
God of heaven is not, the Lord of hell is reign-
ing and raging ; and if God be not in our
thoughts, our thoughts will bring us to perdi-
tion.— Ah ! there is one enemy who will not be
puffed at. Death will puff at the candle of his
life, and blow it out, and the wicked boaster will
find it grim work to brag in the tomb. — God
shall hunt the sinner forever ; so long as there
is a grain of sin in him it shall be sought out
and punished. — God permits tyrants to arise as
thorn-hedges to protect His Chui'ch from the in-
trusion of hypocrites, and that He may teach His
backsliding children by them, as Gideon. did the
men of Succoth with the brier of the wilderness;
but He soon cuts up these Herods, like the thorns,
and casts them into the fire." — Spurgeon's
Treasury op David : Thos. Watson : A spiritual
prayer is an humble prayer. — The lower the heart
descends, the higher the prayer ascends.—
C. A. B.]
PSALM XI.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
In the Lord put I my trust :
How say ye to my soul.
Flee as a bird to your mountain?
For, lo, the wiclied bend thdr bow,
They make ready their arrow upon the string,
That they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
If the foundations be destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
The Lord is in his holy temple,
The Lord's throne is in heaven :
His eyes behold,
His ^elids try, the children of men.
The Lord trieth the righteous :
But the wicked and him that loveth violence hia soul hateth.
PSALM XI.
103
6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares,
Fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest : this shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the righteous Loed loveth righteousness ;
His countenance doth behold the upright.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The firm trust
In God whilst the fouadations of the State and
social order are shaking, the manly rejection of
the counsel of discouraged friends who advise to
flee from the threatening danger, the cheerful
confidence in sure help through the judicial go-
vernment of God, correspond so well with the
character of David, that there is no reason to
doubt the correctness of the title, whether we
think of the earlier period of the persecution by
Saul (Ewald), or of the battles of David with the
Philistines, with a reference to 2 Sam. xxi. 17
(Hitzig), or on account of ver. 3, of the rebellion
of Absalom (Maurer, Delitzsch). The vigorous
brevity, and the fresh, lively movement of the lan-
guage do not agree at all with the supposition that
this is a Psalm of lamentation, composed by He-
zekiah at the time of the siege of Sennacherib.*
Str. I. Ver. 1. — "With Jehovah have I re-
fuge. [A. V. "/» the Lord do 1 put my trusl.'^
Hupf. : " With Jehovah have I taken or found re-
fuge." So Perowne: "I need no other refuge:
how can ye say to me, etc.; my feet are on the true
Rock, why should I look elsewhere for safety ?
This is the full force of the expression. There is,
moreover, a force in the perfect, 'I have found.'
It is an exclamation of joyful confidence in the
thought that he has such a refuge, and is not yet to
seek it. The advice here given, and which he re-
pels, is that of timid and desponding friends, who
would persuade him that all is lost, and that the
highest wisdom is to yield to circumstances, and
to seek safety not in resistance but in flight. But
in fact the voice which thus speaks is the voice
of the natural heart, of the selfish, and therefore
short-sighted and cowardly instinct, which al-
ways asks first, not, what is right? but, what is
safe? The advice may be well meant, but it is
unworthy (comp. iii. 3; iv. 8). This is the vic-
tory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
But it is often a sorer trial for faith to have to
withstand the pleadings of well meaning friends
than to arm itself against open enemies." — C.
A. B.]
Flee. — Hupf. advocates the plural which in-
cludes those who are in similar circumstances
and danger, in opposition to the interpreters who,
with the Jewish critics, adopt the singular read-
ing. The bird is used as a figure of the pur-
sued, 1 Sam. xxvi. 20; Lam. iii. 52 ; it is here a
collective, and either as a vocative in apposition,
or as a comparison. [Ewald regards this ex-
pression as a proverb in use among the Jews, not
found elsewhere it is true, but yet natural as a
figure of speech in those times. So Hupfeld :
— To your mountain. — De Wette : «'A figure
* [This Paaltn may have been composed at that critical pe-
riod mentioned, 1 Sam. xxix.-xxxi., and 2 Sam. i.-iii. Da-
vid lost the confidence of the Philistines, waa in trouble with
his own men, 1 Sam. xxx. 6, 22-24 ; 2 Sam. iii. 39, and all the
religious as well as the political institutions of Israel were
disturbed and in danger of dissolution. — C. A. B.J
taken from birds, which, when hunted upon tho
plain, flee back speedily ta the wooded moun-
tains; but it is likewise a proper idea. The
mountains of Palestine being rich in caves af-
forded safe places of refuge from enemies who
held possession of the plains. Thus Mattathias
and his sons fled to the mountain, 1 Mac. ii. 28."
So also David in his flight from Saul.* — C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. The see, [A. V., ''Lo"^, and the
statements of ver. 3 do not allow us to regard
these words as an explanation of the poet TCalv.)
It makes no difi"erence in this respect whetner we
begin ver. 3 with " for " or " if." The hypo-
thetical interpretation has nothing to do with the
contents of the clause, but only with its structure.
[There is a change of tense which is lost in the
A. v., which is very dramatic, vid., Hupf. and
Alexander in loco. Hupf. : " They span the bow,
they have adjusted their arrow to the string."
Alexander translates they ^^ have fixed" their ar-
row. The English '• make ready " is too vague.
— Privily, more properly "m darkness," in the
dark, in secret, treacherously. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 3. The foundations here are not persons
(Gesenius, Hitzig) as Is. iii. 1 ; xix. 10; Gal. ii. 9,
but the laws and ordinances of public justice, 1
Sam. ii. 8 ; Ps. Ixxv. 3 ; Ixxxii. 6; Ez. xxx. 4.
Calv. et al, following the Sept., Vulg. Aquil.,
Symm. translate: What has he done? namely,
wrong; wherewith has he done wrong? The
perfect, however, does not force us to this ; but
it prevents the usual interpretation: What shall
he do? namely, otherwise than flee. The per-
fect in interrogative clauses is often used in the
sense of the Latin subjunctive=what could he do?
(Seb. Schmidt, Hupf., Delitzsch), or it expresses
the result of experience (Ewald, et al.) [The
Anglican prayer book translates : " For the foun-
dations will be cast down, and what has the righ-
teous done?" So Alexander. Hupf.: Whilst he
grants the possibility of the above, yet translates:
" For the pillars are destroyed ; the righteous —
what has he done (accomplished) " that is "what
has he done, accomplished according to his pre-
vious experience ?" And thus he states his agree-
ment with Ewald and Bottcher IN. JEhrenL, who
compares with avv^prnKSv, Xen., Cyrop., iv. 2, 26).
This seems to be the better view. — C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Ver. 4. Jehovah in his holy pa-
lace, etc. — [A. v., ''temple." Delitzsch:
" Above the earth are the heavens, and in the
heavens is Jehovah's throne, the King of kings.
And this heavenly temple, this palace, is the
place from whence all earthly things are finally
decided, Hab. ii. 20 ; Mic. i. 2. For the royal
throne there is also the judgment seat above the
earth, Ps. ix. 7 ; ciii. 19. Jehovah, who ia
seated there, is the all-seeing and the all-know-
ing, nin = cemere, of a penetrating glance.
* [" Ymir " is significant ; it refers to the well-known
mountain stronghold, the familiar hiding places of David
and his friends ; some such one as the cave of Engedi, 1 Sam.
xxiv., or the hill Hachilah. xxvi. 1. This Psalm was com-
posed when these remembrances were fresh in the miada of
David and his adherents. — C. A. B.]
104
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
|n3 z= trying metals by fire, of a searching
glance into the innermost nature of things. The
eyelashes are mentioned designedly. When we
consider and investigate sharply, the eyelids ap-
proach one another in order that the glance may
become more single, direct, and like a flash pe-
netrating through the object." — C. A. B.]*
Ver, 6. Rain. — Hupfeld holds fast strongly to
the optative, and makes "tire and brimstone as
nets "depend upon "He makes to rain." Ac-
cording to Delitzsch the future in the jussive
form states a fact of the future resulting with
necessity from facts of the present. " Rain "
denotes the abundance in which the means of pu-
nishment descend. If the accents and pointing
are not altered in order to find stated something
corresponding to fire and brimstone, e. g. coals
(Ewald, Olsh., now also Bottcher), or ashes (Hit-
zig), then this means of punishment consists
either of masses (Bottcher previously), lumps in
general, pieces (Aben Ezra, Geier, Mich.) or
»lings which most interpreters regard as figu-
rative of lightning; others, following Calvin, as a
means of holding them fast in order that they
may not escape the punishment.
The fiery wind" [A. V., '■^Horrible tem-
pest "] is the hot east wind, Arab. samH/n = the
poisonous. Hupf. does not consider that the
meaning ^re has been proved, but rather that of
rage, and translates: Blast of wrath. So like-
wise Hengst.f [Wordsworth : " The Psalmist re-
fers to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
as a prophetic emblem of what awaits the un-
godly ; and he anticipates the language of St.
Jude concerning those cities "as set forth for an
example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire "
(Jude 7).- And he anticipates the imagery of the
Apocalypse xix. 20 ; xxi. 8." — Portion of
their cup. — Alexander: "something mea-
sured out for them to drink, according to the
frequent Scriptural representation, both of God's
wrath and favor as a draught or as the cup con-
taining it. Comp. Ps. xvi. 5 ; Matth. xx. 22, 23 ;
39. The meaning of the whole verse is
XXVI.
that notwithstanding the present security of the
ungodly, they shall sooner or later be abundantly
visited with every variety of destructive judg-
ment."—C. A. B.]
Ver. 7. Righteous acts [A. V., "righteous-
ness"'], literally, "righteousnesses," that is,
acts of righteousness.— The upright shall
behold His face. — The adjective in the
singular is collective as subst., hence the
* [Delitzsch : " Thus men are manifest to the All-searching
eye, the all-trying glance of Jehovah: righteous and unright-
eous. He trieth the righteous, that is, He recognizes in the
depths of their souls their righteous nature, which stands the
test (Ps. xvii. 3 ; Job xxiii. 10) so that He protects them with
love as the righteous cling to Him in love ; but the wicked
and he who uses violence against the weak, His soul hates,
and Ho hates them with all the energy of His holy being.
The more intense this hate is, the more fearful will the pu-
nishment be which He sends down upon them." — C. A. B.]
f [There is here probably a reference to the Sirocco of the
Holy Land thus described by Thomson. " The air becomes
loaded with fine dust, which it whirls in rainless clouds
hither and thither at its own wild will ; it rushes down every
gorge, bowing and breaking the trees, and tugging at each
individual leaf; it growls around the houses, romps and runs
riot with your clothes." — " The eyes inflame, the lips blister,
and the moisture of the body evaporates, under the ceaseless
application of this persecuting wind; yon become languid,
nervous, irritable, and despairing." Vid., still further Thom-
■on, Land and the Book, pp. 295 and 537.— C. A. B ]
plural of the predicate. The suffix ia in a
poetical, solemn form of the singular (Ewald,
Olsh.) and is not necessarily plural of majesty, or
an inexactness ( Hupf. ). Since the face is elsewhere
only the object, and not the subject of seeing, the
translation which is certainly possible here,
" his countenance doth behold the upright,"
(Isaki, Kimchi, Geier, Mich., Hengst. [A. V.])
is not to be recommended, although in'the other
clauses God is the subject, and the plural forms
in the suffix and verbs are very well explained
whilst the object remains in the singular. Lu-
ther, et al., following most of the ancient trans-
lations, regard this as ahstYa,cl=uprighiness. [Al-
most all recent commentators adopt the render-
ing of the author. Thus Hupfeld : " ' To behold
God's face ' is figurative of the highest favor
with God and blessedness, as Ps. xvii. 15, like
sitting and standing before the face of God, Ps.
xli. 12 ; cxl. 13 ; Job xxxiii. 26, etc. ; borrowed
from the privilege of oriental magnates to appear
before the king, and be favored with the con-
stant sight of majesty, and so transferred to the
relation of the pious to God, who alone are wor-
thy of this sight, and are capable of it, so far as
only the pure can bear the sight of the Holy One;
but sin excludes from the privilege ; comp. the
promise, Matth. v. 8, that ' the pure in heart
shall see God,' and the corresponding figure
of spiritual reception in the house of God, which
only the pious have, Ps. v. 6; xv. 1." — C. A.
B.]*
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Those are not true friends who, in danger-
ous times, put the duty of self-preservation be-
fore that of duty to the community, and then
when the foundations of the State are rooted up,
and the pillars of social order begin to shake, ad-
vise io flight instead of to the conflict which should
be waged in the name of God, and with the as-
surance of Divine assistance. Indeed every cou-
rageous man and brave warrior rejects such im-
putations as cowardly and shameful ; how much
* [Delitzsch : " To behold God's face is in itself impossible
for mortal man without dying. But when God graciously
allows Himself to be seen, He makes it possible for the crea-
ture to look upon Him. This enjoyment of the Divine face
when it is softened in love, is the highest honor which God'a
grace can bestow upon man, it is the blessing of the upright,
cxl. 13. We cannot say that this means beholding His face
in the world to come, or that it is exclusively in this world.
The future D/IJ? is lost to the Old Testament idea in the
night of sheol. But faith breaks through this night, and
consoles itself with a future beholding of God, Job xix. 26.
The New Testament redemption has realized this postulate
of faith in that the Redeemer has broken through the night
of the realm of the dead, raised up with Himself the pious
of the Old Testament, and transported them into the sphere
of the Divine love which is revealed in heaven." Perowne:
" Thus Faith kindles into hope. Not only does David make
Jehovah his refuge in calamity, but he can rejoice in the
thought that he shall behold the face of God,— behold now
the light of His countenance even in the midst of gloom and
darkness. Did his hope reach beyond this, and are we to
suppose that here he looks forward to seeing God in the re-
surrection? We cannot toll. But see xvi. 11 ; xvii. 15. To
us, however, his words may be the expression of a ' hope full
of immortality.' 'We know that our light atfliction work-
eth out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory.' 'We know that when He shall appear . . . we shall
see Him as He is.' We can take this Psalm likewise to our-
selves, and think upon ' seeing Ood in the face of Jesua
Christ.' "— C. A. B.]
PSALM XI.
105
more the Sovereign, who is called of God, and
who trusts in God ?
2. That God is enthroned in heaven does not
prevent His government on earth, but rather is
presupposed as well for His government of the
world in general as for His special dealings with
individuals, and therefore it is the foundation of
the believer's confidence that even in the worst
times, he will receive seasonable help from the
Lord.
3. It is not stated here how a man is justi-
fied, but how it fares with the righteous. He
may indeed on earth fall into the greatest dan-
gers and needs, and be surrounded by timid, un-
safe, and false friends, and be oppressed by
mighty, crafty, and merciless enemies; but God
does not forsake those who trust in Him with
living faith. He tries them, it is true, as a dis-
cerner of hearts, but the upright, whom He has
found faithful, He causes to experience His love,
and helps them out of all their needs.
HOMTLETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who has faith does not flee. — The King of
heaven is not only an almighty but likewise an
omniscient God and the fust Rewarder. — Where
even the strength of the righteous fails, the arm
of Him who is enthroned in the heavens helps.
— The rulers of the earth have likewise to reflect
that they have a Lord in heaven. — The wicked
have to reckon upon no lasting success ; it only
remains for them to wait for the terrible fudg-
ments of God whilst the righteous may hope in
the assistance of God and at last will behold His
countenance. — In times of danger we must not
hearken to the advice of weak and cowardly
men, but trust in the word and assistance of
God. Not to flee from God but to God brings
deliverance, salvation and peace,
Calvin : Although all alike confess that the
world is ruled by God, yet there are but few,
when a sad complication of affairs surrounds them
with darkness, who have this conviction con-
firmed in the innermost part of their souls.
Starke : Whenever any one turns to fearing
God, there are ever wicked decoy birds which
think to prevent him. — No hunter can pursue
the game more hotly than the ungodly are greedy
for the ruin of the pious. — It is well for those
who are well-grounded, especially at this last
time, when the ground is not destroyed, yet is
made to shake in many ways and when so many
fundamental truths are contested. There are
two ways in which God is present ; one in which
He fills heaven and earth, the other when He is
present in the word and sacrament, yes, in the
hearts of believers. — The omnipresence and om-
niscience of God are a very strong consolation to
the believer when oppressed. — There is a differ-
ence between the cross of the pious and the pun-
ishment of the ungodly , the former are preserved
by suffering, the latter are entirely destroyed. —
He who loves. God and will be loved by God must
love righteousness. — Speak what is right, main-
tain the right and deviate not a finger breadth
from righteousness and the Lord will he favor-
able to you.
OsiANDER : Although we do not in all ways
serve the law of God after the flesh, yet we
should do it with our souls and have pleasure
therein- after the inner man (Rom. vii. 22) in
order that God may not be hostile to us. — Sel-
nekker: The favor of God and the favor of
wicked men are wider apart than heaven and
earth. — Moller : What comforts and encourages
the pious, fills the ungpdly with fear and terror.
— AuNDT : The reward of the pious is the love
of God, yea God Himself, — Herberger : The
more defiant the ungodly are in favorable times,
the more dejected and discouraged they are in
misfortune. — Rieger: It is well for those, to
whom all in God is so dear, that they can gain
for themselves a basis of good hope from His
holiness. His power. His omniscience, and His
zeal against wickedness. — Stiller: Sighs ascend
and consolation descends. — Guenther : There
are two kinds of enemies, the open and the
secret ; the former persecute us, the latter give
us the so-called good advice. — Diedrich : Make
no peace with the world until after a decisive
victory, and let your daily confession be this
only : I trust in the Lord.
[Matth. Henry : The confidence and comfort
which the saints have in God, when all the hopes
and joys in the creature fail them, is a riddle to
a carnal world, and is ridiculed accordingly. —
Good people would be undone if they had not a
God to go to, a God to trust to, and a future
bliss to hope for. — In singing this Psalm we
must encourage and engage ourselves to trust
in God at all times, must depend upon Him to
protect our innocency, and make us happy ;
must dread His frown as worse than death, and
desire His favor as better than life, — Barnes :
The wicked have everything to fear ; the
righteous, nothing. The one is never safe ;
the other, always. The one will be delivered out
of all his troubles; the end of the other can only
be ruin. — Spitrgeon : When prayer engages God
on our side, and when faith secures the fulfilment
of the promise, what cause can there be for
flight, however cruel and mighty our enemies ?
— ^Is it suggested to us that there are ways of
avoiding the cross, and shunning the reproach
of Christ ? Let us not hearken to the voice of
tho charmer, but seek an increase of faith, that
we may wrestle with principalities and powers
and follow the Lord fully, going without the
camp, bearing His reproach. Mammon, the
flesh, the devil, will all whisper in our ear,
" Flee as a bird to your mountain," but let us
come forth and d^y them all. " Resist the
devil and he will flee from you." — The advice of
cowardice and th^ jeer of insolence, both an-
swered by faith. Lesson — Attempt no other
answer. — If all earthly things fail, and the very
State fall to pieces, what can we do ? We can
suffer joyfully, hope cheerfully, wait patiently,
pray earnestly, believe confidently, and triumph
finally .~C. A. B.]
106
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XII.
To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Lord ; for the godly man ceaseth ;
For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour :
With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 .The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaketh proud things :
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail ;
Our lips are our own : who is lord over us ?
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy.
Now will I arise, saith the Lord ;
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
6 The words of the Lord are pure words :
As silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
8 The wicked walk on every side.
When the vilest men are exalted.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its character. — A prayer of David (ver. 1 a)
under the impression of the decrease of piety
and faithfulness in the world (ver. 1 6), and the
increase of shameless and careless deceitfulneas
(vers. 2-4). In moral indignation against this,
he calls upon God (ver. 3), receives a promise
of Divine help for those who request it (ver. 5) ;
he shows plainly the reliability of the promise
of Jehovah (ver. 6), and expresses confidence in
His protection (ver. 7), once more referring to
the present condition of corruption (ver. 8)
The Divine promise does not appear in the form
of a citation of a prophetical word already
given (Ewald), nor as a mere poetical dress
(Hupf. ), but as a true prophetical revelation.
Even Hitzig refers not only to the holy lot which
David took with him in war (2 Sam. v. 19, 24) ;
but he brings to mind the prophetical character
of David (Acts ii. 30), and regards him " as
competent to perceive a Divine word on the
mirror of his soul which had been purified and
unburdened by prayer."* There is no reason
for transposing the two last verses in order
* [Delitzsch: "The true Church of Jehovah was then as
ever a Church of confessors and martyrs, and the sighing
after the future of Jehovah was then no less deep than now
the ' come Lord Jesus.' "— C. A. B.]
not to conclude with a crying discord (Hupf.).
•'The psalm is a ring and that oracle is its
jewel" (Delitzsch).
Str, I. Ver. 1. Help. — [Perowne: '* 'aave' is
more emphatic, because no object is expressed,
vid. Ps. cxvi. 1, where in like manner the verb
' I love ' stands without its object." — C. A. B.]
— Disappear. — [A. V.: '* ceaseth.^' Barnes:
"Their conduct was such that their influence
failed or was lost to the community." — C.A.B.} —
Faithful. — The "Amen people," according to
Luther's gloss. From the position of the predi-
cate, before, in the plural, we would expect the
persons to be mentioned, which also the parallel
clause favors, as Psalm xxxi. 23. The double
reason of the prayer does not force us to
regard the plural as abstract = faithfulness
(Sept. aA^^eiai), or "faith" (Syr.), which in-
deed is in itself possible.
Ver. 2. Lies [A. V.: '' vanity"}. — This is
not to be referred merely to false, unpro-
fitable doctrines (Coco., Schmidt, et al.). —
Double heart. — [Alexander: "By a double
heart we are probably to understand, not mere
dissimulation or hypocrisy, but inconsistency
and instability of temper, which leads men to
entertain opposite feelings towards the same
object. Comp. the description of the double-
minded ' man ' in Jas. i. 8." — C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Vers. 3, 4. [Perowne : " The burning
PSALM XII.
107
of righteous indignation uttering itself in a
fervent prayer for the uprooting of the whole
kingdom of lies." — "The men here described
are evidently men occupying a high position,
smooth and supple courtiers, perfect in the art
of dissembling, yet glorying in their power of
saying what they list, however atrocious the
falsehood or the calumny." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 4. With regard to our tongues we
show strength. — Hupf. translates: We are
masters of our tongues; [A. V : ^^ with our
tongues will we prevail"'^ ; on the other hand Ew-
ald and Olsh. with Geier et al.: we are confede-
rates of our own tongues; Hitzig: we strengthen
our tongues. — Our lips are our o'V7n-[Words-
worth: "the wicked say (or rather are with
us, on our side), (comp. 2 Kings vi. 16 ; Ps.
ilvi. 7). They rely on their lips, their smooth,
flattering speeches fitted to deceive ; on their
proud and haughty words, able to overcome.
This (they say) is our artillery , with it we are
invincible." — C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 5. I will set him in safety
who panteth after it. — Eum qui inhiat illi sc.
saluti (Maurer, similarly Ewald, Olsh , Hengst.,
Delitzsch [Alexander]. Comp. Hab, ii. 3, where
panting for an end is described with a similar
expression. The translation of Geier, Rosenm.,
et al., "against whom they puff" [A. V., "from
him that puffeth at Am"], has against it the
construction with 7. The translation adopted
by Mich, and Hupf.^n order that he may re-
cover breath=refrcsh himself, causes us to miss
the object of the verb. [The translation of A. V.
et al. is to be preferred. Barnes: "By this con-
struction, also, the connection with the main
statement will be best preserved — that the in-
quiry referred to in the Psalm was done by
words, by the breath of the mouth — thus indi-
cating that by a word or breath they could de-
stroy them."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 6. "Work-shop. — Since the etymology
allows this translation of the obscure Hebrew
word, and the additional words "in the earth"
are best suited with this, because pure silver
flows down out of the ore heaped up in the fur-
nace, Delitzsch prefers this rendering, following
Cocc, Mich., Gesenius, Olsh. It may, however,
be translated " melting vessel," that is, crucible
or oven ; but the earth must then mean either,
in an oven belonging to the earth^enclosed
with earth (Chald., Maur., De Wette, Hupf.
[A. v.], which is against the usage of melting
houses, or if it is only an indication of its place
it is superfluous ; or it must be connected with
the participle=:purified on account of the earth,
that is from its earthly ingredients (Rosenm.,
Ewald et al.). Against this is the fact that |*"1K
does not mean the earth as material. The
seven times is regarded by most interpreters
as a holy number, by Saadia et al. as a round
number. Following the Jewish interpreters
(who, however, think of the sovereign of the
land, among whom " Vatab. understands God,
vid. Hupf.), Hengst. and Lengerke translate :
"silver of a prince of the land," whilst they
regard it as a secondary form of li?2. Hitzig
now translates : melted into the bar in the cru-
cible. He regards pK^)'"'* ^^' l^'^"^- ^^•
Bottcher would read ^^pK/^to the lustre of white
=to the pure bright mass.
Str. IV. Ver. 7. This generation.— [Pe-
rowne : "Spoken of those who not only live in
the same age, but are pervaded by the spirit of
that age. So Isa. liii. 8. Here the world as
opposed to the Church." — C. A, B.]
Ver. 8. If the wicked w^alk about on every
side in accordance w^ith the increase of
vileness among the children of men. —
Some, as Grot., Rosenm., Umbreit, following
Symm. and Jerome, regard 3 as a particle of
time [so A. V., " when the vilest men are ez-
alted"'\, yet so, that they unite the statement of
the reason witli that of the point of time. But
it is better to regard it as a comparison, because
it then expresses a corrective and comforting
judgment respecting the previous clause (Hupf.).
Hitzig unites the letters to other words and gets
the meaning, " Unhappy destiny for the world
of man ! " In the Chald. and Rabbin. 7TD
means fate, yet in the plural properly signa
zodiaci; therefore Hitzig is inclined to think
partly of some idiom of common life, partly
refers to Judges v. 20, where the .stars actively
interfere with human affairs. Formerly he
translated : if they rise, a terror to the chil-
dren of men. In a similar way Gesenius The-
saurus. On the other hand G. Baur prefers the
translation of Hengst.: lowliness is for men as
sovereignty ; which is thus improved by Len-
gerke : humiliation is to the children of men as
exaltation ; which should mean : they will not
long carry it on — pride comes before a fall.
Umbreit translates: The wicked walk round
about, when the shame of the children of men
rises. [Wordsworth translates thus: Thou shalt
keep them, 0 Lord, Thou shalt guard him from
this generation forever, although the wicked
walk on every side because vileness is exalted
among the children of men. The Psalmist fore-
tells two things : that ungodliness will overflow,
even unto the end ; and that the righteous will
be preserved from the flood of iniquity. And
thus he prepares the way for the declaration of
the Lord Himself in the Gospel concerning the
latter days (Matt. xxiv. 12, 13."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Those are bad times when the number of
the friends of God and of the faithful decreases,
and the number of the double-tongued, deceitful
and false increases in the land. The pious in
this case have much to suffer internally and ex
ternally, yet they must not only suffer and
endure and not make much complaint, still less
fear , but they must testify against the mischief
and its causes, and constantly implore the help
of God.
2. The ungodly sin not only with their
tongues, but also in acts by which the members
of the Church of God are oppressed and threat-
ened. But in spite of their vain glory and great
boasting they are not in the position to carry
out their wicked devices. They accomplish
nothing by their hypocrisy and flattery, and do
not attain their end any more by their threats
than by their deceitful enticements, or indeed
108
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
by their slander. God watches over His people
tiad protects those who sigh after Him. j
3. la times of trouble God comforts the '
afflicted by His holy word, aad awakens in the j
Church itself voices which testify to the truth
of the Divine promises, and to the reliability of
the hope of salvation which is based upon them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The world attacks the congregation of the
Lord but God defends it. — It is not promised to
the pious that they shall live without opposition;
but that God will preserve them from the wicked
generation and save them. — The growth of the
congregation is at times interrupted, but it can-
not be destroyed; for the Lord is its help and
its salvation. — In the days of their affliction the
pious have still, 1) the consolation oi prayer ;
i) the promise of the word of God; 3) the re-
freshment of the communion of saints. — God
answers the supplication of His people ; will
not the people respond to the promises of the
word of God ? — The wick£d man goes about for
a short time, until he is cast down by the
hand of God from his imaginary height. The
same hand of God raises the pious from the
depths of temporal need to the loftiness of eter-
nal salvation. — The demeanor of the wicked
corresponds with the vileness of corrupt human
nature ; the Conduct of the pious expresses
the nobility of the children of God.
Ldther: Only he who is true to God, is true
to men ; but faith and the grace of God are neces-
sary to both. — Calvin: God offers in His word only
that which He will fulfill in deed. — Starke : If
believers have diminished already in the time
of David, how much more now with us, who are
near the last days, when little faith and love is
to be found. — If believers are few, then see to it
that thou art found in the little band (Luke xii.
32). — Ye men, watch over your tongue and your
heart, that the former may speak the truth, the
latter be without guile. To speak unprofitable
things is an impure fruit of a bad heart. So
long as we are not humbled under God and
bowed down in heart, so long we are exposed to
the judgment of being rooted out. — The sigh of
the miserable awakens the vengeance of God ;
therefore trouble them not, else their sighs will
make you anxious. — The greater our need, the
nearer God. — The greater the fire, the nobler
the trial.— Falsa doctrine is neither gold nor
silver, but only scum. — As long as we are in the
world, we are obliged to be among the wicked,
only we have to pray, that we may be delivered
from their wickedness. — Osiander : The pious
are sown scantily, but tares grow of themselves.
— Menzbl: Tyranny is indeed hard; but false
doctrine is much harder ; for tyranny kills the
body, but false doctrine the soul. — Fbisch :
Hold to the few believers that are left; but take
to heart the universal corruption and lament
over it to the Lord. — Herbekger: Help, Lord .'
That is short, but a good prayer. — All saints
must believe, and only believers are saints be-
fore God. — Umbreit : Nothing hurts believers
more than the lack of truthfulness and upright-
ness in the world. — Stiller : We need not hght
with human strength ; our only weapon is the
word of God. — Diedrich : God's people increase
but slowly, and ever under the cross.
[Matth. Henry : There is a time fixed for the
rescue of oppressed innocency , that time will
come, and we may be sure it is of all others the
fittest time. — In singing this Psalm and praying
over it, we must bewail the general corruption
of manners ; thank God that things are not
worse than they are, but pray and hope that
they will be better in God's due time. —
Barnes : The fall of a professor of religion
into sin is a greater loss to the Church than his
death would be. There is usually a greater de-
gree of recklessness among men in regard to
their speech than in regard to their conduct;
and many a man who would shrink from doing
another wrong by an act of dishonesty in busi-
ness, may be utterly reckless as to doing him
wrong by an unkind remark. — Spurqeon:
•^ Help, Lord!" A short, but sweet, sug-
gestive, seasonable, and serviceable prayer;
a kind of angel's sword, to be turned every
way, and to be used on all occasions. — As
small ships can sail into harbors which larger
vessels, drawing more water, cannot enter, so
our brief cries and short petitions may trade
with heaven wheil our soul is wind-bound, and
business-bound, as to longer exercises of devo-
tion, and when the stream of grace seems at too
low an ebb to float a more laborious supplication.
— Jesus feels with His people, and their smarts
are mighty orators with Him. By-and-by, how-
ever, they begin to sigh and express their misery,
and then relief comes post-haste. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XIII.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David,
1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord ? forever ?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me ?
PSALM XIII.
109
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul ?
Having sorrow in my heart daily ?
How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me ?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God :
Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death ;
4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him ;
And those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy ;
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its chabactee. The Psalm begins with a
strophe of five lines, a lamentation from a sigh-
ing breast, in which hope is in severe conflict
with despair ; then follows a strophe of four
lines of urgent prayer ; from which breaks forth
in a strophe of three lines, faith in the Divine
grace, with expressions of joyous personal par-
ticipation therein. It is all expressed in lan-
guage so true to life, and with the freshness of
experience, that it is entirely inadmissible to re-
gard as its subject the people of Israel oppressed
by foreign nations (Rabbin., Rosenm., De Wette)
or the suffering Christ. David can only apply
as a type, so far as his experience is applied to
the God-fearing sufferer and Christian martyr.
[Perowne : "The rapid transition of feeling
from a depth of misery bordering on despair, to
hope, and even joy, is very remarka.ble." Hitzig
refers this PSalm to the time of Saul's persecu-
tion of David. Delitzsch likewise inclines to this
opinion. — C. A. B.]
Sir. I. Ver. 1. How long — forever. — The
meeting together of the question, and the
lamentation, in apparent conflict, in the words
which begin and close the clause, is found like-
wise, Ps. Ixxiv. 10 ; Ixxix. 5 ; Ixxxix. 46. Thus
it cannot be merely an accidental want of exact-
ness in the expression, nor can it be set aside by
interpreting " forever " by " entirely " (Aquil.,
Rosenm.), which the language does not permit,
but it is to be explained from the conflict in the
Psalmist's own feelings (Calv., Hengst., Hupf.,
Delitzsch), which Luther (although he incorrectly
translates "entirely," "fully") very properly
describes as " an anguish of spirit which feels
that it has to do with a God alienated, hostile,
implacable, inexorable, whose wrath is eternal,
where hope itself despairs, and yet despair
hopes ; and all that lives is the ' groaning that
cannot be uttered,' wherewith the Holy Spirit
maketh intercession for us brooding over the
waters shrouded in darkness." [The punctua-
tion of the A. v., " How long wilt thou forget
mef forever?'^ is incorrect. Perowne: "It is
natural for a perturbed and doubting heart thus
to express itself in a confused and almost con-
tradictory manner." — " Well must David have
understood whatthis was, when, hunted by Saul,
he knew not where to betake himself; at one
time seeking refuge among the Moabites, at an-
other in the wilderness of Ziph ; now an outlaw
hiding himself in the cave of Adullam, and anon
a captain in the service of the king of the Phi-
listines ; and amid all his projects, haunted by the
mournful conviction ' I shall now one day perish
by the hand of Saul.' "— C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. Daily. — [Barnes: "Everyday; con-
stantly. That is, there was no intermission to
his troubles. The sorrow in his heart seems to
have been not merely that which was caused by
trouble from without, but also that which sprang
from the painful necessity of attempting to form
plans for his own relief — plans which seemed to
be in vain."*— C. A. B.]
Str. II. Ver. 3. Make mine eyes clear. —
[A. v., ^'lighten mine eges"'] does not mean:
illuminate mine eyes ^ my face; namely: with
the light of Thy countenance (Geier, and most in-
terpreters), but states the consequences and the
work of the Divine glance of grace, namely: the
strengthening of the vitality, whose mirror is the
clear and cheerful eye, 1 Sam. xiv. 27, 29. Their
dimness shows the exhaustion of vitality, Ps. vi.
7; Lam. v. 17. It is true Ps. xix. 8 speaks of
enlightening the eyes by the Spirit and the word
of God (Chald., Cocc, et al.), but this is not re-
ferred to here, where it has to do with enlight-
ening with the light of life, as Job xxxiii. 30 ;
Ps. xxxviii. 10 ; Prov. xxix. 13. [Delitzsch :
" The enlightening light to which "^"'Xn refers,
is the love-light of the Divine countenance, Ps.
xxxi. 16. Light, love, and life, are related ideas
in the Scriptures. He upon whom God looks in
love, remains alive, he who is permeated with
new vitality, obtains not to sleep the sleep of
death."— C. A. B.] The kind of sleep is indi-
cated by the accusative. [A. V.: the sleep >f
death.'] The ancient translations on the other hand
have erroneously taken it as if death is not figu-
ratively represented as sleep, but as a condition,
to which, or into which, sleep might lead.f
[Ver. 4. "When I am moved. — Barnes:
* [Hupfeld translates : " All day long." Delitzsch trans-
lates, " during the day," and contrasts with the night em-
ployed in making his plans, which during the day prove of
no avail, and thus he continues in trouble day after day. —
C. A. B.]
f [Perowne : " Such is the fearfulness of the spiritual con-
flict, that it seems as if death only could be the end. He
knew this who said, ' My soul is exceeding sorrowful even
unto death.' " — Barnes :"Death is often compared to sleep. —
It is only, however, in connection with Christianity, that
the idea has been fully carried out by the doctrine of the re-
surrection ; for as we lie down at night with the hope of
awaking to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new day, so the
Christian lies down in death, with the hope of awaking in
the mornina; of the resurrection to the pursuits and enjoy-
ments of a new and eternal day." — C. A. B.]
110
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
"Moved from my steadfastness or firmness;
when I am overcome. Hitherto he had been
able to hold out against them, now he began to
despair, and to fear that they would accomplish
their object by overcoming and subduing him.
His ground of apprehension and of appeal was,
that by his being vanquished the cause in which
he was engaged would suffer, and that the ene-
mies of religion would triumph." — C. A. B.]
[Str. III. Vers. 6 and 6. Tholuck: "Whilst
the thunder and lightning are still raging
around him, David sings his song of praise, as
Luther also says, ' While Satan rages and roars
about him, he meanwhile sings quietly his little
Psalm.' " The Septuagint has an additional
clause, followed by the Vulgate and the English
prayer book: "Yea, I will praise the name of
the Lord Most High." It is not found in any
Hebrew MSS.—C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is true that God does not forget any-
one, yet it may be that to the human spirit it
appears as if he were forgotten by God, and that
the Holy One had veiled His countenance from
him. Then he feels at once that he is forsaken
by God, and that he is weak with reference to
his enemies. Whatever resolves he may make,
he will not escape from his troubles. He fears
the disfavor of God, and at the same time is
anxious for his own life, and on account of his
enemies shouts of victory.
2. Even a pious man may fall into such a
state of anxiety of soul, especially if he is mind-
ful of his sins whilst enduring these earthly trou-
bles ; if he experiences the nearness of Divine
punishment in the dangers which threaten him ;
if he feels in his trials the hand of the righteous
God chastising him ; and if he recognizes his
transgressions against Divine commands in the
hindrances to his communion with God.
3. Yet, as long as the heart of man still re-
tains faith in the Divine grace, despair does not
gain the supremacy over his troubled soul. Fear
may struggle for a long time with hope, as to
whether this grace may still be referred to his
own person, and glorify itself by it ; but if such
a man still earnestly prays, and can earnestly
call upon the Divine grace, he will likewise learn
again to firmly trust in that grace which alone
afi"ords help in dangers of body and necessities
of soul ; and fear is changed into assurance of
salvation, just as lamentation into the praise of
God. Mala enim, guse nos hie premunt, ad Christum
ire compellunt (Gregory).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Man may be in great need on earth, so that
he no longer knows how to advise or help him-
self; but so long as he c fin pray, he is not lost.
— Trouble of heart transcends bodily need ; but
the greatest trouble arises from anguish of
soul on account of the wrath of God. — It is well
for those who, although in the greatest anxiety,
are driven by the feeling that they are abandoned
by God, to seek the grace of God! Under the
experience of the Divine grace the lamentations
of a man are changed into thanksgiving. — Ac-
cording as God's countenance is veiled against us
or shines upon us, our life and our experience
are darkened or brightened.
Starke: — God has provided and appointed to
every Christian his cross, so also how long it is
to last, and he cannot forget us or our crosses.
God only is the light in all our troubles, yes,
even in death. We are much blinder and more
foolish in our own adversities than in those of
others. — Sleep and death follow one another, and
are brothers. — He who does not receive the en-
lightening grace of God, cannot awake from the
sleep of sin, but must go to sleep in death itself.
— The end of all the Christian's troubles is joy.
It is ungodly and inhuman to rejoice over the
misfortunes of our neighbors; what a degree of
wickedness, then, is it npt, to rejoice over the un-
deserved disasters of righteous souls. He who
rightly knows the grace of the Lord, His readi-
ness to help, and His constant benefits, will hope,
rejoice, and praise the Lord even under the cross.
—Calvin : Until God actually stretches forth His
hand to help us, the flesh cries, His eyes are
closed.
Selnekker : At first we should complain to
God of our need and solicitude ; then we should
pray to Him for help and deliverance, and all
this for His own glory and name sake ; and
finally we should thank Him for His gracious
advice, help, and assistance. — Franke : The
chief thing, incumbent upon the children
of God, is to possess their souls in pa-
tience.—Frisch : See what thy faith can do, and
what power it has to chase away the spirit of
sorrow, and bring pleasure and joy to the heart.
— Roos : How do we come from darkness to
bright light^ from the depths into the heights,
from straits into a wide room ? By prayer and
by a struggling faith, which God meets at the
right time with His grace to help. —Tholuck :
There is a much harder trial in the length of suf-
ferings than in their strength. — Taube : As a
child of God, man first feels what he is when left
to himself. — Diedrich: Not to perceive God is
the most bitter death, and still to behold God,
is life, even in the midst of death.
[Matth. Henry: In singing this Psalm and
praying over it, if we have not the same com-
plaints to make that David had, we must thank
God that we have not, dread and deprecate His
withdrawing, pity and sympathize with those
that are troubled in mind, and encourage our-
selves in our most holy faith and joy. —
Barnes : Afflicted, depressed, and sad, we go
to God. Everything seems dark. We have no
peace — no clear and cheerful views — no joy. As
we wait upon God, new views of His character,
His mercy, His love, break upon the mind. The
clouds open. Light beams upon us. Our souls
take hold of the promises of God, and we, who
went to His throne sad and desponding, rise from
our devotions filled with praise and joy, submis-
sive to the trials which made us so sad, and re-
joicing in the belief that all things will
work together for our good. — Spurgeon : If
the reader has never yet found occasion to
use the language of this brief ode, he will
do so ere long, if he be a man after the
Lord's own heart. — We are all prone to play
most on the worst string. We set up monumen-
PSALM XIV.
Ill
tal stones over the graves of our joys, but who
thinks of erecting monuments of praise for mer-
cies received ? We write four books of Lamen-
tations and only one of Canticles, and are far
more at home in wailing out a Miserere than in
chanting a Te Deum. — C. A. B.J
PSALM XIV.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 The fool hath said in his heart, ITiere is no God.
They are corrupt, they have done abominable works,
There is none that doeth good.
2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men.
To see if there were any that did understand,
And seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy :
There is none that doeth good.
No, not one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And call not upon the Lord.
5 There were they in great fear :
For God is in the generation of the righteous.
6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor.
Because tl^ Lord is his refiige.
7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion !
When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people,
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Character and Composition. — The pre-
vious Psalm gave expression to a vow of thank-
ful, heartfelt joy on account of the deliverance
from the danger to his life which he had en-
treated. In ver. 7 of this Psalm all the people
are summoned, with the assurance of compliance
(the future is used as a jussive), to rejoice over fu-
ture deliverance from threatening ruin, anxiously
longed for ; and this springs from a description
of the religious decline and moral corruption
prevailing among men. In this respect this
Psalm has a similar subject to Psalm xii.* Of
course we cannot derive from this fact, that
these Psalms were surely composed by the same
author, and ver. 7 might seem to imply a later
time. Most recent interpreters since Venema
* [Perowne : " The singer, keenly alive to the evils of his
time, sees everything in the blackest colors. The apostasy
is so wide-spread that all are involved in it, except the small
remnant (implied in ver. 4) ; and the world seems again ripe
for judgment as in the days of Noah (ver. 2), Both in this
Psalm and in Psalm xii. the complaint is made that the
wicked oppress and devour the righteous. In both, corrup-
tion has risen to its most gigantic height, but here the doings
of bad men, there their words, form the chief subject of
complaint." — C. A. B.]
112
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
actually refer to the captivity at Babylon, Hitzig,
at the same time, to the prophet Jeremiah as the
author ; Olsh. descends to the Maccabean period,
whilst Paulas (Clavis) refers ver. 5 to Senna-
cherib, and with Theodoret regards Isaiah as
the author. The interpretation will show that
ver. 7 A is not decisive against David, but rather
in connection with other statements in the Psalm,
confirms its prophetic and didactic character,
which in the wider sense may be called Messi-
anic. Psalm liii. is likewise in favor of a more
ancient time, as it deviates from this Psalm in a
few, yet very significant, turns of thought.*
It is uncertain whether all of the seven
strophes were originally of three members (De-
litzsch) and vers. 5 and 6 have been mutilated; yet
this is probable. [Perowne: "In form the ode
is dramatic, or quasi-dramatic. A great tragedy
is enacting before the eyes of the poet. Sin is
lifting itself up in Titanic madness against God,
and God looks down upon its doings as once
upon the builders of Babel. He sees utter
apostasy (ver. 3) ; He speaks from heaven (ver.
4), and the evil-doers are confounded at the
word of His mouth (ver. 5). ' It would scarcely
be possible,' says Ewald, ' for a great truth to
be sketched in fewer or more striking outlines.' "
— C. A. B.]
Str. I. Ver. 1. Fool. — The etymology of
nabal leads to the idea of withered and without
sap; usage, to spiritual dullness, barrenness and
worthlessness (Isa. xxxii. 6, 6) in contrast with
the religious freshness and moral ability of the
truly wise man. The expression does not refer
to intellectual weakness. f The perfects in
the first five verses do not force us to a
purely historical interpretation (Baur, Hitzig,
et al.), whether we leave the person unde-
termined or think of Nebuchadnezzar, Senna-
cherib and the Assyrians, or find here the proper
name Nabal (the husband of Abigail). They
are clauses expressing experience, which pre-
sent the thoughts of the fool, how he manifests
himself constantly and everywhere. [The A. V,
needs correction here, it should read not; the
fool hath said; but the fool saith in his
heart. Hupf., " It is the secret thought and
delusion of his heart. — It is likewise not exactly
* [That there should be two Psalms in the collection so
similar as Psalms xiv. and liii. is in itsflf remarkable. The
deviations, few though they are, are likewise remarkable.
Were it not for ver. 7 of Ps. xiv. the Davidic authorship
would be unquestionable. And it seems more natural to
apply this expression to the longing of the exiles at Babylon
(Ewald, De Wette, Iliipf., et al). It might be a later liturgi-
cal addition, so far as Ps. xiv. is concerned, or rather the origi-
nal Ps. xiv. 1-6 was, by a few alterations and additions, adapted
to the circumstances of the exile, and given as Ps. liii., and very
naturally at a later period, Ps. xiv. was assimilated by the
addition of ver. 7. The Psalm is complete in itself certainly
without ver. 7. This would account for the title of both
Psiilms, aiicribed to David, and used in the templq worship;
and at the same time for the occurrence of the same Psalm
twice in the collection." — C. A. B.]
f [Perowne: "They are those whose understanding is
darkened; who, professing themselves to be wise, became
fools. Such men, who make a boast of their reason, and
would fain walk by the light of their reason, prove
how little their reason is worth. The epithet is the more
cutting, because persons of this kind generally lay claim to
more than ordinary discernment." Barnes: " It is designed
to convey the idea that wickedness or Impiety is essentially
folly, or to use a term in describing the wicked which will,
perhaps more than any other, make thi^ mind averse to the
Bin — for there is many a man who would see more in the
word fool to be hated than in the word wicked ; who would
rather be called a sinner than a fool." — C. A. B.]
a fixed theory or an understood and conscious
opinion, but a disposition which put itself in
practice and is inferred therefrom, even if it
does not say any thing: an Atheism of heart and
life." — C. A. B.J— Corrupt, abominable, they
make their doings. — The two verbs placed
alongside of one another, without a connecting
particle, intensify the idea of badness which is
not necessarily contained in the noun. The plu-
ral shows that the author, from the beginning, had
in mind, not an individual fool, who was to be
regarded as an exception ; but he first gives the
charactei'istics of the class, then describes the
conduct of individuals belonging to it. The
first verb awakens a sad remembrance to those
acquainted with the Scriptures; for the same
word appears first in Gen. vi. 5, 12, in the de-
scription of the corruption which preceded the
flood, and is frequently used in the Scriptures to
designate the apostasies of the Israelites from
the living God and the sacred ordinances of His
covenant which so frequently occur (Ex. xxxii.
7; Deut. xxxi. 29; xxxii. 6; Judges ii. 19).
The transition is thus prepared in the soul for
that which follows.
Str. II. Ver. 2. Looked down. — Literally
bowed Himself over ; indicating zealous and
intense looking in order to a closer examination,
2 Kings ix. 10 ; often used of God, for the first
time Gen. xi. 5, xviii. 21, in the history of the
tower of Babel. These as well as the references
to early history previously mentioned, which
Grotius already observed, need not mislead us
to limit the expressions used here to these par-
ticular events. But they turn our thoughts in
this direction : that we need not trouble our-
selves with the refutation of fools, for God has
practically provided for this long ago. This
retrospect of history with its disclosure of human
corruption and Divine judgments sets before our
eyes the follies of the present, partly in their
connection with universal sin, partly with the
assurance of Divine condemnation. The former
point of view is not properly estimated, if with
Delitzsch we merely accept the perfect sense in
so far as the result of God's looking about recog-
nizes this looking about itself as an act which
has already transpired ; the latter point of view
is obscured, if this looking about is regarded as
a poetical figure, by which the Psalmist impresses
upon his own judgment the seal of Divine
approval ; both points of view vanish together,
if the contents of the judgment passed in con-
sequence of this Divine examination which is
mentioned, are essentially weakened as well with
reference to their meaning as their credibility
by accepting a hyperbolic form of expression
(Hupf., following Gataker).
Children of men. — Literally, sons of Adam.
This expression does not designate the ungodly
as such (Knapp et al. with reference to Gen. vi.
2), or the heathen (De Wette), or the fools pre-
viously mentioned, as a specially profligate class
of men (Gataker), or the same in their general
character as men and subject to the considera-
tion of God (Hupf.) ; but men as a body, as the
posterity of Adam, yet not as fools (Geier), but
in their character as members of a fallen race
(Calv., J. H. Mich., Stier).
Str. III. Ver. 3. AIL— The totality as well as
PSALM XIV.
113
the universality of human corruption is stated in
the strongest language, and first of all, as having
gone aside from the right way, and then it is
defined by a word which originally was used for
physical corruption, especially of the souriug of
milk in the Arabic, but likewise of moral cor-
ruption, Job XV. 16. — If with Maurer we regard
the n which begins the clause as a particle of
interrogation, as vers. 2 and 4, to which likewise
G. Baur is inclined, then it would be advisable,
with Ewald, to have the words of Jehovah begin
here, which Hitzig, Delitzsch, et at. regard as be-
ginning with ver. 4. But without regard to the
fact that it is not at all necessary to regard
Jehovah as speaking, this supposition would not
give us an expression of the judgment of the
Omniscient God, but would merely continue the
figure of speech, in accordance with which He
has made an investigation. The H is therefore
to be regarded as an article=the all, the totality,
as Ps, xlix. 17; Dan. xi. 2 ; comp. Ewald (Lehr-
buch, ^ 286 a).
It is noteworthy that there is not here a
statement of a doctrine, but the mention of a
fact, that this moreover makes the moral con-
demnation of the entire world as an actual
result of God's looking about. The Sept. has
already regarded this result not as a solitary
fact, limited to a certain period, but has taken
up into the text passages with similar subjects
from Pss. V. 9 ; x. 7 ; xxxvi. 1 ; cxl. 4 ; Isa.
lix. 7, 8 (in the margin of the Cod, Vatic), which
reappear in the citation Rom. iii. 10-12, and have
found their way into the Arab, and Vulg. trans-
lations of our Psalm. [Likewise in the English
Prayer-book version, — C. A. B.]. In the He-
brew this addition is found only in codd. 649,
apparently as a translation back into Hebrew
by a Christian who would justify the citation of
the Apostle (De Rossi and Rosenra. against
Kimchi, who maintains its authenticity). The
Church has sufficient biblical support for its
doctrine of human corruption by connecting
several other passages of the Bible with this.
However, the interpreters of former times have
not sufficiently distinguished from the facts men-
tioned here, the conclusions drawn therefrom
and their dogmatic use.
Sir. IV. Ver. 4. Havre all the workers of
iniquity no experience? [A. V,, *' know-
ledffe"'\. — Hitzig, who previously translated it:
"are they out of their wits?" now advocates
the translation of the Sept., Vulg,, Jerome, as
future. This presupposes the pointing of the
imperf., which is found in some codd,, and gives
an admissible sense, if it is regarded as the
threatening of the judgment in which the work-
ers of iniquity are to be actually assured of the
reality and of the activity of the God whom
they have denied and disregarded. But the
perfect of the present text is much more suitable
to the connection of the discourse (Hupf.), as
it refers back to the judgment which God has
already constantly and impartially executed in
history upon the persons of all evil-doers. But
the character of the question as threatening and
warning, is weakened into a tone of involuntary
astonishment at the blindness and security of
evil-doers, if, with Geier, Hengst., et al. [A, V.],
we explain : know = do not reflect upon it.
8
Moreover the all does not agree with this.
The reference cannot be at all to correct know-
ledge (Claussj. However, it is admissible to con-
nect the verb with the negative into one idea=
are then without understanding? (Ewald), unrea-
sonable ? (Delitzsch). But witli our interpretation
the advance in thought is clearer. Eor after
mentioning that God looks about and examines
critically we would expect a reference to the
Divine judgment, and indeed not to human
opinions or feelings respecting this judgment,
but to what it had already accomplished in his-
tory. The context, moreover, leads to a state-
ment of Divine acts and not of human actions.
Since now the form of the question with N/H
does not show any uncertainty at all, or lead to
something that is yet to be inquired after, but
on the contrary expresses in the strongest terms
the utmost certainty, the question thus gains
together with its threatening and warning charac-
ter at the same time a triumphant tone, and
then forms a suitable transition to that which
follows.
Eat up my people. — It follows from Mic.
iii, 3 ; Isa. iii, 12, that the mention of My does
not necessarily imply the words of Jehovah,
[However, it is more natural and better, with
Ewald, Delitzsch, et al., to regard Jehovah as
speaking. It is more in keeping with the dra-
matic character of the entire Psalm. — C. A, B.].
There has been no previous reference to foreign
enemies, or to wars in which the Israelites were
ccnsumed, or to any external events at all, but
to moral and religious relations, yet such as
occur in history and in Israel, The ancient
translations and most interpreters find stated
here by the comparison, the manner of eating
up the people, as they eat bread. The ungodly
regard it as their natural business to eat up the
people. This interpretation is not without
grammatical objections, so that Hiizig takes
refuge in the supposition of a transposition of
letters, which is recommended indeed by analo-
gies, and reads ViDX instead of HDK, But the
figure is favored by the frequency of its use in
the prophets, where it is still further carried out,
and by the difficulty of finding any other accep-
table sense. For the interpretation of Luther
which has been revived by Clauss, does not at all
suit the construction of the clause, in accord-
ance with which the devouring of the people
aflFords the means of support for the ungodly.
Moreover, to eat bread cannot mean to live well
(J. H, Mich.); also not to live unpunished
(Cocc); but generally to support themselves.
Now if this is in contrast with what follows, the
reference might be to a neglect of prayer at the
table (Chald,, L. de Dieu). This, however, is
not suitable here. So, likewise, hardly the idea
of living securely therein, as an animal (Hupf.)
in which the physical life would be nourished,
but the spiritual life remain without nourish-
ment. Though this thought is appropriate it
has very little support in the words as such.
Str. V, Ver, 6. There. — This does not mean
the same place where the crime is committed
and the condemnation is received (,\ben Ezra,
Kimchi), or where they should recognize God
and call upon Him (Clauss), so also not the place
114
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
of future judgment (Flamin., Calvin, Hengst.,
Btier) , although UW is properly a designation
of place, for it«an likewise be used for a space of
time (Ps. Ixvi. tj ; Prov. vi. 27)^ and even of the
future (Zepu. i. 14; Job xxiii. 7), with which
reference the prophetic perfects would then
Bhow the certainty of punishment (Pss, xxxvi.
12; cxxxii. 17, Hos. ii 17). Still less are
we to think of a place of judgment within
man, of the conscience (Geier), although IPIS
means as well the anxiety before possible disas
ter, as terror on account of real disaster, and
indeed both, in so far as they are made by God
to impend over them as punishment for sin.
The context demands the latter interpretation.
The juxtaposition of the same word as noun
and verb (so also Isa. xxiv. 7)=frighten a fright,
is so much the more picturesque as this word,
Prov ii. 26; iii. 25; comp vL 15, has the
secondary idea of suddenly and unexpectedly.
The Psalmist refers to the Divine punishment
historically fulfilled (Hupf, only too narrowly
to the occurrence at the Exodus from Egypt) in
(he closest connection with the description ver.
2 sq., especially ver. 4. Dl^ is used with a simi-
lar general reference Job xxxv. 12. Delitzsch
translates: "There they shudder shuddering,"
and explains: then when God will speak to
them in His wrath, as ver. 4 is adduced as from
His mouth, then His word, which never fails of
effect, thunders down upon that "inhuman person
who is without knowledge and conscience.
For God is in the generation of the
righteous. — This gives the reason of the ter-
rors of judgment which break in upon those
who oppress and devour the people of God The
contrast, that God is not with the ungodly
{Clau'jp'), is -A matter of course, yet it is not here
expressed. Moreover, the clause does not, as is
generally supposed, make the historical fact
prominent, that Jehovah dwelleth in the midst
of His people, protects and governs them and
brings about their complete victory over their
enemies. In contrast with the thoughts of the
fool, ver 1, he expresses the religious truth, that
Elohim declares Himself on earth, in the gene-
ration of the righteous. The latter is likewise
not a historical but an ethical idea, and does not
coincide entirely with that of the people of
Israel, among whom the righteous were present
only as individuals (Gen. vii. 1) by their genera-
tions (Gen. vi. 9), yet who hinder the ruin of the
whole and are the means of saving the people.
Str, VI. Ver. 6. You may shame the
counsel of the oppressed; [in vain'] — For
Jehovah is his refuge. — The counsel, that
is. all the counsel which he had agreed upon
with himself. Most interpreters think particu-
Jarly of the plan proposed by him to deliver
himself from his oppressors. The contents of
his -counsel might be given in the following
members of the verse with ''that'' [A. V be-
came] (Aben Ezra, Calvin, Slier, Hitzig). How-
ever, the translation "but" (Luther .e< al.) is in-
admissible. But the preceding verb does not agree
with this, whether we regard the imperfect as pre-
sent or future, or, as is often the case, impera-
tive. For tyi3 does not mean in the Hiphil, "to
Bcoff " (the ancient interpreters), but "to cause
k> blush," or actively " to disgrace." If, there-
fore, we must translate " for," it is necessary at
the same time to suppose that the clause which
states the cause has fallen out, and thus the
former trisiich has been shortened, or we must sup-
ply a short clause something like: to no purpose;
or, in vain (Hupf, De Wette, Hengst., Delitzsch).
Ewald translates: the design against the af-
flicted you will see to be in vain ; previously he
translated? in your design with reference io the
afflicted will you blush because, etc.
Str. VII. Ver 7 Who will give out of
Zion [A. v., 0 that — were come out of Zion] —
What a contrast this expression makes with ver.
2 ! And how clearly he shows that he does not
refer to help against external violence of foreign
enemies, by the Divine power, but to deliverance
by demonstrations of grace in connection with
the historical institutions of salvation. The
question in the anxious prayer of the oppressed,
containing the desire for redemption, presup-
poses that Jehovah dwells in Zion, and that His
sanctuary is standing in Jerusalem, but at the
same time it explains its approach with reference
to a hindrance which is still to be set aside.
Such a hindrance is not the external distance of
the Psalmist from Jerusalem, say, during the re-
bellion of Absalom (Grotius), but his sins which
were not yet entirely expiated. The shining
forth of the Messianic thought in this passage is
overlooked, for this reason especially, that, in
the usual form of resolving the question in the
optative; "0 that He were come," which is
certainly possible (Ps.lv. 7, Jer. ix. 1), the^er-
son acting retires to the background before the
deliverance which is desired and the time when it
is longed for This is in direct contradiction to
the text.
The universality and partial indefiniteness and
breadth of the Messianic hope which is active
here, leads to that former time, to which the
other expression of the verse likewise refers.
For Zion was indeed for all periods the conse-
crated place for the hope of Israel, whither
believers, wherever they might be, turned their
faces in prayer, according to 2 Kings viii, 29,
44 This is likewise mentioned with emphasis
Dan. vi. 10, as a characteristic of the true faith
of this prophet residing at Babylon. But no
prophet ever expected or prayed for help from
destroyed Zion. The prophets describe rather
the gracious turning again of Jehovah to His
penitent people in exile. His going with them,
and before them in leading them back to Jeru-
salecu and the rebuilding of the city and temple
under His protection. The question before us,
however, does not in the least resemble this.
And what is there that compels us to think of the
return from the captivity at Babylon ? At least
not the expression HOiy ^i^ in itself or because
it became afterwards the standing expression for
this deliverance ? This would be a pure petilio
principii. For the same expression occurs al-
ready in Joel iii. 1 ; Amos ix. 14 ; Hos. vi. 11
(vii. 1).* Then it were much more natural to
think of the time of the Assyrian calamity
which fell upon the kingdom of Israel, on ac-
* [In each of theflo passacps. however, tho reference ia to
the exile foretold hy these prophets, a return from which wa«
conditionod on i-epentance. — C. A. B.J
PSALM XIV.
115
count of the deliverance out of Zion which is
prayed for But this is prevented by the closing
clause, in which Jacob=lsrael is called upon to
rejoice, but not Judah and Israel. But this ex-
pression does not at all mean merely: turning
back from captivity in war, which then leads to
the meaning of: bringing back prisoners of war,
but it is used figuratively for the turning of an
unhappy condition into a restoration to former
prosperity in general, Ezek. xvi. 53, even in
private affairs, Job xlii. 10. With the frequent
use in the New Testament of the expressions •
bonds, imprisonment, etc., in a figurative sense,
the assertion that the figurative use of the above
formula leads necessarily to a later origin, is so
much the more arbitrary and unreasonable, as
the abode in Egypt with its experience fell under
the same point of view, Deut. xxx. 3 (Clauss,
Stier). Already the more ancient interpreters
have therefore, after the Rabbins, partly ex-
plained this passage as Messianic, partly under-
stood it directly of the spiritual deliverance of the
people of God, which then was applied to the
deliverance of the Church from its Babylon .or
from its servitude in Egypt (Calv.). Even Hit-
zig refers the expression, which-occurs likewise
figuratively Jer. xxx. 18, at least to the turning
away of misfortune. Hengst. finds expressed by
the language, God's gracious turning to tlie dis-
tress of His people, whilst he maintains the in-
transitive meaning of JW, as being the only
allowable meaning (Beitr. II. 104). But the
transitive meaning is made certain by Ps. Ixxxv.
6 ; Neh, ii. 2 ; beyond question by Ezek. xlvii.
7. Hengst. has very properly taken back his
previous view {Beitr. I. 142), that the closing
verse is a later liturgical addition (Rosenm.),
[Alexander : " The whole may be paraphrased
as follows: '0 that Jehovah, from His throne in
Zion, would grant salvation to His people, by
revisiting them in their captive, forsaken state,
and that occasion of rejoicing might be thus
afforded to the Church ! ' "— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The doctrine of the corruption of the hu-
man race and the help for it. This is the title
given by Meyer after Luther, who gives it an ap-
propriate periphrase in the song : Us spricht der
Unweisen mund wohl. The denial of God does not
always come upon the lips ; yet it declares itself
as an irreligious disposition in the corruption
and worthlessness of a conduct which is worthy
of abhorrence. It is not merely an idle or harm-
less play of thought, or a scientific investigation
of the evidences proposed by scholars for the
being of God. It is indeed a movement of thought,
but that of a heart which has become foolish by
turning away from God, Rom. i. 21; and it has
to do not so much with the theoretical as with
ihe practical reason. Therefore it makes the entire
man unfit for good, and it is least of all an evi-
dence of a sound and strong spirit.
2, Men of this kind may indeed regard them-
selves as wise, praise one another, and feel strong
and safe in the world ; but God knows, con-
demns, and rejects them and their doings, and
He has long since declared to those who wait
upon Ilim, how it standw with them, Rom. i. 22.
They are condemned already, before they are
cast out as reprobates.
3. Moreover God troubles Himself with those
who do not trouble themselves about Him ; He
inquires after those who make no inquiry for
Him; He is the invisible witness (Gen. xxxi. 50)
and the Judge, who cannot be bribed, of all
their doings as well as the sins and thoughts of
their hearts. But He brings forward the evi-
dence of His being and His work, not theoreti-
cally, but practically as Judge, Avenger, and
Saviour. His speaking is likewise an act; Hia
revelation is history.
4. No man, however, should feel secure ar
raised above others. For by the history of re-
velation, that light has come into the world,
which condemns the world (John iii. 19), and
discloses the individual as well as the whole race
according to the Divine judgment, as lying in
common corruption in consequence of their na-
ture as children of Adam, in accordance with
which that which is born of the flesh, bears in
itself all the characters of the adp^ (John iii. 6).
5. The same light shows likewise that there
is a righteous generation on earth. The recog-
nition of this fact does not contradict the state-
ment of the total corruption of the children of
Adam, -embracing all without exception. For the
righteous generation consists not of a little band
of men who have remained exempt from sin and
its corruption, whom God somehow has over-
looked, when He looked about, because they
stood in a corner, or because they are not
brought into consideration on account of their
small number in comparison with the awful cor-
ruption of the masses. To this class belong ra-
ther those men in the midst of the generation of
the children of Adam, who have been born again
as children of God of incorruptible seed, who by
this change of their inborn nature form a pecu-
liar class in the midst of the generation of men,
and afford the seed of regeneration for the entire
people.
6. It is one and the same God, the holy God
of revelation, who has made known from hea-
ven, by the mouth of His prophets, the actual re-
sult of His investigation of the children of men,
as a warning, and has called our attention by
them, with so much earnestness to the actual an-
swer which He gives by His life and work, in
the generation of the righteous on earth, to the
ungodly, who aS fools do not trouble themselves
with His works and deny His being and life.
7. There is moreover no reason here to dimi-
nish by any limitation the weight of the decla-
ration respecting the extent, depth, and punish-
ableness of human corruption, " He says at
first. a^Z, then together, thirdly, there is likewise
' not a single' one." Luther, The judgment re-
specting the condition of man is not an exagge-
ration, which easily escapes from the bitterness
of the lamentation and feelings ; and as a poeti-
cal figure to be reckoned to the account of the
poet. The poet, who speaks here, is not fanci-
ful, he is not so much a poet as a prophet.
Therefore his description is not the gloomy re-
flection of a gloomy disposition, the night idea
of a darkened contemplation of the world, but it
has the value of a declaration of revelation,
whether it bases itself on previous testimonies
116
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
of Scripture, or is to be directly referred to the
enlightenment by the Spirit of God.
8. All fools are indeed sinners, but all sin-
ners are not such fools that they deny the being
of God, His judgment and revelation, or regard
them as of no account. And many who previ-
ously did this, have repented when they expe-
rienced what this all meant. They have first
been terrified when they have not expected it.
There is however not only a terror unto death
under the storms of Divine wrath, so also not
only the impending terror of the last judgment;
there is likewise a terror unto repentance, by
which the sinner is awakened unto life. This
happens particularly, when the ungodly, who pre-
viously have not cared for the Divine agency, are
surprised by the victorious word, and the over-
powering act coming forth from the generation
of the righteous.
9. The ungodly as such eat up the people of
God. They use them as far as they can to make
room for themselves in the world. Whatever
does not readily applaud them, is regarded as a
booty given over to them. For they do not in-
quire after God, and the destruction of His peo-
ple is as natural to them, as much in accordance
with their wishes, and as much a matter of
course, as the eating of their daily bread. It is
true that there i sin history a ^roviszon for the /?eojo/e
of God; but where does such an one exist, which
is able to realize its Divine destiny of being a
holy people? Therefore evil doers think that
they are justified and entitled to carry on their
work of destruction. But so long as the mem-
bers of the "generation of the righteous," be
they few or many, are in one people, the Lord
does not suffer it to be destroyed, but brings His
terror over the enemies of Himself and His
children.
10. But all those who are oppressed must
. take refuge with the Lord if they would attain
salvation. For the resolutions, projects, plans,
and devices of the individual, even the best of
them, may be brought to shame by the violence
of evil doers; not so God's resolutions and un-
dertakings. He who trusts, hopes, and waits on
. these will not be ashamed. The world moreover
can no more prevent the prayer from pressing
up into the heart of God, than it can prevent the
flow of Divine consolations and refreshment into
the soul of the oppressed, if these truly turn from
the world to God.
11. But the relation between God and the
soul may be very different from this. And the
last to forget it is the prayerful sufferer, whose
lips have testified respecting the universal cor-
ruption of the children of men, and have con-
fessed the communion of God with the genera-
tion of the righteous. He is able to rejoice that
his people before all others has received the his-
torical call to be the people of God, and that
there are sanctuaries and Divine services in the
congregation; but his soul is troubled, because
even among his people no generation has ever
fulfilled its destiny so as to be a righteous gene-
ration; and that the history of His people is ra-
ther a constant witness of its apostasy from God,
who turned towards them ever with new reve-
lations, and that this repeated itself in every ge-
neration. And although he may sigh, that his
people have fallen into afflictions and troubla
through Divine judgment, yet he experiences the
severest affliction in the burden of guilt, and the
worst servitude under the dominion of sin.
12. Moreover true deliverance cannot consist
in a change of external relations. Therefore a
turning to the institutions of salvation established
by God, and the desire for the means of grace or-
dained by God is the sign of the beginning of a
turning towards salvation. But salvation itself
comes only when the Saviour comes, who brings
the acceptable time of the gracious turning of
God to redemption. Before His coming there is
nothing but inquiry, sighing, longing, and among
believers, hope in the gospel and its Joys.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Denial of God is a folly, but of a dangerous
character. — Whatever fills the heart expresses
itself in the life even without words. — God Him-
self conducts the actual proof oi His own being
by acts of judgment and demonstrations of grace
which run through the whole of history to warn
and to comfort. — Inborn corruption, and inhe-
rited guilt do not excuse the sinner, but rather
set in a dreadful light the consequences of apos-
tasy from God. — He who does not believe in God
cares not for men. — In the corrupt world there are
many people who are lost, yet there is likewise a
righteous generation, in which God lives, works,
and condemns the workers of iniquity. — At times
those who deny God and the workers of iniquity
are greatly frightened when they perceive the
revelations of the Divine life in the generation
of the righteous, but they seldom change their
disposition or improve their conduct, no more than
they do after the experience of the mighty deeds
and judgments of the Almighty. — There is a sa-
lutary and a wicked terror on account of the Di-
vine revelations of judgment ; the former leads
to desire for deliverance from the servitude of
sin; the latter begets stubbornness towards Di-
vine and human justice. — The deliverance of the
race of man, fallen in Adam, from universal and
entire ruin, is prepared by the institutions of
grace which God has established in Israel, but
even in the people of Israel it is expected in the
future.
Staeke : Human corruption is so deep and un-
fathomable that many believe in no God^ or deny
His providence and government. — He who does
not inquire after God from the heart, as the only
source of all good, still remains in the old na-
ture, and lies under the curse and wrath of God.
For to be wise and to inquire after God are here
together. — Behold thyself in this mirror, 0 man,
as often as pharisaioal pride attacks thee ; but
what does it matter, the proud peacock's feathers
will soon bend to the earth. — The blessed fruit
of redemption is spiritual, heavenly, and eternal
joy; here in foretaste, there in perfection.
Osiander: This is the difference among men
that although we are all sinners by nature, yet
some are justified by faith and endowed wiih the
Holy Spirit, and serve God in faith, whilst others
remain ungodly. — Franke : We must observe
principally two things: firstly, our misery, in
which we all lie by nature; secondly, the grace
PSALM XV.
117
which is bestowed upon us iu Christ Jesus our
Saviour, — Frisch ; The reason of all evil is natui-al
blindness and folly ; thence arises doubt of the
Divine government and providence; and then
man falls into security, so that he lives therein, as
if there were no God in hpaven. — God must be
sought as the highest good which has been lost by
sin, — If the heart has departed from God it has
departed from blessing, and lies under the curse ;
it has departed from light and lies in darkness;
it has departed from life and lies in death ; it
has departed from heaven and belongs in hell.
— Stiller: Sin not only passes upon all men,
but likewise passes through the entire man.
— DiEDEiCH: If we live in God, we look upon all
things from God's point of view, and, looking
from Him, regard this world as entirely diflferent
from what it usually appears.
' [Matth. Henry : If we apply our hearts as So-
lomon did, Ecc. vii. 26, " to search out the wick-
edness of folly, even of foolishness and madness,"
these verses will assist us in the search, and will
show us sin exceeding sinful. Sin is the disease
of mankind, and it appears here to bo malignant
and epidemical, — Those that banter religion apd
religious people, will find to their cost, it is ill
jesting with edged tools, and dangerous perse-
cuting those that make God their refuge. — •
Barnes: As a matter of fact, the belief that
there is no God is commonly founded on the
desire to lead a wicked life ; or, the opinion
that there is no God is embraced by those
who in fact lead such a life, with a desire
to sustain themselves in their depravity,
and to avoid the fear of future retribution.-
— Spurqeon: The Atheist is the fool pre-emi-
nently, and a fool universally. He would not
deny God if he were not a fool by nature, and
having denied God it is no marvel that he be-
comes a fool in practice. Sin is always folly,
and as it is the height of sin to attack the very
existence of the Most High, so is it also the
greatest imaginable folly. To say there is no
God is to belie the plainest evidence, which is,
obstinacy; to oppose the common consent of
mankind, which is stupidity ; to stifle conscious-
ness, which is wickedness. — C, A. B.l
PSALM XV.
A Psalm of David.
1 Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness.
And speaketh the truth in his heart.
3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue,
Nor doeth evil to his neighbor,
Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.
4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned ;
But he honoreth them that fear the Lord.
Se that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5 He that putteth not out his money to usury,
Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Character. We have first a question di-
rected to Jehovah, in a clause of two members,
respecting the character of the man who may
obtain the privilege of a guest with Him, and be-
come a member of His family ; then follows the
answer, at first in a clause likewise of two mem->
bers, whose contents are then carried out in
three strophes of tiiree members each, whilst the
participles pass over into finite verbs, and the
118
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
closing words refer back to the thought con-
tained in the question, with an expression which
points to a more enlarged horizon. In the an-
swer God speaks, not as a dramatic person, nor
to the Psalmist by an oracle, but by the Psalmist
to the congregation. God has enlightened the
Psalmist who earnestly inquires of Him, that
this man may know his will essentially from the
revealed laws of Jehovah, and indeed he speaks
in forms of expression used in the law ; but in
the answer as in the question, he passes over be-
yond tbe limits of the Old Testament, and de-
scribes in evangelical and prophetic spirit the
family of God in chd,raoteristic and individual
traits.
[Delitzsch : " The former Psalm distinguishes
from the mass of universal corruption a right-
eous generation, and concludes with the longing
for salvation out of Zion. Ps. xv. answers the
question who belongs to this righteous genera-
tion, and who is to receive this salvation in the
future."— C. A. B.] This does not appear to be
a polemic against the priests (Paul.), or those
of privileged rank (Mich., Dathe, et al.) ; nor a
rejection of oflFerings and the like, yet it does not
demand the observance of rites and ceremonies.
The entire description is in the sphere of mo-
rals, and not in that of the law; it is an exer-
cise of duties, in which the uprightness, viva-
city, and powerof piety asserts itself in life, held
forth as it were in a mirror. Corresponding
fully with this character of the Psalm is the cir-
cumstance that whilst it resounds with the words
of the law, it is re-echoed and carried further
out in the prophecy, Is. xxxiii. 13-16.* Nothing
can reasonably be adduced against David as tbe
author. In favor of him is the fact that since
the ark was carried up to Jerusalem the " holy
mountain Ihill, A. V.] of Jehovah " is there, and
at the same time the "tabernacle" appears in
this Psalm to be still existing. It is admissible
with Hitzig [Wordsworth, Alexander, el cZ.] to
think of the very time of that removal, although
the particular references which this scholar finds
between this Psalm and the description of the
dedication of the new tabernacle given in 2 Sam.
vi. 12 sq. cannot be proved with any certainty.
Still less is there any confirmation of the refe-
rence made by Delitzsch to the time of the re-
bellion of Absalom, when the Sanctuary was in
the hands of the rebels, whilst David himself was
far distant from it.
StT. 1. Ver. 1. May be a guest.— The false
references and erroneous use of this expression
by the ancient interpreters who have found in it
only a temporary abode of strangers who were
merely suffered for awhile, in contrast with the
regular citizens and inhabitants of the kingdom
of God (Calv.), should not mislead us to efface
the original and proper meaning of the Hebrew
word, which essentially leads to the idea of friend-
ship and protection, comp. Ps. v. 5, and the pas-
sages there adduced. Thus only does the closing
clause gain a full meaning, and what Hupfeld
* [Perowne : " Eleven particulars are enumerated in which
tliig character is summed up. Hence in the Gemara (Mak-
koth f. 24 a), it is said that David comprised the 613 com-
mands of the Law given on Sinai in eleven; Isaiah (it is
added) in six (xxxiii. 15); Micah in three (vi. 8) Amos (v. 4)
or rather Habakkuk (ii. 4), in one."— C. A. B.J
does not sufficiently estimate, it turns back to the
opening strophe and its theme, with its meaning
fully developed, and with an evangelical and pro-
phetical glance at the secure position of the
guest in the house of God, reaching forth out of
time into eternity, and is tranquilized by the entire
Psalm. The exegetical right of this interpreta-
tion, which is important dogmatically, lies in the
point of the question to the mind of the Israelite,
to whom God's tabernacle and holy mount might
gain the meaning of a human dwelling, comp.
Ps. xxvii. 4sq. ; Ixi. 5; Isa. xxxiii. 14. Modern
interpretei'S have been the first to weaken this
technical expression, taken from concrete rela-
tions of life, into a merely figurative designation
of communion with God in general.*
Sir. II. Ver. 2. [This strophe describes the
conduct of the friend of God in general terms as
walking perfectly (A. V., uprightly), one who
does righteousness and speaks the truth. In
his heart, or with his heart, not merely with
the tongue. Hupfeld 1 is used with the heart
not as giving the source of speech (which would
be 3vp) but as co-operating with the speech,
and thus giving it its truthfulness." — C. A. B.]
Sir. III. Ver, 3. [This strophe describes nega-
tively his conduct towards his neighbor: (1)
He does not go about with slander upon his
tongue. 7J1 = literally, to go about as a spy or
tale-bearer, or slanderer. This is a wicked walk,
the negative of the perfect walk, ver. 2 a. ; (2)
he does not do evil ; (3) he does not take up a
reproach against his neighbor. NB'J, according
to Hupfeld, has here the meaning of " bring
forth," "speak OMi," = prof err e, efferrc. De-
litzsch, Hengst,, Hitzig, et al, give it the meaning
of bringing or loading disgrace upon any one,
Calvin, et al., to lift up as from the ground. To
this latter interpretation Perowne inclines : " He
hath not stooped, so to speak, to pick up dirt out
of the dunghill that he may cast it at his neigh-
bor."—C. A. B.]
Sir. IV. Ver. 4. The reprobate. [A. y.,vile
person']. Hitzig and Delitzsch take up again the
explanation of the ancient interpreters (Chald.,
Aben Ezra., Kimchi, Cleric.) according to which
the reference is to the humility and self-debase-
ment of the Psalmist, who here designates him-
self in the strongest expressions, which however
correspond with the declaration 2 Sam. vi. 22,
as "despised in his own eyes, and worthy of re-
jection." This view is suitable likewise to the
context; the contrast is not lacking; J. H.
Mich, already brings it forth with the' words :
sibi ipsi displicet nee suae sed alienx virtulis est ad-
mirator, and the humility which David confesses
likewise in Ps. cxxxi., appears frequently as a
condition of pleasing God, Is. Ivii. 15; 1 Sam.
xvii. 17. However the accents of the text, re-
cept. correspond with our translation, which is
advocated by Hupfeld.
* [Delitzsch: 'nU and |3B^ which are usually distin-
guished as the Hellenistic irapoiKhv and KaroiKsiv are here
of like meaning; not only a transient, but an everlasting
"11 J (Ixi. 5) is meant; the difference of the two ideas is
merely this : that the one from the idea of a wandering Jifo
means the finding of a permanent place, the other from the
idea of membership in the family denotes the possession of a
permanent place."— C. A. B.J
PSALM XV.
119
To his hurt. — The translations : " To his
neighbors" (Sept., Syr., Luther), or, '<To the
wicked," (Most interps. since Rosenm.) are in-
correct. The explanation of the Rabb. " he
swears = vows to do himself an injury == to
hurt himself, especially by fasting and mortifi-
cation, is partly contrary to usage, and partly too
specifically ascetic. Hupf., Uitzig, Delitzsch, esta-
blish the expression in question more accurately
than Venema, Hengst., Gesen., by reference to
the law respecting sin-offerings on account of
guilt owing to inconsiderate oaths and vows, Lev.
V. 4, where it is forbidden to exchange the ani-
mal vowed for an offering for another animal, or
for its value in gold. Hupfeld adduces the addi-
tional reference to Lev. xxvii. 10, 33, after Geier
and J. H. Mich., where the question is of alter-
ing the vow itself. The hypothetical antece-
dent is in the perfect, the consequent in the im-
perfect. [The English prayer-book version
combines the rendering of the Sept. and that of
the A. V " He that sweareth unto his neighbor,
and disappointeth him not, though it were to his
own hindrance." — C. A. B.J
Str. V. Ver. 5. This refers to Lev. xxv. 37,
where usury is forbidden, and to Deut. xvi. 19 ;
xxvii. 25, where punishment for unrighteous
judgment is accompanied with the curse. [Pe-
rowne : " Such is the figure of stainless honor
drawn by the pen of a Jewish poet. Christian
chivalry has not dreamed of a brighter. We
have need often and seriously to ponder it. For
it shows U3 that faith in God and spotless integ-
rity may not be sundered ; that religion does not
veil or excuse petty dishonesties ; that love to
God is only then worthy of the name when it is
the life and bond of every social virtue. Each
line is, as it were, a touchstone to which we
should bring ourselves." — C. A. B.j
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The most important question in life and the
daily care of those who fear God, are, how to
attain to the permanent place of a ffuest in the
house of God. For this question refers from
time to eternity and from the old covenant to
the new. For it is true we may visit the house
of God on earth and be a guest in it ; but we do
not dwell therein, but celebrate Divine service
and receive thereby spiritual food and nourish-
ment in order to a further pilgrimage. But if
we would not only be servants of God but at the
same time of the household of God and fellow-
citizens with the saints (Eph. ii. 19 sq.), and
never waver in this society, then we must partly
be placed upon another soil than that of the law,
and partly be led forth above all and every kind
of worship on earth into communion with the
angels in adoration and with the blessed saints
in the heavenly sanctuary, and to the participa-
tion in the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev,
xix. 9; comp. Matt. xxii. and xxv.)
2, In the Divine law itself there is a goad
which drives us to the Gospel (Luke x. 28 sq ),
and which invokes and keeps alive a longing
after it. For the law demands irreproachable
conduct and sincerity and purity of thoughts,
words and works, which are found in no man
by nature and which cannot even be attained by
the help of the law alone, or its means of pro-
pitiation and of sanctification. But the law has
its abiding value in this, that it not only forms a
historical stage of revelation, but is an essential
part of the economy of salvation.
3. " We must notice, .that the Psalm merely
presents the portrait of pious people, without
showing whence this comes or is to be attained.
Hence it is, that an unwise man may ascribe
that which is said in this Psalm, to moral virtue
and free will, which yet is solely and alone a
work of Divine grace, working in us." Luther,
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who would dwell with God in His house
must adapt himself to the arrangements of God's
house. — We may be invited to God's house and
table and yet not gain the enjoyment of that
which God offers us. — To desire communion with
■God and transgress the commands of God are ir-
reconcilable with one another ; for vice separates
God and man from one another. — He who truly
has and seeks communion with God, has and seeks
communion likewise with the pious, but avoids
the society of the ungodly. The law remains
cows^an^Zy valuable as a mirror, bar and bridle.
— He who wishes to dwell forever with God, must
inquire after God in time and seek intercourse
with God on earth, and for this purpose use the
means of grace offered by God according to the
order of salvation.
Calvin : If any one is devoted to righteousness
and moderation towards his neighbor, he shows
by his acts that he fears God. — It is not a common
virtue to honor pious and righteous men. For
because they are the offscourings of the world
their friends usually share their hate with them.
Starke : He who has dwelt in the tabernacle
of God as a true citizen, will likewise remain
forever on the holy mountain of the Lord. — A
Christian as a pilgrim should hasten to the
mountain of God. — The avoidance of evil belongs
to the proper walk of a Christian, as well as the
practice of goodness; neither can exist without
the other, since repentance departs from evil to
good. — The rewards of godliness are not only
temporal, but they endure even unto eternity. —
Selnekker: Good works please God, not on ac-
count of their own worth, but on account of the
believing persons who do them. For good works
are the fruit of faith and testify to faith. —
Franke: Who will be happy? He who has a
living faith and shows it to be living in its fruits
and its power. — Frisch : We cannot be so eager
for instruction in matters of our salvation, but
that God is still more desirous to reveal
His will to us respecting them Tholuck :
In the estimation of all human merit there
can be no other standard than the law of
God. — Taube: It is not: who will come to
Thy tabernacle? but: who will dwell? who
will remain? That is a great thing when we
think, that the Father of this lodging house is
the Holy One of Israel, and the guest is a sinner
by birth.
[Matth. Henry : It is the happiness of glori-
fied saints that they dwell in (hat holy hill, they
are at home there, they shall be forever there.—
Those that desire to know their duty, with a re*
120
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
solution to do it, will find the Scriptures a very
faitliful director, and conscience a faithful moai-
tor. — An oath is a sacred thing, which we must
not think, to play fast and loose with. In sing-
ing this Psalm we must teach and admonish
ourselves and one another, to answer the charac-
ter here given of the citizen of 3ion, that we
may never be moved from God's tabernacle on
earth, and may arrive at last at that holy hill,
where we shall be forever out of tlie reach of
temptation and danger. — Barnes : Kindness and
an accommodating spirit in business transactions
are as much demanded now by the principles of
religion as they were when this Psalm was writ-
ten, or as they were under the law which forbade
the taking of interest from a poor and needy bro-
ther.— Wordsworth : David, in singing this
Psalm, is teaching us how we may attain the
blessedness of the everlasting mansions. — Spue-
qeon: Though truths, like roses, have thorns
about them, good men wear them in their bo-
soms. Our heart must be the sanctuary and re-
fuge of truth, should it be banished from all
the world beside, and hunted from among men;
at all risk we must entertain the angel of truth,
for truth is God's daughter. We must be care-
ful that the heart is really fixed and settled in
principle, for tenderness of conscience towards
truthfulness, like the bloom on a peach, needs
gentle handling, and once lost it were hard lo
regain it. Jesus was the mirror of sincerity
and holiness. Oh, to be more and more fashioned
after His similitude I — Our Lord spake evil of no
man, but breathed a prayer for His foes ; we
must be like Him, or we shall never be with Him.
— To all good men we owe a debt of honor, and
we have no right to hand over what is their due
to vile persons who happen to be in high places.
— C. A. B.]
PSALM XVI.
Michtam of David.
1 Preserve me, O God : for in thee do I put my trust.
2 0 my soul, tliou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord :
My goodness extendeth not to thee ;
3 Bid to the saints that are in the earth,
And to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god :
Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer,
Nor take up their names into my lips.
5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup :
Thou maintainest my lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant |?/aces;
Yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel ;
My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the Lord always before me :
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth :
My flesh also shall rest in hope.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ;
Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
PSALM XVI.
121
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life :
In thy presence is fulness of joy ;
At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
For the title vid. Introduction. The mention
of the worship of idols, ver. 4, is not of sucli a
character as to lead us to think of the times of
the exile (Bbttcher, Proben p. 42 sq., de inferis
§ 343 sq.) ; and the language does not lead to a
time subsequent to the eighth century (Ewald),
but to David (Hitzig). The special occasion in
his life, however, cannot be known. Many think
of the time of his abode at Ziklag (Knapp)
among the Philistines, where desire after the
pious (Jahn) and temptation to the worship of
idols (Paul., Hitzig) were very natural. Hitzig
thus explains vers. 3, 5. 9 by 1 Sam, xxx, vid. be-
low, Delitzsch thinks of a severe sickness in the
latter part of David's life, after the building of
the palace of cedar,* whilst Hupfeld disputes the
idea that yer, 10 likewise shows that he was in
great danger (Hengst.), and Bohl again, with
the ancients, holds fast in general to the time of
Saul's persecution. The position of this Psalm
in the order of Psalms is perhaps determined by
the expression, "not be moved," ver. 8 h, the
same with which the previous Psalm closed.
Its Character. — The first clause contains in
germ the thought of the entire Psalm, namely,
that the pious man has always protection with
God against all his enemies. From this assu-
rance arises the cry of prayer ver. 1, whose
form shows the experience of pressing danger,
but immediately passes over into the confession
of the way in which the Psalmist proposes to
act in consequence of his relation to God (ver.
2) and to His people (ver. 3). The terse
and bold manner, short even to obscurity,
in the presentation of the contrast (ver. 4)
in which the Psalmist maintains himself against
the worshippers of idols, with all its sad-
ness, yet maintains an energetic tone, then
passes over into a uniform, undulating flow of a
calmed frame of mind in the description (vers.
5, 6) of the good chosen in God, and of the
happiness allotted on account of this. It then
turns, praising Jehovah (ver. 7), to testify of the
position of the Psalmist established in Him (ver.
b), and rises from the assurance of this commu-
nion with God, not only to a jubilant declaration
of present Divine protection (ver. 9), but in
prophetic inspiration to a prophetic promise of
the everlasting enjoyment of salvation (vers. 10,
11), The following interpx-etation will explain
the prophetic and Messianic character of this
passage.
Str. I. Ver, 1. [Alexander : " The prayer
keep, save, or preserve me, implies actual suf-
fering or imminent danger, while the last clause,
* [This is more consistent with the general tone of the
Psalm, the omission of any allusion to warlike enemies or
troublous times, the maturity of the Psalmist's faith and
hope, the calmness with which he contemplates death, the
consciousness of his entire acceptance with God, ajid above
all the Messianic allusions vers 9-11. It may, however,
have been composed under the influence of the prophecy of
Nathan, 2 Sam. vii.- It could not consistently with the Mes-
sianic allusions have been earlier thciu this. — G. A. iB.J
I have trusted m Thee (A. V., * In Thee do I put
my trust''), states the ground of his assured
hope and confident petition. . . . The preterite
form implies that this is no new or sudden act,
but one performed already. He not only trusts
in God at present, but has trusted Him before.
Comp. Ps. vii. 1 ; xi, 1."— C. A. B.]
Str. II,' Ver. 2. I say to Jehovah.— The
Rabb, and many interpreters, after the Chald,
paraphrase, regard amart as an address to the
soul which is here to be supplied [A. V., " 0 my
soul, thou hast said"']. For reasons against this
vid. Hupf., who yet, in order to get the first per-
son which the other ancient translations give,
would read not directly with Mich., Olsh,, et al.,
amarli, after some Codd. in Kennic. and De
Rossi, but after Gesenius accepts a defective
orthography as Ps. cxl. 12; Job xlii. 2; Ezek.
xvi. 69, and 1 Kings viii. 48 ; but does not decide
whether this failure of the yod has its reason
merely in a defective writing, or in a pronunciation
which had become common in the language of
the people after the Aramaic manner, and after
the analogy of the 2d fem. sing (Hitzig, Ewald,
Delitzsch), and merely declares that he is opposed
to the supposition of Hiller and Bottcher, who
think of the present Aramaic pronunciation of
the 1st person perfect, emreth.
My Lord. — The suffix, which has lost its
significance in ordinary usage in its blending
together with addn, is here emphatic on account
of the contrast (Hitzig, Delitzsch, Hupf. ) ; yet it is
not therefore to be read adoni (Mich.), as Ps.
ex. 1, but as Ps. XXXV, 23 shows, adonai is to be
retained (which with kametz is usual as plural
majest. in order to designate God, with pattach
forms the real plural^my Lords, vid. Gesenius,
Thes. ). The contrast of the Psalmist to the
worshippers of idols is thus prepared, likewise
in the second member of the verse, the strongly
emphasized personal relation of the Psalmist to
Jehovah, whom he has in ver. 1 called upon as
El. (Aquil, laxtip^), and now confesses as his
Master and himself therefore as His servant.
These references disappear in the translation :
" the Lord," preferred by De Wette et al.; which
would render prominent, instead of the contrast
of the Psalmist with the worshippers of idols,
which is in accordance with the text, the con-
trast of Jehovah with the idols: Bohl regards
it as COS. absol.=0 Thou Lord !
My good, etc. — Luther's translation : " I
must suffer on Thy account for the saints," is
impossible to the language. Likewise all direct
Messianic references are not only arbitrary and
without reason, but entirely inadmissible on ac-
count of ver. 4 b. The first words, ver, 2 b,
cannot mean anything else but •' my good," and
indeed not in the moral sense=:kindness, merit,
virtue (Aquil., Calv, [A. Y., goodnessj), but in
the sense of welfare, good, prosperity. If we
could only translate, " my happiness is nothing
on Thy account," then we might attain in sense
the explanation of Luther. But /J! does not
122
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
mean propter, and i'2 (shortened form of wn)
does not mean nihil but non, and elsewhere always
stands before a finite verb. But there is no verb
here. To supply such a verb is not in any case
to be guess work or to introduce an independent
idea (as Grotius explains : my happiness is not
desired with Thee), but must limit itself to that
which is most natural, that is to the verb esse.
Moreover, then the imperative form is not as
natural as the simple copula. It is likewise not
to be translated : "my welfare is not incumbent
upon Thee; thither to the saints" (Bohl), al-
though al may denote the duty incumbent upon
any one. In this sense Isaki explains: the
good which Thou showest me is not incumbent
upon Thee as a duty, but the saints. We must
translate : bonum meum non est supra te (Geier,
Gesen. et al.). The Psalmist, who has already
declared himself to be a servant of Jehovah,
now explains, that he finds in Jehovah his
highest good and all his happiness, yet he ex-
presses this negatively, in order to exclude every
thought of communion with idols (ver. 4). This
is effaced by the translation of the Peschito ;
"my happiness from Thee;" it is likewise only
unexactly rendered ; by Jerome, sine ie ; by
Symm., avev covj little better by Cocc, Koster
et al., by prseter te. There is certainly a reference
to the prohibition Ex. xx. 3 (Hengst., Ewald).
But there it says : thou shalt have no other
gods ""Ji) 1^. This means properly, towards
My person (Hupf,, Hitzig), or, before My face
(Bohl). The meaning of " by the side of" and
" out side of," in the sense of past by the side
of, which excludes the object named, has not been
proved in the language ; but no more that of " on
the side of the same," to which formerly with the
translation supra te, the explanations inclined.
Likewise the translation of De Wette is ill-
founded : all my welfare is not to me above thee.
The pregnancy of the expression consists in
this, that the Psalmist wishes to know his good
and happiness, considered not as first being
added to God and as an addition towering above
Him, but that God Himself is his summum bonum.
[Thus Riehm: "It is more closely to be ex-
plained : my happiness is not added to Thee=
nothing, that must be added to Thee, makes me
happy, but Thou alone, giving exclusive and
full satisfaction. Comp. the analogous thought
and expression Ps. Ixxiii. 25. With this agrees
ver. 5, where Jehovah likewise is called the
Psalmist's portion." — C. A. B.].* This inter-
pretation, which is correct in accordance with
the language, answers so well to the context that
it is superfluous to press out of 13 by an artifi-
cial interpretation the idea of "only" (Hupf:
my happiness rests only on Thee). Hitzig even
wishes to express 7^X (=immo, rather), and by
*[Perowne translates : "I have no good beyond Thee.
Literally my good (my happiness), as in Ps. cvi. 5 ; Job ix. 26,
is not beyond or beside Thee. The ' good ' hern spoken of is
in contrast with the 'sorrows ' in ver. 4, and answers to the
words, ' my lot, my cup, my inheritance,' in vera. 5, 6. For
the sentiment may be compared Ps. Ixxiii. 25, ' Whom have
I in heaven but Thee.' . . . This is the one grand thought
which stamps the Psalm, * Thou 0 Lord, art my portion,
my help, my joy, my all in all.' " So also Alexander : " My
happiness is not beside Thee, independent of, or separable
from Thee?" The interpretation of Moll and Riehm ie,
however, far better. — C. A. B.j
distorted use of the words to gain the contrast
of Master and benefactor (Thou art my Master,
my happiness rests rather upon Thee). The
sense would then be : whilst usually the servant
cares for his Lord, here the contrary is the case.
The Vulgate [quoniam bonorum meorum non egejs)
follows the Sept.: on tcjv aya^oiv fiov bv xP^tav
iX£i(:. In the English, Dutch, Hirshberg and
Berienb. Bibles, in part likewise in Calvin
and J, H. Mich., this translation then gains the
explanation that all good which the speaker
either acquires or experiences, does not refer to
God, for whom (Berienb.; ''on whose account")
it is unnecessary, but to the saints for whom it is
partly necessary, partly salutary. According to
Stier these words are an intentional riddle and
afford the ordinary reader the superficial sense :
"only with Thee is my salvation," but give to
the deeper searcher of prophecy the deeper
double meaning : my welfare (I seek, I will have)
not with Thee, and my good actions (even in
this denial are necessary and profitable) not for
Thee, but with the saints on earth and for them.
In accepting such a mystical double sense he
finds a prelude to Phil. ii. 6-9, and eve^ explains
thus far Luther's previous translation: "lam
not in good circumstances with Thee." In con-
formity with the statement just made, our trans-
lation does not say : I prefer nothing to Thee ;
it is, moreover, not supplied or covered by the
turn of expression: There is no happiness for
me above and beyond Thee. The sense is, God
is to me the essence and fulness of all good,
therefore no affliction can diminish it, no pros-
perity increase it.
"With the saints [A. V., ''To the saints'*],
— The construction is exceedingly disputed and
difficult. If we seek a verb for the dative, we
find it only in the following verse. Then there
arises a connection of words such as Deut. viii,
13 ; Prov. iv. 10; xxxiii. 10, and the sense would
be : the saints have many sorrows (they multiply
themselves ; Bottcher, Proben p. 42 sq. ), or indeed
according to another possible etymology: their
idols (Ewald). But such a contrast is not in the
text, as that the former saints and friends of the
Psalmist had apostatized whilst he had remained
faithful ; the expressions which imply this are
at once supplied and thus the desired thought is
put into the text. In order to escape these diffi-
culties and this violence to the text many inter-
preters regard this verse as a clause complete
in itself. The majority then regard the first
words as nominative absolute^as for the saints.
But the examples adduced in support of such an
interpretation are either misunderstood or false
readings {vid. Bottcher 1. c). This interpreta-
tion appears still more inadmissible in connec-
tion with the interpretation of the words which
follow. According to Bottcher's careful state-
ment it is grammatically entirely inadmissible to.
take the stal. constr. ''y^ii as stat. absol. and to
translate : as to the saints . . and the noble, I
have all my delight in them. The attempt of
Schnurrer {dissert, phil. crit. 1777), after the ex-
ample of the Sept., to find a verb in adtrS, in
order to translate, "As to the saints . . . whom
I honor and in whom I have all my delight," must
at the same time undertake to transpose the 1 in
ver. 3 6, and thus alter the text twice. The
PSALM XVI.
123
proposal of Storr (comment, 1796), with whom
Umbreit, De Wette et al. agree, to regard the 1,
which la in conformity with the text, as the in-
troduction of the conclusion (The saints . . .
they are the noble in whom I have all my delight,
in contrast with others who have their deligbt in
other magnates), is full of meaning, and were it
not for the interpretation of the first word in
ver. 3 as stat. absoL, in itself admissible, but yet
taken closely, demands that T\3r\ should be con-
nected more closely with '"^Hi^. The interpre-
tation : To the saints ! as Is. viii. 20, a calling
upon God (Bohl), or the poet ahd his friends
(Thol.), is grammatically unassailable ; but has
little correspondence with the course of thought
of this Psalm and is foreign to its prevailing
tone of prayer. Under these circumstances
we are inclined to think of a connection
with the previous verse. The relation of
the clauses to one another as contrasted in
the interpretation of Kimchi, Calvin, Stier,
namely that, that good of the Psalmist can-
not benefit God the Lord, but the saints, has
already been considered ; we have only to re-
mark here that there is likewise no particle of
contrast in the text. The proposal of Hensler,
renewed after the ancient interpreters [Bemer-
kungen uber Stellen der Psalmen, 1791), to regard
^Jl^iCJ as in apposition to adonai and then to con-
nect the following words closely=" nothing is
above Thee (surpasses), the saints," is shattered
already on the fact that it is unusual to give the
word 73 the meaning of nihil. We cannot seri-
ously think of a dependence of the dative Uk\
doshim upon adonai;='^h.Q\x. art the Lord of the
saints (Steudel, Programme o/1821), on account
of the intermediate clause. We might rather
accept a dependence upon amari=l speak to the
saints, especially if the contents of the address,
is not sought in the words : all my delight is in
them (Kimchi, Flamin.), or in ver. 4 (Hofm.,
Weissagung und JErfUllung, I. 162), but in ver. 3 6,
and indeed so, that the 1 is removed to the be-
ginning of ver. 3 a and the T\BT] to the beginning
of ver. 36 (Delitzsch)=and to the saints which are
in the land : these are the noble in whom is all
my delight. But without regard to the altera-
tion of the text which is indeed simple, the ad-
dress to the saints, placed parallel with the ad-
dress to God, does not properly correspond with
the tone which prevails elsewhere in the Psalm.
It only remains, therefore, to regard the 7 as the
sign of belonging to (Calv., Hengst., Hupf.).
But it does not follow from this, that the Psalm-
ist says : his good and his happiness is with God
or rests upon God, in so far as he belonged to
the saints. He says rather, that he, in belong-
ing to the saints, in whom is all his delight, does
not regaid and treat his good and happiness as
something additional to God, but that he directly
has regarded and confesses in this communion
of saints that God Himself is his good and hap-
piness. I regard this explanation of mine as
corresponding with the context and the language.
On the other hand the interpretation of the
dative by Winer in his lexicon, "according to
the example of," weakens the sense and is not
aufficiently proved in the language. — It is uncer-
tain, whether we are to regard ver. 3 6 as paral-
lel with ver, 3 a and supply the lamed of the first
clause at the beginning of the second before
adlrS, whose stat. construct, is explained by the
fact, that it belongs to the following clause
which is in sense a relative clause (most inter-
preters), or whether we are not rather to regard
the connection of clauses, so that the idea of the
saints is more closely defined as those who are
in the land (or on the earth) and are the noble
in whom, etc. (Bottcher). In any case the stat.
construct, is not an expression of the superlative
(Umbreit, Koster), and is likewise not only to
be connected with the following noun=the noble,
all my pleasure is in them (De Wette), or the noble,
the totality of my delight is in them (Hengst.),
but with the entire clause (Hupf), although
it is not to be explained thus ; the splendid with
all, whom I desire (Sachs). Koster leaves the
1 disregarded by the translation : To the conse-
crated . . . they belong, the noble who please
me entirely.*
The Kedoshim are according to the idea the
ayioi, the members of the people of God, as those
consecrated to the service of Jehovah. The appo-
sition, " who are on earth," shows that the refer-
ence is to their objective relation to the covenant.
This clause states, that the Psalmist speaks of
the congregation which is upon earth not so
much in distinction from the congregation in
heaven or the angels (Aben Ezra), as with re-
ference to his personal relation to God just men-
tioned. The explanation of those buried in the
earth (Chald., Isaki) is entirely foreign to the
text, and there is no evidence of a limitation to
those who were in the Holy Land (Hupf.), in
contrast to those members of the people of the
covenant which were abroad. The following
clause shows, however, that the Psalmist has
not in mind the external communion of the so-
called visible Church, but the living members of
this Church as his associates. Tbe adirim are
not the magnates, the aristocratic nobility in
distinction from the saints, which among the
lower classes, the dm haaretz are regarded as
such, but the saints, in whom, as in the excellent
and enlightened, the Divine 66^a appears re-
flected. According to Hitzig David was then in
Philistia, 1 Sam. xxvii. Driven from his land,
the temptation to apostatize from Jehovah was
natural, 1 Sam. xxvi. 19. To the rejection of
the temptation ver.. 4 of our Psalm is said to
refer, and ver. 7 to the fact that David, at the
command of God, had undertaken the pursuit
of his enemies, and sent presents from the booty
to the elders of the cities of Judah, 1 Sam. xxx.
26, who are therefore called his friends. These
are the noble and the excellent in whom David
has all his delight. It is true that David, as in
ver. 2 6 he is said to say that he had his success
in battle from Jehovah, ought to have sent a
* [Perowne : " We may take 7 in the sense of ' belonging
to,' 'joining myself to, and the passage would mean, ' I have
no good beyond Thee, belonging as I do to the fellowship of
the saints, and the noble in whom,' etc. Indeed some such
meaning seems to be required by the context ; for it is evi-
dent that it is the design of the Psalmist to contrast his own
happy lot, and that of others who, like himself, had found
their happiness in Jehovah, with the miserable condition of
those ' whose sorrows were increased, because they weak
after other gods.' "—0. A. B.]
124
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
part of the booty of this victory over the Amale-
kites, as a thank-oflfering, to the house of God
and its priests; but there was then no central
worship, 1 Sam, xxii. 18; comp. 1 Chron. xiii.
3. Therefore David has from abroad sent the
present to those who belong to the national God.
This then is supposed to be said by ver. 3, that
it belongs to the saints in the land. David like-
wise says, ver. 4 a, how he himself has experi-
enced that it fares badly with the heathen ;
similarly vers. 9 and 11, that fulness of joy re-
wards the service of Jehovah.* — Olshausen re-
gards the text as entirely cori'upted. The Vul-
gate translates, after the Sept. : " In the saints,
which are in His land, He has made wonderful
all His (my) delight," or after another reading
already observed by Augustine, " He has won-
derfully fulfilled all my desire."
Str. IV. Ver. 4. Many are their sorrow^s
[A. v., Their sorrows shall be multiplied]. — This
clause is likewise disputed as to its construction
and meaning. Some, as already mentioned,
combine it with the preceding clause, but must
then supply something essential. Others (Mich.,
Olsh., Maurer, Ewald), with Chald., Symm.,
Jerome, interpret yi^ of idols. But only the
masculine of this stem is used in the sense of:
carved-work=iaiages of idols. The feminine,
which is here used, signifies: sorrows (Pesch.,
Aquil., Sept.). Since now it is connected with
a suffix which refers to persons, which can be
more closely indicated only in the following
words, the next words are usually, with the
Rabb., regarded as an asynd. relative clause. The
masculine of the verb ^3")'' frequently occurs
with the feminine of the noun when it precedes,
and the expression " their sorrows," instead of
"the sorrows of those who," is defended by
Hitzig. Hupf. and Delitzsch, on the other hand,
find this hard and inadmissible. The former
would rather, with Schnurrer, Hensler, Ruperti
(in Eichhorri's Allgemeiner Biblioth., vol. 6), read
it as hiphil (=multiply [so A. V.]), whereby all
would be normal. The latter divides ver. 4 a
into two independent clauses, which represent
the place of a nom. absoL, and are to prepare the
statement describing the internal difference be-
tween David and such people. — Many interpre-
ters after the ancient translations regard the
following words as a paraphrase of apostasy from
God, whilst they translate: who hasten back-
wards. Schnurrer even changes "^Hi;? into "^nX-
It would be better to translate: who hasten else-
where (Geier, Storr, Rosenm., De Wette, Stier),
or hasten after another (Luther), hasten to
others (namely idols, Gesen., Ewald). * But ^HD
has the meaning of hasten only in the piel; in
the kal only the meaning : purchase, namely for
a wife, Ex. xxii. 15, can be proved. Many in-
terpreters (Salomo ben Melech, Calv., et al.),
with reference to the figure of marriage, to re-
present the relation of the congregation to God,
take the expression here in this way, Hitzig,
who finds that there is considered here not the
contrast between the faithful and the apostate in
Israel, but between the worshippers of idols and
* [This theory of Hitzig is ingenious, but too artificial and
strained. It does not agree in tone with other PBalms of
that period. This Psalm certainly belongs to ii later period
hi his life after the Messianic prophecy of Nathan. — C. A. B.j
the worshippers of Jehovah, translates: who
strive to obtain another, Hupf. goes back to the
meaning of "purchase," without its reference to
marriage, and to its relationship to "HD to ex-
change; he thinks of the exchange of the here-
ditary true God for a false one (Ps. cvi. 20;
Ho3 iv. 7 ; Jer. ii. 11), and reminds us of Isa.
xlii. 8; xlviii. 11; where "in^ likewise is in the
singular and absolute. Thus most recent inter-
preters, among whom, however, Bottcher, Heng-
stenberg, Delitzsch, hold fast to the allusion to the
figure of wooing, and remark that there is here
said not exactly " other gods," as Ex. xx. 3 and
frequently ; but an indefinite expression is chosen,
which leads not to the ordinary but to the so-
called more elegant worship of idols. It is ques-
tionable whether the following plural suffixes are
to be referred to the worshippers of idols, with
whom the Psalmist breaks off every kind of
communion, with the refusal to commune with
them in their offerings, and with whose names he
will not defile his lips (Delitzsch), whom he will
not mention in his prayers (Bohl); or whether
they refer to the idols themselves, in favor of
which are especially Ex. xx. 7; xxiii. 13 (make
no mention of the name of other gods); Hoa,
ii. 19, and the contrast with ver. 6 (Calv., Grot.,
Bottch., Ewald, Hengst,, Hupfeld, Hitzig [Pe-
rowne]).
The drink-offerings of the Israelites consisted
of wine, and drink-offerings of blood are like-
wise not found among the heathen, but wine was
mixed with blood (Zech. ix. 7) and drunken
only in connection with terrible undertakings,
under fearful oaths. This special reference,
however, is far from the meaning of the text,
which Isaki, Aben Ezra, J. D. Mich., Winer
overlook. Some interpreters, therefore (Kim-
chi, Stier, Delitzsch), regard the expression as
figurative of offerings made with bloody hands
and -conscience stained with blood, which make
every offering unclean. Others better as a com-
parison, a3 if they consisted of blood instead of
wine, Isa. Ixvi, 3, to which comparison blood of
grapes. Gen. xlix. 11 ; Deut. xxxii. 14, forms
the transition (Schnurrer, Hengst., Hupf.). Ac-
cording to Hitzig the |D is comparative, and the
meaning is : I forbear to offer their drink-offer-
ings more than to offer their blood. The suppo-
sition that an action is mentioned which is only
to be done by priests, and therefore because David
could not have done this, this passage must have
a Messianic interpretation (Bohl), overlooks the
fact that the reference here is not at all and can-
not be to the altar and the legally arranged
functions, but to the refusal to participate in the
worship of gods in a form which in the mouth
of the Messiah would be entirely inappropriate.
The Vulgate, after the Sept., differs entirely
from the Hebrew : then weaknesses were multi-
plied; afterwards they hastened. I will not
assemble their assemblies of blood, nor bring
their name upon my lips.
Str. V. Ver. 5. Portion of mine inheri-
tance and of my cup.— JIJD, besides 2 Chron.
xxxi. 4, only in the Davidic Psalms, is slat, const.
and to be connected with both genitives (Hupf.
upon Ps. xi. 6), but not in the sense of portion
of food (Hupf.), together with portion of drink
PSALM XVI.
125
as the two parts of a feast, the usual figure of
Divine favor and benefits, Pss. xxii. 26 ; xxiii.
5 ; Prov. ix. 2 ; but corresponding with the other
expressions of this Psalm a figurative expression
of nourishing possession and quickening enjoy-
ment, as the Psalmist has both in Jehovah
through Jehovah's favor. The first figure is
brought about thus: in the general division of
the land the tribe of Levi received no possession
in the land, but was to live of the parts of the
offerings which fell to the share of those who
were occupied in Divine service about the sanc-
tuary, on account of Jehovah, Deut. xviii. 1, 2.
Jehovah Himself is, therefore, called their pbn
=share, Deut. x. 9, in special application to
Aaron, Num. xviii. 20; more widely extended
to the entire house of Jacob, Jer. x. 16, first
brought about by the design that the entire
people should be a kingdom of priests, Ex. xix.
6, and therefore applicable to every individual
as well as to the whole body of saints and
nobles, ver. 3. — From the division of the holy
land by lot between the various tribes and their
members originated likewise the expression
llM=ip^(l)og, the lot taken out of an urn, which,
however, since decision by lot was regarded as
God's act, has become in the Old Testament the
symbol and type of all grants of the royal
righteousness and grace of God, as the
possession thereby given is the foundation
and essence of all Divine blessing (Hupfeld).
Since that which falls to any one by lot has
the same name, gdral, e. g. Judges i. 3; I^a. Ivii.
6, it is very natural to regard IJ'pij'l as hi'phil of
a word 1|D' and to explain it after the analogy
of the Arabic (A. Schultens) : Thou enlarged
that which has fallen to me by lot (Hengst.,
Bohl, it al.). Since, however, the meaning of
the word is disputed, Bottcher and Kdster go
back to a root ')|1D:=Thou makest my lot to fall
(that is, to fall out of the urn). This second
meaning, however, given for the sake of expla-
nation, is without example in the use of the
word. The proposal of Ewald to regard the
difficult form of the word likewise as nomen
abstr. cannot be carried out. The present view
of Bottcher is more likely, that it is a diminutive
form, little or costly possession ; thus: Thou art
the jewel of my lot. Hupf. and Delitzsch go to
the root TjOn and regard the form as the parti-
ciple "JlOiri incorrectly written=Thou who ad-
ministerest my lot, or Thou who maintainest,
keepest in its integrity that which has fallen to
me by lot. Hitzig for this form refers to the
analogy of r31N, 1 Chron. xxvii. 30, but regards
the root which is ordinarily accepted, as inap-
propriate to the context and corrects as TDP^
perpetuus, whilst he expresses the conjecture that
Tpin might be an archaic expression (against
which, however, ver. 8), and translates: Thou
art constantly my possession.
Sir. VI. Ver. 6. Hitzig understands this verse
locally of a beautiful region. Delitzsch regards
the expression likewise^Elysian fields, but as a
figurative designation of God Himself. The ab-
Biract loveliness, Job xxxvi. 11, is better, which,
however, is not to be resolved into an adverb : in
a lovely manner (Bottcher, Hupf., Bohl) ; for
the expression is not to be separated from the
local coloring and reference, Mic. ii. 5; Josh,
xvii. 5. — '^X (=likewise) is used here as con-
firmatory, giving gradation to the thought; the
fact just mentioned is recognized in the feelings
of the poet ^Hupf,).
Str. VII. Ver. 7. Advised [A. V., <'hath
given me counsel "], is not=cared for (Knapp),
but=provided with good counsel, which some
(Isaki, De Wette, Olsh.) refer to th? general ex-
hortation to the fear of God and faitnfulness,
others and indeed, on account of the following
clause, more correctly (Kimchi, Calv., Hengst.,
Hupf.), to the action of God in the heart of the
Psalmist in choosing and laying hold of the
good above described. ID' (properly to set
right) is often used of Divine teaching and
warning, e. g. Ps. xciv. 12 ; Isa. xxviii. 26 ;
Deut. iv. 36 ; so that the warning of the reins
seems to refer not to the thoughts (most inter-
preters), but rather is parallel to the advice of
God (Calv., Hupf,).*
Str. VIII. Ver. 8. Some regard the ^3 (A. V.,
because) as=:when, since they find the antece-
dent to the following clause introduced; most
interpreters, however, regard it as=for, as a
statement of the reason of the preceding state-
ment. Standing or being at the right hand (Pss.
cix. 31 ; ex. 6 ; cxxi. 6) is the figure of protect-
ing nearness. [Perowne : " God in David's eyes
is no abstraction, but a Person, real, living,
walking at his side." — C. A. B.]. The subject
K^n is omitted, as Pss. xxii. 28 ; Iv. 20 ; cxii. 4.
Str. IX. Ver. 9. Glory.— [Delitzsch : "There-
fore, because Jehovah is so near him to help him,
his soul is transported in joy, HDii^, and his glory,
that is, his soul rejoiceth, whilst, as the fai. con-
sec, expresses, his joy breaks forth in rejoicing.
No passage of Scripture is so like this as 1 Thess.
V. 23. 3? is TTvev/m (vovg) '\'\^3=rpvx'^ {yid. De-
litzsch, Psychol, p. 98), TK'J, au/na; the a/ae/UTrTug
TJjpTj'&Tjvac, which the Apostle there wishes for
his readers in respect to the three parts of their
nature, David here expresses as a confident ex-
pectation."— C. A. B.]
My flesh also shall dwell in safety. — [A.
v., rest in hopel. The form of connection shows
that flesh is not here as Rom. vii. 18 (Hitzig) pe-
riphrase of the person, but means the bodg. But
the question is whether it means the body as
living, being under the Divine protection in a
condition of quiet happiness, undisturbed, and
without danger from any hostile aflBiiction (Heng-
stenberg, et al.), Ps. iv. 9; Deut. xxxiii. 12, 38;
Jer. xxiii. 6; Prov. i. 33; or whether not rather
the same body with reference to its future rest
in safety in the grave ? It is true the following
verse speaks of preservation (not in death but)
from death, and the limitation of the meaning of
ver. 10 a to preservation from the danger of death
in a now threatening case, is possible from the
language, Ps. xxx. 4 ; comp. Ps. ix. 14. But if
* [Perowue : " God has led me to find my joy in Him, and
now in the night seasona, as the time ipost favorable to quiet
thought, I meditate thereon. The heart itself ia said to ad-
monish, becansG it anxiously listens to the voice of Qod, and
seeks to conform itself thereto.'' — C. A. B.]
126
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
it is recognized not only by Clauas, Thol., De-
litzsch, but also by Ewald and Hupf. with refe-
rence to Calvin, that the way of life and the joy
with God in the following verses, refer to some-
thing more than merely deliverance of life from
danger, and the supposition is natural, that it
expresses the hope, that the pious shall not at all
be the booty of death, but share in everlasting
communion with God; then it is still more natu-
ral not to remain by the first steps of the recog-
nition of a deeper and more comprehensite mean-
ing. For in ver. 10 a the confidence is expressed,
that God will not overlook or give up the soul to
Sheol. Herein is expressed the hope of immor-
tality in a wider sense; for Sheol is in any case
the gathering place of departed souls in distinc-
tion from the grave which receives the body,
Gen. xxxvii. 35. Already in this connection ver.
9 b may indeed speak of the preservation and se-
cure rest of the entombed body, and prepare the
thought which the Sept. already anticipates with
its KaraoKTjvuaet ett' kXiride. This is still more
certain from ver. \0b. For the expression:
Thou wilt not give up thy TOn to see T\TW, as
merely parallel with the previous = thou wilt
not let hira die, would have a form, which woOld
lead to the thought that the speaker has the hope
not to die at all, rather than to that recognized by
Hupf., Ewald, et al., that he hopes for a blessed
continuance of life with God extending beyond
death. This leaves undecided whether it is to be
regarded as inthe manner of Enoch and Elias,
or otherwise. But now it has not been proved
that nnii' must certainly be derived from X\W
= to sink down, and must be translated " grave,"
as Ps. vii. 15, where the Sept. has likewise (36-&pog.
The derivation of nni^ in the meaning diatp^opa.,
ruin, corruption, is indeed very possible (Gesen.,
Winer), Is. xlix. 9, admissible, Ps. Iv. 23, more ap-
propriate than the other, Job xvii. 14, scarcely
to be denied. Since there the word is in the masc.
gender in the signification of pit, in the femi-
nine, however, according to Prov. xxvi. 27, the
difiference of meaning with a similarity of sound
is still less doubtful, as there are parallels for it
in all languages, likewise often in the Hebrew.
Bohl adduces as especially convincing HTM, as
meaning in the masc. sinking down, Job xxxvi.
16; Is. XXX. 30; comp. Ps. xxxviii. 3, in fern.
rest (derived from HU). All the ancient trans-
lations have this interpretation with the excep-
tion of the Chald. The ancient Jews have had
eo little doubt of it, that from it has originated
the rabbinical fable, that the body of David has
never decayed. It forms the nerve of the evi-
dence in the Messianic reference of this passage
to the resurrection of Jesus, testified to as a fact
in the sermons of Peter at Pentecost, (Acts ii. 25
sq.) and of Paul in the synagogue of Antioch
(Acts xiii. 35-37). It forms in our text an es-
sential member in the progress of thought, and
an important declaration of revelation respecting
the resurrection of the body [vid., Doctrinal and
Ethical). The Tpn is, according to Hupfeld's
admirable investigation of Ps. iv. 3, the bearer
of the Divine grace in all the relations in which
this is shown at work, first of all, and chiefly,
according to the passive form, "standing in a
state and covenant of grace with .Jehovah," pome-
times applied to the narrower circle of the p'.ous,
likewise to an individual servant of God as es-
pecially favored in the midst of the elect people
of God ; then, although seldom, likewise actively
exercising grace as well of God, Ps. cxlv. 17 ; Jer.
iii. 12, as of one man to another, Pss. xii. 1 ; xviii.
25; xliii. 1; comp, Mic. vii. 2. The Sept., with
its Messianic interpretation, has likewise trans-
lated very properly tov baiov gov. All the an-
cient translations, and most MSS., have the sin-
gular. The Masora likewise says : yod is not
pronounced. Thus if this had read in the MSS.
TTOn, as now likewise some, and especially an-
cient Spanish Codd. have it, this is not to be re-
garded as plural, but as singular, and indeed so
that it* is not so much to be regarded as the so-
called emphatic plural or plural of majesty
(Bohl, after the ancient interpreters) as rather
the yod is to be considered as, Gen. xvi. 5; Ps.
ix. 14; Jer. xlvi. 15, as a sign of the seghol,
(Hitzig).
Ver, 11. Make known (A. V., show) J?T
is frequently used not of theoretical knowledge,
hilt of practical experience. The "way of life,
(A. v., ''path of life ") = way to life (Prov. v.
6) leads upwards in contrast to Sheol, which is
downward, Prov. xv. 24; comp. Prov. ii, 19; vi.
23 ; X. 17. — At thy right hand. — Comp, Prov.
iii, 16, so that God administers. The explana-
tion of Hengst. by thy right hand, as deliver-
ing and punishing, Prov. xvii. 7, is against the
parallel (in thy presence, demanded by the HK
of association). — n^J denotes not only enduring
joy in contrast to fleeting pleasures of the world,
but likewise enduring forever. The word is an
accusative adverb instead of n2f J/, hence Sept,
correctly, eig rb ri/iog.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who has living faith in the true God,
turns to Him in every threatening danger, not
only in sickness and danger of death, but with
every experience of the insecurity of human life,
and under the impressions of its painful per-
plexities. But the same faith which drives the
oppressed to God, opens their lips to prayer, and
creates in them the assurance of being heard, as
well as the confidence of being sheltered by God,
2, There are prayers and songs which have
not only grown up from the soil of confessing the
living God of revelation, and are supported by it
as by \l% ground of faith and life, but which give
expression to this confession as such, and thereby
gain the form of didactic testimonies. These, on
account of their lyrical and devotional character,
retain their edifying as well as their comforting
characteristics ; they even advance to real pro-
phetical discourse, when they originate in per-
sonal experience from communion with God,
which is the essential substance of faith, and by
virtue of this origin not only breathe in general
the breath of another world, but reveal the mys-
teries of Divine life,
3. This prophetic testimony of the praying
believer is on the one side confession, on the
other, prophecy, yet in both respects brought
about by the individual condition of the speaker,
not less than by his historical position, particu-
larly within the economy of the kingdom of God,
Ttii.s gives the present statement partly its pecu-
PSALM XVI.
127
liar vivid color, partly its internal as well as ex-
ternal limits
4. Tiie true prophet knows his position, and
does not deny it. But still less is he proud of it.
In his relations to God he is at the same time His
servant and friend. The Almighty God of reve-
lation is his Lord and his only good. Whatever
good he knows, loves, has, and seeks, is for him
not sometiiing additional to God, but it is com-
prehended in God, and is his portion on account
of his communion with God. »But this is not a
peculiar relation, distinguishing him from other
men. On the contrary God has an elect people
on earth. He has in the land and abode of the
prophet members of the congregation of saints.
The true prophet confesses and regards himself
as one of them, and as being in communion with
them, testifies to their communion with God.
6. Not every kind of Divine service is well
pleasing to God, and religious dififerences are not
to be regarded as trifling. The true prophet
contends rather against the fatal delusion that it
depends only upon its religious character, and
not so much upon its concrete nature. He ear-
nestly and decidedly separates himself from those
who perform sacrifices and call indeed upon
their gods, but yet renounce the true God, who is
likewise their Creator, and would help them, and
have exchanged Him for that which can and will
only bring them trouble instead of salvation.
His whole delight, on the other hand, is in the
members of the congregation of God, who, not-
withstanding their position as servants, are yet
the noble and enlightened in whom the Majesty
of God is glorified, and the glory of the saints re-
flected.
6. In this personal relation to God and to the
congregation of God in the land, the prophet has
and holds his highest good and his greatest hap-
piness; he recognizes and praises his best jewel
and his constant joy. He not only receives wbat
he needs from God, but he has in and with God
all that he needs and all his pleasure. But this
does not make him proud. He remembers that
this blessed relation to God has originated not
from his own will ; therefore he praises God who
has proved to be the best for him. He remem-
bers that notwithstanding his communion with
God, he is yet not one with God, and that even
unity would be very difl'erent from identity. If
he lives in God and God in him, he is yet not
swallowed up in God, and God has not been sunk
in him. God is indeed no stranger to him, still
less an enemy, yet God is and remains another
person. Therefore day and night he longs and
strives to preserve, strengthen, and deepen this
communion, which is the ground of his confi-
dence, the subject of his joy, and the source of
his life. Eligant cupidi divilias, voluptuosi delicias
pompatici dignitates, quibus fruantur, pars vero
mea est et erit Deus in seternum (Gloss ordin).
7. Death, the Grave, and Hell, have lost their
terrors to the man who is assured of this com-
munion with God. He has God, and in God life;
for God is life, eternal life, blessed life, unfa-
thomable in its depth, inexhaustible in its ful-
ness, all-sufficient in its glory and power. But
living in this world and in the flesh he cannot
escape death or avoid the grave; and as a servant
of God knowing the Divine order and subject to
it, he cannot forget or despise either of them.
But as d friend of God he knows and feels that in
all cases he is sheltered in God ; for God cannot
forsake the man who does not forsake Him, and
the man who has no good except God, and will
have nothing above God or beside Him, thereby
gains with God and in God the fulness of joy and
good.
8. He who has made this confidence of the as-
surance of faith and confession of it, a matter of
experience in life, to him the hope of eternal life
gains a personal meaning. He regards God as
the source, contents, and aim not only of true
and eternal life, but at the same time of his per-
sonal life. This illuminates for Mm the night of
death. He knows that he, the favored friend of
God, walking the way of life unto life in the obe-
dience of faith, will even in death go to God, and
will attain that which is in the presence of the
angels, at the right hand of the only living God.
Since this experience is still in the future, but is
already now the object of his faith, the Psalmist
prophesies whilst he confesses his hope of faith.
There is likewise here in subject and form more
than the '* flashing up of the hope of immortality
in the Old Testament." It is true there is not
yet given a doctrine of the resurrection of the
dead, but yet a prophetic declaration of the as-
surance of participating in the eternal and blessed
life of God, in which the germs of a doctrine of the
resurrection are disclosed, which are rooted
entirely in the ground of revelation, and for their
development into clearness of recognition point
far beyond themselves, their own time, and the
person of the speaker.
9. The speaker is not the Messiah, either as
a pre-existing person, or as a figure of speech,
still less merely a pious poet who expresses ob-
scure hopes in poetical hyperbole, but he is Da-
vid as a prophet, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2; Acts ii. 30,
Whilst David on the basis of previous experience
of personal communion with God, and under the
impression of present experiences of the same,
speaks in the hope of faith, of the sure continuance
of the .same extending into eternity ; this is in ex-
pressions which have an entirely personal refe-
rence, yet not in the form of an application of a
general truth to the Psalmist or others like him,
but in such a way that it directly breaks through
thereference to David, and must have called forth
thoughts of prophetical illumination and Mes-
sianic meaning, so soon as the attention was di-
rected to the very peculiar character of their
conception. This might have been the case with
David himself in subsequent reflection upon his
Psalm in the sense of 1 Peter i. 10-12. For this
passage distinguishes between the statements of
the prophets, and their own searching after the
special sense of their prophecies, and the parti-
cular meaning designed by the Spirit of Christ
working in them. As a matter of course after
the death of David, when this Psalm was used
among the sacred songs of the congregation, its
Messianic reference could not but increase in
certainty and recognition among the congrega-
tion of God, But this does not imply that the
Messianic interpretation of this as well as other
passages of the Psalms, first originated from the
reflection of the congregation (Schultz in den
Theol. Stud. undKrit., 1866, Heft 1). Moreover
128
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
with, every recogaitioa of hislorical accommoda-
tion, as well ia understanding Messianic pro-
phecy as in its origin and form, the sense of this
passage is not to be limited to the idea, that Da-
vid was in no danger of death so long as his
kingdom was not destroyed with him, and that
when he died his kingdom still remained (Hof-
mann, Schriflbeweis ii. 1, 357). It is true many
interpreters have not sufltciently distingnisLed
between inquiry into the original sense of this
passage, and the application of the truth drawn
from it. Moreover they have not unfrequently
introduced into the passage, or into the con-
sciousness of David, ideas of the resurrection of
the Messiah, and the participation therein of
every member of the congregation, even in the
Old Testament, who believes in Him. But this
could only be known from the stand-point of its
fulfilment in the New Testament. But three
things are certainly in the text; (1) that David
bases the confidence of his hope of participating
in the life which is in God, and is imparted by
God, upon, his personal relation to God; (2) that
this hope is expressed in words, which express
more than David at first supposed or knew, and
which have found their real fulfilment exclusively
in a definite fact, namely, in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ; (3) that the manner of expression
constitutes the passage in question a Messianic
prophecy, yet not in a typical, but in a prophe-
tical sense, such as it is likewise treated in the
New Testament.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It brings great blessings to confess God as our
Lord; but the most delightful lot falls to those
who lay hold of God Himself as their highest
good, and make use of the communion of saints
for this purpose. — The communion of saints can-
not be united with a participation in the prac-
tices of those who )xB.yQ forsaken God. — The pious
not only enjoy in this world a pleasure of which
the world knows nothing ; but they have to ex-
pect likewise pleasures which the world cannot
receive. — He who has communion with God has
to be very careful to cherish it, and therefore ear-
nestly to use the institutions, means of grace, and
advice provided for this. — Only those joys have
an abiding value, which we find in the presence
of God, and which we receive from the hand of
God. — The best remedy against troubles and
temptations of all kinds is to keep God constantly
before our eyes and in our hearts. The assu-
rance of the everlasting duration of our existence
is comforting and refreshing only when it is con-
nected with the believer's hope of eternal life in
the presence of God. — Everlasting life is assured
to those who have made the living God their true
Lord, their blissful good, their abiding portion.
Starke: The supports of our trust in God are
His fatherly aflfection and pity for His children,
as well as His infinite power as the Lord of all
lords. — God has His saints and nobles not only
in heaven, but likewise on earth. — He who re-
cognizes the inheritance of the Lord as lovely and
beautiful, will be disgusted with the inheritance
of the world ; he will refuse it, and shun no suf-
ferings to gain the beautiful inherit.ince. — The
evil spirit constantly excites the siuful heart to
evil ; but the Holy Spirit day and night awakena
in believers holy desires, and excites them to
good. — Faith is not an idle or lazy thought, but
is aciive, busy, industrious to look to God and at
no time to turn away the eyes of the heart from
Hiin. — From the living trust of the heart in God,
arises internal joy and sincere love to God and
all creatures, — The tongue is given to man to
glorify the Divine name, and joyfully recount his
benefits. — If Christ the Head went to meet the
desired issue of His sufferings with full assu-
rance, then His members can likewise certainly
believe that God will give all their troubles a glo-
rious end, 2 Tim. iv. 18. — The body of Jesus
could not become corrupt because there were no
sins in His members. We must become corrupt,
because sin still dwells in our mortal bodies, but
we thus lay aside the corruptible in order to
arise incorruptible. — In this life Christians have
in God's word only a foretaste of heavenly joy ;
but in that life this joy will be complete; then it
will no longer be said: happy to-day, sad to-
morrow; but without intermission will they be
entirely joyous from God, through God, and in
God. — Luther: The chiefest and highest pas-
sion, trust in God, makes the difference between
the people of God, which are His possession, and
those who are not His people. The way of life
is a work of the power and justice of God alone.
Menzbl: He who knows and loves God, be-
lieves on Him ; he who believes, praises Him
and confesses Him; he who confesses Him ia
persecuted ; he who is persecuted is comforted
by God ; he whom God comforts He instructs,
and thence proceed the most beautiful fruits. —
Frisch: He is rich enough for time and eternity
who can at all times boast of his God alone. —
The saints of God are likewise His nobles. — If
we have God in view, and direct all that we do and
have done according to His most holy point of view,
no one on earth can deprive us of our inheritance.
— Umbreit: He who has God for his cup really
and truly derives from Him by means of faith in
the most secret communion, the Holy Ghost
and eternal life. — The most cheerful light
springs up here from the depths of faith,
and is poured over the gloomy grave. —
Guenther.: There is nothing more lovely or
blessed for the children of God than blissful com-
munion with God. — DiEDRiCH : To have the grace
of God and know it as always victorious, is the
golden mystery, the excellent, heavenly wealih
of believers, and all this has been given to them
by God in His word. — If we are closely united
with all saints in God, we are likewise internally
separated from unbelievers ; and he who declares
himself one of the saints, must likewise feel that
he is separated from them, and must confess that
^heir condition is likewise unhappy, their nature
is wicked and lost.
[Matth. Henrt : Covenanting with God must
be heart work, all that is within us must be em-
ployed therein and engaged thereby. — Christ
delights even in the saints on earth, notwith-
standing their weakness and manifold infirmi-
ties, which is a good reason why we should. —
The saints and their bliss are kept by the power
of God. — Dea'h destroys the hope of man. Job
xiv. 14, but not the hope of a good Christian,
Prov. xiv. 32. He has hope in his death, living
PSALM XVII.
129
hopes in dying moments; hopes that the body
shall not be left forever in the grave; but, though
A see corruption for a time, it shall at the end
of time be raised to immortality. Christ's re-
surrection is an earnest of ours, if we be His. — ■
Barnes: No one can safely so familiarize him-
self with vice as to render it a frequent subject
of conversation. Pollution will flow into the
heart from words which describe pollution, even
when there is no intention that the use of such
words should produce contamination. No one
can be familiar with stories or songs of a pol-
luted nature, and still retain a heart of purity. —
Spuegeon: The title of "His Excellency"
more properly belongs to the meanest saint than
to the greatest governor. The true aristocracy
are believers in Jesus. They are the only Right
Honorables. Stars and garters are poor distinc-
tions compared with the graces of the Spirit. —
The night season which the sinner chooses for
his sins is the hallowed hour of quiet, when be-
lievers hear the soft still voices of heaven, and
of the heavenly life within themselves. — Christ's
resurrection is the cause, the earnest, the gua-
rantee, and the emblem of the rising of all His
people. Let them, therefore, go to their graves
as to their beds, resting their flesh among the clods
as they now do upon their couches. — C. A. B.]
PSALM xvn.
A Prayer of David.
1 Hear the right, O Loed, attend unto my cry ;
Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence ;
Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night;
Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing :
I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips
I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
6 Hold up my goings in thy paths.
That my footsteps slip not.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God:
Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7 Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them
which put their trust in thee
From those that rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye ;
Hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9. From the wicked that oppress me,
From my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are inclosed in their own fat:
With their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps:
They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth ;
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey.
And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down:
Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
14 From men which are thy hand. O Lord, from men of the world,
9
130
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
Which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fiUest with thy hid
treasure :
They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their Oabes.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness :
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Title and Contents. — Respecting iefillah, vid.
Introduction. This Psalm has so strongly im-
pressed upon it the characteristics of a pi'ayer,
as it wrenches itself from the soul of a man hard
pressed by deadly enemies, in a moment of great-
est danger, that we need not suppose that the
title is a later addition taken from ver. 1 b (Hit-
zig). The manner of expression discloses so vi-
vidly the agitation, change of sentiment, indivi-
duality, and the immediateness of the circum-
stances, that we are still less to think of the ab-
stract person of the righteous (Hengst. ), or of a
poet, unknown in person and circumstances, as it
is pretended is the case in most of the Psalms of
lamentation and prayer (Hupf.); for in the life
of David, in the time of the persecution by Saul
according to 1 Sam. xxiii., there were circum-
stances corresponding exactly with those of this
Psalm (Hitzig) ; and the language which is fre-
quently hard and inflexible, with its peculiarly
irregular turns and gloomy tones, together with
other points of contact with prominent expres-
sions in other Psalms of David, is a very marked
echo of his frame of mind (Delitzsch), although we
may perhaps in some passages admit a corrup-
tion of the text, (Olsh.)*
The prayer begins with calling' upon God as
the righteous Judge and infallible searcher of
hearts, with an appeal to the honesty of the pe-
titioner (vers. 1, 2), who knows that he is
searched through and through in his inmost soul
by God, and accordingly holding fast to the word
and ways of God he has kept himself in his con-
versation and walk, so that the corrupt move-
ments of men have not borne him along with
them (vers. 3-5). With so much the greater as-
surance of being heard (ver. 6) prayer now rises
for deliverance from wicked, strong, and power-
ful enemies, whose nearness, inexorableness and
cruelty (vers. 10-12) are intuitively described,
calling upon Jehovah immediately to interfere
(ver. 13), against an enemy who is especially
dangerous (ver. 12) who is especially prominent
among the worldly-minded who seek and find
their good and happiness in things of this world
(ver. 14). He closes by bringing into strong
* [This Psalm resembles the preceding in so many particn-
lara, e. g., the prayer ''JlDty, Pas. xvi. 1 ; xvii. 8; the re-
• •• : T
collection of communion with God by night, Psa. xvi. 7 ;
xvii. 3; the use of Sx in prayer, Pss. xvi. 1 ; xvii. 6; the
verb ^DH. Pss. xvi. 5 ; xv. 5 (Delitzsch) ; the reference to the
protecting and defending right hand of fled, Pas. xvi 8 ; xvii.
7,14; the contrasted porWons of the Psalmist and the wicked,
Pss. xvi. 2-6; xvii. 14, 15; and the pleasures of the Divine
presence, Pss. xvi. 11 ; xvii. 15; that they may properly be
regarded as a pair composed at or near the same time, and
that towards the close of David's life (vid. not© to Pa. xvi.). —
C. A. B.]
contrast the disposition, position, and hopes ©f
the man of prayer.*
Sir. I. Ver. 1. Righteousness. — This word
is not in apposition to Jehovah (Kohler), or in
dependence upon Jehovah according to the trans-
lations of Symm. and Theodot., Kvple dtKCMoivrjq,
but as an accusative of the object. The interpreta-
tion, me as righteous (Aquil., Jerome, Hengst.),
unites the expression, or rather its idea, too
closely to the person praying. Luther's marginal
reading: If thou wilt not hear me, then hear thy
righteous cause, separates it too far from the per-
son. The general character of the expression and
its meaning as introducing the contents of the
prayer, are effaced by either of the translations:
my righteousness = my righteous cause (Calv.),
or, my righteous prayer (Chald.), or indeed,
my sincere petition (Kimchi). The parallelism
(Hupf.) does not justify any such special refe-
rence, ^till less is the article to be brought in
as a suffix, and the righteousness or innocence
regarded as those who were oppressed and in-
jured in the persecution of David, who com-
plain and pray in his mouth (Geier, et al.) It
is true the paraphrase : Hea;* the righteousness
which speaketh through me ! would be more ex-
act than that already rejected : Hear me in my
righteousness or as righteous. For righteous-
ness of the thing and not of the person would be
first stated in accordance with the text, and thus
at the same time that opposition of righteousness
of the thing and of the person would be avoided
(Calov., J. H. Mich., et al.), which is foreign to
the text, and indeed according to ver. 3 sq., con-
tradictory. But yet the reference of righteous-
ness to the person appears in the text only after
many accommodations. To these belong the ap-
peal made to the righteous dealings of God ac-
cording to His infallible judgment by the pray-
ing Psalmist, who in the uprightness of piety
cries anxiously to God with the hope of being
heard. This interpretation brings into view an
advance in the thought which is for the most part
overlooked, and likewise is supported by the fact
that the last word in ver. 2, in an adverbial inter-
pretation, corresponds better with usage than to
regard it as an accusative of the object dependent
upon ''behold,^' and thus parallel to: hear right-
eousness, in ver. 1, essentially a statement re-
specting the character of the petitioner, whilst
our interpretation presents an appeal to the in-
fallible judgment of God I Hitzig, by comparing
* [It is very usual among Interpreters to regard this enemy
who is especially prominent as Saul, and the Psalm is referred
to the period of the persecution by Saul, but it seems better
to regard this enemy as the powerful Joab, who was the
plaijue of David's life, especially towards its close, and the
Psalmist often alludes to this bold, powerful, unscrupulous
chieftain, who more than once had the audacity to threaten
David himself. That David regarded him as an enemy we see
from his command to Solomon, 1 Kings, ii. 5, 6. — 0. A. B]
f [The author is incorrect in regarding D^"\iy^Q as an
PSALM XVII.
131
Prov. iv. 25, finds a similar thought expressed to
that of Jer. v. 3. — From lips w^ithout deceit.
[A. V. (*^that goelh) not out of feigned lips." Hup-
feld : "Not with deceitful lips, or with lips
without deceit (falsehood, hypocrisy)," in oppo-
sition to the cry and prayer, which at first pro-
tests the subjective uprightness of his prayer and
the ideas with which he supports it, but at the
same time guarantees the objective truth of the
assertion of his righteousness in the first mem-
ber (with which it is parallel) so far as that he
who is defiled with guilt dare not approach God
and venture to call upon His righteousness as a
righteous man, comp. Ps. xxxii. 2 ; Ixvi. 18, and
"lift up holy hands," 1 Tim, ii. 8.— C. A. B.]
Str. II. Ver. 3. Thou hast proved, etc. —
The three perfects, since they are followed by
an imperfect, do not refer to a definite historical
event in the history of David, but form the ante-
cedent, stating the Divine activities which con-
stantly precede the result of the Divine examina-
tion described in the conclusion. There is no
question or doubt but that David is drawn into
this court of examination by God, and hence the
clause does not properly admit of being taken as
hypothetical, but rather as present. — Thou
hast visited in the night. — [The visit is for
the purpose of investigating. Job vii. 18. It is
by night as the time when the soul is undisturbed
by the external world, and ready for reflection
and examination. — Thou hast tried me. — The
usual figure of the refiner of metals. — C. A. B.]
Thou vrilt not find in me w^icked
thoughts ; my mouth doth not transgress.
[A. V. ("And) shall find nothing ; I am purposed
that my mouth shall not transgress'* ]. Since it
has not been proved that 73 has the meaning of
^^ nothing," there is no object to the verb "find,"
if we follow the accents, and connect the next
word with the next clause. We might certainly
most naturally supply "nothing" from the con-
text in accordance with the sense. But the in-
terpretation of 'msT, as 1 person Perf. = I
have thought, that is, purposed (Is. iv. 28) which
then would be immediately followed by the state-
ment of the contents of the purpose (Luther,
Geier, et al., finally Delitzsch), wtiilst it is possible,
yet is opposed by the fact that the context rather
causes us to expect a statement respecting the
moral condition of the Psalmist than of his pur-
pose. Moreover the other statements on this
subject do not allow us to translate with Bott-
cher: If I thought wickedness, it must not go
over my mouth. The Masora likewise remarks
that the tone of this Hebrew word is to be put
upon the last syllable. This is then a noun with
the sufl&x, and indeed not the plural of a sub-
stantive which cannot be proved, but an infini-
tive with a feminine ending (Hupf.). If we con-
nect it with the following clause in accordance
with the accents, then since the masc. of the
adverb, it is better with Hupf. and most interpreters to regard
itaa the object of" behold," Jehovah is to acknowledge His
own judgment as such (Hupf.) He is to behold with favor the
right, e(iuity. There is thus a gradation in the thought of
this strophe. 1) The Psalmist appeals to Jehovah to hear
the right ; 2) to let the sentence go forth from His presence,
the court of the great Judge, let the decision be proclaimed,
and then ; 3) to behold it as executed, to look with approval
and pleasure upon equity, the right being approved by the in-
blUble Jadge.— G. 1. B.]
verb demands that "'3 should be the subject of
the clause, the translation, my thought does not
overstep my mouth (Hitzig), thatis, I do not speak
in sleep, because I am not excited by passion, ap-
pears to do violence to the text ; on the other hand,
the translation, "my mouth doth not overstep my
thoughts," that is, I say no more than I think
(Hengst. [Alexander]) as the simple protestation,
"I do not dissemble, I do not lie," is strained, and
with the lack of an object in the preceding clause
obscure and unintelligible. The explanation of
Aben Ezra, Bucer, Rosenm., et al. : my thought
is not different from my words is still less admis-
sible. It is accordingly more natural not to re-
gard the accents as restrictive, but with the an-
cient translations and Jerome, and since J. D.
Mich,, many recent interpreters, to make an ob-
ject for " find," and gain two parallel clauses
beginning with " not," and understand the me-
ditation in accordance with Hebrew usage as the
meditation of evil. So Perowne: "Thou hast
triecl me and findest no evil thought in me, nei-
ther doth my mouth transgress." — C. A. B.] The
sufl&x would be as Ps. xviii. 23, (Hupf.) not for
an actual sin, but for one regarded as possible
yet denied. The transition from the mention of
sins of thought to sins of action, considered in
the subsequent verse, would then be suitably
prepared by sins of word.*
Ver. 4. In man's doings, by the word of
Thy lips, I have carefully avoided the path
of the destroyer. [A. V., " concerning the
works of men"']. The ancient translators con-
nect the last words of the previous verse closely
with this verse, and either translate: my mouth
doth not go over to the doings of men, that is,
approve them; or, my mouth doth not trans-
gress according to the doings of men. This gives
a better parallelism, and therefore many inter-
preters approve this division of the verses. But
the structure of a verse is not always complete.
Most interpreters, after Calv. and Geier, regard
7 as temporal, as Ps. xxxii. 6; others as de-
noting either reference = as concerns [A. V.]
or condition, as Ps. Ixix. 22. Delitzsch takes
the following words directly in the sense of
"against the word of Thy lips," as the object of
the doings of men. According to Hitzig 7 in-
troduces the accusative of the object, as 1 Sam.
xxii. 7 ; Ps. Ixix. 6, which widely separated
from the finite verb is again taken up after this by
the statement wherein these doings of men con-
sisted.! [Hupfeld: "In the midst of the sur-
rounding practices of men, which so easily carry
others away with them, I have shunned fol-
lowing their wicked examples, being led
and supported by the word of God." —
Word of Thy lips. — Hupfeld: "The word of
God in the law, that is, the commandments of
God in contrast with the doings of men who
* [Riehm mediates between the author and Hitzig. Thus,
he contends that *13j^ never means transgress, sin, when
used alone, and "since the ' my mouth doth not transgress '
can hardly be the result of the examination by night, it is
better to regard T11I3T the object of K^fDH, at tlie same
time aa the subject of T3p% thus : thou wilt not find wicked
thoughts in me, they will not pass over my mouth, that is, I will
not betray them by speaking in sleep." — C. A. B.]
f [Thus Hitzig translates: "The doings of men, by the
word of Thy lips, I have shunned the path of the robber."—
0. A. B.]
132
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
transgress it, and oflFer a higher rule." — C. A. B.]
*1Dty is here used in a pregnant sense, without
expressing the negative reference by tD as
usual.*
Ver. 6. My steps hold fast in Thypatbs. —
The infinitive ^OH is regarded by the ancient
translators and most ancient interpreters, and
among more recent interpreters, De Wette and
Stier, as imperative = support my steps [A.V.]
But this does not agree with the perfect of the
following clause. The infinitive is then either to
be regarded in the sense of a gerund, and then
most properly as an antecedent to the following
clause (De Dieu, et al.), or instead of the finite
verb (Gesenius, § 128, 46), and indeed as a perfect,
yet not as the Isfc person singular:^! have main-
tained my steps in Thy paths (Geier), but as the 3d
person plural (Cocc.) with respect to usage =
my steps have held fast to Thy paths (Evvald,
Hengst., Hitzig, Hupf., Delitzsch).
Sir. III. Ver. 7. Make Thy grace vsronder-
ful. — [A. v., show thy marvellous loving-kind-
ness'\, literally, separate; namely, by gradation
in thought, the implored exhibition of Thy grace
froiQ tiie usual exhibitions of the same, so that
it may thus prove to be wonderfully glorious to
me (Sept.) ; not: take away Thy grace from the
adversaries (Rabbin.) According to others
(De Wette, Hupfeld, Delitzsch), the fundamental
meaning of this verb is in the Hipbil made to be
an attribute of the object, so that the Psalmist
does not request anything extraordinary for him-
self, but merely implores that the well-known
wonderful = glorious grace may be shown. De-
litzsch translates like Luther and the ancient
translators: against Thy right hand. But the
right hand of God is frequently mentioned as the
instrument of deliverance, Pss. xliv. 3; xcviii.
1; Judges vii. 2; Isa. lix. 1. The anxiety of the
moment transposes the words with the breath.
Str. IV. Ver. 8. Apple of the eye. — Liter-
ally; the little man, the daughter of the eye.
Lam, ii. 18; Zech. ii. 8. The figure is chosen
with reference to Deut. xxxii. 10, 11 ; comp.
Prov. vii. 2, as is shown by the subsequent words.
[Hupfeld : " The first figure as with us is prover-
bial, as a symbol of that which is dearest to us, of
the most careful, attentive protection. The se-
cond, 'hide me under the shadow of Thy wings,'
is taken from birds, especially the hen, who pro-
tects herbrood with her wings, afigure of the most
tender protection, frequently of God's protec-
tion, Pss. xxxvi. 7; Ivii. 1; Ixi. 4; Ixiii. 7; xci.
4 (used of Christ, Match, xxiii. 37), and in the
* fHupfeld: " "IDl^ properly to watch, take heed, observe,
— T
usually positively, in order to follow the law and the right
way (as Ps. xviii. 21, the ways of God ; Prov. ii. 20, the right-
Boua;, here, on the contrary, in order to avoid. This meaning
is usually brought about by the reflexive idea, to be on one's
guard, to beware of something, but this as a negative idea ne-
cessarily has m with it: whilst here the accusative presup-
poses the original active signification, which here either
pregnantly includes the negative consequenc"3 which are not
expressed, or dev elopes from the idea of watch, guard, keep,
according to the nature of that which is watched, a negative
side or reference = to keep off, hold off, avoid. Wordsworth
translates : " I have marked the paths of the transgressor, I
have tried them by the words of Thy lips. The sentiment is
explained by the Apostolic precept. ' If any man obey not
our YfOTda, note that man, aiid have no company with him,
that he may be ashamed (2 Tbess. lii. 14)." — ^0. A. B.J
same connection with the first figure, Deut.
xxxii. 10, 11, both in reference lo the people of
Israel." Wordsworth : " There is a climax of
delicate tenderness in the language here." — C.
A. B.]
Ver. 9. My enemies w^ho greedily sur-
round me. — The position of the sufi&x is against
the connection of ^322 with the preceding word
— my deadly enemies (Geier [A. V.]). On the
other hand it is admissible to get the same sense
by tlie translation : against the life (Kimchi), or,
in matters of life (Hengst.). Most recent inter-
preters, however, translate after the Chald. and
Aben Ezra: with eagerness, as Pss. xxvii. 12;
XXXV. 25; xli. 3; Isa. v. 14.
Ver. 10. Pat. — Many interpreters, likewise
Clauss, Stier, Tholuck, after the Chald. and
Symra., understand by this, the prosperity in
which they wrap themselves, and which prompts
them to haughty expressions. Others regard it
as = the fat heart (Geier) = unfeeling heart,
(De Wette, Kdster, Ewald, et al.) ; Hupfeld as
merely the heart. But manifestly it is meant
f
that their heart, 21, is not a pulsating human
heart, but 37n, a lump of fat, Pss. Ixxiii. 7; cxix.
70 (Delitzsch, Hitzig). The closing up, 1 John
iii. 17, denotes the intentional holding off from
all influences which would excite human emo-
tions, so that the consequence is, hardening and
obduracy, Ps. xcv. 8. We have not here a pleo-
nasm, but a climax, and the context shows that
we are not to think of the closing up of secret,
crafty schemes, Ps. Ixi v. 6, 7; Prov. vii. 10, con-
trasted with speaking of the mouth (Hupf.). The
explanation of Theodoret, who understands the
heart in the sense of pity is entirely astray. —
Speak proudly. — This comes from their de-
lusion of a near and sure victory.
Ver. 11. Our steps . . . now have they
surrounded me. — [A. V., They have now com-
passed us in our steps]. Since the singular suf-
fix does not agree with the plural suffix of the
noun, the translation quoad gressum nostrum,
which supposes that this accusative of closer de-
finition of the part of the body (Gen. iii. 15) is
parallel with the accusative of the person (De-
litzsch) has very little to recommend it. It does
violence to the text, however, to read with the
Masora the plural when the codd. do not have it.
The double accusative which is usual with verbs
of surrounding, to which ancient interpreters ap-
peal, would here produce this nonsense : with
our steps they have now encompassed me. Hitzig,
who previously thought of the accusative of the
object to hid: 7 = " our steps ... to fell to the
ground," now explains that the distance is too
great between the words, and moreover it is ob-
structed by the parenthesis ; he now changes the
vowel points in order to get the meauing : I per-
ceive him. This is certainly admissible, and gives
a good sense; whilst the meaning obtained by
some of the ancient translations by changing a
consonant : " They express congratulations over
me," is violent and unnatural. With the pre-
sent reading we think that the discourse is
broken by the liveliness of passion.
To throw down upon the ground. — [A.
v., ^'-Bowing down to the eartL" Barnes:
PSALM XVII.
133
" The Hebrew word HCOJ, natah — means pro-
T T '^
perly to stretch out, to extend; then to iacline,
to bow, to depress ; and hence the idea of pros-
trating; thus, to make the shoulder bend down-
wards, Gen. xlix. 15; to bring down the mind to
an object, Pa. cxix. 112; to bow the heavens, Ps.
xviii. 9. Hence the idea, of prostrating an
enemy ; and the sense here clearly is, that they
had fixed their eyes intently on the Psalmist,
with a purpose to prostrate him (o the ground,
or completely overwhelm him." — C. A. B ] The
interpretations that they direct their attention
'* to turn aside in the l.ind" (Ilengst. ); or "to
wander through the land" (Ewald) [Alexander:
"go astray,"' — C. A. B.] are artificial and unne-
cessary.
Ver. 12. [His likeness=he is like, is not
dependent upoji the preceding clause, as A. V.,
but a new and independent clause, introducing
the figure of the lion and the young lion, vid.,
notes upon Ps. x. 9 sq. — C. A. B ]
Str. V. Ver, 13. Go forth to meet him.—
[A. v., '■^disappoint him.'' [Perowne: "As
David himself went forth to meet first the lion
and the bear, and afterwards the champion of
Gath." This is the true interpretation advo-
cated by most recent interpreters. — C. A. B.] — ■
Cast him down. — -[Properly to make him
fall upon his knees, (Hupf.), the figure of the
lion is continued here. — C. A. B.] — The wicked.
Jerome understands this to be the devil. —
By Thy sv^ord. — [Not as A. V., *' which is
thy sword." God is to go forth to meet the
enemy, who is like a lion, to cast him down upon
his knees, and by His sword slay him, and thus
deliver the Psalmist. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 14. People of the ■world, literally men
of the world [A. V.,] or of temporal life, not men
of duration or of enduring success, (Calv., Vene-
ma, Ruding., Hengst.,) after the Arabic, but
either perishable men (Hitzig) or better after the
Syriac : men of the world with reference to their
disposition (Kimchi, Geier and most interpre-
ters). The life, in the following relative clause,
answers to this, wherein they have their Pin,
( • •
that is their portion, as their highest good and
happiness, Ps. xvi. 5, not tempor.il life (Geier),
life without duration (Hitzig) as showing the fate
of the ungodly, Job xx. 5, Is. Ixv. 20; so like-
wise not life blessed with external good and
earthly liappiness (Calv,, Hengst.) of which they
have received their proper portion; but the idle
vain life, in contrast to the spiritual life in God
(Hupf., Hitzig),* Here likewise the tone and
order of the words show the language of anxiety
and haste. Whilst this was overlooked, most
interpreters translated the beginning of the
verse "from people of Thy hand" [A. V,] and
thought for the most part of those men whom
God uses as His rods of chastisement and
scourges; sometimes likewise of those who must
fall into judgment in the wrathful hand of God
because the measure of their sins was filled.
[The proper rendering is "% Th?/ hand" as above
• [Perowne : " We have here a view of the world and of
life very remarkable for the Old Testament — a kind of anti-
cipation of the contrast between the flesh and the Spirit
which St. Paul gives us, or the love of the world and of God
•f which St, John speaks." — C. A. B.J
by Thy sword, the two expressions being paral-
lel,—C. A. B.]— With that which thou hast
stored up. , [A. V, ''with thy hid {treasure)"].
Thi^J is a past partic. used as a substantive in a
good sense, Ps. xxxi. 19; Prov. xiii. 22, and
in a bad sense Job xxi. 19. Almost all inter-
preters take it here in the formar sense, that
God gives the worldly mind id the portion they
have chosen, even children in abundance, Job
xxii. 17, to whom they leave their affluence, yet
without knowing or possessing the prospects and
onjoyraeut of the pious. Hitzig on the other
hand takes it in the bad sense of the punishment,
the reception or experience of which is repre-
sented as eating of bitter, deadly food (Job ix.
18, xxi. lo, corap. vi. 7; Ps. lix. 15j, as God
tills, the holies of the wicked with tlie fire of
His wrath (Job xx. 23). This judgment is like-
wis.-) said to extend to children and children's
children (Ex*, xx. 6, comp. Job xxi. 7, 8. 11);
to which the following words according to his
(ranslition, may they satisfy the sons, etc., re-
fer. The translation made by most interpreters
"their children are filled" would require Dn'J3.
The translation of Koster who follows the Sept.
Vulg. closely "they are full of sons" [A. V.],
is literal but obscure.
Str. VI. Ver. 15. The antithetical reference of
this strophe is rendered very prominent not only
by the emphasis of the / [^As for 7/ie, A. V. ],
but likewise by the intentional use of the same
word satisfied with reference to Jehovah's form,
in beholding His countenance. These expres-
sions themselves by their undeniable reference
to Num. xii. 8, conp. Ex. xxxiii. 20, lead us be-
yond the usual means of recognizing and com-
muning with God. In the present context a
glance is given into eternity. It is true there is
no mention of a resurrection of the dead as such
(Hofmann), or of a natural awaking upon the
next morning (Ewald), or of a breathing again
and stepping forth from the confusion of a per-
plexing trouble, as from a night of sufi^ering
(Hitzig), so that a new earthly phase of life broke
forth upon the psalmist in the sunlight of the
Divine grace (Kurtz), or of a mingling of both
references (Hupf), or indeed of an awaking of
Jehovah that is in His coming to help, after
having hidden His countenance (Cleric, Hensl.,
Hengst.) ; but of an awaJcing from thenight of death
(among recent interpreters, even Rosenmiiller,
De Wette, Gesenius), as a hope shining
forth from the consciousness of communion
with Jehovah (Delitzsch) as Psalm xvi. 10;
xlix. 15,*
* [Perowne ; "Worldly men have their satisfaction in this
life, in treasures, in children ; David hopes to be satisfied
with the likewise or rather real manifest bodily form
(nj^Dn) of Clod, The personal pronoun stands emphati-
cally at the beginning of the verse, in order to mark the con-
trast between his own feelings and those of the men of the
world. He hopes (as Job also does xix. 26, 27), to see God. (The .
parallelism of the next clause shows that this must mean more
than merely "to enjoy His favors, the light of His counte-
nance," etc. as in xi. 7). There is an allusion probably to such
a manifestation of God as that made to Moses, Num. xii. 8,
where God declares that with Moses He will speak ' mouth
to mouth,' even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and
the similitude (rather /wm, the same word as here) of Jeho-
vah shall he behold." Wordsworth ; " The thought is com-
pleted by St. John : ' Beloved, now are we the sons of God ;
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall se«
134
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. There are troubles, into which we do not fall
as a punishment for our sins, but in which we
are unjustly persecuted and coaapelled to flee
from hard-hearted, unprincipled and powerful
enemies, and with all the justice of our cause,
may be in danger of succumbing to the snares of
our bitter opponents, and even of losing our
lives.
2. In such a situation neither lamentations
nor despondency are becoming to the pious.
The proper course is to pray for help, which
may in anxiety of heart become a cry, without
becoming improper, and may appeal before God
the righteous Judge to the personal righteous-
ness of the persecuted, without thereby in the
least disputing, murmuring or contending with
God, or boasting or confiding in one's own right-
eousness. For there is no reference to righteous-
ness gained by one's self, or to one's own deserts
and the worthiness derived therefrom, but to the
fact, that the piety of the petitioner has shown
itself as vitally and powerfully in his person, as
it expresses itself candidly and sincerely in bis
prayer. And in such cases the question is not
of its origin from grace apprehended in faith,
but of the earnestness and reality of its attesta-
tion.
3. Now he who flees from the judgment and
hands of men, to the judgment and presence of
God must not forget that the Almighty ia like-
wise the All-knowing, the Searcher of hearts.
He must still further be mindful of this, that
under the trying eye of the holy and omnipre-
sent God he endures an infallible judgment by
night as well as by day, waking or sleeping,
dreaming or acting. It is well for the man who
feels this judging and sifting nearness of God,
which as the fire in the furnace separates the
gold from the dross, as soothing his conscience,
and who can comfort himself with that fact that
God finds in him a man of true piety.
4. The human heart is naturally inclined to
evil, and human doings and practices do not
move in the paths which please God; they at-
tempt rather, to break through the restraints
imposed upon them by God. But the efficacy
of the means of grace in tile congregation of God
is able to change the disposition of the heart
and he who holds fast to the word of God, is
able likewise to withstand the temptations of
his situation and to wdlk in the ways of God
according to God's regulation.
Ilim as He is,' (comp. 1 Cor. xiii. 12; xv. 49 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18 ;
Col. iii. 10.) As Tlieodoret observes here, the wicked may ba
satisfied with sons in this life, but I, 0 God, shall be satisfied
with the sight of Thy Son for evermore. So also Didymus
here." Perowne: " In opposition to this interpretation it is
commonly asserted that the truth of a resurrection had not
yet been revealed, and that, consequently if we find the doc-
trine here, the Psalm must be of later date, after the exile
(80 De Wette). But this is mere a9/}^^tlon. First as regards
the use of the figure ' Wa4:ing from-death ' occurs in 2 Kings
iv. 31. Death is spoken of a« a sleep from which there is no
awaking Job xiv. 12, Jer. li. 39. Next Is. xxvi. 19. 'Awake
ye that sleep in the dust,' plainly refers to the resurrection,
(Hence critics who think the truth could not be known before
the exile, are obliged to suppose that this chapter was writ-
ten after that time). Again, why should not David have at-
tained in some degree to the knowledge of a truth, which in
later times was so clearly revealed as it was to Ezekiel
(who makes use of it as the image of the resurrection of Israel
xxxvii. 1-14), and Daniel (xii. 2J 1 "— C. A. B.J
5. If there is already a great consolation and
a strong encouragement to constantly new pray-
ers in the assurance of the faith, that God not
only hears the pious, but answers him and
thereby testifies, that on His part He has and
will maintain intercourse and relations with
him ; then with increasing needs and under the
pressure of great dangers not only the need of
the improvement of this intercourse with God,
but likewise the joyousness of prayer and the
confidence of being heard, gain nourishment
and power by the experience made in this inter-
course, that it belongs to the nature of God to be a
deliverer of those who seek His protection. The
courage of the pious is explained by these fun-
damental principles and upon them it rises in
order to implore likewise in special circumstances
special gracious help.
6. From the confidence of the faith, that the
person of the pious man who has intercourse
with God is an object of His love and care, arises
the assurance, that this person will not only find
occasional help and an assistance referring
merely to special and transient needs and dan-
gers, from the almighty Protector of the op-
pressed, but that he finds constant protection
against all the enemies of his body and soul, and
can be sheltered forever in God, if he has his satisfac-
tion in the nearness and communion of God in contrast
to the people of this world, who do not inquire
after God, because they seek and find their sat-
isfaction in the possession of perishable goods
and in the enjoyment of earthly joy.
7. Great external happiness, prosperity and
luxury, increase the natural selfishness, worldli-
ness and pride of the unconverted man, make
his heart insensible to emotions of pity and the
inborn feelings of justice, and do not permit him
to exhibit thankfulness to God for His great
benefits, but rather stop up the sources of his
love to God and his neighbor and prevent the
approach of those things which would open them,
so that the man is choked in his own fat and has
become spiritually dead in the midst of his abun-
dance. On the other hand, troubles and dangers,
sufi"erings and infirmities, the lack and loss of
earthly goods, impel the pious man with ever
renewed energy to lay hold of God and thereby
obtain his only salvation and true life in God.
8. He who has God, has life. This truth en-
ters only into the experience of the soul which
has communion with God. Moreover the life is
likewise the light of the soul, and enlarges its
sphere of vision, so that it not only looks upon
the gracious countenance which God causes to
shine upon His servants in the night of trouble,
but it consoles itself with beholding in the future
that form of God, in which those who are com-
pletely blessed, will see Him as He is. Accord-
ingly the/wZ/ satisfaction in the blessed enjoyment
of thus beholding the Divine glory comes only in
eternity and presupposes the awaking from the
sleep of death.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The pious man may call upon the judgment of
God and rely upon it when condemned by the
judgment of men. He who appeals to God,
should consider that God is not only the Al-
PSALM XVII.
186
mighty and the merciful, but that he is likewise
the All-knowing and the Holy God. — God sees
not only our works. He hears not only our words,
He likewise proves the heart, and this without
cessation, by day and by night. — He who will
walk in the ways of God must direct himself by
the word of God and keep the regulations of
God. — The Divine grace not only delivers from
the hands of earthly enemies, but likewise from
inborn sinful corruption and from the power of
temporal and eternal death. — Every help of
God is a miracle of grace; but in the par-
ticular exhibitions of Divine help the mira-
culous appeiirs in various degrees. It ia,
however, not always perceived by men with
the same clearness and not implored with the
same fervor in personal distress. — It is a true
sign of human corruption, that temporal happi-
ness hardens the heart as easily as it fills it with
vain efforts after perishable goods and joys. — The
principal dangers of worldly -mindedness are
Jorgetfulness of God, exaltation of self, and con-
tempt of others. — The way to escape from tempo-
ral need and anxiety to eternal goods and joys
consists in walking in the ways of God.
Starke : He who would be heard in his cause
against all kinds of oppression and perversion,
must have innocence as his plea; if not he must
first confess his guilt and ask God for forgiveness.
If prayer is not to go forth from a false mouth,
the heart must previously be free from all de-
ceitfulness ; for what fills the heart, will pass
over the mouth (Math. xii. 34). — If we are at-
tacked and persecuted by the world and our
cause is good and righteous we cannot get better
advice, than to "have recourse to God and place
our need in the lap of His grace. — Persecuted
Christians often have no judge on earth to do
them justice; then sentence must come from
heaven. — The eyes of men only see what has a
fine appearance of human wisdom and power;
but the eyes of the Lord see, what is right and
good. — The nights when troubles and afflictions
try us, are indeed hard for flesh and blood, but
very profitable to the soul, because there is thus
revealed to others and ourselves what is con-
cealed in us. — It is not enough to leave off evil
works; a Christian is likewise not to speak
knowingly an idle word ; much less a wicked
word. 0 what watchfulness is necessary for
this ! — The more ungodly men strive to overthrow
the truth of God's word, or to break from its
yoke by bold wickedness, the more carefully
should believers be, not to deviate a finger-
breadth from reverence and obedience to the
word of God. — It is not enough to remain in the
right way, but it is likewise necessary to make
advances therein and not slip. — 0 how dangerous
and slippery is the way through this wicked
world! — God fulfils all His promises to us, not
as we think according to our reason, but won-
derfully, inconceivably, against all thought and
above all reason. — What is more tender, sensi-
tive, dearer than the apple of the eye : yet be-
lievers are such before God ; how then can
those who -touch them, remain unpunished?
(^Zech. ii, 8.) — The wings of a hen cover her
brood so that they cannot be seen by birds of
prey ; she covers them against rain and storms ;
fhe warms them and strengthens them, when
they are cold and weak ; so likewise, does the
Divine grace with His children (Math, xxiii. 37).
— It is a terrible word, to have one's portion
only in this world and thus be excluded from
evex-lasting possessions ! Woe to the man who
for a short temporal pleasure sacrifices everlast-
ing joy ! — It is true God often blesses the ungodly
with more bodily blessings, than the pious, and
fills them better with His treasures; but they
have their portion in this life and they starve in
the world to come. — Children are a gift of the
Lord; but they may increase the condemnation
of their parents, if they neglect the salvation of
their childrens souls and devote their attention
merely to the storing up many goods. — Christian,
your spiritual hunger and thirst will not endure
forever ; no, the time is drawing near, when you
will be satisfied with the rich possessions of the
house of God. — He who would in the future awake
in the image of God, must begin even here the
transfiguration and production of the image of
God, 2 Cor. iii. 18. — A great, yes, an infinite
difference between the children of this world and
the children of God ! The former have their
bellies full, the latter the heavens full, the one,
the shadows, the other, the true imperishable
substance
Luther: The warmer and more ardent our
faith is, the more will God accomplish with it. —
Bugenhagen: The world may satisfy itself
where it will; I will satisfy myself with God.
— ScHNEPy: What is it to be a man of the world?
To have his heaven upon earth and his portion
here. — Arndt: There are three reasons why
prayer will be heard: 1) a righteous cause: 2)
righteousnessinChrist; 3) righteousness of heart.
— Scriver: The chief blessedness consists in
beholding God, and this consists in the sweetest
communion. — Renschel: Innocence is the best
treasure. — To behold God's countenance is the
true paradise. — Frisch : David in his opening
words expresses at once his faith, because he
lays hold of the righteousness of his Saviour; his
earnestness, because he continues to cry; his
humility because he seeks gracious audience;
his perseverance, because he knocks for the
third time at the door of grace ; his uprightness,
because he says nothing except what his heart
says to him. — Thym: What glory has the servant
of God to expect after death? 1) He is to be-
hold the Lord in His glory; 2) he is to be satis-
fied with the blessings of heaven ; 3) he is to
awake glorified according to the glory of the
Lord unto everlasting life.
[Matth. Henry: It will be a great comfort
to us if trouble, when it comes, finds the
wheels of prayer agoing, for then may we come
with the more boldness to the throne of grace. — ■
God's omniscicenceis as much the joy of the up-
right as it is the terror of hypocrites, and it is
particularly comfortable to those who are falsely
accused and in any wise have wrong done them.
— If we keep God's law as the apple of our eye,
Prov. vii. 2, we may expect God will so keep us ;
for it is said concerning His people, that whoso
toucheth them toucheth the apple of His eye.
Zech. ii. 8. — There is no satisfaction for a soul
but in God, and in His face and likewise His
good will towards us, and His good work in us ;
and even that satisfaction will not be perfect till
136
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
we come to heaven. — Barnes: We can oflFer an
acceptable prayer only when we are sure that it
would be right for God to answer it, or that it
would be consistent with perfect and eter-
nal justice to grant our requests. — Spurgeon:
David would not have been a man after
God's own heart, if he had not been a man
of prayer. He was a master in the sacred art
of supplication. — There is more fear that we
will not hear the Lord than that the Lord will
not hear us. — Who can resist a cry ? A real
hearty, bitter, piteous cry, might almost melt a
rock, there can be no fear of its prevalence with
our heavenly Father. A cry is our earliest
utterance, and in many ways the most natural
of human sounds , if our prayer should like the
infant's cry be more natural than intelligent and
more earnest than elegant, it will be none the
less eloquent with God. There is a mighty power
in a child's cry to prevail with a parent's heart. —
That heavenly book which lies neglected on many
a shelf is the only guide for those who would
avoid the enticing and entangling mazes of sin;
and it is the best means of preserving the youth-
ful pilgrim from ever treading those dangerous
ways. We must follow the one or the other;
the Book of Life, or the way of death ; the word
of the Holy Spirit, or the suggestion of the evil
spirit. — C. A B.]
PSALM XVIIL
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the wordi »/
this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the
hand of Saul: And he said,
1 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ; •
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust ;
My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised :
So shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4 The sorrows of death compassed me,
And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about :
The snares of death prevented me,
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried unto my God :
He heard my voice out of his temple,
And my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled ;
The foundations also of the hills moved
And were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
And fire out of his mouth devoured :
Coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down :
And darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly :
Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place ;
His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skiea.
PSALM XVIII. 137
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed,
Hail atones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
And the Highest gave his voice ;
Hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them ;
And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen.
And the foundations of the world were discovered
At thy rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me.
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy.
And from them which hated me : for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity :
But the Lord was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place ;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness.
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me.
And I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him,
And I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful ;
With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright ;
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure ;
And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people ;
But wilt bring down high looks.
28 For thou wilt light my candle :
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by thee I have run through a troop ;
And by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect :
The word of the Lord is tried :
He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the Lord ?
Or who is a rock save our God ?
32 It is God that girdeth me with strength,
And maketh my way perfect.
33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet.
And setteth me upon my high places.
34 He teacheth my hands to war,
So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
138 THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation :
And thy right hand hath holden me up,
And thy gentleness hath made me great.
36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,
That my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them :
Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise :
They are fallen under my feet.
89 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle :
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up a-gainst me.
40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies ;
That I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, bwt there was none to save them :
Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind :
I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people;
And thou hast made me the head of the heathen :
A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me :
The strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangers shall fade away,
And be afraid out of their close places.
46 The Lord liveth ; and blessed he my Rock ;
And let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avengeth me,
And subdueth the people under me.
48 He delivereth me from mine enemies :
Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me:
Thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen,
And sing praises unto thy name.
50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king ;
And sheweth mercy to his anointed,
To David, and to his seed for evermore.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
The Title. — The title, as far as the words of
David, is like that of Ps. xxxvi., the rest of it
reminds us strongly of Deut. xxxi. 30, iu part
of Ex. XV. 1 ; Num. xxi. 17 ; and is found like-
wise in 2 Sam. xxii., where this Psalm appears
in its historical connection, with some differences,
yet essentially the same. In most casps the
Psalm of our collection has the original and
better readings {vid. below upon its relation to
2 Sam. xxii.). AH this is in favor of the view
that it was in one of those historical books from
which the author of the book of Samuel made
extracts. The use of this Psalm in Pss. cxvi.
and cxliv. is in favor of its great antiquity, as
well as the use of ver. 30 in Prov. xxx. 5, and
ver. 33 in Hab. iii. 19. So many particulars in
with David, that only Olsh, and Hupf. think of
a later author. There is likewise no valid
reason for regarding the closing verse as a later
addition (Hitzig against Hupf.). But being au-
thentic, inasmuch as it presupposes the prophecy
2 Sam. vii., it refers to the latter period of David's
life, if not even to the time of his dying song,
2 Sam. xxiii. The prominent features of the
subject agree with this, and do not allow us to
mistake the retrospective view of a very import-
ant period of life, especially agitated by war
and like events, but yet brought by grace to a
satisfactory conclusion ; and they lead to a period
in which David, after having come forth victori-
ous over domestic feuds, and as a king victorious
likewise over other nations, and widely feared,
on the one side praises the help afforded him by
God as a sign of His condescension and favor,
and on the other celebrates this as the reward
the contents and expressions of the Psalm agree J of his devotiou to Jehovah. Hitzig, therefore,
PSALM XVIII.
139
refers, especially vers. 43 and 44, to the fact
mentioned 2 Sam. viii. 9 sq., that the pou of a
distant king brought gifts to David, when on
his return from Aram, he had likewise conquered
the Edomite, and stood at the end of his expedi-
tion of war; and when the shadows which the
rebellion of Absalom, and the transgression
committed with Bathsheba and on her account,
threw upon his life and his soul, had not yet
troubled the sunshine of his happiness. The
mention of Saul after all his enemies renders
him conspicuous as the most dangerous of all,
who is the last to be forgotten, although his
time had long since passed away. The form in
which these facts are put together, shows that
we have here a retrospect which extends over a
long period, but which occurred on the day of
the composition of the Psalm, and originated the
tone of the song together with its sentiments.
The name, servant of Jehovah, which David
gives to himself in his prayers, Ps. xix. 11, 13 ;
cxliv. 10 ; 2 Sam. vii, 20, and there in a general
sense in which every pious Israelite might use
it, is here in the title, as in Ps. xxxvi., in the
pregnant meaning of an official name and hon-
orable title as Moses bears it, Deut. xxxiv. 5 ;
Jos. xxiv. 29; the prophets, Jer. vii. 25 and
elsewhere, on account of their historical position
as the specially commissioned instruments of
God; and David likewise has received it being
recognized as such by the mouth of Jehovah,
Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 20. A parallel to its use in the
title of several Psalms is found in its use at the
beginning of most of the epistles of the apos-
tles.
Its Contents and theie, Arrangement. —
First, there is an expression of tender resigna-
tion to Jehovah (ver. 1), the Protector and Lord,
consequently sought and never sought in vain
(ver. 2) ; then follows the principal clause (ver
3), the unfolding of which forms the essential
subject of the Psalm, namely : the thankful con-
fession, that this Jehovah has delivered the
Psalmist from his enemies in answer to prayer.
The greatness of the danger is illustrated (vers.
4 and 5) ; the prayer is warmly mentioned and
its having been heard (ver. 6). His coming to
help in the earthquake and tempest (not merely
figurative as Hupf. contends) is magnificently
and surprisingly described (vers. 7-15) ; the de-
liverance by the hand of God in the moment of
the greatest danger is thankfully recognized as
a proof of His good pleasure (vers. 16-19), to
reward the pious conduct of His servant (vers
20-25), which is founded in the moral nature of
God Himself (vers. 24-27), and gives the reason
and pledge of this support of the Psalmist's life
(vers. 28, 29). Then the Psalmist begins to
praise Jehovah as the only true God and faithful
Helper (vers. 30, 31). This is interrupted in
form by the retrospective review (although there
is actually a praising God) which the Psalmist
makes with reference to his repeated experiences
of the assistance of God in domestic feuds, and
in foreign wars (vers. 32-45). It is then, how-
ever, taken up again directly, and brought to a
satisfactory conclusion in two strophes, first, the
summing up of thanksgiving for the abundance
of help afforded as just described (vers. 46-48),
»nd then in vows of thanksgiving which look far
beyond the bounds of Israel (vers. 49, 50), iq
faith in the Messianic promise and destiny given
to David and his seed.
Its Relation to 2 Sam. xxii.— The older view
maintained by Hengst. was that the origin of the
double recension of this Psalm of thanksgiving
(HTB/ instead of T'K', which is used elsewhere
in titles) was to be referred to David himself,
and indeed so that 2 Sam. xxii. is a later but in-
dependent variation, with expressions which
were chosen, emphatic, and at times explanatory.
Gramberg supposes an intentional revision of the
text of the Psalm, but attempts (in Winer, Ez-
eget. Stud. I. 1) to show, by a close comparison,
that 2 Sam. xxii, affords throughout easier and
worse readings, by a different hand from that of
the author. On the Other hand. Von Lengerke
[Comment. Crit., 1833), sought to show that the
better readings are found now in the one, now in
the other, that the deviations were not inten-
tional, but accidental, occasioned by oral tradi-
tion, and the carelessness of the copyist; and
that both texts have about the same value; that
the orthography, however, on account of the
less frequent use of the vowel signs, bears an
ancient character. The latter is explained by
Ewald from the use of an ancient MS. Hupfcld
shows that even in the orthography no sure
principle can be carried out, that most of the
variations in 2 Sam. xxii. do not at all deserve
the preference sometimes given to them, and de-
rives them from careless copying and tradition.
Hitzig now again maintains the independence of
both recensions, neither of which gives the origi-
nal pure text entirely, yet he supposes that the
form of the text of Ps. xviii. is for the most part
preferable, and explains it thus: That the
Psalms incorporated in a historical book share
the fate of all historical texts ; the respect for
their poetical form, rytbm and movement very
soon yielded and disappeared before the care for
the simple sense, not to speak of the fact that
the text was afterwards accented as prose, whilst
in the book of Psalms it was accented as poetry.
Delitzsch thinks that the annals of David [dibrS
ha yamin) were the source of 2 Sam. xxii., in
which the Psalm had been incorporated, and
from which likewise the historian derived much
besides. He agrees with Hupfeld, but remarks
that 2 Sam. xxii. shows the license of popular
language. Olsh. finds in this evidence of a free
interpolation with literary productions before
the close of the Canon.
Str. I. Ver. 1. I love Thee affectionately
[A. v., / will love thee~\. — 2T\i^ is elsewhere the
only word used ia Hebrew to express the love of
men to God and the word used here, Dm, is
found only in the Piel and in the sense of pity.
But this word in the Aramaic has in the kal the
meaning of love, and Aramaic expressions are
not infrequent in the more ancient as well as in
the later Hebrew writings. The proposal of
Hitzig, therefore, to correct the n by D and
change the vowel points, is unnecessary. The
sense, which would be : "I will extol Thee,"
would be very appropriate at the beginning of a
song of praise and thanksgiving. But to doubt
of an expression of love to God in the mouth of
David, because among the ancient Hebrews the
140
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
fear of God was alone proper, love only after
Deat. vi. 5, is connected with a criticism of
BMcrcd history and its historical monuments,
which condemns itself by its unavoidable neces-
sity of doing violence to the text. In the paral-
lel passage, 2 Sam. xxii., this verse has mani-
festly fallen oflF, by shortening, whilst a compen-
sation has been made by an enlargement of the
next verse, which the accents then divide into
two verses, by the addition, after the word fort-
ress, of the clause: my refuge, my deliverer,
who delivered me from violence. Likewise in
the first line of this verse "my deliverer" is
used as Ps. cxliv. 2, and in the second line: God
(^Elohe) my rock as ver. 46.
Ver. 2. [There is in this verse a heaping up
of metaphors, vid. Pss. xxxi. ; Ixxi. ; cxliv. Pe-
rowne: " The images, which are most of them
of a martial character, are borrowed from the
experience of David's life, and the perpetual
struggles in which he was engaged. Some of
them were suggested by the natural configuration
of Palestine. Amid the ' rocks ' and ' fast-
nesses' of his native land, and the 'high tower'
perched on some inaccessible crag, he with his
little band of outlaws, had often found a
safe hiding-place from the wrath of Saul." —
My Rock. — Alexander: "As the rock (ylO)
of the first clause suggests the idea of conceal-
ment and security, so the rock ("1^^) of the second
clause [A. V., <■ My strength '"^ suggests that of
strength and immobility. The figure is borrowed
from Deut. xxxii. 4, and reappears in Ps. xcii. 15.
Compare Isaiah's phrase, rock of ages (Is. xxvi. 4),
and Jacob's phrase, the atone of Israel (Gen. xlix.
24."* — My stronghold [A..\ ., fortress). — Hupf.:
" n*^12fD is in general a strong and not easily
accessible place, affording refuge and safety ; a
mountain, a cave, a wilderness, etc. Corap. 1
Sam. xxiii. 14, 19; xxiv. 1; Judges vi. 2; Isa.
xxxiii. 16; Job xxxix. 28." — My shield
(A. v., buckler, a species of shield). Vid.
Psalm iii. 4 and Gen. xv. 1, where God calls
Himself Abram's shield."— C. A. B.]— Horn
of my salvation. — The horn is frequentlji
the figure of strength and victorious power,
yet "the reference here is not to attack, but
to protection. Hence the figure is not bor-
rowed from the horn of the buttalo (most inter-
preters), or indeed of the summits of mountains
[called horns in many languages, e. g. Matter-
horn, Faulhorn, etc. — C. A. B.], but of the altar,
1 Kings ii. 28 (Hitzig).f— [My height (A. V.,
* [Delitzsch : " l^/D means properly the cleft of the rock,
then the rock iis riven into clefts ; and "^^Jf the hard and
great rock (Aram. *^I|J3, mountain)." — "Accordingly the
idea of a safe (and convenient) hiding-place, predominates in
^ViDi that of a firm foundation and inaccessiblenesa in
^*1^k- The one figure reminds us of the Edomite J^/D. Isa.
xvi. 1 ; xlii. 11, the Tiirpa [Petra], described by Strabo, xvi.
4, 21, enclosed by steep rocks ; the other of the Phoenician
rock island "11V L'^yre], the refuge place of the sea." — C.
A. B.]
f [But there is no reference in the context to the temple or
the taltar or the throne of God, as places of refuge ; the
reference is entirely to the mountains and caves and rocks
and warlike means of defence. The connection of horn with
shield might favor the defensive horns of the buffalo, but the
following word and the general tenor of the passage favor
high iloM^er) —Alexander: "The Hebrew word
properly denotes a place so high as to be be-
yond the reach of danger." It is a high rock
or crag affording a safe refuge, vid. Ps. ix. 9. —
C. A. B.]
Many interpreters, with the ancient transla-
tions (likewise Maurer, Hengst., Hupf.), regard
Jehovah and Eli as subjects, the names which
follow each time as His predicates, seven of
which would thus be contained in ver. 2, to
which Hengst. attaches some importance. Most
recent interpreters, ho wever (Hitzig and Delitzsch
likewise), find as in all the names, so likewise
in Jehovah and Eli, amplifications of the suflSx
of the verb, which begins the Psalm, yet not as
its real object., but as taking up the vocative of
the first line. Only Hitzig would change Eli
into ■'SxJ=my Redeemer, according to Ps. xix.
15.
Str. II. Ver. 3. Jehovah is not a vocative in
this verse (Storr),but in apposition to the words
placed before for emphasis : the one who is
praised, that is, who is the subject of the praises
of Israel, Pss. xlviii. 1 ; xcvi. 4 ; cxiii. 3 ; cxlv.
3; perhaps the glorious One (Hupf.), that is, He
to whom glory and majesty is ascribed. The
imperfects are not to be taken as futures (many
ancient interpreters), since the following strophe
shows that the reference is to praising God on
account of Divine help already experienced ; but
hardly as preterites with reference to a previous
special deliverance (Hitzig). It is true, they are
thus used frequently from ver 6 onwai'ds, but
they depend upon the perfects which occur from
ver. 4 on. If now these words which immedi-
ately follow are found to be a recapitulation of
many particular experiences, the description of
which makes use of the tempest, taken from
other theophanes only as a figurative illustration
(Evvald, Hengst., Hupf., Delitzsch); then the im-
perfects are taken as indefinite designations of
the past. In this not unusual poetical use they
occur without doubt in vers. 20 and 28 sq. of
this Psalm. But there it treats really of a re-
capitulation of particular and similar features
with a retrospect of the moral action of the
Psalmist and of the experiences made by him
in consequence of this. Yet here the entire
description seems to refer to a particular case,
only it does not follow that ver. 3 should be put
at the same time as ver. 6 a. The motto of the
entire Psalm appears first, namely, in the form
of a general clause prepared by the predicate
used in calling upon Jehovah. But it is not
necessary, on this account, to translate with G.
Baur: praised be Jehovah, I cry.
Str. III. Ver. 4. Bands of death.— The
Sept. and the Rabbins translate sorrows [A. V.] ;
and 2 Sam. xxii., where the clause begins with
"then" |A. V., when'\, another word is used=
waves. The parallel clauses agree very well
with this, the verb not so well ; and our
reading is likewise in Psalm cxvi. 3, and is
likewise very ancient (Calvin, Hupfeld). —
Brooks of evil [A. V., floods of ungodly wen].
the reference to the summits of hills or mountains. On
these rocky, horn-like summits David had often found refuge
when pursued by Saul. It is a beautiful figure of the protect-
ing care of Jehovah, which lifts David to a lofty and inacces-
sible peak, where his salvation is sure.^^. A. B.J
PSALM XVIII.
141
— /^l^r' literally =nofc to go up, is gener xUy but
not exclusively used (Henggt.) for moral un-
thriftiuess, as unworthiuess; and is then taken
by most interpreters as a personification of un-
godly enemies and their attacks, by some (Je-
rome, Luther, J. H. Mich , Stier) is understood
directly of the person of the devil, according to
2 Cor. vi. 15, comp. 2 Sam. xxiii. 6 ; but the
pAysicaZ signification (Rudiag.), partly recognized
by Calv. and without doubt in Nah. i. 11; Ps.
xli. 8 (Hupf.), is recognized by most recent in-
terpreters as here parallel with death and the
lower world, yet not mythologically, the lower
world with its streams fJ. H. Mich.), but as
abysmtl evil and perdition.*
[Ver. 5. Bands of the under- world (A V.,
sorrows of hell). — For the explanation of Sheol
or under-world vid. Ps. vi. 5. — Snares of death.
— De Wette: "Snares of death are figurative of
the danger of death ; for slings and the like are
frequent figures of danger and waylaying (Job
xviii. 9, 10; Pss. Ixiv. 5; cxl. 5)." — Prevented
me. — Barnes : " The word here used in Hebrew,
as our word prevent did originally, means to an-
ticipate, to go before. The idea here is that
those snares had, as it were, suddenly rushed
upo.x him, or seized him. They came before
bun in his goings, and bound him fast." — C. A.
B-]t
[Ver. 6. In my distress. — Under the expe-
rience of the brooks of evil, the snares of death
and the bands of the undar-world mentioned,
probably referring to the anguish of the most try-
ing periods of his persecution by Saul. — And
cried. — The anxiety of soul demanding imme-
diate relief expresses itself in the cry. — Tem-
ple.— Perowne: "Not the temple or tabernacle
on Mt. Zion, but the temple in heaven wherein
God especially manifests His glory, and where
He is worshipped by the heavenly hosts — a place
which is both temple and palace." — And my
cry came before him. — B*rnes : " It was not
intercepted on the way, but came up to Him." —
Into his ears. — "Indicating that He certainly
heard it" The cry of the suffering Psalmist,
in peril of death, speeds its way with more than
the speed of light, to the palace of Jehovah, to
His very presence, into His very ears, and the
response is given with the same wonderful di-
rectness by Jehovah. Perowne: "The deliver-
ance is now pictured as a magnificent theophany.
God comes to rescue His servant as He came of
old to Sinai, and all nature is moved at His
coming. Similar descriptions of the Divine
manifestation, and of the effects produced by it,
occur Pss. Ixviii. 7, 8; Ixxvii. 14-20; Ex. xix. ;
Judges V. 4; Amos ix. 5 ; Micah i. 3 ; Hab. iii. ;
but the image is nowhere so fully carried out as
•{De Wette : " Waves, great waters are, especially to the
Hebrewg, a frequent figure of misfortunes, danger (ver. 16 ;
Pb. xxxii. 6 ; xlii. 7 ; Ixix. 1) ; so likewise to the Greeks."—
C. A. B.J
t [For the explanation of the mingling of bands and
brooks and Hnares we may think of those brooks of Pales-
tine which are ordin:irily dry, or containing but little water,
but when the storms burst upon the land, they rush in tor-
rents, overflow their banks and entrap the unwary in their
waters ; they lay hold of him, bind him fast, surround him,
and lead him to his death. Thus the Kishon overwhelmed
the host of Sisera. And the Psalmist was in corresponding
danger from the storm of evil with its rushing flood and
ensnariag waters, vid. especially Pss. xlii. 7 ; Ixix. 1 and 2. —
C.A.B.]
here. David's deliverance was, of course, not
really accompanied by such convulsions of na-
ture, by earthquake, and fire, and tempest, but
his deliverance, or rather his manifold deliver-
ances, gathered into one as he thinks of them,
appear to him as a marvellous proof of the Divine
Power, as verily effected by the immediate pre-
sence and finger of God, as if He had come down
in visible form to aiicomplish them. The image is
carefully sustained throughout. First, we have
the earthquake, and then, as preluding the storm,
and as herald of Goi's wrath, the blaze of the
lightning (vers. 7, 8). Next, the thick gather-
ing of clouds, which seem to touch and envelop
the earth; the wind, and the darkness which
shrouds Jehovah riding on the cherubim (9-11).
Lastly, the full outburst of the storm, the clouds
parting before the presence and glory of Jeho-
vah, and pouring upon the earth the burden with
which they were heavy — the thunder, and the
lightning, and the hail, — the weapons of Jehovah
by which, on the one hand. He discomfits His
enemies, and, on the other, lays bare the depths
of the sea, and the very foundations of the world,
that He may save His servant who trusts in Him
(11-16),"— C. A. B.]
Str. IV. Ver. 7. Foundations of the
mountains [A. V., hills'^. — 2 Sam xxii. has in-
stead of the earth, the heavens, and it is gene-
rally understood of the mountains as the pillars
of the heavens (Job xxvi. 11). [Jehovah is
represented as moved, by the cry of the suffer-
ing Psalmist, to anger, His wrath is kindled
agiinst His enemies with the brooks of evil and
the snares of death. The earth and its founda-
tions shake under the emotions of Divine wrath.
— Smoke in his nostrils. — Hupfeld: "Wrath
is poetically represented as the nose snorting,
taken from the action of an angry man (Calv.,
Geier), orrather beast, as a horse, lion (Rosenm.),
comp. particularly the description of the croco-
dile. Job xli. 11 sq. ; as then that is indeed the
proper meaning of HX (from ^1'^ snort, that is,
breathe through the nose), and hence likewise
among the Greeks and Romans the nose was the
seat and organ of wrath. Here it is increased
to smoke, as it is often said of the wrath of
God, l^iJ]^ iSX, His nose (or His wrath) smokes,
Ps. Ixxiv. 1 ; Ixxx. 4; Deut. xxix. 19. This is
connected with fire (as Isa. Ixv. 5), the usual
figure of wrath in all languages, and here in-
deed from His mouth, parallel with the smoke
in the nose, as with the crocodile, Job xli. 13."
— Burning coals blazed from it, that is,
fro.n the mouth, parallel with;?re out of His mouth
devoured (Hupfeld, Delitzsch, et al.), not as the
A. v., coals were kindled by it. — Delitzsch: "When
God is angry, according to the Old Testament
ideas, the power of wrath pi-esent in Him is
kindled, and flames up, and breaks forth. The
snorting of wrath may therefore be called the
smoke of the fire of wrath (Ps. Ixxiv. 1 ; Ixxx.
3) ; smoke is as the breath of fire and the vio-
lent hot breath, which is drawn in and out
through the nose of the wrathful (comp. Job
xli. 12), is as smoke, which curls upward from
the internal fire of wrath. The fire of wrath
"devours out of the mouth." that is, flames
forth from the mouth, devouring all that it lays
hold of, with men in angry words, with God in
142
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
fiery powers of nature which correspond with His
wrath and serve it, especially the fire of the light-
ning. It is first of all the lightning which is here
compared to the flaming up of glowing coals. The
power of the wrath of God, realizing itself, be-
comes a flame, and before its fire is entirely dis-
charged, announces itself in lightnings." The re-
ference in this strophe is to the approaching storm
with its distant flashes of lightning. — C. A. B.]
Sir. V. Ver. 9. [He bowed the heavens
and came down. — The storm is near at hand,
the dark masses of clouds descend and seem
almost to touch the earth, vid. Ps. cxliv. 5 ; Ex.
xix. 18; Isa. Ixiv. 1. Parallel with tbis is the
second clause. — Dark clouds under his feet.
— Comp. Nah. i. 3 sq., where the clouds are
called the "dust of His feet."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 10. [He rode upon the cherub and
did fly. — As in the preceding verse the presence
of Jehovah in the dark and overhanging storm-
cloud is represented by His agency in bowing
the clouds and treading them down to the earth,
so in this verse His presence in the strong wind
which precedes the outbreaking of the storm is
represented by His riding upon the cherub. The
cherub is used here as a collective for the plural.
The cherubim are composite creatures, em-
bracing in one the forms of the ox, the lion, the
eagle and man ; they represent in the unity of
their conception the entire creation in its most
perfect form as the servant of Jehovah, through
the faces and forms of the four most prominent
and characteristic creatures which reflect the
attributes and glory of God. They are repre-
sented as the bearers of the throne of Jehovah
(Ezek. i. and x. ), the guardians of Eden (Gen.
iii. 24), and the most holy place and the mercy-
seat. They fly in a whirlwind and with flaming
fire and lightning (Ezek. i. 4, 13), and " the noise
of their wings is like the noise of great waters "
(Ezek, i. 24), the glory of God is above the che-
rubim which form Hislivingchariot.*— C. A. B.]
Soar on the wings of the wind [A. V.,
fiy'l, — 2 Sam. xxii. has instead of soar a weaker
word, He appeared [A. V., was seen], yet not
in all MSS.; perhaps it originated merely by a
slip of the pen, changing 1 into 1. [This clause
is parallel with the preceding ; the wind which
accompanies the chariot of the cherubim is re-
presented as winged. As Jehovah rides upon
the cherubic car, He soars, borne by the wings
of the wind, uti. Ps. civ. 3; Isa. Ixvi. 15; Nah. i,
3. Hupfeld, with Calvin, thinks that the cherub
here represents the storm wind, or the clouds ;
Kiehm, that we have here an indication of the
original meaning of the cherub, but it is better to
regard the clauses as parallel yet distinct in idea,
Jehovah rides upon the cherubic chariot as the
God of the Covenant, and soars on the wings of
the wind as the God of nature. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 11. He made darkness His veil
[A. v., His secret place. — Barnes: "The word
rendered secret place — THD — means properly a
hiding ; then something hidden, private, secret.
* [For a full discussion of the Chenibim vid. B'ihr., Si/m-
boliJc d. Mos. Cult. I. 311 sq.. 340 sq. ; Herde--, Qeist d. Heb.
Poes. I. 1, 6 ; Hengst., Biich. Mosis und -Mgypt. 157 sq. ;
Riehm, Comm.de, natura et notione symbolica Cheruborum ;
Herzog, Rml-EncydopMie Chtrubim; Fairbairn, Typology 1.
185 sq.; Smith's Did. of the Bible, art. Cherubim, etc.~C. A. B.]
Hence it means a covering, a veil. Comp. Job
xxii. 14' xxiv. 15. Here the meaning seems to
be that God was encompassed with darkness.
He had, as it were, wrapped Himself in night,
and made His abode in the gloom of the storm."
—Round about him belongs to covering and
not to pavilion, as A. V.— His tent is parallel
with iml and dependent upon the same verb, not
with the copula, as in A. V. (ITis pavilion were).
C. A. B.]. — 2 Sam. xxii. has, instead of dark-
ness of waters [A. V., dark waters'], a word,
which has originated perhaps by a slip of the
pen, to which according to the Arabic we can
only give the meaning of " collection of waters."
2 Sam. xxii. has likewise : He made darkness
tabernacles roundabout Him, which is a weaken-
ing of the idea of the Psalm. [This verse is a
description of the storm in its momentary lull,
before bursting forth. The angry Jehovah stays
His cherubic car, veils Himself with the dark
clouds, and piles up the darkness of waters and
the thick clouds like a tent in which He meant
to dwell.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 12. [Hupfeld: "Finally the storm of
Divine wrath breaks forth and discharges itself
in thunder, hail and lightnings, etc., on the
heads of the wicked."— C. A. B ] The read-
ing of 2 Sam. xxii., from the brightness be-
fore Him coals of fire burned [A. V., Through
the brightness before Him were coals of
fire kindled] is easier. Many interpreters
likewise would blot out the strange word "His
clouds," and translate : hail and coals of fire
went forth, or rushed forth (Hupf.). If this
remain, our translation, after Hupf. and Delitzsch,
ia the best recommended : From the bright-
ness before him passed through his clouds
hail and coals of fire. — For the interpreta-
tions: "vanished" (Alex., Jerome, Calv.), or
" broke up," so that hail and coals of fire went
forth (Luther, Geier, J. H. Mich., Rosenm.), or
that the last words are to be taken as an outcry
of astonishment (Hengst., Ewald, Olsh.), are
doubtful and find no support in the parallel
words in ver. 13 (G. Baur), as if the repeated
breaking forth of the lightning would be pic-
tured by the restoration of those words which
had been taken away. For in ver. 13, these
words not only are lacking in 2 Sam. xxii,, but
likewise in the Sept. of our Psalm ; they disturb
the structure of the^verse, and find no support
(as Hengst. contends) in the reference to Ex. ix.
23, where the connection of words is difi'erent.
If, however, their dependence upon the verb,
seJit forth [A. V., gave], is maintained, then the
poetry of that interpretation is lost. [The A.
v., '■'At the brightness {that was) before Him His
thick clouds passed, hail [stones) and coals of fire"
does not give a good sense. The idea is that
Jehovah discharged through the darkness that
veiled His brightness the weapons of His wrath,
hail and coals of fire. Comp. the description of
the destruction of the Canaanites, Josh. x. 11, fire
mingled with hail plaguing the Egyptians, Ex. ix.
24, so also in Isa. xxviii, 17 ; xxx. 30. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 13. Instead of in the heavens, 2 Sam.
xxii, has the reading : from heaven, which most
interpreters prefer.
Ver. 14. The suflBx Sm \them, object of the
verb, scattered and discomfited] refers not to the
PSALM XVTII.
148
arrows and lightniag? (ancient interpreters), but
to the enemies, who are not named, it is true,
yet are before the mind of the Psalmist. Ewald
refers it to tho waters which are directly men-
tioned, on account of the easy grammatical con-
nection. Instead of He shot (or He threw,
which meaning 21 has in Gen. xlix. 23), many
interpreters read here, in place of the verb, the
well-known adverb rai^many, in abundance.
[_Str. VI. Ver. 15. This storm of Divine wrath
not only scattered and discom&ted the enemies
of the Psalmist as the Canaaaites before Joshua,
and the Egyptians before Moses, but likewise
burst in fury upon the earth, laying bare the
beds of the waters, as of the Red Sea and the
Jordan, for the passage of the Israelites, dis-
closing the foundations of the world. This was
accomplished by the strong wind, the blast of
the breath of Thy nostrils.— C. A. B.]
[5<r. V£I. Ver, 16. The Psalmist here leaves
the figure of the Theophany and returns to the
more simple ideas of Strophe III. He realizes
once more his own personal danger, in peril of
death and exposed to the brooks of evil and the
bands of Sheol. Jehovah reached from above
— He stretched forth His haad (not as in A. V.,
He sent from above), He laid hold of me (A. V.,
took me, not so good), and drew me up out of
great waters, that is, the brooks of evil, which
have well nigh overwhelmed the Psalmist and
snared him la their bands of death. Nothing
can be more simple and touchingly beautiful
than this description of his deliverance. Alex-
ander supposes a reference here to the '' histori-
cal fact and the typical meaning of the deliver-
ance of Moses, and a kind of claim upon the
part of David to be regarded as another Moses."
Ver. 17. The Psalmist now leaves his figures
of speech and states in simple terms that Jeho-
vah delivered him from his strong enemy.
This strong enemy was probably Saul.
Ver. 18. They fell upon me in the day of
my calamity (A. V., preuented me, incorrect) ;
but Jehovah was his support ; they could not
overcome Him.
Ver. 19. Large place.— He brought him forth
from his straits of trouble, and gave him ample
room to recover himself and extend himself to
his heart's content, vid. Ps. iv. 1. — C. A. B.]
[Sir. VIII. Vers. 20-23. This strophe give." the
reason why Jehovah delighted in him and de-
livered him. His profession of personal in-
tegrity is like that of the previous Psalm (Ps.
xvii. 3). Perowne : "The words are, in truth,
words of child-like, open-hearted simplicity, not
of arrogOjpt boastfulness." They are not incon-
sistent with the latter period of his life. David
in his life was guilty of great sins and suffered
Divine chastisements and confessed that he was
receiving the penalty of his crimes, yet in this
Psalm, where he is praising the deliverances of
his God, he likewise shows that these were tes-
timonies of Diviue favor to him and of approval
of his uprightness and integrity. If in other
Psalms David is sincere in his confessions under
the experience of Divine chastisement, he is
likewise sincere in this Psalm in his professions
under the experience of Divine deliverances.
The penitential Psalms stand for themselves and
the Psalms which assert innocence and upright-
ness stand for themselves, there is no inconsist-
ency if we recognize the difference of experience
in the godly man as expressed in these two classes
of Psalms. Delitzsoh : " In this strophe Ps.
xviii. has the same tone as Ps. xvii. and for this
reason it follows it. Compare the testimony of
David himself 1 Sam. xxvi. 23 sq., the testimony
of God 1 Kings xiv. 8, the testimony of history
1 Kings XV. 5 , xi. 4."— C. A. B.]
Str. IX. Ver. 25. 2 Sam. xxii. has instead of
man, hero [A. V. does not distinguish, but has
man in both versions — 0. A. B.]. The other dif-
ferences in this section are still less important and
relate only to grammatical forms or differences
in orthography. [Barnes: " From the particular
statement respecting the Divine dealings with
himself the Psalmist now passes to a general
statement (suggested by what God had done for
him) in regard to the general principles of the
Divine administration. That general statement
is, that God deals with men according to their
character ; or that He will adapt His providential
dealings to the conduct of men. They will find
Him to be such towards them as they have shown
themselves to be towards Him," Delitzsch : " The
truth here expressed, is not that the idea which
man forms of God is constantly the mirror of his
soul, but that the dealing of God with men is the
mirror of the relation in which God puts Him-
self to him."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 27. In 2 Sam. xxii. is either : Thine eyes
Thou didst let fall upon the proud ; or. Thine
eyes (look) upon the proud, (whom) Thou dost
humiliate [A. V., Thine eyes {are) upon the haughty
{that) Thou mayest bring {them) down'].
Sir. X. Ver. 28. Thou makest light my
lamp [A. v., " Thou wilt light my candle." The
Hebrew imperfects are not here futures but in-
definite designations of continued and incom-
plete action. — C. A. B.]. Lamp not=light=
happiness (the majority of interpreters), but
burning lamp, the putting out of which shows
the desolation of the tabernacle, the aban-
donment of the house (Harmar, Beob. aus dem
Orient, I. 180 sq.), and therefore is frequently
used as figurative -of destruction and ruin, aa
well of the individual (Job xviii. 6 ; xxi. 17 ;
Jer. XXV. 10 ; Prov. xiii. 9 ; xx. 20 ; xxiv. 20),
as particularly of his race (2 Sara. xxi. 17) ; as
the continual burning ana care of the lamp
serves as a figure of the preservation of life and
the condition of prosperity (Job xxix. 3 ; Prov.
xxxi. 18), and is especially applied to the con-
tinuance of the house of David (1 Kings xi. 36;
XV. 4; 2 Kings viii. 19; Ps. cxxxii. 17; De
Wette, Hupf., Delitzsch). This passage is abbrevi-
ated in 2 Sam. xxii., and so used that Jehovah
Himself is called the lamp of David. In 2 Sam.
xxii. "my God" is lacking in the second mem-
ber of the verse.
[Ver. 29. For by thee I run upon troops,
and by my God I leap over w^alls (A. V., /
have run through a troop .... have I leaped
over a wall). — The imperfects are not pre-
terites, but are indefinite, as generally in this
Psalm {vid. notes on ver. 3). Barnes: "The
word troop here refers to bands of soldiers, or
hosts of enemies. The word rendered run
through [A, V.] means properly to run; and
then, as here, to run or rush upon in a hostile
144
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
sense ; to rush with violence upon one. The
idea here is, that he had been enabled to rush
with violence upon his armed opposers; that is,
to overcome them and secure a victory. The
allusion is to the wars in which he had been
engaged," The second clause carries on the idea
of the first, he attacks the troops of his enemies,
he breaks their ranks, he rushes upon their for-
tified towns, he mounl s and leaps over their walls
and captures them. Comp. Joel ii. 7. This had
been his experience of the gracious help of his
God who had enabled him to do this. — C. A. B.]
\_Str.XI. Ver.30. Delitzsch: "SxH [{As for)
God, A. v.] is nom. dbs. as "l^^fH, Deut. xxxii. 4;
this ancient Mosaic expression sounds here again
as 2 Sam. vii. 22, in the mouth of David. The
article of /XH points to the God historically re-
vealed. His way is faultless and unblamable.
His word is Hiin^, not drossy ore, but pure gold,
freed from dross, Ps. xii. 7. He who withdraws
himself in Him, the God of promise, is shielded
from all dangers. Prov. xxx. 6 is borrowed
from this passage."
Ver. 31. Hupfeld : "Jehovah alone is true
God, that is. Who can and will help. This is
parallel with "l^^f, rock (comp. ver. 2), here used
at once, as the name of God, as Deut. xxxii. 4,
15, 18, 30 sq., 37 ; Isa. xliv. 8, etc.; frequently as
a clause in contrast with the vain idols, especially
Deut. xxxii. 31 ; 1 Sam. ii. 2 ; but likewise with all
the false props and idle hopes on which man gladly
builds instead of on God only (Calv.)." — C. A. B.]
ISlr. XII. Ver. 32. The God who girdeth
me with strength. (A. V. {It is) God that).
The reference is to "our God" of ver. 31.
Alexander: The imparting of a quality or be-
stowing of a gift is in various languages described
as clothing. Thus the English words endue and
invest have almost lost their original meaning.
The figure of girding is peculiarly significant,
because in the oriental dress the girdle is essen-
tial to all free and active motion. — My way
perfect. — Hupfeld : '* Manifestly is correlative of
the same phrase, ver. 30 applied to God, as the
eflfect of it and thereby mediately the same as,
even, easy, free, that is a successful way."
Ver. 33. He maketh my feet like hind's
feet. Barnes: "So Hab. iii. 19. He will make
my feet like hind's feet, and he will make me to
walk upon mine high places.' The hind is the
female deer, remarkable for fleetness or swift-
ness. The meaning here is, that God had made him
alert or active, enabling him to pursue a flying
enemy, or to escape from a swift-running foe."*
— And setteth me upon my high places.
Alexander: '■'■My heights, those which are to be
mine by right of conquest and by Divine gift.
The heights may be the natural highlands of the
country or the artificial heights of its fortified
places. "f
* [De Wette : " Swiftness in running was a celebrated vir-
tue of the ancient heroes, because fleeing was no disgrace and
often a necessary stratagem. Achilles is called TrdSas u>kv^
II. a. 68, with renown ; 1 Chron. xii. 8, it is said of two
heroes : as roes upon the mountain in swiftness ; comp. 2
Sam. i. 23. Hamas ed. Freytag, p. 84 sq."— C. A. B.]
f [This is the view of Calvin and Hengst., but it is strong-
ly opposed by De Wette and Hupf., who contend that David
alludes to swiftness of flight and refuge upon his high places.
The Psalmist is, however, speaking of the help of the Lord,
Ver. 34. He teacheth my hands to
war. — Barnes: "The skill which David had
in the use of the bow, the sword, or the
spear, all of which depends on the hands, —
he ascribes entirely to God." — And mine
arms bend the bow of brass. —(A. V.,
incorrectly, ^'So that a bow of steel is broken
by mi/arms.'') Perowne: "HJinJ, not (as Kim-
chi) Niph. of nnn 'is broken ' but Piel of nnj,
'to press down and so to bend,' so Hupf., De
Wette, Ewald, Delitzsch, Alexander, et al. Pe-
rowne: " Here the bending of a bow of brass (or
bronze, rather, ;^;aZ/c(}f, which seems to have been
tempered, and rendered pliable like steel with us),
indicates his great strength (comp. Job xx. 24.)
In Homer, Ulysses leaves behind him at Ithaca
a bow which no one but himself could bend."
— C. A. B.J
Str. XIII. Ver. 35. Condescension,— [A.
v., gentleness']. The word nijy always means,
merely the bowing of one's self and not the
humiliation of another. Therefore the transla-
tion of Luther, after the Sept., Vulg., "If Thou
humiliatest me, Thou makest me great," is inad-
missible. It is true this word, which expresses
the idea of humility (Prov. xv. 32; xxii. 4) is
used with reference to God only in this passage;
since however in Ps. xlv. 4 it denotes the cor-
responding attribute of the condescension of the
king, it is unnecessary to explain, with Hitzig,
after the Arabic ; Thy care, favor ; or with Olsh.
to correct ^HUi^ with ^P"^fi? that is thy help.
The reading 2 Sam. '"jrij^. is hardly to be ex-
plained as if the 1 merely quiesces (Kimchi);
still less is the meaning to be forced by altering
the vowel points ^HJ^ (J. H. Mich., Hengst.)
to that of 'humility' (Sept., Pesch., Theod.,
Symm.); but to translate, there, with the Chald.,
Thy hearing [A. V. does not distinguish but uses
the same word, gentleness. — C. A. B.]
[Ver. 36. Thou hast enlarged my steps
underme. — Barnes: "The idea here is, 'Thou
hast made room for my feet, so that I have been
enabled to walk without hindrance or obstruction.'
So in Ps. xxxi. 8, 'Thou hast set my feet in a
large room.' The idea is, that he was before
straitened, compressed, hindered in his goings,
but that now all obstacles had been taken out of
the way, and he could walk freely. — That my
feet did not slip. Margin, ' mine ankles.'
The Hebrew word means properly a, joint; small
joint ; especially the ankle. The reference here
is to the ankle, the joint that is so useful in
walking, and that is so liable to be sprained or
dislocated. The meaning is that he had been ena-
bled to walk firmly; that he did notZmjt?."— C.A.B.]
[5<r. XIV. Vers. 37-40. The consequences of
Divine assistance were the subjugation and de-
struction of his enemies. Delitzsch: "Thus
fighting in God's strength, with God's weapons
and under God's assistance he beat, subjected,
annihilated all his enemies in domestic and fo-
reign wars. According to Hebrew syntax, all
this is retrospective.
in giving him strength and power, and it is better to inter-
pret this verse consistently with the preceding and following,
of attacking and conquest, and not of fleeing from bis ene-
mies.—0. A. B.]
PSALM XVIII.
146
Ver. 40. And my enemies, Thou gavest
to me the back. — (A. V. Thou hast also given
me the neck of mine enemies. Hupfeld: "^J2f jHJ..
is elsewhere intransitive (2 Chron. xxix. 6.)=
«)njr :j3n, f];^j; n^il (Josh. vli. 8, 12) to turn the
\>Si.c)s.=iterga dare, verier*, flee ; is here causative
to make the enemies^ backs tlxat is fugitives as
Ex. xxiii. 27, and in like sense Ps. xxi. 12.
DJ^ ri'iy to make backs: necks, back8,=:present
their necks or backs to the pursuers, v?ho see
them only on this side and thus only as necks
and backs. Comp. Jer. xviii. 17. "I will see
them as backs and not as face, that is behind
and not before." So Gesen., De Wette, Delitzsch,
Perowne, Alexander, et al. Barnes, however,
prefers the A. V. and understands it '« complete
subjection, — as when the conqueror places his
foot on the necks of his foes." — C. A. B,
Str. XV. Ver. 41. 2 Sam. xxii. has, they looked
[instead of, ^Acycnec?]. [Delitzsch: "Theirprayer
to their idols and even to Jehovah forced by
necessity, because it was directed to Him for
their own interests and too late, was vain." —
C. A. B.]
Ver. 42. 2 Sam. xxii. has: ^^dust of the earth^^
[instead of dust before the wind"] ; and in the se-
cond member again: "/ did stamp them."
[Barnes: "As the fine dust is driven by the
wind, 80 they fled before me. There could
be no more striking illustration of a dis-
comfited army flying before a conqueror." —
As the dust in the streets. — Barnes: " The
idea is, that he poured them out, for so the He-
brew word means, as the dirt or mire in the
streets. As that is Irodden on, or trampled down
80 they, instead of being marshalled for battle,
were wholly disorganized, scattered and left to
be trodden down as the most worthless object
is."— C. A. B.]
Str. XVI. Ver. 43. Strifes of the people—
This is referred by Hengst., Hitzig, Delitzsch, to
the internal conflicts with reference to Saul and
Absalom, and they then explain in the same way
the reading 2 Sam. xxii. "'SJ^ :^ my people ;
whilst Olsh. supplies the thought, " with other
nations;" and the Rabbins regard this form as
plural. Many likewise regard the D^^ of the
Psalm as plural, which however with this inter-
pretation is best regarded as collective (Hupf.)
But the goyim in the following member favors
the first mentioned interpretation, as likewise
in the third member the Dj? acquires by the
following relative clause, the closer meaning of
people previously unknown to the Psalmist, as
foreign and distant. In the first member the
construction is like Is. xxvi. 2; xlix. 8; 2 Sara,
xxii. has [in the second clause] : thou hast kept
me a^, or thou preservedst me to be, the head
of the heathen. — [Head of the heathen.
Hupfeld. " It is questionable whether this is
historical of the subjection of some foreign na-
tions, or whether it is not rather in ideal univer-
sality^isovereignty of the world, as Ps. ii." It is
probable that it has rather a historical reference.
This is more in keeping with the entire Psalm as
retrospective. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 44. At the hearing of the ear. — This
is regarded by most interpreters as in contrast
10
to their own beholding (Job xlii 5,)=they
heard, without seeing me, or as soon as the
sound of command from the distance had come
to them, or better, as soon as they heard the re-
port of the name and victories of David, (Dent,
ii. 25; Josh. vi. 27; ix. 9; Is. xxiii. 6). On ac-
count of the mention of obedience, which imme-
diately follows, others (Stier, Hupf,, Camph ),
regard the expression as like the German, "at
the word of,". with reference to the command
they had received and its prompt execution.
Sachs supposes a repetition of the previous word
and explains: "They only know me by the
knowledge of the ear." — Sons of foreign
parts dissembled to me.— [A. V. Strangers
shall submit themselves. Alexander: "Sons of
outlands will lie."— C. A. B]. The humble ex-
pressions of the conquered, which have been
forced, are often mentioned as lies, hypocrisy
and flattery.
Ver. 45. The sous of foreign parts faded
aw^ay. — The victorious power of David has
struck them as a fiery wind (Is. xl. 7), therefore
they wither away. — Trembled [A. V., be afraid^.
It follows from Micah vii. 17, comp. Hos. xi. 11,
that Jin must have the meaning of tremble. It
is likewise found in cognate dialects. The word
used in 2 Sam. xxii. instead of tbis "Ijn which
many MSS. and ancient translations likewise
have in the Psalm, means, gird themselves, which,
however, is an unusual expression of equipping
oneself for flight. The meaning, limp (Sept.
Vulg., Pesch., Kimchi), however, occurs in
cognate dialects and is accepted by Hitzig.
Sir. XVII. Ver. 46. Hitzig, likewise, with
many recent interpreters, regards ver. 46 sq.
as optative, as if the cry of homage and rejoicing
addressed to the king, which, however is 'JT
(1 Sam. X. 24; 1 Kings i. 39), is here applied to
God. But it is better with Sept., Jerome,
Cleric, to regard these words as declarative
clauses in the sense of doxologies (Hengst.,
Hupf., Delitzsch).
Ver. 47. The rare word used here for subdue,
[1372] is ill 2 Sam. xxii. supplied by the usual
word [n^].
Ver. 48. Many interpreters understand the
Man of violence to be particularly Saul (even
Hitzig and Hengst.). Most interpreters regard
the expression as collective (Prov. iii. 31).
Str. XVIII. Vers. 49-50. [Delitzsch: "The
praise of such a God, who does to David as He
has promised, is not to remain limited to the nar-
row space of Israel. If the Anointed of God
makes war upon the heathen with the sword,
yet it is that finally the blessing of the know-
ledge of Jehovah, and the salvation of Je-
hovah which he serves as mediator, may
break its way to them in this manner. With
entire propriety Paul, Rom. xv. 9, adduces
ver. 49 of this Psalm, together with Deut. xxxii.
43, and Ps. cxvii. 1, as proof that salvation be-
longs likewise to the Gentiles according to the
Divine mercy. What is stated in verse 60 as
the reason and the subject of the praiae which
extends beyond Israel; is, if David i» its author,
as Hitzig recognizes, a very consistent echo of
the Messianic promise, 2 Sara. vii. 12-16. And
Theodoret without impropriety appeals to the
146
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
closing words Unp'lJ^ against the Jews. In
whom else, than iu Christ, the Son of David, has
David's fallen throne enduring existence, and
all that has been promised to David's seed, ever-
lasting truth and reality ? The praise of Jehovah,
the God of David His anointed, is, according to its
final meaning, praise of the Father of Jesus
Christ"— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In a thankful and pious heart the demon-
Btrations of the love of God beget a sincere and
hearty return of love, in the expression of which
the feelings of affection meet it and pervade it
with the recognition of great obligations and the
vow of entire consecration, (Deut. vi. 5). Those,
however, who love the Lord, are as the sun,
which ascends in its power (Judges v. 31). It is
not in vain that they take refuge with God, who
is the strength of those who trust in Him, and on
the one side delivers and protects them, on the
other fills them with strength to continue in the
hope of faith.
2. The thankful retrospect of previous deliv-
erances strengthens the faith ia future help from
God ; and he who bears in mind, that the God
invoked by him is the Lord of Glory, whom the
congregation praises with adoration, ' joins in,
on his part with one song of praise after another
and finds his joy in the declaration of the bene-
fits of God, his pleasure in the glory of the Lord.
Ecclesia semper vincit semperque pugnat et superatis
prxtcritis malis paratus ad futura mala superanda.
(Luther).
3. God's being enthroned on high and dwell-
ing in the heavens, does not separate Him from
His servants on earth ; it merely exhibits Him
in His exaltation above all the powers of the
world and the Abyss; it no more prevents Him
from hearing the sighs and supplications of the
oppressed, than from making known His presence
to help in gracious condescension to the needs
of men.
4. The revelations of God in the world are
not always accompanied by striking phenomena
in nature, still less are thunder and lightning
His constant attendants or the sure sign of His
coming. But partly, the appearance of God in
history has really at times been announced and
accompanied by such phenomena (Ex. xix.; Pss.
Ixviii.; Ixxvii.; Hab. iii.; Hag. ii. 7 ; 2 Thes. i.
8) ; partly, God as Lord of nature uses them as
the instruments employed by Him, and means to
deliver His servants and punish their enemies.
It is, however, of great importance, to recognize
the work of the Lord therein, and amidst the
shaking of the world, through the powers of
nature's life, to discern the grasp of the hand of
God.
5. To behold the form of the Divine Being is
fltill future and yet to be expected (Ps. xvii. 15).
Hence the Theophanies of the Old Testament
are all partly typical, partly symbolical; they
are mysteries as well as revelations. It is par-
ticularly the clouds, which veil the light, which
is not to be endured by mortal eyes (Ex. xxiii.
20, and elsewhere) and is inaccessible to any
•reature(l Tim. vi. 16), in which God dwells and
which forms as the reflection of Hia light-nature,
the resplendence of ffis glory, 6o^a, 113D, and 80
the approach of man to God is partly made pos-
sible, partly declared. This figurative language
is taken partly from the sphere of the phenomena
of nature which are visible in the heavens, in
accordance with which light is called His gar-
ment (Ps. civ. 2), the clouds His tent (Job
xxxvi. 29; Ps. xcvii ), the thunder His voice
(Ps. xviii. 13 ; Jobxxxvii. 2), lightning, however,
and the storm as instruments of His righteous
punishments (Judges v. 4; Is. xxx. 27 sq., Pss.
1. 3; Ixviii. 8; xcvii.), often in connection with
earthquakes (Ps. Ixxvii. 18; cxiv. 4; Joel iu 10;
iv. 16; Nah. i. 5; Is. xxiv. 28). At the basis of
the symbolism of nature lies the idea, that cer-
tain peculiarities in the nature and action of God
correspond with it. Thence God Himself is at
times described as present and active in these
phenomena of nature, not merely accompanied
by them, and in bold but contemplative expres-
sions the stirring up and expression of His wrath
is represented as the kindling of His light-nature
in all the turns of fiery and flaming figures, until
that smoke issues from His nostrils snorting with
wrath (Deut, xix. 9 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 1; Ixxx. 4), and de-
vouring fire from His mouth, (comp. the descrip-
tion of the crocodile, Job xli. 10 sq.), from the
coals which glow within Him. These natural
phenomena, not so much in themselves, as under
certain circumstances and more particular forms,
form partly the symbol, partly the means of a
Theophany. In the present description the per-
sonal interference of God to deliver His servant
and judge His enemies, although accompanied
by natural phenomena is yet particularly char-
acterized by the mention of the Cherub. For
however questionable the etymology and precise
meaning of this word may be, yet this much is
certain, that the forms thereby designated as
well in their artistic representation upon the
ark of the covenant, (Ex. xxv. ) and in the tem-
ple in manifold ways; as in the prophet's vision
(Ezek. i.; x.; Rev. iv.), where they are repre-
sented as living beings, not less than in the nar-
rative,(Gen. iii.) and in the standing represen-
tation of Jehovah, that He is enthroned above
the Cherubim (Num. vii. 89; 1 Sam. iv. 4, vi. 2; 2
Kings xix. 15; Is. xxxvii. 16), constantly appeal
in the closest relation to the revelation of the
royal majesty of Jehovah in the world. On this
very account they are in a direct connection
with the clouds which indicate the presence of
God in the world and are the means of His ap-
pearance, as then the Shekinah likewise has its
place between the wings of the Cherubim (Lev.
xvi. 2 • Num. vii. 89). From this follows, that
these are neither a further symbol of these clouds
(Riehm, de natura et notione symbolica Cheruborum
1864), nor in our passage merely a finishing of
the figure, that Jehovah rides upon the wind-
clouds (Calv. Hupf. : Ps. civ. 3 ; Is. fix. 1 ;
Ixvi. 15 ; Nah. i. 3). Still less, are they to be
compared with the mythological thunder horses
of the king of heaven. (J. D. Mich.).
6. He who is deprived of all means of resist-
ance to his enemies, seems entirely given over
into their power, and yet has God still as his
friend, that man is not entirely lost ; his day of
misfortune becomes a day noteworthy to him for
his deliverance by the hand of the Lord, who
PSALM xvrii.
147
delivers His elect from all the straits of trouble.
Election, however^ is not arbitrary, the love of
God is not a blind and unrighteous predilection,
His good pleasure is not an unreasonable favor.
A reaiprocity of action, an interchange of a
moral character takes place, which has as its
contents the thought of recompense, for its
foundation the ethical nature of Ood, by virtue
of which God not only appears to every man, as
he himself is minded and situated, but likewise
on His part acts in a way corresponding to this
(1 Sam. xxvi. 23 ; Is. xxix. 14 ; xxxi. 3 ; Job
V. 13; Prov. iii. 34). But he who pleads the
purity of his hands and the honesty of his heart
and his walking in the ways of God, must see to
it, that self-praise is not heard in it, such as
springs from self-righteous tiess, but that it is
only a testimony of the fruitfulness, with which
a man has served God and kept himself from
trespasses, and which presupposes entire conse-
cration to God, and declares itself as judging
oneself with and according to God's word and
law. Such a self-witness is then confirmed by
the judgment of God (1 Kings xiv. 8). In this
connection there can be no reference to pride
and self-exaltation, inasmuch as the thought of
recompense includes likewise the certainty of
the humiliation of the proud (Is. ii. 11), whom
Jehovah hates (Prov. vi. 17).
7. Jehovah is the only true and real God. He
alone can and will help. It is well for him, who
relies upon His providence, trusts in His pro-
mises, resorts to His protection. He will ex-
perience the Divine assistance, so that he, armed
with power from on high, not only escapes the
attacks of his enemies, but is in a position, to
completely overcome his adversaries, whose cry
to God is not heard, because it is not a cry of
prayer from a heart turned to God, but is only
a cry of anxiety, extorted by necessity.
8. The difference between the Old and New
Testament is very clearly to be recognized in the
treatment of enemies and the description of
them. It is true on the one side that even in the
Old Testament private revenge is repudiated and
God is declared to be the avenger of blood &\Te&dy,
Gen. ix. 5. On the other side likewise in the New
Testament the magistrates are represented as the
servants of God who bear the sword (Rom. xiii. 4).
And the reference here in this Psalm is to the duty
of the king. But a Christian king who has won vic-
tories over the enemies of Divine ordinances and
institutions through Divine assistance and had
as a duty to make an end not only of the actions
but likewise of the life of the adversaries of the
kingdom of God, could not immediately use
either for his thanksgiving or his vows at the
celebration of victory, some of the expressions
used here. The authority for transferring and
transforming them from the Old Testament into
the New Testament stand-point lies in the fact
that David mentions the exhibitions of vengeance as
given to him by Ood, whereby they receive their
justification and at the same time their limita-
tion.
9. Thanksgiving for all the help, protection,
and benefits received from God, are not to be
limited to the sphere of those who have directly
participated therein, but are to be heard as far
as possible. And it is not only to resoun<l in all
the world, but is intentionally to be carried into
all the world. He who understands his position
as a servant of God, whether it be high or low,
has likewise to lay hold of the task of declaring
God as his own, and to unite with it the work of
spreading abroad the name of God among those
who know Him not. The heathen are not to b©
combated with the sword, but with the word of
Ood; the blessing of the knowledge of Ood, bow-
ever, is the best means of healing the wounds of
war.
10. The everlasting continuance of that which
David has thankfully laid hold of for himself and
his seed in faith in the certainty of the Divine
promise, and which he partly lauds, partly
praises in Messianic hope, is, after the earthly
throne of David's line had long fallen, secured
and pledged by Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul,
in Rom. xv. 9, therefore cites likewise ver. 49
of this Psalm, together with Deut. xxxii. 43, and
Ps. cxvii, 1, as an evidence that the heathea
likewise are to attain the salvation in Christ ac-
cording to the mercy of God, and in order to thia
end are to hear the preaching of the Gospel, and
to be received and treated as members of the
Christian Church. " When David gives thanks for
his victories, he at the same time prepares a pro-
phecy of Christ's person and victories." (Lu-
ther).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
With God! That is the true watchword in war
and in peace, — A pious king gains one victory
after another in domestic strifes and foreign
wars. — The Almighty, at times, makes use of the
powers of nature in a striking manner in order
to accomplish His purposes. It is necessary to
observe the government of God in natural phe-
nomena not less than in historical events. God
reveals Himself in natural phenomena likewise;
but at the same time He veils Himself in them.
There is no need so great, but that God can de-
liver us from it, — He who has perceived the hand
of the Lord on himself, and gives the glory to
God for the salvation he has received, is capable
of being a servant of God, and is able to become
in the hand of the Lord an instrument of the Di-
vine judgment, and a tool of Divine grace. — God
blesses His servants likewise with temporal
goods, chiefly, however, with eternal salvation,
but both by grace. — God in His action, governs-
Himself according to the conduct of men; and-
yet the cause and foundation of our salvation is
not human righteousness, but Divine grace. —
God is a just Rewcrder ; but there is a great dif-
ference between the reward of grace and pu-
nishment.— The name of God is likewise to be
proclaimed among the heathen, for this David'
and his seed on whom the Divine grace rests /or-
ever, have an incompajrable importance. — Even'
the most pious man has not yet complete moral
perfection ; but sincere piety brings abiding
blessing ; for it leads to both these things, to ob-
servation of the law and seeking of grace. — He
who earnestly strives to avoid guilt, directs his
attention to the Divine law.
Bugenhagen: If it please God that we should
suffer for His glory and the salvation of our-
selves and others how can we refuse.
148
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Starke: If David, when at the height of his
glory, called himself the servant of the Lord in
order to show his deep humility, then be ye like-
wise thus minded; the higher thou art humble
yourself the more. — This great king ascribes his
deliverance from his enemies not to his own
power, but to the Lord, in whose honor he sings
a song of praise; would that he had many fol-
lowers now among the great of this world! —
Hearty love to God arises from believing know-
ledge and reflection upon His benefits. — If God
is our rock, who will overthrow us? If He is
our stronghold, then we are safe; if He is our
deliverer, He will not let us alone in our neces-
sity; if He is our retreat, we are invincible; if
He is our shield, no arrow will hit us; yes, if
He is the horn of our salvation, no one will de-
prive us of our salvation. — Believers not only
cry to God when they are in distress (even the
ungodly do this) but they pray always; yet their
longing for grace is redoubled, the more their
need increases. The signs of God's wrath in na-
ture are indeed terrible, but they are not to be
reckoned in comparison with the everlasting and
horrible punishments of hell. — No abyss has ever
been so deep, no enemy so cruel and powerful,
and no disaster so terrible, as to put to shame
the confidence of believers in their God. — Ac-
cording as you behave towards God, so you have
Him ; if you seek Him as a gracious God, you
will find Him such; if you regard God as your
Father, He will regard you as His child ; if how-
ever you mock His children, beware, He will
mock you again (Prov. i. 24 sq.) — God is not only
almighty and gracious for Himself, but all that
He is. He is to those who hope in Him. — Our
God in the highest is He, whose power the idols
of the heathen have experienced. — Victory over
our enemies must be sought from God, and not
ascribed to our own strength and wisdom; yet
we are not to reject the use of proper means (1
Kings XX. 13 sq.) — A believer must use aright
the power cf God, and not leave off the struggle
until the enemies are overcome — The ungodly
likewise praj', but with impenitent hearts, and
not from true faith, therefore God likewise does
not hear such prayers (John ix. 31). — That is a
blessed revenge of the Messiah, when God
brings His enemies to repent of their wickedness
and accept Him as their King. Since you can-
not recompense God for all His benefits, yet love
Him for them, and praise His name.
Osiandeb: When our affairs are bad we
should trust in God ; when they are good, we
should not be proud. — Arndt: Three things are
necessary to victory ; the shield of God, God's
right, and our humility, which does not rely upon
human power, but upon Divine power. — Baum-
OARTEN : When God occasions great movements in
the realm of nature, and in human society, He de-
signs all to be for the deliverance of His children.
— Calvin: There is promised us an invincible
protection against all the onsets of the devil, all
the craft ot sin, all the temptations of the flesh.
— Renschel : By humility we rise, by pride we
come down. — Herberqer: The world goes in
many crooked ways, but he who walks with God
advances from one virtue to another. — Frisch:
The most of your love you give to the world
which yet does not respond to your love. With
God however it is well spent. He has first loved
you, daily bestows much good upon you, and
will continue His love to you forever. —
Boqatzki: We must likewise learn to appro-
priate our God and Saviour according to all His
names and offices, according to all that Heis and
has, and to attach to every name of God and
Christ the little word " my," and say : He is that
likewise to me. — 0. v. Gerlach : To contem-
plate God's glorious attributes, praise them and
magnify them, is for believers the very proper
means of deliverance. — Guenther : All that is
great and glorious, that is worthy of praise, has
not been done by heroes, but God has done it
through them. But as soon as the glory is to be
given to God, all the thoughts of the poet must
assume the form of a song of praise. — Taube :
The enemies of God have nothing so much to fear
as the fafth of the friends of God
[Matth. Henry: God will not only deliver His
people out of their troubles in due time, but He will
sustain them, and bear them up under their trou-
bles in the meantime. — When we set ourselves to
praise God for one mercy, we must be led by that
to observe the many more with which we have
been compassed about and followed all our
days. — Barnes : No man dishonors himself
by acknowledging that he owes his success
in the world to the Divine interposition. —
Spcrgeon : The clefts of the Rock of Ages
are safe abodes. — To be saved singing is to be
saved indeed. Many are saved mourning and
doubting ; but David had such faith that he could
fight singing, and win the battle with a song still
upon his lips. How happy a thing to receive
fresh mercy with a heart sensible of mercy en-
joyed, and to anticipate new trials with a confi-
dence based upon past experiences of Divine
love! — Prayer is that postern gate which is left
open even when the city is straitly besieged by
the enemy; it is that way upward from the pit
of despair to which the spiritual miner flies at
once when the floods from beneath break forth
upon him. — 0 honored prayer, to be able thus,
through Jesus' blood, to penetrate the very ears
and heart of Deity. — Prayer has shaken houses,
opened prison doors, and made stout hearts to
quail. Prayer rings the alarm bell, and the Mas-
ter of the house arises to the rescue, shaking all
things beneath His tread. — Blessed is the dark-
ness which encurtains my God ; if I may not see
Him, it is sweet to know that He is working in
secret for my eternal good. — Sweet is pleasure
after pain. Enlargement is the more delightful
after a season of pinching poverty and sorrowful
confinement. Besieged souls delight in the
broad fields of the promise when God drives off
the enemy and sets open the gates of the envi-
roned city. — Rest assured, if we go deep enough,
sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bot-
tom of every well of mercy. Deep sea fisheries
in the ocean of Divine bounty always bring the
pearls of electing, discriminating love to light.
— Backsliders begin with dusty Bibles, and go on
to filthy garments. — God gives us holiness, then
rewards us for it. The prize is awarded to the
flower at the show, but the gardener reared it;
the child wins the prize from the school-master,
but the real honor of his schooling lies wit!j the
master, although instead of receiving hi; gives
PSALM XIX
140
the reward. — Second thoughts upon God's mercy
t^hould be, and often are, the best. Like wine
on the lees our gratitude grows stronger and
sweeter as we meditate lipoa divine goodness. —
It is God's making Himself little which is the
cause of our being made great. We are so lit-
tle that if God should manifest His greatness
without condescension, we should be trampled
under His feet ; but God, who must stoop to view
the skies, and bow to see what angels do, looks
to the lowly and contrite* and makes them great.
— The grace of God sometimes runs like firo
among the stubble, and a nation is born in a day.
" Love at first sight " is no uncommon thing
when Jesus is the wooer. He can write Caesar's
message without boasting, Veni, vidi, vici ; His
Gospel is in some cases no sooner heard than be-
lieved. What inducements to spread abroad the
doctrine of the cross ! — Those who are strangers
to Jesus are strangers to all lasting happiness;
those must soon fade who refuse to be watered
from the river of life. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XIX.
To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God \y
Aii^ the firmament sheweth his handy work.
2 Day unto diiy uttereth speech,
Aiid night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language,
Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
6 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
And his circuit unto the ends of it :
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul :
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
And in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors ?
Cleanse thou me from ^Qcret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins ;
Let them not have dominion over me :
Then shall I be upright, and I shaJl be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth.
And the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and ray redeemer.
160
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAIi.
Its Contents and Composition It is usually
supposed that this Psalm consists of two parts,
the former expressing the praise of God as Crea-
tor, the latter the praise of God as revealing Him-
self in the laws of Moses. Since now, not only
the subject, but likewise the language and struc
tare of the verses of the two parts is diflferent,
and they seem to follow one another without con-
nection, many interpreters regard the two parts
as two entirely different poems, composed at dif-
ferent times fKoster, Hupf, Bottcher), which
were afterwards united together by a later poet
(Ewald), or by the compiler (De Wette). But it
has been very properly remarked against this
■jpinion, that the difference of tone and rhythm
eorresponds with the difference of subject, and
Ihat moreover the subject of the one part has an
essential relation to that of the other part, and
not a relation subsequently thought out by re-
flection ; for the identity of the God of Revela-
tion with the Creator is the fundamental princi-
ple of the Theocracy, and is expressly testified to
by the Old Testament from the earliest times.
Furthermore these references are here expressed
partly by the intentional use of the Divine name
of El in the first part, and of Jehovah, and indeed
seven times, in the second part, partly by the
juxtaposition of Sun and Law, both of which are
called Light, the former Job xxi. 26, the latter
Prov. vi. 3, which thus mediates the transition
from the one part to the other. As for the lan-
guage of the Psalm, Hitzig especially, has
brought into notice, and emphasized against
Hupfeld, the ancient and particularly Davidic
features, especially of the second part.* Heng-
stenberg had already previously carried this out
in a peculiar manner by maintaining that there
are to be observed not two, but rather three parts ;
for after the description of actual facts, in two
parts the Psalm turns directly to Jehovah, and
becomes a prayer for forgiveness and preserva-
tion. These opinions are yet so held, that the
composition must fall in the period before the
sin of David with Bathsheba.
[Delitzsch: "In the title of Ps. xviii. David
is called '7\ 13j; and in Ps. xix. he calls himself
by this name. In both Psalms he calls upon Je-
hovah with the name of ""l^^f, there at the be-
ginning, here at the close. These, with other
points of contact, have co-operated in inducing
the compiler to attach this Psalm which cele-
brates God's revelation in Nature and the Law,
to Ps. xviii., which celebrates God's revelation
in the history of David."t— C. A. B.]
* [Riehm : " The change in the structure of the verses oc-
casioned by diiference of tone, can so much the less be urged
against the unity of the Psalm, since the structure of verses
which prevails iii the first part, reappears in ver. 11. Against
the supposition that the praise of the law betrays a later pe-
riod of composition, comp. Ps. xviii. 22 sq. 31, The words of
this Psalm resound in Ps. cxix."— C. A. B.]
f [Perowne : " It may have been written perhaps in the
first flush of an Eastern sunrise, when the sun was seen, go-
ing forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoicing
as a mighty man to run his course. The song breathes all the
life and freshness, all the gladness and glory of the morning.
The devout singer looks out, first, on the works of God's fin-
gers, and sees all creation bearing its constant though silent
testimony to its Maker; and then he turns himself with a
feeling of deep satisfaction to that yet clearer and bettor wit-
ness ooacerning Him to be found in the inspired Scriptures.
Str. I. Ver. 1. Tell . - . proclaimeth.— [A
v., declare . . . shewelh}. The heavens are per-
sonified as Ps. 1. 6; xcvii. 6; as the morning
stars. Job xxxviii. 7; the trees, Is. Iv. 12; en-
tire nature. Job xii. 7 ; Pa. cxlviii 2 sq. Tell-
ing and proclaiming may consequently be as-
serted of them with expressions which else-
where are used of historical narration, which
proclaim the great works of God from generation
to generation. This expression is the more
pregnant, as the history of the creation of the
heavens and its stars in Genesis, to which the
word rakia (comp. Ps. cl. 1) refers, is repre-
sented as toledolh, and has had a historical
course, which again was called forth and closely
determined by the will of God and His activity
as a Divine artificer, so that there is impressed
and expressed (Calv.) therein, not only His crea-
tive power (Geier, ei al.) but the action of His
hands, that is His mastership and His majesty,
the reflected image of His Godhead (Rom. i. 20).
[Hupfeld : " The heavens as the work of God re-
veal the Creator (as we say, ' the work praises
the master') comp Ps. cxxxvi. 5; Is. xl. 22 sq. ;
xlii. 5; xliv 24, etc." — Handywork=Aa?jrf-
work, work of the hand. — C. A. B.] The parti-
cipial forms state, that these are constant and
characteristic witnesses.
Ver. 2. Day unto day poureth forth
speech. — [A V., Uttereth'\. The interrupted
character of this declaring, which reveals the
glory of the Creator, is occasioned by a chain of
tradition. It is not said that the heavens preach
to us by day and by night (Maurer). or that the
changes of time praise God (Isaki, Calv.) aod
that which in these changes is seen in the hea-
vens, and happens under the heavens on earth,
(Aben Ezra, Stier) , but the difference of the
heavens by day and by night is had in view, and
therefore day is placed in direct reference to
day, and night to night in order that their com-
munications may gush forth or well forth (Ps.
Ixxviii. 2; Mic. ii. 6, 11 ; Prov. i. 23), [De
Wette : " The poet personifies the day and the
night, and has them transmit the praise of God
to every following day and every following
night, as the father transmits to his son the
songs and sayings praising his illustrious an-
cestry which he has inherited from his father."
Roseum.: '^'■Declaratur prsedicatio iine intermissione.
El quia caelum prsedicat per dies et nodes, cum in-
terdiu princeps asirorum, sol, conspicitur, noctu stel-
larum pulchritudo ; et quia dies et nodes sibi invi-
cem succedunt, ideo poelico artificio finget noster,
unum diem perado cursu et prsedicationesua, tradere
diei sequenti verba prxdicutionis, et nodem quoque,
perado cursu, et quasi hymno cantata, tradere nodi
Thus he begins the day ; thus he prepares himself for the
duties that await him, for the temptations that may assail
and the sorrows that may gather as a cloud about him. Ho
has made trial of the preciousness of that word. He knows
its deep, hallowing, soul-sustaining power. He knows that
it is full of life and healing. But he knows also that it \»
a word that searches and tries the heart, that reveals the
holiness of God, and the sinfulness of man ; and therefore he
bows himself in prayer, saying, 'As for errors, — who can un-
derstand them ? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' " This
Psalm may be compared with Ps. iriii. an evening psalm simi-
lar in its contemplations to this morning psalm Tn both
the contemplation of the Divine glory as declared in the
heavens, begets a feeling of humility in the soul of the
Psalmist which rises in Ps. viii. 5, into expression of faith
and confidence in God, in Ps. xlx., into prayer for forgiTe«
nesB, preservation and acceptance. — C. A. B.J
PSALM XIX.
151
tequenti munus canendi, ut ita continue, et sine ulla
intermissione dies et nodes quasi choreas diieant, et
Deum laudibns celebrent." — C. A. B.]
Yer. 3. No speech and no words whose
voice unheard {might be) [A. V., {There is) no
speech nor language {where) their voice is not heard"].
— The interpretation of these words as a rela-
tive clause, after Vitringa {Observ. Sacr p. 841,
69), approved by De Wette, Delitzsch, Hitzig, ac-
cords with the figure previously used, and gives
the appropriate sense ; that this natural language
of the heavens is not a speech whose sound can-
not be understood, but is rather a (jtavepdv (Rom.
i. 19) [that is manifest to all.— C. A. B.] The
"73, connected with the participle, is a poetical
expression altogether like the alpha privativum
(Ewaldjg 286^,- g 322 a). Against this inter-
pretation may be objected, not so much the paral-
lelism which is thereby lost, as the reference of
the suffix to the words which immediately pre-
cede, " speech and words," whilst the suffix in
the following line [ver 4 a] refers back to
heavens and the firmament, with which day and
night correspond. But if we should apply this
reference here likewise, and at the same time
restore the parallelism (Eimchi et al.), then by
this formal correctness we would only get the
plain matter of course explanation, destroying
the poetical movement and rhythm, that the ex-
pressions just used are not exact but poetical.
Yfe must not, however, regard this verse as a
later gloss. The poetical use of /3, which even
Olshausen remarks, is already opposed to this.
Still less can it be maintained that the antithe-
sis is found in the following verse, that these
dumb witnesses, without sound and language,
are yet loud speakers, heralds everywhere under-
stood. For then we must either supply the par-
ticle of antithesis (Flam., et al.), which is alto-
gether arbitrary, or regard ver 3 as the ante-
cedent to ver. 4 (De Dieu), or regard it really as
a preceding circumstantial clause (Ewald*),
which is as hard to believe as the supposition
(Hupf.f) of an Oxymoron only half expressed:
dumb, and yet loud enough. This contrast can-
not be derived organically from the emphasis of
the clause ; it is simply forced into the clause.
This is still more the case with Hengst., who
finds indicated the forcibleness of the testimony
which needs no language [Alexander]. The
language does not admit of the interpretation
which Luther, Calv., Geier and most ancient in-
terpreters follow, after the ancient translations,
that this testimony of the heavens is understood
by people of all languages [Barnes] ; nor indeed
of the turn which Hofmann {Theol. Stud, und
Krit., 1847) has given it: no speech, and no words,
are there that its call is not heard, that is, the
speaking of the heavens is carried on alon^ with
all other languages ; the speech of the heavens
sounds above all. Bottcher translates: Where
is preaching and where are words ? Not a sound
of it is to be heard.J
* [Bwald : " Without talk, without words, without its voice
being heard, ita eouad became loud through the whole earth,
etc."— C. A. B.]
t [Hupfeld compares this with Ps. Tiii. 3, the defence of
Ck)d out of the mouth of sucklings.— C. A. B ]
I [Perowne agrees with Hengst. and Hupfeld, thus : " * Their
wnce ig ttot heard, lit. is inaudible.' This seems to be a kind
Str. II. Ver. 4. Their line. — Only the mean-
ing "measuring line" can be proved for the
word 1p (Isa. xxxiv. 17 ; Zech. i. 16, etc.), which
goes as far, or extends as far, as the territory
extends, Jer. xxxi, 39 ; Job xxxviii. 5 , Isa
xxxiv. 17 ; Ezek. xlvii. 3 (Chald., Isaki, Geier,
Rosenm,, Hengst., Hupf , Delitzsch). Theraean^
ing sounding string (De Wette, after some more
ancient interpreters), is no more in the word than
that of thread of discourse (Hitzig), or the line
of writing (Aben Ezra, Calv., Cocc). The
derivation from T}^D=to stretch out, in the sense
of rdvog from reivu) (Ewald, Maurer), is possible,
and the Sept. (comp. Rom. x. 18) really has
0#<J)/yof, Symm., ^;j;of, Vulg. and Jerome, sonus,
Peschito, " its proclaiming." But this meaning
of sound, tune, is not proper to the word else-
where, hence Olsh., Maurer, Gesen,, propose to
read Unp instead of D^p, which, however, is
used in the previous verse. The parallelism
again (Camph.) is more in favor of a word for
sound than of one for territory. Yet without this
the extent of this proclaiming is stated as locally
unlimited, much more embracing the entire cir-
cuit of the world. — [In them. — Hupfeld very
properly refers the suffix here to the heavens in
which God has set up a tent or abode for the
sun, so Perowne and Barnes. Barnes: "The
meaning is, that the sun has his abode or dwell-
ing-place, as it were, in the heavens. The sun
is particularly mentioned, doubtless, as being
the most prominent object among the heavenly
bodies, as illustrating in an eminent manner the
glory of God. The sense of the whole passage
is, that the heavens in general proclaim the
glory of God, and that this is shown in a par-
ticular and special manner by the light, the
splendor and the journeyings of the sun." — C.
A. B.]«
[Tent (A. V., tabernacle).— nuipf eld: "A
dwelling is poetically assigned to the sun by
God, so far as it, like all the stars, has its firm
place in the heavens, from whence it begins its
daily course in the following verse and again re-
turns; without doubt with special reference to
its abode at night (Geier). Comp. in the follow-
ing verse, the bed-chamber, from which it steps
forth in the morning. Thus Hab. iii. 11 : 'The
of correction or explanation of the bold figure which had
ascribed language to the heavens. They have a language,
but not one that can be classed with any of the dialects of
earth. They have a voice, but one that speaks not to tho
ear, but to the devout and understanding lieart. The seuso
is very well expressed in the well-known paraphrase of Ad-
dison : —
' What though in solemn silence all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball,
'F V V V V
In reason's tar they all rejoice.
And utter forth a glorious voice,' " etc.
So Wordsworth : " The elements are God's Evangelists ; the
universe is God's Church. The sermon which they preach
has found its response in the universal assent of mankind.
But the eloquence of the elements is a silent eloquenee, and
thus differs from the articulate utterances of the Church."
The view of our author is preferable. — C. A. B.]
* [De Wette, Gesen., Maurer, Hitzig, Baur and Delitzsch re-
gard the sufHx as indefinite and relative. Thus De Wette:
" The end of the world is here designated as the dwelling of
the sun, which is regarded as at the end of the heavens,
where it passes tlie night, where in the evening at sunset it
turns in, and in the morning goes forth. Thus Helios turned
in with Thetis, and Ossian gives the sun a shady cave, wher»
to pass the night." — C. A. B.]
152
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
sua and moon stand still in their habitation (/Opi
and the DiVto, ' lodgings ' or 'houses,' of the
constellations of the zodiac as stations of the
Bun. The same figure among the Greeks and
Romans (Horn., O-vid' a Metam.), and Ossian (III.
91). Comp. Herder, Geist. d. Heb. Poes., I. 78
sq."— C. A. B.]
The allegorical reference of many ancient in-
terpreters to the heavens as a figure of the
Church, and the sun as the figure of the gospel,
originates from the supposition, that there is
here a prophecy used in Rom. x, 18. But the
apostle uses these words only on the ground of
the parallel here given of the natural and histo-
rical revelations as typical of the proclamation
of ihe gospel, which should embrace the entire
world. [Perowne: "St. Paul, Rom. x. 18,
quotes the former part of this verse in illustra-
tion of the progress of the Gospel. 'Faith,' he
says, 'cometh by hearing,' and then asks, 'Have
Ihey (t. e. the nations at large) not heard? ' Yea,
rather, so widely has the Gospel been preached,
that its progress may be described in the words
in which the Psalmist tells of God's revelation
of Himself in nature. The one has now become
co-extensive with the other. The prseconium
coelorum is not more universal than the prseconium
evangciuy — C. A. B.]
[Ver. 5. And he is like a bridegroom
(A. v.. Which [is) as a bridegroom). — It is better
to regard N^m as beginning an independent
clause, as Delitzsch, Moll., Ewald, Perowne, ei
al. Hupf. uses a colon, but the relative construc-
tion is without warrant, and makes the clause
too much dependent upon the preceding. Pe-
rowne: "Nothing can be more striking than the
figures in which the freshness and gladness of
the young morning and the strength of the sun's
onward march, are described." Delitzsch: "The
morning light has in it a freshness and cheerful-
ness, a renewed youth. Therefore the morning
sun is compared to a bridegroom, the desire of
whose heart is satisfied, who stands as it were at
the beginning of a new life, and in whose youth-
ful countenance the joy of the wedding-day still
shines." — As a hero to run a race. — Delitzsch :
"As in its rise it is compared to a bridegroom,
so in its rapid course f Sir. xliii. 5) it is compared
to a hero {yid. Ps. xviii. 33), for it goes over its
course anew, every time it steps forth, bestowing
its light, and overcoming all things with JTmiJ
(Judges ■vi 31)." Riehra: " The meaning is not
he rejoices in running, but: he rejoices running
— he runs joyfully (Hitzig)." The same com-
parison is used in the Zendavesta, II. 106 (De
Wette). Barnes "The idea is that the sun
seems to have a long journey before him and
puts forth all his vigor, exulting in the opportu-
nity of manifesting that vigor, and confident of
triumphing in the race." — C. A. B.]*
T
* [Wordsworth : " It cannot, surely, be by chance that we
have here figurative expressions which describe the work
of Christ, the King of kiuga, the Mighty Conqueror, who is
compared in both Testaments to the snn (Mai. iv. 2; Rev. i.
16 ; X. 1), and shines forth as a sun in the Tabernacle of His
Church, and dispels the darkness of sin and error, and illu-
mines the world with His light : and who is also called the
Bridegroom in Scripture, and as a Bridegroom (John iii. 29 ;
Rev. xxi. 9) came forth from His heavenly chamber, to unite
our nature to the Divine. He came forth ' de ulero virginali
[Ver. 6. His going forth.— Hupf. :
the usual word for the rising of the sun, appears
here in its original figurative meaning: going
forth, with reference to the stepping forth (KV')
from his chamber (ver. 5), in contrast with NUD,
going into the chamber at his setting, "instead
of which here HiJlpn, revolution, running down
(from f]pJ, Isa. xxix. 1 ; ^'p*?, encompass, re-
volve), elsewhere of the passing away of th©
years, Ex. xxxiv. 22 ; 1 Sam. i. 20, here of the
daily passing away of the sun" (A. V., circuit).
" This is not a description of its 'extended course'
(De Wette), but of the entire extent of its course :
from one end of the heavens to the other (corres-
ponding with ' over the whole earth,' and ' to the
end of the world,' ver. 4, which here receive
their explanation and fulfilment), and of its all-
penetrating heat." — Nothing ia hid from its
heat. — Hupfeld: "This refers properly to its
all-penetrating warmth, heat (from which the sun
poetically has the name n?3n, the hot, in con-
trast to the moon njS/* ^^^ pale, Isa. xxx. 26) ;
but including likewise the light, comp. in -all lan-
guages a similar proverb, that the sun ' sees and
brings all things to light.' " — Barnes : " The rays
of the sun penetrate everywhere. Nothing escapes
it. It is not a mere march for show and splen-
dor ; it is not an idle and useless journey in the
heavens ; but all things, vegetables, birds, beasts,
men, — all that lives, — feel the eff^ect of his vital
warmth, and are animated by his quickening in-
fluence."—C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 7. [Delitzsch : " The transition
from the one pant to the other has no external
medium, it is only indicated by the fact that the Di-
vine name niri'' [^Jehovah'] takes the place of 7K
('El). The word of nature reveals Sx ('El), the
word of Scripture mn'' (Jehovah) ; the one God's
power and majesty, the other His counsel and
will. Twelve eulogies of the law follow, two by
two of which are constantly related as presump-
tion and conclusion, according to the scheme of
the Caesura, rising and sinking as waves. We
feel how the heart of the poet, when be begins to
speak of God's word and the revelation of His
will, begins to beat with redoubled joy." — C.
A. B.]
The law, — The word min means properly:
instruction, doctrine, and therefore may mean
likewise the word of prophecy (Isa. i. 10; viii.
16) ; yes, it may be used of the v6/j.og of the last
times. But this does not prove that it means
here the Gospel (Cocc), or the revelation and
word of God in general (many ancient inter-
preters, likewise Stier). The following synonyms,
then ver. 11, show that the reference here is
only to the revelation of the law given by Moses
as the rule of life for Israel. So it is not said
that the Thorah converts the soul (Stier), or leads
the spirit back into itself (August!), but this
expression in its idiomatic use has no reference
to the moral character, but to the experiences
tanquam tftatonw ' (says Augustine), in order to espouse to
Himself the Bride, His Church, and to join her in mystic
wedlock to Himself. And therefore all ancient expositors
agree in applying these words to Christ; and this Psalm is
appointed, in the Sarum and Latin use, for Christmivs Day;
and in the Gregorian use, for the Annunciation." C. A. Ji.]
PSALM XIX.
153
of life. The refreshment and reanimation of the
Boul is called its restoration and bringing back.
Gomp. 1 Sam. xxi. 12; Lam. i. 11. [Alexan-
der: "The effect of converting the soul would
not have been attributed to the law in this con-
nection, where the writer is describing the affec-
tions cherished towards the law by men already
converted, which removes all apparent inconsis-
tency with Paul's representation of the law as
working death, and at .the same time the neces-
sity of making the law mean the Gospel, or in
any other way departing from the obvious and
usual import of the Hebrew word." — The tes-
timony.— Perowne: "As testifying, bearing
witness of God's character, both in His good-
will towards those who obey Him, and in His
displeasure against transgressions, especially in
the latter sense. It is as Harless says; *The
word of God testifying of Himself and afl&rming
what He is, in opposition to the apostasy of man '
{Elhik. I 14, Anm). Vid. Deut. xxxi. 26, 27
Hence the force of its connection with the ark
and the mercy-seat, Ex. xxv. 16 ; xxvi. 34 ; Lev.
xvi, 13 ; the symbol of God's righteous severity
against sin being hidden beneath the symbol of
His grace and mercy." — C. A. B. j
Simplicity — "Hp is not the silly (Luther),
nor the natural man in general (most interpre-
ters), nor the open-minded and susceptible
(Stier), such as the pious and the wise must
certainly remain in order to further progress
(Hengst. ), but the man who is in the condition
of one in his minority, uneducated and open to
every impression, especially to slander and temp-
tation (Hupf.), who, however, has not yet lost
the disposition of a child (Calv.) (comp Matth.
xi. 25; ICor. i. 27).
Ver 8 [Delitzsch: "The law is divided into
Dn^pa, demands, or declarations respecting the
obligations of man [A. V. atatutes^t these are
D'*1iy', right as norma normata, because they pro-
ceed from the just and holy will of God, and as
norma normans, because they lead in the right way
into right paths ; they are therefore jl 'n®^?'
their training and direction removes all obstruc-
tions, satisfies the moral needs and gives the
gbid consciousness of being in the right way to
the right end. ^r\ r\13fD, Jehovah's statute (from
n^2f, statuere), is the essence of His commands.
The statute is called, lamp, Prov. vi. 23, and the
law, light. So here, it is n"^<3, pure, as sunlight
(Song of Sol. vi, 10), and its light imparts itself
by: D'J'J^ ^T^?» enlightening the eyes, which is
meant not only of enlightening the understand-
ing, but likewise of the entire condition, it makes
spiritually clear and lovely as well as spiritually
sound and fresh, for dimness of eye is trouble,
sadness, perplexity." — C A. B ]*
Ver. 9 The fear of Jehovah is here evi-
dently metonymic=doctrines or their prac-
tice, as Isa, xxix. 13. — [Clean —Barnes:
♦Oinca, tdhor, means properly clear, pure, in a
♦[Perowne: " According to the expressive Hebrew idiom,
It is to the soul what food is to the woru and tainting body.
It is what the honey which he found in the wood was to
Jonathan, when he returned, wearied and exhausted, from
tbu pursuit ot his enemies. Comp. Ps. cxix. 18; Acts xxvi.
18; Eph. i. 18."— C. A. B.J
physical sense, as opposed to filthy, soiled ; then,
in a ceremonial sense, as opposed to that which isi
profane or common (Lev. xiii. 17), and then, in
a moral sense, as a clean heart, etc., Ps. xii. 6;
li. 10 It is also applied to pure gold, Ex. xxv.
11. The sense here is, that there is nothing in
it that tends to corrupt the morals or defile the
soiiU Everything connected with it is of a puro
and holy tendency, adapted to cleanse the soul
and to make it holy. — Enduring forever. —
Standing to all eternity. Not temporary ; not
decaying; not destined to pass away. It stands
firm now, and it will stand firm forever. That
is, the law of God, considered as adapted to make
the heart holy and pure is eternal. What it is
now it will ever be. What its teaching is now
it will continue to be forever."' — Judgments. —
Delitzsch : " 'T} ''tSSpD are the fura af the law,
as corpus juris divini, all that is right and in ac-
cordance with right according to the decision of
Jehovah ; these laws are HDN, truth, guarding
and protecting itself, because as distinguished
from most laws other than those of Israel they
have an unchangeable, moral foundation *'—
Righteous altogether — Barnes : " That is,
they are, without exception, just; or, they are
altogether or wholly righteous.'' — C. A. B.J
Ver. 10 [Hupfeld : "The conclusion: hence
the incomparable value of tbe Divine law, brought
into view by comparison with the most important
material goods after whicb men strive : Gold,
as the rarest and therefore the most costly good
and most sought after, symbol of the dearest
possession and object of the most eager strife
of men; Honey, as the sweetest symbol of the
most delightful enjoyment The former compari-
son in the same sense (with pearls and precious
stones), likewise Ps. cxix 72 ; cxxvii. and fre-
quently, in Prov. ii. 4; iii. 14 sq. ; viii. 10 sq.,
19; xvi. 16; xxii 1; Job xxviii. 15 sq. ; the
latter likewise Psalm cxix. 103 and Prov.
xxi. 13." — Honeycomb, more properly as in
the margin, dropping of honeycombs. Barnes :
"The allusion is to honey that drops from the
combs, and therefore the most pure honey. That
which is presss:J from the comb will have almost
inevitably a mixture of bee-bread and of the
combs themselves. That which flows from the
comb will be pure." — (>. A. B.]'
Str. IV Ver 11. [Warned —Barnes: ""in?,
zahar, means, properly, to be bright, to shine ;
then to cause to shine, to make light; and then
to admonish, to instruct, to warn. The essential
idea here is to throw light on a subject, so as to
show it clearly ; that is, make the duty plain,
and the consequences plain. Comp. Lev. xv.
31 ; Ezek. iii. 18 ; xxxiii. 7 " Alexander: "The
phrase, Thy servant, brings the general doc-
trines of the foregoing context into personal ap-
plication to the writer." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 12 Errors.— The word HX'Jiy, which
occurs only here, denotes the entire compass of
unintentional sins, the ayvoijiuara, which had
happened T\iW2, and even on this account not
only concealed from men (Lev. iv. 13, but like-
wise not even known by the person himself (Lev.
V. 2 sq.), because they might have been com-
mitted unconsciously, but when they became
known, were to be atoned for by offerings (Num.
154
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
XV. 22 sq.). In contrast with them are the tres-
passes (Num. T. 30 sq.), which are said to be
committed with uplifted hand and as not to be
atoned for, from which therefore the Psalmist
wishes to be preserved.
Ver 13. The word Cir describes these as
boasting [A. V.. presumptuous (sma)], but not on
the side of their appearance as disregarding all
limits, but na the side of the origin of their sin
from the heart boasting of its lusts. The plural
form of this word is in other passages of Scrip-
ture alwaj^s lobe regarded properly as of haugtity
oppressors, and is likewise here thus taken by
many, finally Koster and Olsh. But there is no
other reference in this Psalm to the oppression
of such hostile persecutors (the Sept. and Vulg.
have read D'^'^O- '^^® context leads to the sphere
of moral preservation, ntrt of protection against
external power. The expression ruler [A V.,
have dominiori] in the following member of the
verse is entirely appropriate and clear only when
we regard the plural form as denoting the abstract
(Kimchi, Rosenm., Delitzsch, Hitzig), which
especially recommends itself in an ancient piece
of composition. The reference to the evil influ-
ence and the tempting power of association and
intercourse with proud transgressors (De Wette,
Hupf., Camph.), forces the abstract into the ex-
planation in order to be endurable, and obscures
the contrast that is in the clause Gen. iv 7,
Rom. V. 14, and similar passages which are cited
lead directly to an abstract, and ^t^n = hold
back, preserve, is usually connected with an ab-
stract (Gen. XX. 6; 1 Sam. xxv. 89), Still less
is it to be supposed that the intentional sins are
here personified as tyrants (Hengst.) which strive
to bring the servant of God under their unworthy
dominion. It is the boasting of his emotions
which is charged against David (1 Sam. xvii. 28)
comp. James i. 14 (Hitzig), which at the close of
the verse after its expression as J^li^S, (= apos-
tasy, treachery, rebellion) is marked with a word
in apposition which expresses not the frequency
(Calv.) but the greatness of the iniquity. The
word npJ (ver. 12 in Piel, ver. 13 in Niphal) is
a judicial word, and stands always with refe-
rence to guilt and punishment. [Delitzsch:
♦' Declare innocent, speak free, leave unpu-
nished."—C. A. B.]
Ter. 14. [Delitzsch : " The Psalmist finally
prays for the gracious acceptance of his prayer,
in which heart and mouth unite, based upon the
faithfulness of God, which is firm as a rock, and
His redemptive Love." — Be acceptable. — Pe-
rowne: " The usual formula applied to God's ac-
ceptance of sacrifices offered to Him (Lev. i. 3, 4,
etc.). Prayer to God is the sacrifice of the heart,
and of the lips. Comp. Hos. xiv. 2, • so will we
offer our lips as calves.'" Alexander: "This
allusion also serves to suggest the idea, not con-
veyed by translation, of atonement, expiation,
as the ground of the acceptance which the
Psalmist hopes or prays for." — Jehovah,
my rock and my redeemer. — (A. V., my
strength), in the margin correctly rock. Pe-
rowne : " The name of Jehovah is repeated for
the seventh time. The epithets * my Rock,' 'my
Redeemer,' have here a peculiar force. For He
is my strength in keeping the Law; my Re-
deemer as delivering me from the guilt and
power of sin." — C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The contemplation of the glory of nature
must not lead to the deification of nature; it
should lead up beyond the entire world, and be-
yond all the heavens, to -the knowledge of the
glory of God mirrored therein, and excite to the
adoration of the Almighty Creator declaring Him-
self therein. The expanse of the heavens which
cannot at all be surveyed by man, has yet re-
ceived its limits from Him who is alone Infinite
and Almighty. Even the sun, which is wor-
shipped by so many nations as the King of hea-
ven receives the measure of its motion, and the
revolution of its course from the same hand,
whose government and work disclose themselves in
all things as by the hand of a Master, whom all Hia
works praise. It is true the praise of nature is
different by day from what it is by night;
yet it preaches incessantly, and its sermon is
not only heard everywhere in the world, but
likewise is capable of being understood by
every one.
2. But if the glorious works of God are so in-
structive and edifying to man, how much greater
advantage may he derive from the law of God
which is infinitely more glorious 9 For it is on^
and the same God, who declares Himself in crea-
tion, and reveals Himself in history. In natural
things, however, only the glory of His metaphysi-
cal nature can be known ; but the glory of His
moral nature reveals itself in the words of His
law, in which His will and counsel find expres-
sions.
3. The twelve eulogiums of the law, whose
parts are related to one another as presumption
and consequence, and which are compared by
Luther with the twelve fruits of the tree of life,
refer to that excellence peculiar to the law of
God as such, which is likewise expressly brought
into view by Paul, Rom. vii. 12, 14, by which it
is the Jewel of Israel and the comfort of those
who act according to it. For the character of
the Thorah as a Divine instruction respecting the
duties to be fulfilled by the people of God and Its
individual members in all the relations of life,
involves its having essentially the form of a
testimony manifesting the will of God, and it di-
vides itself into commandments and statutes
which relate to the fear of Jehovah, and have
the meaning of legal statutes They consequently
have not only gone forth from God and received
the essential characteristics of a complete and
reliable rule of the rectitude and purity of all
ordinances, the sincerity of their end and aim, the
truth of statutes and decisions, but likewise
treat of the true relation to God according to its
subject and aim, and therefore spiritually re-
fresh and admonish, whilst they rejoice the heart
and enlighten the eyes. Moreover as essen-
tial parts of D.ivine revelation, they are of
eternal duration, and are right, and continue
in this connection in the history of redemp-
tion (Matth. V. 17 sq.). Thus the law of Jehovah
is Israel's most valuable possession and sweetest
PSALM XIX.
156
food, a gracious gift of God, glad tidings (Ps.
xl. 10).
4. The true servant of God experiences both
the enlightenment and refreshment, the correc-
tion and reward of the law. He is preserved
from venality and self-righteousness by the fact
that the reward presupposes the fulfilment of the
law. Moreover the servant of God perceives in the
law as the mirror of perfection, his own imper-
fection, and its reference to human sins in general in
their variety, number, and enormity. If he ap-
plies it to his own person, his claim of merit falls
away. Moreover the law instructs him at the
same time respecting the difference between
deadly sins and venial sins, respecting the means
of atonement, and respecting the conditions of
forgiveness of sins, and thus preserves him from
despair.
6. Moreover the arrangement of the institu-
tions of atonement and the ordinances respecting
their use, belong likewise to the commands and
statutes of the Thorah. In these the Creator and
Lawgiver reveals Himself as the Redeemer. The
law itself thus urges to seek salvation in the
grace of God by repentance and faith, whilst it
discloses to the sinner his guilt, and makes him
experience his inability to help himself, but like-
wise lets him know the readiness of God to for-
give, and brings His saving strength near.
6. The institution of the confessional together
veith the requirements connected therewith, is in
opposition to the confession and prayer made,
Ps. xix. 13 sq. (comp. Conf. August, art. VI). But
no one is to plead as an excuse, or to justify
themselves by the secrecy and delicacy of many
gins, the unfathomableness of the human heart,
the impossibility of a complete knowledge of self
and sin. Justification is a speaking clear and a
declaring guiltless on the part of God; in this Da-
vid and Paul agree (comp. likewise Ps. xxxii.).
It presupposes on the one side the grace of God,
on the otiier the laying hold of the same, which
cannot happen without repentance any more
than without faiih. But vy^here repentance and
faith are, which are mutually necessary to one
another, the servant of God is urged ever to
make a more complete surrender of himself,
and to more entirely consecrate himself to God,
partly by the knowledge that vi^ith conscien-
tious self-examination, there still remain to him
faults to be regretted; partly by the experience,
that with the most honest striving after sanctifica-
tion the danger even of a grave transgression, and
likewise of a great fall, never entirely vanishes
from him. "If the law is separated from the
hope of forgiveness and the Spirit of Christ, it is
80 far from the sweetness of honey, that it ra-
ther kills poor souls by its bitterness." (Calvin').
7. An evidence of such disposition of soul is
the prayer for pardon and preservation, if heart
and lip unite in it, and the chief desire of the
soul is that God will accept it as an offering well-
pleasing to Him, that is, that He will hear it.
The soul then turns v^ith it to the God of revela-
tion already known as his rock and his redeemer,
in whose protecting power and saving love he
trusts with the more security as he has already
received and experienced salvation from Him.
" Original sin is not destroyed in this world, but
pardoned." (Seb. Schmidt).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The glory of God is reflected for man even in
the works of creation; but its splendor beams
forth from the words of the revealed law, clearer
than sunlight, yet it shines towards him most
gloriously in acts of salvation for his redemp-
tion.— Nature and history preach the same God,
that is, 1) the almighty Creator of the world;
2) the holy Lawgiver of the children of men;
3) the gracious Redeemer of penitent sinners.
— It is true, our God is invisible, yet not un-
known. There has never been a lack of preach-
ing God, but often of people to hear the sermon,
heed it, and obey it. — Even pious people have
still hidden faults, but they do not hide them. —
God helps us not only to know our sins, but like-
wise to receive pardon for our errors, and to ob-
tain preservation from crimes. — To the people
of God the law of God is the most costly good
and the sweetest food. Three things are indis-
pensable to the salvation of men, 1) adoration of
the majesty of God ; 2) repentance for their sins ;
3) reconciliation with God by redemption. — He
who would be the servant of God, must not only
instruct himself by the law of God, but likewise
be warned against transgression, and be led to
its observance. — As the i/orc? so the servant; as
the service so the reward.
Starke : As the heavens with their courses
and order are a sure witness of the omnipotence
and wisdom of God, just so the gospel is to be a
constant and faithful witness of Christ. See here
the chief end of all the creatures of God ! The
Creator's glory is to be advanced by them, and
man is to know God aright from them, and learn
to love Him and praise Him. — It is shameful for
man, the noblest creature, to be silent with re-
spect to those things about which even dumb
creatures speak in their fashion. — No day should
pass without my glorifying my God, and no night
when I should not seek my rest in His grace. —
If David already, vifith the little proportion of re-
velation which he had, has uttered such excellent
words, what should we now say, after the Scrip-
tures of the New Testament have come to us,
which have set every thing in a still greater
light?— As the gospel is glad tidings, so it like-
wise works Divine joy in those who allow them-
selves to be enlightened by it. — The Holy Spirit
accomplishes His office of admonishing the soul
by the word of God, now by doctrine, now by
the refutation of an imbibed error, now by pun-
ishing an observed impurity, now by awakening
to faithfulness, likewise by consoling support in
trouble. — Although the law is a mirror of sin,
yet no man can observe and know either the
multitude or the secrecy of his faults, still less
tell them to others. — He who has given himself
to God as a servant will be preserved by Him
from being the servant of sin and the slave of
Satan. — As long as the righteous are in the
world they will not be entirely pure owing to
original sin, yet they are pure before God, partly
on account of the imputation of the righteous-
ness of Christ, partly because God is pleased
with their new obedience, whereby they free
themselves from all gross prevailing sins.
Ambrose : Aliud est iimere, quiapeccaveris, aliud
156
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
limere, ne pecces ; ibi est formodr) de supplicio, hie
soUiciludo de prxmio. — Augustine : When thou
prayest thou speakest with God ; when thou
readest the Scriptures, God speaks with thee. —
Osiander: God has done a greater and more
glorious work in saving poor sinners, than in
creating the world. — Arndt: God's word, praise
and glory, cannot and must not fail. — R. Stier:
The first covenant in which God witnesseth His
existence and will, joins on to the religion of na-
ture and conscience which is presupposed, just
as the other covenant which brings grace and
truth, appeals to the law which preceded it. — 0.
V. Gerlach : The prayer for forgiveness of debts
is followed directly by the prayer for preserva-
tion in and from temptation, as in the Lord's
prayer. — Tholuck : If all the preachers on earth
were silent, and no human mouth told any more
of God, there in the heavens His great glory and
majesty are told and declared without cessation.
— Umbreit: It is a mysterious song, which is
Bung by the universe, and to which the poet
listens; it sounds so that it is heard only in the
depths of the human soul, where the spring of
faith is. — Dibdrich: The work must praise the
master everywhere, and blessed is he who un-
derstands it.
[Matth. Henry: From the brightness of the
heavens we may collect that the Creator is light ;
their vastness of extent speaks His immensity,
their height His transcendency and sovereignty ;
their influence upon this earth His dominion,
and providence, and universal beneficence; and
all declare His almighty power by which they
were at first made, and continue to this day, ac-
cording to the ordinances that were then set-
tled.— The holy Scripture, as it is a rule both of
duty to God and of our expectation from Him, is
of much greater use and benefit to us than day
or night, than the air we breathe in, or the light
of the sun. — The discoveries made of God by
His works might have served if man had retained
his integrity ; but to recover Him out of his fallen
state another course must be taken, that must be
done by the Word of God. — Barnes : The reason
why any man is elated with a conviction of his
own goodness is that he has no just sense of the
requirements of the law of God ; and the more
any one studies that law, the more will he be
convinced of the extent of his own depravity. —
Spurgeon: We may rest assured that the
true " vestiges of creation " will never contra-
dict Genesis, nor will a correct "Cosmos" be
found at variance with the narrative of Moses.
He is wisest who reads both the world-book and
the Word-book as two volumes of the same work,
and feels concerning them, " my Father wrote
them both." — He who would guess at Divine sub-
limity should gaze upwards into the starry vault;
he who would imagine infinity must peer into the
boundless expanse; he who desires to see Divine
wisdom should consider the balancing of the orbs ;
he who would know Divine fidelity must mark the
regularity of the planetary motions ; and he who
would attain some conception of Divine power,
greatness, and majesty, must estimate the forces
of attraction, the magnitude of»the fixed stars,
and the brightness of the whole celestial train.
— The gospel is perfect in all its parts, and per-
fect as a whole; it is a crime to add to it, treason
to alter it, and felony to take from it. — What a
blessing that in a world of uncertainties we have
something sure to rest upon ! We hasten from
the quicksands of human speculations to the terra
firma of Divine Revelation. — Free grace brings
heart joy, earth-born mirth dwells on the lip,
and flushes the bodily powers; but heavenly de-
lights satisfy the inner nature, and fill the men-
tal faculties to the brim. There is no cordial of
comfort like that which is poured from the bottle
of Scripture. — Look at the sun and it puts out
your eyes, look at the more than sunlight of Re-
velation and it enlightens them ; the purity of
snow causes snow-blindness to the Alpine tra-
veller, but the purity of God's truth has the con-
trary effect, and cures the natural blindness of
the soul. — Bible truth is enriching to the soul in
the highest degree ; the metaphor is one which
gathers force as it is brought out ; gold, fine gold
— much fine gold; it is good, better, best: and
therefore it is not only to be desired with a mi-
ser's avidity, but with more than that. — Men
apeak of solid gold, but what is so solid as solid
truth ? — On the sea of life there would be many
wrecks if it were not for the Divine storm-signals
which give to the watchful a timely warning.
The Bible should be our Mentor, our Monitor,
our Memento Mori, our Remembrancer, and the
keeper of our conscience. — He best knows him-
self who best knows the Word, but even such an
one will be in a maze of wonder as to what he
does not know, rather than on the mount of con-
gratulation as to what he does know. — We have
heard of a comedy of errors, but to a good man
this is more like a tragedy. — Many books have a
few lines of errata at the end, but our errata
might well be as large as the volume if we could
but have sense enough to see them. Augustine
wrote in his older days a series of Retractations ;
ours might make a library if we had enough
grace to be convinced of our mistakes, and to
confess them. — If we had eyes like those of God
we should think very differently of ourselves. —
The transgressions which we see and confess are
but like the farmer's small samples which he
brings to market, when he has left his granary
full at home. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XX.
157
PSALM XX.
To the chief musician, a Psalm of David.
1 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ;
The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen thee out of Zion ;
3 Remember all thy offerings,
And accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart,
And fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation.
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners:
The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed ;
He will hear him from his holy heaven
With the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen:
But we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, Lord:
Let the king hear us when we call.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. The assist-
ance of God is implored for a king, with reference
to a war with foreign enemies, and indeed, as it
seems, not in general at his entering upon his
government (Hupf. ) ; or without any reference
to a special case as a formula of a prayer for
authorities in general (Calv., Luth., Geier) ; or in
a direct Messianic sense pointing to Christ and
the Church militant (J. H. Mich., et al.) ; or em-
bracing the two last references (Hengst.) ; but on
his going forth to war, and with the sacrifices
usual upon such occasions (1 Sam. xiii. 9-12,
most interpreters). On account of the mention
of Zion in connection with the sanctuary (ver.
2), this king cannot be Saul, to whom ana of
whom David might speak, but rather David him-
self, who in the second expedition against the
Syrians marched forth himself personally (2 Sam.
X. 17), and knew how to vanquish his enemies who
were provided with chariots (2 Sam. viii. 4).
The speaker is then, naturally, not David, but
either the congregation assembled at the saori-
fico (most interpreters), or some one speaking
in their name. The supposition of a responsive
Bohg between the choir and a single voice (ver.
6), either a Levite (Ewald, Delitzsch), or the
king (Knapp el al,), makes the Psalm more vivid,
but is not plainly given by the text.
The transparent language and the simple ar-
rangement, the smooth symmetry and the quiet
advance in thought, are not in favor of a poetical
effusion of the feelings of the moment, but of its
being a hymn previously composed for Divine
service on a special occasion. It is more natural
to suppose that the author was David, than an
unknown poet, as there are some things that re-
mind us of his style. Hitzig, with reference to
the next psalm as one closely connected with the
present, considers the king here addressed as
Uzziah who at the beginning of his government
had to contend with the Philistines (2 Chron.
xxvi. 6), and the prophet Zechariah (who exert-
ed some influence upon Uzziah, who was then
sixteen years old, 2 Chron. xxvi. 5), as the
speaker. But the threads of this hypothesis are
finer than a spider's web (comp. Ps. xxi.).
The first half of the psalm expresses the desire
for the success of the king through the assistance
of Jehovah, in such a way that its fulfilment is
not only formally presupposed, but forms the
real foundation for the victorious shouts of the
158
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
congregation (ver. 6). The imperfects have
from the earliest times been constantly regarded
as optatives, only by Hitzig and Sachs as futures
in the sense of comforting and encouraging ex-
hortation, as an expression of a hope, which is
said to form the prelude to the conviction ex-
pressed in ver. 6. But the certainty of Divine
help which appears in ver. 6, with " wozp," which
does not at all lead to a later composition of this
section (Maurer), but to a confirmation of the
faith in Divine help, as it has been declared in
sacrifices and prayers, agrees better with the
supposition that the preceding verbs are opta-
tives. Only from this foundation of certainty
does the language rise (ver. 6 b) to the expres-
sion of the hope of the victory (which is described
in vers. 7-8, in dramatic antithesis) and close
with prayer corresponding with this course of
thought (ver. 9). The perfects in vers. 6 and
8, express the sure future.
Sir. I. [Ver. 1. The name of the God of
Jacob. — Barnes: "The word name is often put
in the Scriptures for the person himself; and
hence this is equivalent to saying ' may the God
of Jacob defend thee,' See Ps. v. 11; ix. 10;
xliv. 5; liv. 1; Ex. xxiii. 21. Jacob was one
of the patriarchs from whom, after his other
name, the Hebrew people derived their name
Israel, and the word seems here to be used with
reference to ih^ people rather than to the ances-
tor. Comp. Is. xliv. 2. The God of Jacob, or Ihe
God of Israel, would be synonymous terms, and
either would denote that he was the Protector
of the nation. As such He is invoked here ; and
the prayer is, that the Great Protector of the
Hebrew people would now defend the king in
the dangers which beset him, and in the enter-
prise which he had undertaken." — Delend
thee, literally as the margin of A. V. " set thee
on a high place." Perowne : " 'set thee upon higli'
that is, as in a fortress where no enemy can do
thee harm, or on a rock at the foot of which the
waves fret and dash themselves in impotent
fury."
Ver. 2. From the sanctuary, parallel with
out of Zion, as the earthly abode of God among
His people whither they are to go up as to His
palace, and from whence as from His throne they
are to receive help and strength, vid. Ps. xiv.
7, iii. 5.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 3. Remember all thy meat-offerings.
[A. V. offerinffs], — This expression naturally
refers to the evidence of his piety previously given
by the king, but it is not opposed (Hupf.) to the
reference to an offering now being made, but
rather leads to this, as it is thus even now pre-
sented in the burnt offerings of the king. The
bloodless meat offerings of meal with oil and in-
cense (Lev. ii.), with few exceptions, accompanied
the burnt offerings which were entirely consumed
on the altar, or whole burnt offerings (Lev. i) ;
hence both expressions properly complement one
another, and their separate mention has only a
rhetorical significance. May God remember the
previous offerings of the king, let Him be pleased
with the present offerings. The latter sense is
contained in the expression : may He find fat,
[A. V. accepti literally; may He make fiit (Ps.
xxiii. 6); but the "piA includes likewise the
meaning of declare. It was not commanded that
the animals offered should be fat (Lev. xxii. 18
sq.), it was so much the more an evidence of the
willingness and gladness of the offerer. The
translation of some of the more ancient interpre-
ters after Aben Ezra: turn to ashes [A. V.
margin] regards the words as a denominative of
Wl, but leads to the expectation of its being
kindled by heavenly fire as a sign of its gracious
acceptance, as Lev ix. 24; 1 Kings xviii. 37 ; 1
Chron. xxi. 26, which is not at all justified by the
text. With this derivation, moreover, the sense
would properly be " may He cleanse from ashes."
[Ver. 4. CoUnseL — Perowne: " All thy plans
and measures in the war " — C. A. B.]
Str. IL Ver. 6. [Thy salvation.— Hupfeld.
"Help, or appointed victory (Ps. xxxiii. 17), corre-
sponds with tne contents of vers. 1 and 2."— C. A.
B.l* Wave banners, that is, as an expression
of joy on account of victory. The translation of
more ancient interpreters : set up banners as a me-
monai of victory [A. V.] does not correspond with
the form of the Hebrew word. It is questiona-
ble, likewise, whether the translation of the
Sept. Vulg. as well as the Pesch. fiEya'kvvdT)G6p,tda,
magnificabimus, exultabimus, can be derived from
the same word, as after the Arabic, or whether
we are to accept another reading /"^JJ instead
VjiJ— [Fulfil all thy petitions, repeats the
contents of Ver. 4. — C. A, B.]
[Sir. III. Ver. 6. Perowne : *' The hope sud-
denly changes into certainty. Now know I that
Jehovah hath saved, hath given victory. The
singer speaks in the full assurance of faith, that
the prayer is heard, and as if he already saw the
victory gained. The prayer had been (vers. 1
and 2) that God would hear and send help from
the earthly sanctuary or Zion. Now the answer
is said to come from His holy heaven. For if
God then condescended to dwell in visible
glory among men, yet He would teach His peo-
ple that He is not limited by the bounds of time
and space. He is not like the gods of the hea-
then, the god of one city or country. He sends
help out of Zion, but the heaven of heavens can-
not contain Him (see the recognition of this
truth in Solomon's prayer, 1 Kings viii. 27, etc.).
Calvin sees expressed in the earthly sanctuary
made by hands the grace and condepcension of
God to His people; in the heavenly, His infinite
power, greatness, and majesty." — Mighty
deeds [A. V. strength}.— Jie\iiT.sc\i "n'n^3Ji
means here not the fullness of strength (comp".
Hs. xc), but the exhibition of strength (I's. cvi.
2; cxlv. 4; cl. 2; Is. Uiii. 15), by which His
right hand works salvation, that is, victory, for
them who are battling."
Ver. 7. Some of chariots and some of
horses, but we make mention of the name
of Jehovah our God. — Delitzsch: "According
to the law Israel should have no standing army;
* [Perowne : " This mar/ mean ' the help and victory vouch-
safed by God to the Iting ; ' but Thrupp observes : ' The al-
most instinctive dependence of the Israelites upon their
king, as tho man who should save them (comp. 1 Sam. x. 27),
fully justifies us in interpreting the expression, thy salvation
ver. 6, in its most natural sense, not as the salvation bestowed
by God upon tlie king, but as that wroug:ht by the king for
his people.' " Alexander thinks that " both ideas are in-
cluded." The explanation of Hupleld is the most proper.—
C. A. B.J
PSALM XX.
159
the law for the king, Deut. xvii. 16, denounces
the keeping of many horses. So was it likewise
under the judges and still under David; under
Solomon already it changed, he procured for
himself a great number of horses and chariots,
1 Kings X. 26-29. Ver. 7 gives a very decisive
confession of the time of David, that Israel's
boast against his enemies, especially the Syrians,
is the firm defence and arms of the name of his
God. David speaks similarly to Goliath, 1 Sam.
xvii. 45." — The A. V. does not give the
force and beauty of the original. Trust should
not be inserted in the first clause, and re-
member does not give the idea of the second
clause.
Ver. 8. Hupfeld: ** The contrast of the pre-
vious verse is continued wiih reference to the
consequences which both have derived from their
coofidiences." Delitzsch : "The praeterites are
prxt. confidentise — ' a triumphal ode before the
victory' as Luther remarks, — 'a cry of joy be-
fore the help.' " — They have boTved down
and fallen (not as A. V.: They are brought down).
— The idea is that they first sink down upon their
knees and then fall to the ground. — But we
have risen and stood firm (A. Y. stood
upright). — Delitzsch: "Since D^p does not mean
stand, but stand up, ^JOp presupposes that the
enemies then had the upper hand. But the con-
dition of atfairs changes. Those who are stand'
ing fall, those who ara lying rise up; the former
remain lying, the latter keep the field." — C.
A. B.]
Str. IV. Ver. 9. Help the king.— This is the
basis of the hymn: domine salvum fac regem, and
the national hymns which have been derived
from it in accordance with the Sept., Vulg
According to the Masoretic accentuation, which
is advocated by Hengst. and Delitzsch,* it would
be translated, Jehovah help : May the king hear
us. Thus the Pesch. [and A. V.]. The king
would then be Jehovah, since the hearing of
prayer is a predicate of Jehovah ; according to
ancient interpreters, Christ. Since, however,
the psalm has already spoken of another king,
the supposition of such a transition to Jehovah
is the more objectionable, since it is true He is
called 9. great king (Ps. xlviii. 2,) yet never mere-
ly, the king. This objection would be partly set
aside, if with the Chald. we might translate, 0
king! especially as the call of prayer, help is
used Ps. xii. 1 ; cxviii. 25, without an accusa-
tive. But the third person of the verb does not
suit the vocative, which the Vulg. arbitrarily
changes into the second person. The whole
manifestly stands in manifest relation to ver. 6,
80 that ver. 9 is distinguished from ver. 1, by the
fact that the closing petition is based upon the
intervening promise. Since the words in vers.
9 and 6 correspond in other respects entirely
with one another, it is certain that the anointed
has the same meaning as king. [Delitzsch : The
New Testament cry of Hosanna is a particu-
larizing of this Davidic, * God save the king
mediated by Ps. cxviii. 25. The closing line is
a developed Amen.'! — C. A. B.]
• [Delitzsch, however, apfrees with the author in the
tranelatioa "aave the king." Fid. closing remarks,— C. A.B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is an evidence of great grace and a
source of rich blessing in a land, if prince and
people meet in the presence of God, with common
desires and bring the same cares in united
prayer before the throne of the Eternal. For
prince and people belong so closely together,
that the need of the one is likewise the calami-
ty of the other, but the common good is essen-
tially advanced by concord, and concord is best
confirmed and advanced by union in common
devotion to God.
2. A king shows that he is an anointed of the
Lord, and a king by God's grace, especially by
not only surrounding the actions of his govern-
ment with prayer and Divine service, but by
personally participating therein as a shining' ex-
ample for the whole congregation. A people
proves itself to be a people of the Lord and a
congregation of God by not only huzzahing such
a ruler and wishing him success and victory,
salvation and blessings, but likewise by praying
with him and for him. Thus this psalm may
"serve as a devout and holy watchword." (Lu-
ther.)
3. Joyfulness in prayer and confidence .of be-
ing heard are nourished a;nd strengthened by
the remembrance of the exhibitions of help, with
which God has already previously declared and
magnified His name, and particularly by those
with which He has glorified it in our predeces-
sors and ancestors who are the models of our
faith. It arises moreover from the assurance
that we are in the same covenant of grace with
our fathers and that we prove ourselves to be
members of it. It is true, we call upon God
with a deeper, richer and mightier name than
the Israelites could, but the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ is the same God as the God of
Jacob, whose name the Israelites brought to re-
membrance (Gen. XXXV. 3) when they prayed to
Jehovah on Zion. The diff"erence is merely in
the stages of His revelation, and accordingly in the
depth and fulness of the knowledge of Him.
The places, forms and methods of Divine service
have been altered in a corresponding way. But
the change in them has taken place through the
spirit of the new Covenant in order to fulfil the
old; the God who is enthroned in the sanctuary
of heaven, still ever meets with His people in
sanctuaries on earth, and lets His gracious help
flow forth from thence upon His congregation,
whilst He comes to help them from heaven with
the mighty deeds of salvation.
4. The congregation of God is distinguished
from the world by the fact that in the day of
trouble it does not rely upon earthly means of
help, even when it makes use of them in a
proper manner and according to the command-
ment of God. But it puts its confidence in the
assistance of God, and for this reason before
and afterwards gives His name the glory (comp.
1 Sam. xvii. 46; Isa. xxxi. 3: Ps. xxxiii. 17).
For this, however, a strong and living faith is
necessary. " But the faith which relies upon
God, can sing the triumphant ode before the
victory, and make a cry of joy before the help
ensues; whereas everything is allowed to faith.
160
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
For he believes ia God and thus truly has, what
he believes, because faith does not deceive ; as
he has faith, so will it happen unto him." (Lu-
ther).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
A king does well if, before he leads his people to
battle against the enemy, he leads them into the
house of God to prayer. — It is well for aland whose
king is the model of piety, whose people have
i\i\i motto : Jehovah help the king! — He chooses
the best portion in war who does not rely upon
earthly means of power, but puts his confldenca
in the assistance of God. — Natural courage is
not to be despised ; but the confidence of trust
in God surpasses it, in worth, duration and
strength. — The communion of faith unites
stronger than the same danger and need, more
intimately than the same hope and joy. — Happy
the land whose king cares for the good of the
people and whose people rejoice in the salvation
of the king. — Divine service has the precedence
ef the service of kings. — The confidence of trust
in God and the assurance of the hearing of
prayer do not constitute the beginning of com-
munion with God, but are a consequence and
fruit of it. — We should not only pray with one
another, but likewise for one another. — God has
His dwelling-place not only in heaven, but like-
wise on the earth, and from both places He sends
forth blessing, consolation .and help to His peo-
ple.— Man's drawing near to God has for its
reason as well as its consequence God's drawing
near to man.
Starke : Although the Christian Church is
weak and weaponless, it has a strong tower in
the name jof God. — The sacrifices of the Chris-
tian are a broken and a contrite heart, a holy
life and an earnest praise of God. — The Lord
does what those who fear God desire ; but they
desire nothing that is opposed to God. — If the
world reckons to its honor what it has accom-
plished alone with its own power, on the other
hand it is a strange thing of which believers
boast, of the help which has come from God. — ■
Just as Israel could lift up its banner with joy
in the name of God, so every believing Chris-
tian can now likewise in his office, station and
calling venture upon it, confident in God, and can
assure himself of His gracious assistance. —
What is heard in heaven must be powerfully
executed on earth. — Carnal plans are generally
of poor success and turn out badly ; on the
other hand what is begun with God, lasts. — Our
best arsenal is in heaven and in the right hand
of Qod. — The ungodly have never yet been able
to sing a true triumphant ode over the downfall
of the° pious, their boasting is false ; but be-
lievers can here and in heaven forever sing the
glorious victory of the Lord (1 Cor. xv. 57;
Rev. xii. 10).
Luther: God must help and advise; our
plans and actions are otherwise of no value. —
OsiA-NDER : Great, exalted titleys do nOt make a
king invincible, but God's help, which is gained
by the prayer of faith. The victory is a gift of
God, and is not accomplished by great prepara-
tion or a great host. — Selnekker: What is be-
gun with God issues favorably ; but the greater
part of the world transact all things without
God's advice, without fearing Him and calling
upon Him. — Taube: Faith and prayer always
join hands in the Christian heart and cannot
live apart. Prayer supports faith and faith
strengthens prayer. — DiedricS : The God of
Israel, who is in our midst and in us, is He
who is enthroned above all heavens and rules
all things from thence. — All depends upon our
belonging to God's followers and our daily sta-
tioning ourselves by His banner, that is, His
word, and from it deriving chastisement and
consolation, warning and confidence.
[Matth. Henry : The prayer of others for us
must be desired, not to supersede, but to second
our own for ourselves. — Those who make it their
business to glorify God may expect that God
will, one way or other, gratify them ; they who
walk in His counsel may promise themselves
that He will fulfil theirs — In singing these
verses, we should encourage ourselves to trust
in God, and stir up ourselves to pray earnestly,
as we are in duty bound, for those who are in
authority over us, that under them we may lead
quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness and
honesty. — Barnes : Never should we look for suc-
cess unless our undertaking has been preceded by
prayer; and when our best preparations have
been made, our hope of success is not primarily
and mainly in them, but only in God. —
Spurqeon : Chariots and horses make an im-
posing show, and with their rattling, and dust,
and fine caparisons,' make so great a figure that
vain man is much taken with them ; yet the dis-
cerning eye of faith sees more in an invisible
God than in all these. The most dreaded war-
engine of David's day was the war-chariot,
armed with scythes, which mowed down men
like grass : this was the boast and glory of the
neighboring nations ; but the saints considered
the name of Jehovah to be a far better defence. —
C. A. B.]
PSALM XXI.
261
PSALM XXI.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O Loed ;
And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice !
2 Thoa hast given him his heart's desire,
And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness :
Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,
Even length of days for ever and ever.
5 His glory is great in thy salvation :
Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever :
Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
7 For the king trusteth in the Lord,
And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies :
Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger :
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth.
And their seed from among the children of men.
11 For they intended evil against thee :
They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,
When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
13 Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength :
So will we sing and praise thy power.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Chabacteb.. — In the first
half of this Psalm Jehovah is addressed and
thanks are expressed to Him for the great bene-
fits shown to the king. The words seem to refer
not merely to general blessings (Hupf.), but to
special blessings, and particularly to a powerful Di-
vine assistance, with reference to wishes and
prayers previously expressed, which greatly re-
joices the king, and this as an exhibition of
Divine power and grace, connected with the pre-
servation of the king's life and the strengthening
of his government so that it continues as a bless-
ing to the entire people. The supposition of a
11
reference to the event presupposed in the previ-
ous Psalm is very natural, especially as David,
after the conquest of Rabbah, set upon his head
the royal crown of the Ammonites, which was
adorned with precious stones (2 Sam. xii. 30),
and some of the people were thrown into brick-
kilns, after the fall of the strong city had been
decided by the personal presence of David. Ver.
9 might refer to this.* In the second half of the
* [Perowne : " The last Psilm was a litany before the kinff
went forth to battle. This is apparently a Te Deum on his
return. In- that, the people cried, 'Jehovah give thee ac-
cording to thy heart's desire ;' in this, they thank God who
has heard their praver: 'The wish of his heart hast Thou
given him.' " Delitzsch : "In both Psalms the people appear
before God in the affairs of their king, there wishing and
praying, here thanking and hoping, here aa there in the
IC2
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalm Jehovah is not again addressed (Hupf.),
but the king. The expressions in ver. 11 are
especially against the reference to Jehovah, al-
though in other respects this reference is favored.
The address of prayer to God, which expressed
thanks for the help and blessings which had been
received, passes over in(o the prediction of still
further victories of the king over his enemies, in
Bpite of all crafty devices. Ver. 7 makes the
transition which speaks of Jehovah as well as the
king in the third person (Hengst.). Ver. 13 gives
the conclusion, with an appeal to Jehovah, which
does not put the entire Psalm somewhere before
the beginning of an impending war (De Wette),
but refers to the realization of the promise last
expressed. The mutual relation of the two
Psalms is perhaps due to the one who arranged
them. Many of the more ancient interpreters,
even Rosenm. 2 Ausg., after the example of the
Chald. and the more ancient Rabbins, regard
the Psalm as Messianic, especially on account of
vers. 4, 6, 9.* Hitzig, on account of mn^ Tj7,
ver. 1, thinks of the king Uzziah (^tT'TJ^) whose
father and grandfather had fallen victims to con-
spiracies (2 Kings xii. 21 sq. ; xiv. 19), which
might likewise attempt the life of the heir to the
throne. Ver. 4 is said to refer to this, in con-
nection with which we are reminded that already
in 2 Kings x. 14; xi. 1, the design was to extermi-
nate the family of David. Ewald thinks of the
king Josiah, would however rather descend to
a later time. Hengstenberg finds expressed in
the Psalm, the thanks of the people for the pro-
mise given to David, 2 Sam. vii., and the joyful
hope in its fulfilment. The prophecy of Nathan,
at all events, is the revealed foundation for con-
necting the Messianic hopes with the house of
David, and is reechoed in the Psalms, and has
even to a certain extent been further carried out
in them. In the present Psalm, however, there
is not the slightest trace of such a development ;
and the Messianic interpretation is shattered
already in the fact that the crown cannot be
taken as symbolical, as Job xix. 9; Lam. v. 16,
because it is called a crown of fine gold.f But it
must be conceded, that the references to the Sy-
rian and Ammonite war are only possible, but
not direct, and that the words would more natu-
rally remind us of the elevation of David to the
royal throne by the hand of God, than the lay-
ing hold of the crown of a king conquered by
David. But a reference to the above mentioned
prophecy is nowhere to be recognized. For this
has to do with the continuance of the house of
David and his kingdom (2 Sam. vii. 13, 16) to
which Ps. Ixxxix. 4; cxxxii. 12 refer. Now the
midst of war, but here after the recovery of the king, in the
assurance of its victorious termination." — C. A. B.]
* [Wordsworth : " Doubtless, in a primary sense both
these Psalms concern David himself; but they extend far
beyond him. The King, here displayed to us, is King of
kings ; He is the Ever-living One, Christ Blessed forever.
The Chaldee Targum opeus here with these remarkable
vrords : 'O Lord, the. King Messiah shall rejoice in Thy
strength;' and i?a.s7a owns that the older Hebrew doctors
expounded this Pealm of the Messiah ; but he adds, that in
order to obviate the arguments of Christians, it is better to
confine it to David. They, therefore, who limit it to the
literal sense, imitate the Jews. The Church has declared
her own judgment on this question by appointing this
Psftlm to be used in the festival of Christ's ascension into
heaven."— C. A. B.]
t r Vid.. however, Hupfeld on ver. 3. — U. A. B.l
expressions in this Psalm, "length of days," and
"forever and ever," may not be referred to the
continuance of the life of his posterity (Calvin,
Hengst.), but must be taken as personal and in-
dividual.* For the mention of prayer for life im-
mediately precedes, and this can only be under-
stood of sawwy or of jc»re»ervm^ Zi/e. When now
it is said, that God not only has heard this
prayer in its primary sense, but has given the
king an unmding life, extending into eternity,
the Messianic interpretation was very natural to
the congregation in later times; the author
however, has used the expression only of (he
person of the king, not of his race which culmi-
nates in Christ (Hengst.). If now David is the
author, who speaks of himself in the third per-
son, for which reason this Psalm might be a song
of the congregation, that expression may not be
interpreted as hyperbole, and explained with re-
ference to 1 Kings i. 31; Neh. ii. 3 (Hupf. Hit-
zig, Delitzsch). For it is an entirely diflFerent
thing whether a people or a subject congratu-
lates a king, that his days may have no end, or
whether he says of himself that God has given
him a life that will not end, and makes this the
subject of public thanksgiving. Therefore, I
find here the strongest expression of the assu-
rance of faith in the personal continuance of the
life of those who hold fast to the covenant of
grace in living communion with Jehovah. That
which elsewhere shines forth as hope in the soul
of David, and declares itself at times in words
of prophecy, which do not themselves transcend
David's own understanding, has here attained
the form and language of assurance, and pre-
supposes a maturity of spiritual experience, and
a reflection upon previous gracious guidances
and revelations, which in order to be understood
lead to the latter period of David's life. With
this agree the following words likewise, in which
David manifests a consciousness of his position
and importance in i\iQ history of redemption.
He is placed for a blessing forever, that is, for an
object and mediator of blessing as Abraham,
Gen. xii. 2; the people, Isa. xix. 24; Ezech.
xxxiy. 26; Zech. viii. 13; the righteous, Ps.
xxxvii. 26, and has in the presence (before the
face) of Jehovah (Ps. xvi. 11) in future as at pre-
sent the source of his joy, and the triumphant
assurance of his victory over all enemies.
\_Str. I. Ver. 1. Rejoiceth . . . exulteth.—
The imperfects are presents (Hupf., Delitzsch,
Ewald, Hitzig, Moll.) and not futures (A. V.,
shall joy . . . shall rejoice. Perowne: "Shall be
glad," "shall exult." Alexander: " Shall re-
joice," "shall exult").
Ver. 2. Request of his lips.— Hupf.: "This
is the spoken wish, the explicit prayer (correspond-
ing with 7NtS^, ver. 4) placed along side of the
quiet wish of the heart as its complement — fltJ/lS
(only found here) is correctly given in Sept.
^sT/aig. iy"IN is a secondary form of \i^T (as
likewise in the Arabic and Talmud nominal
forms from iy">^ are found with N instead of ')
properly = xareo, to be empty, to need (comp.
Niphal and the related \i/\l to be poor) hence to
* [ Via. exposition of ver. 4. — C. A. 2.7
PSALM XXI.
163
desire, and then afterward the usual meaning of
take possession, possess, etc. — C. A. B.]
[Sir. II. Ver. 3. Preventest. — Barnes.
" Thou goest before him ; thou dost anticipate
him, vid. Ps. xvii. 13, margin. Our word pre-
vent is now most commonly used in the sense of
hinder, stop, or intercept. This is not the origi-
nal meaning of the English word; and the word
is never used in this sense in the Bible The
English word when our translation was made,
meant to go before, to anticipate, and this is the
uniform meaning of it in our English version, 'as
it is the meaning of the original." The mean-
ing here is, that God had anticipated him or his
desires. He had gone before him. He had de-
signed the blessing even before it was asked
Hupfeld, whom Moll and Perowne follow, render
it. Thou comest t' meet him. This is perhaps bet-
ter.— Crown of pure gold. — Hupfeld regards
this not as the crown of a conquered king but as
" his own, as symbol of the royal dignity given
him by Qod." Barnes refers it to the victory.
"He was crowned with triumph, he was shown
to be a king; the victory was like making him a
king, or setting a crown of pure gold upon his
head." Perowne regards it as a poetical figure.
Delitzsch refers it to the captured crown of the
king of the Ammonites, which is most likely.
Ver. 4. He asked life of thee.— ^Barnes :
" The expression itself would be applicable to a
time of sickness, or to danger of any kind, and
here it is used doubtless in reference to the ex-
posure of life on going into battle, or on going
forth to war." — Length of days. — Hupfeld :
^* Preservation of life and long life; a standing
feature of blessings (Ps. Ixi. 7 ; xci. 16), derived
from the promise of the law, and the proverbs of
the fear of God and wisdom, Prov. iii. 16 ; iv.
10; ix. 11; here as tlie consequence of Divine
protection and especial Divine grace. — Forever
and ever. — Perowne: "There is no difficulty
in this expression even as applied to David. It
was usual to pray that the king might live for-
ever (1 Kings i. 31 ; Neh. ii, 3, etc.), and a like
anticipation of an endless life occurs in other
Psalms (xxiii. 6; Ixi. 6; xci. 16."— C A. B.]*
\_Str. III. Ver. 5. Great is his glory through
Thy deliverance (A. V., His glory is great in
thy salvation). — The idea is that the saving help
of God in giving him the victory over his enemies
had made his glory great. Hupfeld: "HUJ
(glory) properly of the Divine majesty, here its
reflection, the royal, vid. Ps. viii. 1, 5."" De-
litzsch : " The help of God redounds to his glory,
and paves the way for his glory, it enables him,
as ver. 6 b means, famously and gloriously to
maintain and strengthen his kingdom. The
verbs vers. 5 6 and ver 6, are presents — Layest
upon him (Moll, Delitzsch, Perowne, et al. A.
V. has, " laid upon him ").
Ver. 6. For Thou settest him as a bless-
ing forever. (A. V., Thou hast made him most
blessed forever. Marginal reading, and set him
to blessings). — Barnes: " The expression in our
translation, as it is now commonly understood,
would mean, that God had made him happy or
* [Wordsworth : " Thia could not be predicted of David
himself; but is true of Christ, who says," in the Apocalypse,
' / am fie tkat liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for-
toermwe,^ (Rev. i. 18 ; comp. Rom. vi. 10)."— C. A. B.]
prosperous. This does not seem to be the sense
of the original. The idea is, that he had made
him a blessing to mankind, or to the world , or
that he had made him to be a source of blessing
to others." — Delitzsch : " To set as blessings or
fulness of blessings is an emphatic expression of
God's word to Abram, Gen. xii. 2; be a blessing,
that is, the possessor and mediator of blessings."
—Thou dost gladden him with joy in Thy
presence. — So Perowne, Moll, and Delitzsch,
and Hupfeld, more exactly, " before Thy face ;"
Ewald, " before Thee." Vid. Ps. xvi. 12. The
presence of God is the joy of the righteous, to be
before His face, beholding His face is their great-
est privilege and pleasure. The A V., "with thy
countenance " is an incorrect renlering of the
Hebrew I'JD-nx — C. A. B.l
[Str. IV. Ver 7 This verse connects the for-
mer part of the Psalm with the latter For,
gives the reason of the blessings which the king
has received. He trusteth in Jehovah, he de-
pends upon Him and not upon himself and
therefore he shall not be moved, he shall not be
shaken from the firm rock upon which he is es-
tablished.—C. A. B.]
Str. V. [Ver 8. Perowne : " The hope passing
into a prophecy that in every battle the king
will be victorious over his enemies " Alexander :
"By a kind of climax in the form of expression
hand is followed by right hand, a still more
emp Jlatic sign of active strength. To find, in
(his connection includes the ideas of detecting
and reaching. Comp. 1 Sam. xxiii. 17; Is. x. 10,
in the latter of which places the verb is con-
strued with a preposition ( 7 ), as it is in the
first clause of the verse before us, whereas in
the other clause it governs the noun directly.
If any difference of meaning was intended, it is
probably not greater than that between find and
find out in English."— C A. B ]
Ver. 9. Set as a fiery oven. — Hupfeld pre-
fers to regard this as a nominative, because he
refers the passage to God,* whose wrath is fre-
quently described as a consuming fire, whose
punishment Is. xxxi. 9; Mai. iii. 19 is compared
with a fiery oven as the instrument of consuming.
But even with this interpretation "set" is an
expression derived from other connections; and
Jehovah is not spoken of as a devouring fire
until the following clause. Most interpreters,
therefore, explain the expression, as a loose
comparison and remind us of Sodom, whose
smoke (Gen. xix. 28) is compared to the smoke of
a furnace, or to the consuming of the Ammonites
in the oven (2 Sam xii 31). — In the time of
thy angry look. [A. V. thine anger']. — Since
the king is in the presence of Jehovah, ver. 6,
when he directs his face upon his enemies, it
exerts that destructive power which is usually
ascribed to the angry look ot Jehovah Hitisig
understands these words of his personal appear-
ance (2 Sara. xvii. 11). [So Riehm: "When
thou (the king) marchest personally against
them at the head of thy army and showest them
thy countenance, before which namely, they
will not stand but will fall."— C. A. B.]
[Str. VI Ver. 10. Perowne . * Their fruit,
* [Hupfeld: 'Thou wilt be for them as a fiery oven."—
C. A. B.]
164
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
=children, posterity, etc.. Lam. ii. 20, Hos. ix.
16; more fully ' fruit of the womb,' Ps. cxxvii.
3; cxxxii. 11."— C. A. B.]
Sir. VII. [Ver. 11. " They have stretched
oat evil (A. V.: They intended evil). — Barnes;
" The idea seems to be derived from stretching
out or laying snares, nets, or gins, for the pur-
pose of taking wild beasts. That is, they formed
ft plan or purpose to bring evil upon God and
His cause : as the hunter or fowler forms a pur-
pose or plan to take wild beasts." So Moll
and most interpreters. But Hengst., Hitzig, De-
li tzsch and Riehm render it " They bent evil over
thee," that is in order to cast it down upon thee,
vid. the parallel expression, Ps. Iv. 3 ; 2 Sam. xv.
— They shall not prevail. — The rendering of
the A. V as a relative clause " which they are not
able to perform,^' is inexact and spoils the force
of the poetry.
Ver. 12. For thou wilt make them turn
their back (lit., make them shoulder, vid. Ps.
xviii, 40). v/ith thy (bow) strings wilt thou
also aim against their face. — Alexander:
" The common version of the first word [there-
fore) is not only contrary to usage, but disturbs
the sense by obscuring the connection with the
foregoing verse, which is thus: 'They shall not
prevail, because Thou shalt make them turn their
back.'" — C. A. B.]. Luther remarks upon this
verse: "Their troubles excite them to flight,
and the bow hastening against them compels
them ro return, and thus they are taken in a
strait, and are in such a condition that they fall
out of the frying pan into the fire."*
[Ver. 13. Perowne: "The singer has done
with his good wishes and prophecies for the
king. Now he turns to the Giver of victory,
and prays Him to manifest Himself in all His
power and glory, that His people may ever ac-
knowledge Him as the only aource of their
strength."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Thankfulness for received help is becoming.
There is great salvation when heart and lip
agree in it, and people and prince unite in it, as
well as in the prayer for help. And when a
king rejoices more in God's strength than in his
own strength, and wfajun the congregation ac-
knowledges the same with praise, it is a sign of
correct judgment and true piety, which gives us
hope of further blessings and opens the sources
of enduring happiness.
2. He who can wear a crown has attained to
much honor and greatness If he has received
it from God's hand, he may reckon it among the
great blessings of success. If he continues to
remember whence his crown came, it will not
bring any spiritual injury to him, or do any in-
jury to his soul. He will give God the honor in
thankful joy, and in humble faith ask of God
what he needs; but more than the golden crown
will he value the imperishable crown of eternal life
and the crown oi righteousness, and indeed as the
gracious gift of Him who does exceeding abundant
above all that we ask and understand.
* [Qei-nun : Aux dem Re.ge.n in die Traufe, that is, out of
the rain and into tlie water which falls from the roof. — 0.
4..B.]
3. He who receives blessings from God, has
likewise to spread them abroad upon others. But
the greatest blessings are received and spread
abroad by the bearers of divine revelation., the
mediators of the history of redemption. Their
communications not unfrequently, it is true, tran-
scend the immediate understanding ; but there
is no occasion in this to conceal and withhold
them from the congregation. In them is developed
rather the understanding of revealed truth and
participation in the salvation and life bestowed
on'them by God.
4. The pious experience the greatest /oy when
they are with God, here on earth in the foretaste
of grace, especially in Divine service, there in
the full enjoyment of life, when after awaking they
are satisfied with the form of God (Ps- xvii. 15).
During this earthly life there are still many ene-
mies to combat, which ai*e inflamed even to hate,
exert their strength to destroy the pious, and in
their craftiness stretch out their nets of destruction
against them. But he who puts his trust in God,
will not totter or fall, but rather will not only
be delivered and preserved by the grace of the
Almighty, but will completely vanquish and tri-
umph over bis enemies
5. In these circumstances and relations there
is a reason and sumn>ons to daily petition and
thanksgiving. For we could not dispense lyith
God's rising up to our assistance, and the efficacy
of Hia power, in any undertaking or situation of
our life. This, moreover, we ought likewise to
recognize, and to express with glad thankfulness in
praising God, who is as much the true Hero and
the true Conqueror, as the Lord over all lords
and King over all kings.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
True thankfulness towards God is an expression
of pious joy, and indeed not only in the help and
gifts that have been received, but chiefly in the
strength and love of God which has been made
known. — God hears prayer, but He does/ar wiOT-e
and gives /ar more than all we ask or understand.
— A pious king confesses that he has his crovm
from God, but he values the crown of eternal life
far more than the. golden crown, and the joy in
the presence of God is worth more to him than the
glory of earthly success. — He who has been anointed
by God, is placed by God as a blessing for others,
but this Divine purpose finds its complete realiza-
tion in Jesus Christ alone. — He who bases him-
self in the love of God, and supports himself upon
the strength of the Most High, has the best se-
curity against tottering and falling — The glory,
grandeur, and strength of princes is only a re-
flection of ihemajesty of God; therefore those are
the greatest among them who serve God the most
conscientiously. — The anointed of God has a two-
fold task to perform ; he is 1) a mediator of Di-
vine blessing, and 2) an executor of Divine judg-
ment.
Starke: God's goodness is still so great to-
wards His children that He often gives them
much more than they have the courage to ask or
to. hope (Eph. iii. 20). — As long as Christ lives.
His believers must likewise live ; for His life is
their life (John xiv. 19). — The worldly-minded
trouble themselves only for temporal blessings,
PSALM XXII.
165
liealtli of body, riches, great honor, and long
life ; but all this is a dream and shadow in com-
parison with the heavenly and eternal blessings
of the pious. — True joy is beholding the face of
God, which takes place here on earth in faith,
and in the Word, but in heaven face to face (1
John iii. 2). — However coldly God now seems to
look upon the enemies of Christ, the more will
His anger burn against them in the future. — As
the enemies of the Church are unable to carry
out their wicked designs against the Head of the
church, so they will not against His members.
Therefore be comforted ye children of the Most
High ! He who is for us, is greater and stronger
than all that are against us (1 John iv. 4). — Osi-
ANDEtt: God looks for awhile upon the pride of
His enemies ; yet if He has stored up against
them for a long time. He will punish with still
greater severity afterwards. — Qeiek: God has
His limited time as well for His wrath as for
His grace. — Frisch : Joy must finally follow pain ;
help follow trouble; the blessing the curse; the
golden crown the crown of thorns; life death;
decoration and honor shame. — -LIieqer: From
the thankful recognition of what God has thus
far done for the king, and therefore for the
whole people, flows good confidence in still fur-
ther assistance from God. — Guenthee: All re-
gents in the world are only instruments of God
to bless and chastise the nations. — Diedhich:
Trust in God is an inexhaustible strength, which
maintains the victory in all necessities, and
through all sufferings. — Where God gives joy,
nothing will venture to trouble us.
[Matth. Henry : When God's blessings come
sooner, and prove richer, than we imagine —
when they are given before we prayed for them,
before we were ready for them, nay, when we
feared the contrary, — then it may be truly said,
that He prevented us with them. Nothing, in-
deed, prevented Christ ; but to mankind never
was any favor more preventing than our redemp-
tion by Christ, and all the blessed fruits of His
mediation. — Barnes: Truth meets error boldly;
face to face, and is not afraid of a fair fight. In
every such conflict error will ultimately yield ;
and whenever the wicked come openly into con-
flict with God, they must be compelled to turn
and flee. — If all the devices and desires of the
wicked were accomplished, righteousness would
soon cease in the earth, religion and virtue
would come to an end, and even God would cease
to occupy the throne. — Spurqeon : Mercy in the
case of many of us, ran before our desires and
prayers, and it ever outruns our endeavors and
expectancies, and even our hopes are left to lag
behind. — Prevenient grace deserves a song. — All
our mercies are to be viewed as " blessings,^' gifts
of a blessed God, meant to make us blessed;
they are " blessings of goodness,'''' not of merit, but
of free favor ; and they come to us in a prevent-
ing vfB.y, a way of prudent foresight, such as only
preventing love could have arranged. — For a time
the foes of God may make bold advances, and
threaten to overthrow everything, but a few ticks
of the clock will alter the face of their affairs. —
At first they advance impudently enough, but Je-
hovah meets them to their teeth, and a taste of
the sharp judgments of God speedily makes them
flee in dismay. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXII.
To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shakar, A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not ;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy,
0 thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee :
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
6 They cried unto thee, and were delivered :
They trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man ;
A reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn :
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
166 THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him:
Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb :
Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb :
Thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11 Be not far from me ; for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me :
Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint:
My heart is like wax ;
It is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;
And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me :
The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones:
They look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them,
And cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord:
0 ray strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword ;
My darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth :
For thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren :
In the midst of the congregation wUl I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him;
All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him ;
And fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Neither hath he hid his face from him ;
But when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation :
1 will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied :
They shall praise the Lord that seek him:
Your heart shall live forever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:
And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's :
And he is the governor among the nations.
PSALM XXII.
167
29
All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship :
All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him :
And none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him;
It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness
Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. With respect to
(he Title, vid. Introduction. — The Psalm begins
with calling upon God, which manifests itself di-
rectly as an anxious cry of one severely troubled
and presents itself as an anxious inquiry for the
reason of his being forsaken by God (ver. 1), in
which condition the sufferer finds himself exter-
nally, though internally he is closely united to
God ; for his loud and persevering cry for deliver-
ance has not yet had a hearing (ver. 2). This,
however, is contrary to the nature Of God (ver.
3), and the experience of the fathers (vers. 4, 6).
The misery of the sufferer who is now almost
crushed, is the more painful and inconceivable,
that together with his sad condition, his trust in
God, which is well known to the people, is made
the object of bitter scorn (vers. 6-8). Though
scorned, he recognizes and asserts his commu-
nion with God as proved to him from his birth
(vers. 9, 10). On this very account he again
lifts up the cry of prayer for deliverance from
nearer and greater peril of death (ver. 11), which
he now describes at first according to its external
fearfulness (vers. 12-13), and then according to its
effects upon his person (vers. 14, 15), and finally
according to its speedy accomplishment already
explained by his enemies (vers. 16-18). The
prayer itself is then uttered according to its essen-
tial subject (vers. 19-21), and closes in a form
which includes the assurance of its being heard.
The consequence of this will be the pi'aise of God
in the congregation of the brethren by the mouth
of the delivered one, (vers. 22-24), who will ful-
fil the vows now uttered (ver. 2o), from which
again salvation will arise forever for those who
fear God and share therein (ver. 26). The lat-
ter will consist likewise of converted heathen
(ver. 27), in whom God will vindicate His sove-
reignty (ver. 28), all of whom however He feeds,
because they serve Him (ver. 29), and thereby
preserves from generation to generation the seed
of the servants of God (ver. 30), and causes it to
grow into a people of God, in which is proclaimed
what He has done for them (ver. 31). Thus a
close and compact train of thought is given,
which rises from the straits of personal affliction
notx>nly to the heights of assurance of faith in a
sure deliverance by God, but advances to the sub-
lime vision of sure salvation' in God, for those
out of all nations, who are converted to God. In
this vision there is so little evidence of a later
composition, that rather the Judaistic particula-
rism is later, whilst the prophecies of the bless-
ing of all nations in the seed of Abraham be-
longed already to the patriarchal period. Just
so with the language of the Psalm. Delitzsch has
shown not a few correspondences with Davidic
Psalms.* Bohl reminds us of the fact that in yo-
♦ [Delitzsch : "The call of prayer pmr\~7X (Ps- xxii,
m&m, ver. 2, we have an ancient Hebrew accu-
sative ending afterwards lost, which is according
to Oppert {Journ. Asiat, 1857) frequent in the
Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions, as well as the
accusative ending in iith used already in the
Pentateuch which is seen in the two hapaxlegom.,
^^^^^. ver. 19, and n^j;?, ver. 24. A historical
reference to the conduct of the pious as opposed
to the rebels in the Maccabean times (Olsh.) or
to that of the Jewish people in exile in their afflic-
tion by the heathen (Isaki, Kimchi,. De Wette,
Ewald),* can no more be proved than the compo-
sition by the prophet Jeremiah in the days of his
ill-treatment and subsequent deliverance (Jer.
xxxvii. 11 sq.) shortly befoi-e the destruction of
Judah, whence the prospect of a new generation,
and the entirely different tone of the Psalm in
the former and latter halves is to be explained
(Hitzig) ; or indeed its composition by the king
Hezekiah in the time of his distress and deliver-
ance from Sennacherib (Jahn). The structure
of the strophes, verses, and lines, likewise, in
part very dissimilar in length and rythm, leads
not to the time of the transition from the concise
into the loose style, or to a writer of less poetic
talent and skill, but argues rather against the sup-
position of mere literary labor, or of a free po-
etical conception or composition, especially if we
estimate the fact, that all is treated individually
and in personal terms, and is referred to actual
events and experiences.
Its Messianic Chakacter. — If now we ask to
what person, and to whose circumstances, senti-
ments, and character, the words here spoken are
entirely appropriate, the answer can only be, to
king David for the most part, yet almost still
more to Jesus which is Christ. This is so gene-
rally recognized that it is unnecessary to adduce
the particular features whieb fully justify it.
The more difficult question, however, is this,
whether these are only analogies, which have
naturally occasioned a comparison of the fate
11, 19 ; XXXV. 22 ; xxxviii. 21, used Ixxi. 12), the name of the
soul niTT (Ps- xxii. 20 ; xxxv. 17), the designation of quiet
and resignation by rTDIT (Ps. xxii. 2; xxxix. 2 ; Ixxii. 1;
comp. Ixv. 1) are to us, who do not limit the genuine Davidic
Psalms with Hitzig to Pss. iii.-xix. as Davidic peculiaritieB.
In other respects, likewise, there are not lacking similarities
with other ancient Davidic Psalms (comp. Ps. xxii. 29 with
Ps. xxviii. 1, going down to the dust, to the pit, then in later
Psalms, as Ps. cxliii. 7, in Isaiah and Ezek.) especially those
of the time of Saul, asPs. Ixix. (comp. Ps. xxii. 26 with Ixix.
32) and Ps. lix. (comp. Ps, xxii. 16 with lix. 14").— C. A. B.]
* fPerowne : " The older Jewish interpreters felt the diffi-
culty, and thought that the sorrows of Israel in exile were
the subject of the singer's complaint. — Witliout adopting this
view to the full extent, it is so far worthy of consideration
that it points to what is probably the correct view, viz^ that
the Psalm was composed by one of the exiles during the Ba-
bylonish captivity. And though the feelings and expres-
sions are clearly individual, not national, yet they are the
feelings and expressions of one whp suffers not merely as aa
individual, but so to sneak in a representative character."—
0. A. B.J
i68
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
and words of Jesus with the present description,
and rendered their application to Him possible,
without doing violence to the text (Matth. xxvii.
35, 43, 46; Mark xv. 34; John xix. 23 sq. ; Heb.
ii. 11 sq.) He who merely grants this, will soon
be convinced that he cannot stop here. For the
relation between the Biblical David and David's
son consists not in mere particular resemblances,
but in a thorough-going relationship, and is
founded not in accidental criticisms, or in con-
nections of one's own choosing, which are then
spun out further in scholastic forms; but in the
government of God in history. In this connec-
tion the Psalm must at least be regarded as ty-
pical; and indeed we are not allowed to think
either of the personification of the people of Is-
rael by an unknown poet (De Wette, Olsh.), or to
insert between Christ and David the ideal per-
son of the righteous (Hengst.), for the references
are entirely concrete and individual.* But even
this definition does not suffice. The question
still repaains to be answered, whether the Psalm
is to be regarded as merely typical, or typical-
prophetical, or merely prophetical, that is di-
rectly and immediately Messianic. In the first
case David speaks not at all of the Messiah, but
of himself and his own adventures — of the effects
and consequences connected with them ; and the
typical reference of these words would be only
subsequently in the congregation. This suppo-
sition is opposed by the circumstance, that in the
life of David, whilst the time of the persecution
by Saul might afford the historical foundation
for such expressions (Calv., Venem., Thol., et
al.), yet no circumstances known to us, not even
1 Sam. xxiii. 25 sq. (von Hofmann), in them-
selves justify such complaints and such hopes as
those here expressed. Moreover, the supposi-
tion of a poetical summai-y of his experience by
the much tried king in the evening of his lite,
finds its refutation in the individual character-
istics of the Psalm already repeatedly mentioned.
The pure historical interpretation (Paulus, Eck-
ermann, De Wette, Hupfeld, Hitzig, and in part
Hofmann) which at most makes it a mere type,
which according to Kurtz, was discovered only
after its fulfilment by the writers of the New
Testament, is entirely unsatisfactory. So like-
wise the merely prophetical or direct Messianic
interpretation of the ancient synagogue, which
regards the Hind of the morning directly as the
name of the Shekinah, and as a symbol of the
approaching redemption, so likewise the ortho-
doxy of the ancient church, which referred each
and all literally and properly to Christ alone,
excluding David. f For that ancient iuterpreta-
* [Alexander follows Hengstenberg thus: "The subject of
this Psalm is the deliverance of a righteous sufferer from his
enemies, and the efftict of this deliverance on others. It is
BO framed as to be applied without violence to any case be-
longing to the class described, yet so that it was fully veri-
fied only in Christ, the Head and representative of the class
iq question. ^The immediate speaker in the Psalm is an ideal
person, the righteous servant of Jehovah, but his words may,
to a certain extent, be appropriated by any suffering believer,
and bj' the whole suffering church, as they have been in all
ages."— C. A. B.]
f [W^ordsworth : "The Hind represents innocence perse-
cuted by those who are compared in the Psalm to huntsmen,
with their dogs chasing it to death, see ver. 16. And the
Hind is called the Hind of tiie morning. Such was Christ
at His Passion. He was hunted as a hind ; He was the ' Day-
spring from on high ;' He was lovely and pure as the moro-
tion that it is the Messiah Himself who speaks,
is ioconsistent with the character of the Psalm,
which is throughout of the Old Testament and lyri-
cal, and there is not a syllable to show that any
other person is to be regarded as speaking in the
place of the Psalmist. And the new phase of
this interpretation, that the author has trans-
ported himself into the person of Christ, speak-
ing from Him in the first person (J. D. Mich.,
Knapp, Clauss, et al.) is in part merely the in-
version of the formula of this stand-point, partly
a half-way attempt to reconcile the historical and
Messianic interpretations. For a mere external
union of both interpretations whereby some por-
tions are referred to David, others to the Mes-
siah, according as the individual features of the
description suit the one or the other (Rudinger,
Venema, Dathe) would not satisfy us any more
than the acceptance of a double sense, a histori-
cal and a Messianic (Stier). The first men-
tioned attempt, namely, destroys the unity of the
text and its references, but the last mentioned
supposition destroys the unity of its meaning. It
is necessary therefore to define the typical
Messianic interpretation (Melancthon, Calvin,
Grot., Cleric, Umbreit, Thol., Keil) more ac-
curately as typical prophetical. Then there is
not wrought into the text by the Holy Spirit
a Messianic sense unknown to the Psalmist
himself, in a form of words which has found its
real fulfilment in the history of Jesus; but David
in the Spirit, that is speaking as a prophet has
regarded himself as a type of the Messiah and
prophesies even on this account, because he
speaks as such. But then the composition can-
not fall into as early a period of David's life as
the time of the persecution by Saul, to which
with a corresponding fundamental idea, even,
Delitzsch and Bohl still refer. With much
greater probability we might think of the time
of the flight from Absalom to the wilderness
(Rudinger), and the danger of losing throne and
life connected therewith. I prefer, however,
the circumstances to which Ps. xviii. refer, with
its conclusion which has a Messianic character.
The prophetic character of this Psalm is express-
ly brought out in John xix. 24, together with
the prophetical character of the Psalmist. Math,
xxvii. 35. The typical character of the Pealm
is moreover confirmed by the fact that Jesus on
the cross speaks partly from the circumstances
described in this Psalm (John xix. 28, 30), partly
prays, lamenting in the words which begin this
Psalm (Math, xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34); yet not
in words of exactly the same sound, but in the
Aramaic dialect, accordingly not as a quotation,
moreover not merely as applied to Himself, but
as language entirely appropriated. Only on the
ground of this actual appropriation could ver 22
of this Psalm be treated in Heb. ii. 11, as the
ing; and early in the morning, ' while it was yet dark,' His
savage hunters thirsted for His death (Matth, xxvi. 67;
xxvii. 1). Christ, the innocent and spotless Hind, is con-
trasted in the Psalm with the bulls of Bashan, and the ra-
vening and roaring lion (vera. 12, 13)." — " The concurrent
opinion of all ancient expositors may be summed up in the
words of St. Augustine here: ^ Dicuntur hmc inpersond Cru-
cifixi ;' or, as Theodoret expresses it, ' our Lord Christ
speaks in this Psalm as Man, suffering Man, in the mime of
all human nature ;' and the Church has declared her judg-
ment Id this sense, by appoiuting this Psalm to be used on
Good Friday."— C, A. B.J
PSALM XXII.
169
words of Christ Himself. It is easy to under-
stand, how Luther in interpreting this Psalm,
remained three days and nights shut up on bread
and salt, entirely inaccessible.*
Sir. I. Ver. 1. My God, etc. — The Sept. has
read ^It ilai=niy God upon me, namely look.
Then afterwards there came into the text of this
Greek translation, which is followed by the Vul-
gate, the marginal gloss 6 ^ebg as the first word.
However, the citations of the New Testament and
the other ancient translations show, that the
reading of the Hebrew text is the correct one.
The repetition shows the depths of the anxiety
(1 Kings xviii. 37 : 2 Kings iv. 19 ; Jer. iv. 10) and
the urgency of the inquiry, which is not to be
regarded as an inquiry of impatience and of the
flesh near to despair (Hu)f.). nor indeed as an
exact inquiry for the reasons, demanding infor-
mation and account (Hengst.). Nor does it show
that in the height of suffering the speaker has
lost the recollection, why he thus suffers (Bohl),
but it is an anxious inquiry of the soul, lament-
ing (Calvin) and troubled, which suffers more
under the inconsistency, that a man who is in-
ternally dependent upon God can appear as
externally separate from God and given up by
Him, than by earthly and temporal affliction.
There is no contradiction of Ps. xvi. 10, here;
for the abandonment is not asserted as an abid-
ing fact, but is expressed as an experience of a
momentary condition. Only in this sense could
Jesus appropriate these words in the pain of His
death upon the cross. That He alone has reason
and right to them (Berl. Bib., Stier) is an exag-
gerated assertion. Luther correctly says : "All
the sayings of this Psalm are not said to every
one since all have not the same gifts and all have
not the same sufferings." Respecting lamdh as
Oxytone vid. Hupf. on Ps. x. 1. — Far from my
help {are the) -words of my cry ! — That fact
is expressed from which the preceding anxious
question arose, and which is in contradiction to
the previous history of Israel as the following
verses show, namely, that the prayers of the
pious man have not found a hearing. The
♦[Wordsworth thus sums up the Messianic references of
the Psalm. " Our Lord adopted the first words of this Psalm,
when He was on the cross : ' My God, My God, why hast Thou
formlcen Mef (Math, xxvii. 46 : Mark xv. 34); and St. Je-
rome justly says, ' Ex hoc animadvertimus, totum Psalmuma
Domino incruce posito decantari.' And the Holy Spirit,
speaking by two Apostles and Evangelists, St. Matthew
(xxvii. 35), and St John (xix. 23), applies it to Christ. St.
Matthew says, they crucified Him, and parted His garments,
casting lots, that it might bn fvljlUed which was spoken by
the Prophet, {i. e. in this Psalm ver. 18), or, as St. John has
it, 'that the, Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They
parted My garments among them, and up m My vesture did
they cast lots.' And St. John says, (xix. 28), ' Jesus know-
ing that all things were now axxomplished that the Scripture
might be fulfilled* (i.e. the Scripture in ver. 15), ' saith I
thirst.' The language of those who persecuted Christ to
death, is accurately described in the Psalm. 'All they that
see me lavgh me to scorn ; they shoot out the lip, they shake
the head saying, He trusted in tlie Lord ; let Him deliver Him
(vers. 7, 8). Compare the narrative of the Evangelists.
'They that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heels'
(Math, xxvii. 39). It is remarkable that the very words here
naed in the Septuagint, ef e/nu/cTi/pto-aj', and sKiVrjo-ai' Ke<^aA>)i/,
are adopted in the Goapels (Math, xxvii. 39; Mark xv. 29;
Lake xxiii. 35.), ' They mocked Him, and said. He tmsted in,
God, let Him deliver Him ' (Math, xxvii. 41, 43). And the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes ver. 22 of this
Psalm, and regards it as spoken by Christ: 'He is not
ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 1 will declare Thy
name tmtn my brethren, in the midst of the Church wiU I sing
praise unto Thee' (Heb. ii. 12)."— C. A, B,
enallage numeri is no more against this explana-
tion, than the circumstance, that in vers, 11 and
19, and frequently elsewhere, mention is made
of God's being afar off. If we abamdon this
construction already followed by the ancient
translations [A. V. likewise], then this construc-
tion offers itself as the most correct, which re-
gards the words "far from my help," as in ap-
position to the preceding "forsaken," according-
ly as part of the lamentation and question,
whereupon it would then be stated with the
independent clause "words of my cry," that all
that precedes constitutes the contents of the
lamentation (Aben Ezra, Olshausen, Hupfeld).
But such a statement in the form of narration
has little agreement with the tone of the Psalm
in other respects. Most recent interpreters
after Isaki, Calv., Ruding., Cleric, supply the
preposition min (=from) and regard the latter
half of this line as in apposition to the former
half. It is most natural then to regard both
lines of the verse as a connected lamentation.
For in interpreting the second line of the verse
as an independent clause; far from my help,
from the words of my lamentation, namely, art
Thou (or more clearly putting that which is sup-
plied at the beginning : Thou art, etc), Hi^N could
hardly be missing. Should we, however, suppose
an independent continuation of the inquiry
(Kimchi, Rosenm., Bohl), then we ought to_ ex-
pect the repetition of the interrogative particle.
The supposition of a new question: Art Thou
perhaps afar off? (Venema), is still less suitable
to the context. But against this entire construc-
tion, not to mention its modifications are the
following principal reasons: 1). That in accept-
ing it the most natural and almost unavoidable
connection of words would lead to taking the
expression "the words of my cry," merely as
an explanatory apposition to the words which
immediately precede: "my help " which would
give an entirely incorrect thought. 2), In order
to avoid this interpretation, it is not sufficient
merely to supply the preposition " from," but
either "far from" or "and from" must be re-
quired, especially in Hebrew where it is still
more indispensable. Isaki indeed adds this, but
it is not in the text. 3). Finally the thought, that
God Himself is no longer reached by the words,
of him who cries out to Him in prayer, so great
is His distance from Him, is entirely unbiblical,
and cannot be explained over again by the
thought of his prayers failing to be heard, which
is the very thought that our explanation finds
here. Hitzig on this account would change the
reading here, because he accepts the continued
influence of the preposition min, but very pro-
perly denies, that such unlike ideas as help
and words could be regarded as being in the
same line without a repetition of the min. He
puts as the original reading "•nj;ii2fp=from my
cry, which has been changed by a copyist, who
had in mind Ps. xx, 5 ; xxi. 1, 5, into 'n^^E''D=
from my help. Such an error in copying is pos-
sible, yet it is unnecessary here. This explana-
tion likewise is in contradiction with the text:
"with the words " (Stier) which would demand
nai3 to which Kimchi adds the explanatory
170
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
clause " although Thou hearest." The mention of
words, indicates that the cry was not inarticu-
late and is the more necessary, as the cry is
designated with the Hebrew expression for the
roaring of a lion (ver. 13 ; Is. v. 29; Job iv. 10),
which when used of human lamentation expresses
the strength and violence of its utterance (Job
iii. 24; Ps, xxxii. 3 ; xxxviii. 9). The transla-
tion of the Sept. and Vulgate, " transgressions "
may be referred to an interchange of two letters
(N with J ) in the Hebrew word. The transla-
tion of the Syr., "folly" is connected with its
false interpretation of the entire clause, since it
finds in the foolish words of the sufferer the
reason of the refusal of Divine help.
Ver. 2. My God, I cry for whole days
and Thou dost not answ^er, and through
the night, and calmness I {have) not. — ^Hit-
zig finds in elohai an accusative of the object,
♦' my God I call." Of those who accept the
usual interpretation of it as a vocative, some
(Olsh., Hupf., Bohl, ) regard it as the subject of
the cry of prayer, but the majority as the direct
invocation of God Himself which commences anew
the sigh of prayer. To limit it to one day and
one night of suffering, (Bade) is the more un-
natural, since Heb. v. 7, shows that not even the
crying of Jesus is to be limited to that mentioned
in Matth. xxvii. 46.* The calmness is, according
to tlie constant use of this Hebrew word, the
silence of resignation in contrast with murmuring
and complaining. Since the sufferer has thus
far received neither help nor answer, this silence
is not yet allotted to him. The explanation of
it' as: hushing up, quieting, stilling (Stier,
Hupf., Delitzsch), has no suflBcient warrant in
language or in fact ; still less the interpretation :
rest through the cessation of sufferings (De
Wette, Koster). The Chald. has correctly:
silence. The Vulgate incorrectly after the
Sept.: and not to my folly. The Syr, and Arab,
are entirely different: and thou wilt not lay hold
of me.
Str. 11. Ver. 3. Enthroned above the
praises. — The translation " Inhabitant of the
praises" (De We4e) [A. V. Thou that inhabilest,]
is likewise possible according to the language.
Then God the Holy One would be designated as
the subject of the praises. The Sept. and Vulg.
interpret it in a similar way, though they regard
Him rather as the object of the praises, and their
translation differs in other respects, thus: But
Thou dwellest in the sanctuary, Thou praise of
Israel. Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Flamin. ei al, de-
pending on the Hebrew text, translate: En-
throned as the praise (Aquil. ifivog), that is, as
He who is praised in Israel's songs of praise.
The translation "The enthroned of the songs of
praise" (Hengst.) [that is, upon the songs of
praise] is related to the preceding, but explained
otherwise, that is tehilloth is regarded not as a
metonymy, not as in opposition to yoscheb, but as
a genitive. The Syriac has the correct transla-
tion. This expression is parallel to and found-
* [Delitzsch: "When the passion reached its highest point
it had already been preceded by days and nights of such
wrestling, and what now was loud, was only the breaking
forth of that struggle of prayer which in the second David
constantly became more and more violent as he approached
the catastrophe."— C. A. B.]
ed on the well-known predicate off God: throned
above or upon the cherubim especially in Pss.
Ixxx. 1 ; xcix. 1, in the present form. But we
must not conclude either from this or from the
circumstance that the songa of praise (Ps.
Ixxviii., Ex. XV. 11; Is. Ixiii. 7,) usually re-
sounded in the sanctuary (Is, Ixiv. 11), that we
must here retain the reference to the temple,
where Israel's songs of praise ascended as the
clouds of incense, and likewise formed a throne
for God (Aben Ezra, Calv., Ruding, Gesen.,
Hupf., et al.). The following verses demand
rather an interpretation broader and indepen-
dent of the temple service. Moreover the cheru-
bim, as is well known, are not confined to the
temple. Still less, is the explanation incola
laudentium Israelitarum, justified by this enlarge-
ment of the idea.
Str. Ill, Ver, 6. Worm, as an indication
of the most extreme degradation and helpless-
ness with the secondary idea of contempt, so
likewise Job xxv. 5, sq. ; Is. xli. 13, in which re-
spect David compares himself, 1 Sam. xxv. 15,
with a dead dog and a flea. With the following
words [and no man] correspond the expression
Is. liii. 3, ceasing from men [A. V. rejected of
men]; we must likewise compare Is. xlix. 7;
Iii. 14, with reference to the servant of Jehovah.
Ver. 7. Opening wide the mouth is regarded
as a sign of hostile contempt, as a gesture of in-
sulting, sneering scorn (Ps. xxxv. 21; Job xvi.
10), here expressed as bursting open and gaping
by means of the lips. This is weakened by
the Sept. and Vulg. into a speaking with the
lips, by Jerome inexactly restored, as letting the
lips hang. The shaking of the head (Ps. xliv.
14; cix. 25; 2 Kings xix. 21 ; Job xvi. 4; Lam.
ii. 15), designates the situation of the sufferer as
helpless (Matt, xxvii. 39), and is as a gesture
of denial an expression of ironical pity, as like-
wise the shaking of the hand (Zeph ii. 15), is a
gesture of scorn. It is unnecessary to suppose
a consent to the sufferings, which is glad to
injure, and to find here a nodding of the head as
an expression of assent. (Gesen., Baihinger,
Thol., De We'lte).
Ver. 8. Roll upon Jehovah, [A. V. He
trusted on the Lord'\. — Similar words follow the
gestures of scorn. But it has nothing to do with
religious scorn (De Wette), but with scoffing at
the sufferer, who is regarded as irredeemnbly
lost and as forsaken by God. His assurance
that God is well pleased with him is regarded by
his opponents as idle pretense and despicable
boasting, for which they may scoff at him, on
this very account that he is abandoned by God.
It is not necessary to suppose a saying of the
sufferer which is called out to him in irony
(Hengst). The Sept. and the Syr. have taken
the first word as a finite verb, the former in the
signification: he has hoped, the latter: he has
trusted [so A. V.]. Jerome likewise translates,
confugit ad. The verb is then taken as reflexive
^roll one-self, that is yield one-self, give one-
self over to or trust on some one. The perfect,
which Stier et al. regard as necessary on ac-
count of Math, xxvii. 42 sq., is then either so re-
garded that I'l is taken as ir^fin. constr. and this
for the infin. absol., which then might be put in*
PSALM XXII.
171
stead of the finite verb (De Wette after more
ancient interps.); or the reading is taken at
once as Sj (Ewald), J. D. Mich. (Orient. Bibl.
xi. 208) even Sj from '?U=S"'il Isetatus est. But
the parallel passages Ps. xxxvii. 5 ; Prov. xvi.
3, decide that the reading of the text must be
regarded as the imperative without its object
(Ps. Iv. 22), This is ironical counsel, (Cleric.)
from which there is a sudden change to the third
person (Hupfeld) with a malicious side glance
(Delitzach), whilst at the same time with these
words the back is turned to the suiFerer (Biihl).
It is thus not necessary to think of the infin. absol.
used for the imperative (Hitzig). — The subject
of the last clause of this verse is not the sufferer
(The Rabbins, Rosenm., Baihing., Tholuck) but
God (Calvin and most interps.) ; for the Hebrew
expression occurs only of the dealings of God
with man and not conversely. In Ps. xci. 14,
cited by Rosenm. in favor of his view, a dififer-
ent word is used. The scorn is still further
sharpened (Geier) by the conjunction "be-
cause " [A. v. seeing']. In Math, xxvii. 43,
"if" is used, it is true, but not as a citation.
To translate by " if " in this passage likewise
with the Syr., is not justified by the remarks
of Hitzig at least, that the speakers neither knew
that He would save the sutferer, nor indeed that
He had pleasure in him. The words are scoffing
it is true, yet such that they judge themselves,
because they pervert and distort the earnestness
of the fact, that there has been between God
and this sufferer at all times a relation of love,
which showed itself on the one part as protec-
tion and help in life, on the other part as re-
signation and trust. Hence the connection with
the following verse by the affirmative '3. This
is not in contradiction with the fact that at the
close of ver. 15 God Himself is addressed as
the one who lays the sufferer in the dust of
death. God is not thereby placed alongside of
the enemies, but this feature serves very particu-
larly to make noticeable the typical character
of this Psalm. It belongs to the* sufferings of
the servant of Jehovah that notwithstanding his
innocence, his sufferings are represented as be-
longing to his calling and not as merely caused
by his. enemies but likewise a.a brought about by
God.
Str. IV. Yer. 9. [Perowne: "Faith turns the
mockery of his enemies into an argument of
deliverance; They mock my trust in Thee — yea
I do trust in Thee ; for Thou art He," etc. — C.
A. B.].— Made me careless on the breast
of my mother. — I have chosen this expression
because the hiphil of ni03 can mean "make to
lie securely" as well as "to make trustful," and
there is no reason to accept exclusively the former
(Venema, Rosenm., De Wette, Gesen., Hupf.),
which would render prominent the secure and
■comfortable condition of the suckling under the
protection of God on the mother's breast; or the
latter (Chald. and most interpreters), which em-
phasizes the early time of the trust wrought by
God in the suckling. A trust to the mother's
breast (Hitzig), however, is not said nor meant,
but on the mother's breast to God, and it is
psychologically the less assailable, as Jewish
mothers were accustomed to suckle their chil-
dren until their third year. Too much, how-
ever, is sought in the expressions, if it is found
noteworthy, that the sufferer speaks only of his
mother and at the same time hints at the begin-
ning of his life as in poverty (Delitzsch*) or if an
allusion is found to the taking up of the regene-
rate in the bosom of the Father as a sign of
recognition and adoption (Gen. xvi. 2 ; 1. 23 ;
Job iii. 12), with reference to the thought, that
God treats him as a Father (Cleric, J. H. Mich.,
Hengst. ).
Str. V. Ver. 12. Bashan designates, in the
narrower geographical sense, originally the
northern part of the land on the other side of
the Jordan, the basaltic table land between Her-
mon and Jarmuk, which contains only pasture
land ; in the wider original political sense (Deut.
iii. 13; Josh. xii. 4), which then had become
geographical (Hupf.), at the same time the
northern Gilead even to the Jabbok (the present
'Aglfln) with mountains of many peaks (Ps.
Ixviii. 16), embracing dense oak forests (Isa. ii.
13 ; Ezek. xxvii. 6; Zech. xi. 2) and fat pastures
(Mic. V. 14; Jer. 1. 19). Comp. Burckhardt,
jReisen in Syrien, p. 896 sq., 419. — The rams and
bulls of Bashan serve at times as figures of the
people of Israel and especially of its distin-
guished men (Deut. xxxii. 14; Ezek. xxxix. 18;
Am. iv. 1 ; comp. vi. 1), who have become luxu-
rious, proud and godless by their prosperity.
Moreover, the bulls, and especially the buffalos
(instead of which Luther, after the Sept., Vulg.,
et al., incorrectly puts unicorns), are likewise
partly figures of the full feeling of power (Num.
xxiii. 22; Ps. xxix. 6; Isa. xxxiv. 7) and victo-
rious strength (Deut. xxxiii. 17; Job xxxix. 12),
partly figures of rage and ill nature (Robinson,
Bib. Researches, II. 412 [Tristram, Natural His-
tory of the Bible, p. 146. — C. A. B.]), and hence
a designation of mighty enemies, with the pro^
* [Delitzsch : " According to Biblical ideas there is in the
newly-born child, jes in the unborn child, alive only in the
mother's womb, already a consciousness growing up out of
the uttermost depths of unconsciousness {Bih. Psychol, p.
215). Thus when ho says in prayer, that he was thrown
upon Jehovah from the lap, that is, with all his needs and
cares solely and alone referred to Him (Ps. Iv. 22 ; comp.
Ixxi. 6), that from the womb Jehovah was his God, there is
more contained in this than the pure objective sense, that he
grew up in such relation to God. Never in the Old Testa-
ment is there any mention of a human father, ihat is, a
genitor of the Messiah, but always only of His mother or
she that brings Him forth. The words of the one praying
here likewise say, that the beginning of his life, with re-
spect to external circumstances was in poverty, which like-
wise agrees with the Old Testament and New Testament
ideal of Christ." Barnes agrees with Delitzsch, and is pro-
bably correct, thus: "The idea is, that from his earliest
years he had been led to trust in God ; and he now pleads
this fact as a reason why He should interpose to save him.
Applied to the Redeemer as a man, it means that in Hia
earliest childhood He had trusted in God; His first breath-
ings were those of piety ; His first aspirations were for the
Divine favor ; His first love was the love of God ; " and
again, " He had been, as it were, thrown early in life upon
the protecting care of God. In some peculiar sense He had
been more unprotected and defenceless than is common at
that period of life, and He owed His presei-vation then en-
tirely to God. This, too, may have passed through the mind
of the Redeemer on the cross. In these sad and desolate
moments He may have recalled the scenes of Ilia early life —
the events which had occurred to Him in His early years ;
the poverty of His mother, the manger, the persecution by
Herod, the flight into Egypt, the return, the safety which
He then enjoyed from persecution in a distant part of the
land of Palestine, in the obscure and unknown village of
Nazareth."-C. A. B,]
172
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
phetical secondary idea of ungodly enemies of
Jehovah (Hupfeld). In ver. 21, their horns are
particularly mentioned as fearful weapons, whilst
their gaping is, in ver. 13, the sign of their vo-
racity. This forms the transition to the compa-
rison with lions, introduced by an apposition
merely (comp. the examples by Kimchi), which
roar when they behold their prey before falling
upon it (Ps. civ. 21 ; Amos iii. 4).
[Sir. VI. Ver. 14. I am poured out like
■water. — Barnes: "The suflFerer now turns
from his enemies, and describes the effect of all
these outward persecutions and trials on himself.
The meaning in this expression is, that all his
strength was gone. It is remarkable that we
have a similar expression, which is not easily
accounted for, when we say of ourselves that
we are as weak as water." An expression simi-
lar to this occurs in Josh. vii. 5 : " The hearts
of the people melted, and became as water,
Lam. ii, 19; Ps. Iviii. 7." — My bones are out
of joint. — Perowne: "Have separated them-
selves, as of a man stretched upon the rack." —
Wax. — The heart, which melts away under the
consuming power of his distress, is compared
to wax. So the mountains at the appearing of
God, Ps. xcvii. 5, and the ungodly before the
Divine presence, Ps. Ixviii. 2.
Ver. 16. My strength is dried up like a
potsherd. — Barnes: "The meaning here is,
that his strength was not vigorous like a green
tree that was growing and that was full of sap,
but it was like a brittle piece of earthenware, so
dry and fragile that it could be easily crumbled
to pieces." — And my tongue cleaveth to
my jaws. — Barnes: "The meaning here is,
that his mouth was dry. and he could not speak.
His tongue adhered to the roof of his mouth so
that he could not use it — another description of
the effects of intense thirst. Comp Johnxix. 28."
— And Thou layest me in the dust of death
(A. v.. Thou hast brought me). — Hupfeld, Ewald,
Perowne and Alexander: Thou wilt 6n«y me or
lay me. Moll and Delitzsch and Hitzig: Thou
stretchest me, or Thou layest me to bed in. Pe-
rowne: "Death must be the end, and it is Thy
doing. Thou slayest me. So does the soul turn
from seeing only the instruments of God's pun-
ishments to God who employs these instruments.
Even in the extremity of its forsakenness it still
sees God above all. We are reminded of Peter's
words, * Him, being delivered according to the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,
ye have taken and with wicked hands have cru-
cified and slain.' " — C. A. B.]
Str. VII. Ver. 16. [For dogs have com-
passed me. — Barnes: "Men who resemble
dogs; harsh, snarling, fierce, ferocious." — The
assembly of the w^icked have inclosed
me. — Barnes: " That is, they have surrounded
me; they have come around me on all sides so
that I might not escape. So they surrounded
the Redeemer in the garden of Gethsemane
when they arrested Him and bound Him ; so
they surrounded Him when on His trial before
the Sanhedrin and before Pilate ; and so they
surrounded Him on the cross." — C. A. B.]. —
Piercing through my hands and my feet.
— This does not refer directly to the experience
of Jesus upon the cross (Reinke with many of
the more ancient interpreters). Moreover the
remark of Gesenius, that the body of enemies
is indeed pierced through, but not their hands
and feet, does not suit. For the expression re-
fers primarily and directly to the dogs (Bohl),
which have been just mentioned as figurative of
the band of the wicked which surround the suf-
ferer, as they in other passages likewise are
symbols of fierceness and impudence with the
subordinate idea of impurity, which, however,
docs not lead to external heathen enemies (De
Wette). These are here regarded by some
(Symmach., Theodoret) as at once the pack of
hounds of the hunter. In the Orient the dogs,
which are half wild, and usually rove about in
troops, are especially wicked aud dangerous.
They not only devour corpses (2 Kings ix. 35;
Jcr. XV. 3), but likewise attack travellers. In
Persia even the sick and aged were set out to be
devoured by dogs (Strabo).* It is characteristic
that they are accustomed at first to gnaw off the
flesh of the hands and feet and head (CEdmann
vermischte Samml. V. 23, sq). If now the much
disputed word ^')^3 is regarded after Pococke
[notse miscell. after Maimonidis porta Mosis) as an
abbreviated plural of the participle of ^N3, re-
lated to "1^3 [vid. more in detail Stier, Reinke,
Bohl), which even Winer, De Wette, Gesen. (in
Lehrgeb. p. 626) grant as possible, it is not ne-
cessary to change the reading itself in order to
gain this sense which agrees entirely with the
context, whose typical prophetical meaning is
the less to be overlooked as the servant of Jeho-
vah is said to be pierced in Isa. liii. 6 likewise,!
yes Jehovah in him (Zech. xii. 10), and it is easy
for the original simple meaning of the word,
"dig, bore," as in the Arabic and Greek, to pass
over into the special meaning, or if it is
here to be entirely vindicated, it corresponds
likewise with the nearest historical connection
(to the teeth and claws of the dogs) as the pro-
phetical reference. It is therefore unnecessary
to suppose a boring fast (or indeed to make
spell-bound, which the Midrash even regards as
with magicaUcharacters), whereby David would
be given in the hands of his enemies weaponless
and without power of escape (Delitzsch), which
sense others (at last Ewald, at first Aquila in
the second edition of his translation, and then
Symmach. and Jerome) find in the signification,
* [Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 79 : " Every Ori-
ental city aud villiige abounds with troops of hungry and
half-savage dogs, which own allegiance rather to the
place than to persons, and which wander about the streets
and fields, howling dismally at night, and devouring even
the dead bodies of men when they can reach them. Their
habit is moat exactly described by the Psalmist. ' At evening
let them return ; and let them make a noise like a dog, Hud
go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for
meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied' (Ps. lix. 14, 15).
' In the place where dogs licked the bloud of Naboth shall
dogs lick thy blood ' (1 Kings xxi. 19). ' The dogs shall eut
Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in
the city the dogs shall eat ' (vers. 23, 24.). Thus cruel, fierce
and filthy persona are frequently compared to dogs (Ps. xxii.
10 ; Phil. iii. 2 ; Bev. xxii. 15. — The common dog of the
towns is the same breed as thut of the shepherd, often in
India called the Pariah dog, and probably the uearest in ap-
pearance to the wild origiual, not unlike the jackal, with
short, sharp-pointed tars, sharp snout, generally a tawny
coat and tail, tcarcely bushy." — C. A. B.]
t [A. v., not so true to the original, has rendered vSnOi
" wounded.''— C. A. B.]
PSALM XXII.
173
■'bind, fetter," which is given to the word and
which can be proved in the Arabic and Syriac.
In the first edition Aquila had: «* they soiled,"
or likewise, "they marred," that is, by bloody
wounds. But the signification of digging and
boring through has been found in the word not
only by the Vulgate and Pesch., but likewise by
the Septuagint before Christ. The ancient trans-
lations, however, all have a finite verb. Possi-
bly they have merely resolved the Hebrew par-
ticiple, which though accepted by many, by
Rosenm., Hengst., Hupf., et al., after the exam-
ple of Verbrilgge {Observ Phil., 1730), is yet
hotly contested , for it is at the farthest merely
necessary to change the vowel points of the pre-
sent text, which in the ancient MrfS. indeed are
altogether missing, and instead of ''"}i<.3 read
'1X3, in order to set aside the objections to our
interpretation which are most worthy of con-
sideration. But they have perhaps really had
the reading nt<3 before them, which still occurs
in two unsuspected Codd. and is no more to be
derived from Christian influence (Hupf.), than
the received reading from Jewish (Calmet). On
the other hand the form ^13 is found only in a
late Cod., as a marginal gloss only afterwards
added. Of especial importance is the remark
of the little Masora, that ''"1X3 in the two pas-
sages (Pfl. xxii. 16 i Isa. xxxviii. 13) in which
this form occurs, is in two different meanings.
In the passage in Isaiah, however, the meaning
" as the lion " is undoubted. The view, which
in recent times has become the most prevailing,
that this translation is to be applied to our pas-
sage likewise, has accordingly, no ancient au-
thority for it, neither Christian, nor Jewish.
For the Chald. originates not only from a rela-
tively later period (Jahn, Einleitung I.), but in-
serts the word " biting " as explanatory and as
a paraphrase. Thereby the verb which is lack-
ing in the translation "as the lion,^' is gained,
and the entire inappropriateness of the compa-
rison, when the verb " inclose " is taken from
the preceding clause or supplied, is to some ex-
tent lost sight of. For it is well known that it
is the habit of the lion to cast himself upon his
prey with a spring, and with one blow to dash
it down or pull iifto the ground, but not to en-
compass its " hands and feet," which does not
take place with the tail even, with which it is
said to make a circle (Kimchi). And it is very
evident that the appeal to the fact that aj; times
hands and feet mean the whole body or the per-
son (Gesen., Hupf.) does not explain anything,
but only puts the difficulty in stronger light.
But even the interpolation of the Chald. is partly
entirely arbitrary and unjustified, partly more
adapted to conceal for the moment than to really
set aside the objectionableness and inappropri-
ateness of the comparison. Since the definitjC
article is used, the inappropriateness of the
comparison in the translation, "the band of the
wicked enclosed me, as the lion, at my hands
and at my feet," is just as striking as the fact
which is especially emphasized (Luther, Calv. et
al., likewise De Wette and Olsh.), that it is just
as vain as it is an unjustifiable attempt to wish
to do away with the objection by putting
the point of comparison merely in the rage
(Hengst.), or in the unsparing and fierce haste
(Hitzig) of the lion-like enemies, and to find by
an explanation which di^laces the words, the
meaning that the suflferer is so entirely sur-
rounded by the crowd of his enemies, who are
fierce as the lion and strong, or is so clasped on his
hands and feet (Kiister), that he can neither de-
fend himself with his hands nor flee away with
his feet (many since Aben Ezra, likewise Hengst.
and Hupf., which last prefer the acceptance of a
double accusative to the repetition of the verb).
The same objections apply to the other verba
which have been supplied : to crush (Saadia),
and: they thraaten (Gesen.). But that the
enemies are not described as like the lion at the
hands and feet (Hengst., previous interpretation,
but since taken back), is just as evident as the
impossibility of taking the disputed word as an
accusative (Paul, in his Clavis), which would
suddenly compare the sufi'erer, who was lying as
a worm in the dust, to a lion beset round about
with dogs. From the inflexible feeling of the
uutenableness of all these interpretations arises
likewise the proposal to close the clause
with "lion," but to regard hands and feet as
objects of "count" (Mendelssohn), an interpreta-
tion which can be explained only as a desperate
expedient. If now the lion is indeed called 'IK
(Num. xxiv. 9; Isa. xxxviii. 13; Ezek. xxii. 25;
Amos V. 19), yet the reasons, as has been shown,
which have been given by many interpreters for
finding it in this disputed word are still less con-
vincing, especially as in this Psalm the lion is
mentioned twice (vers. 13 and 21) under the only
name which is used elsewhere in the Psalms,
nnx.
Ver. 17. I can tell all my bones. — [Pe-
rowne: " Before ' all my bones are out of joint.'
Hence it w/)uld seem that the body was racked
by some violent torture; not merely emaciated
by starvation and suff'ering. And thus in his ut-
ter misery he is a gazing-stock to them that hate
him; * they look upon me,' i. e, with malicious
satisfaction at my sufferings," vid.. Is. lii. 14 and
liii. 2, 3. — C. A. B.] In ancient psalters the
counting of the members is treated as an act of
the enemies in accordance with the Sept. and
Vulgate.
Ver. 18. They part my garments.— His
death seems so much the more unavoidable, that
his garments are treated as belonging to one al-
ready dead, as possessions without an owner (v.
Hofmann). The outer garments consisting of
many pieces were divided, the under garment
which was the immediate covering of the body
was divided by lot. So John xix. 23 sq. This
language is not of mere design (Rosenm., Jahn)
but of fact, to which the entire description leads
( Hengst. ). If we cannot point to anything of the
kind in the life of David, that does not alter the
fact or justify us in explaining the clothing in
the sense of property (Hupf.). The prophetical
element comes out with the more prominence
from the type.
Str. VIII. Ver 19 My strength.— God is
designated by the nomen. abstr. of 7"'M as the
essence and source of the strength of life (Ps.
xxxviii. 4). The Sept. and Vulgate (the Syr.
174
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
likewise) with a diflFerent division of the mem-
bers of the verse, translate • Thou wilt not re-
move Thy help from me.
Ver. 20. From the sword . . from the
power of the dog. — It does not follow from the
remarks upoa ver. 16 that we must translate,
" paw of the dog." This would correspond only
with the figures which immediately precede and
follow (Delitzsch) and is not opposed by the fact
that this paw (Lev. xi. 27) is called ^3, For in
1 Sam. xvii. B7, T is used of lions and bears.
But since this last word is used elsewhere in the
general meaning of power (Geier), yes, since the
hand of the flame (Isa. xlvii. 14) and the hands
of the sword (Job v. 20) are spoken of, as Isa. i.
20, the mouth of (he sword ; this general inter-
pretation is to be preferred, the more as in the
first member of the verse the sword is likewise
not figurative, as Luke ii. 16, of heart-piercing
woe (Sachs), but yet likewise not literal, but is
to be taken in the general sense as indicating
violent death, as Job xxvii. 14; Jer. xliii, 11.
My solitary one. — The soul as life is, ac-
cording to some interpreters, designated as the
only one (Ex. xx. 2, 12 ; Judges xi. 34 ; Ps.
XXXV. 17), that is, as that which is not present as
double, and therefore is irreparable (Gesen.,
Hitzig, Delitzsch, el al.), yet without the second-
ary idea of valuable, dear, and beloved, which is
improperly brought in, in the strongest way in
the English Bible ["my darling,'' both here and
in Ps. XXXV. 17. — C. A. B.] Others (Jerome,
Luther, Calvin, Geier, Stier, Hupfeld [Alexan-
der]) prefer the idea of solitary, forsaken, with
reference to Ps. xxv. 16; Ixviii. 6; comp. cxlii.
4; John xvi. 28.*
Ver. 21. Save me from the jaws of the
lion. — Some, without sufficient reason, find in
the singular, *' of the lion," a reference to the
devil, the arch enemy who stands behind all the
assaults upon the servants and children of God
(Theodoret, Stier). — And from the horns of
the buffalo, {yes) Thou answ^erest me. — The
Sept., Syr., Arab., do not. regard the closing
word as a verb, but as a noun = my lowliness.
But already the Chald. and Jerome refer the
* fPerowne adopts the former rendering : " My only one..
The life is so called either because man has but one life, or
because it is the most precious of all things. Comp. Homer's
^i\ov (CTjp and Plato's Ti/LtioTanj (y^vxv)" So 'Wordsworth,
though with many forced allusions : " It is a memorable
fact, that the masculine yachid occurs three times in one
chapter of the historical books of the Old Testament, and in
no other part of them ; and that chapter is Gen. xxii., which
relates the sacrifice of Isaac, the only begotten son, whom
bis father loved, the type of Cfirist crucified. See Gen. xxii.
2, 12, 16. It is also a remarkable circumstance that the
feminine word yachidnh, which is the word used here, occurs
only once in the historical books of the Old Testament; and
that passage js the history of the sacrifice of Jephtliah's
daughter (Judges xi. 34), on which it has been already ob-
served that she was in several most interesting and beautiful
respects a type of the pure human soul of Christ, offering
itself a willing sacrifice on the cross. In the Psalms this
•word is used in another place which foretells the Pi'.ssion of
Christ, Ps. XXXV. 17. My darling is explained by the paral-
lelism in both these places as uieaning my soul, which is
mine as being tliat which I possess, and which I willingly
lay down, aa Christ says : ' No man taketh my life (or soul,
i//vx^«') from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again ' (John x.
17, 18 j. And that soul might well be called yechidah; that
is, an only child, and a daughter, on account of its dearness
to God (vid. John i. 14, 18; iii. 16, 18; 1 John iv. 9). The
feminine gender beepeiks intensity of tender feeling and
dearness." — C. A. B.]
word as a verb to his being heard. The form of
the preterite and its position at the close make
the transition to the following section; and in-
clude the assurance that the prayer will be heard
(Geier), yet not necessarily in the deliverance
which had already taken place, or had often been
experienced at previous times (Kimchi), espe-
cially as the verb has the fundamental meaning
of answering. Since now in Ps..xx. 6 a similar
construction designates God's answer from hea-
ven, the prevailing interpretation of the closing
clause of this verse : " Hear me against the horns
of the buffalo," or " save me f^om the horna
of the buffalo by hearing me," with the suppo-
sition of a pregnant construction, as Is. xxxviii.
17; Jer. XV. 2; Pss. xxs. 4; Ixviii. 19; cxviii.
5, appears the more objectionable, the more dif-
ficult it would be in this very connection of the
words in question, and the less properly the fact
that the preterite in connection with the impe-
rative can be taken in an optative sense is to be
vindicated here, where the preterite stands at
the close of a clause of urgent supplication,
whilst the following clause expresses thankful-
ness and vows on the basis of the hearing of the
prayer, and then describes the grand conse-
quences resulting therefrom. But it does not
follow from this that the ] is either to be taken
as adversative, or the clause must be regarded
as relative, so that the experience of previous
help from great dangers, figuratively represented
by the horns of the buffalo, served as motive of
the prayer (Kimchi, Hupfeld). The supposition
of a sudden break in the construction is much
easier (Stier, Hengst.), by which would be ex-
pressed the contrast to the lamentation, ver. 2,
and the turn of thought which is now made, which
is to be marked by a dash and an inserted yes,
since it is not advisable, contrary to the received
text, to wish to take the word as the grammati-
cal antecedent (Venema) of the following verse,
although it certainly is presupposed by it (Hup-
feld) ["Perowne: " Before it had been, 'Tbou
answerest not,' — now at the most critical mo-
ment Faith asserts her victory, ' Thou hast an-
swered.' See the same sudden transition, the
same quick assurance that prayer has been heard,
Pss. vi. 9; XX. 7; xxvi. 12; xxviii. 6; xxxi. 22.
The vows and thanksgiving wBich follow are a
consequence of this assurance." — C. A. B.]
Sir. IX. Vers. 22, 23. [Perowne: "So or
therefore will I tell. (Obs. the form with H
paragog. as marking a consequence from what
precedes) ' My brethren = the congregation = ye
that fear Jehovah;' ver. 23, i. e., the whole na-
tion of Israel, as follows. In ver. 23 the singer
calls upon the Church (^Hp = eKKlTjaia) to praise
God. In ver. 24 he gives the reason for this ex-
hortation ; the experience, viz., of God's mercy,
and truth, and condescension, chiefly to himself,
though not to the exclusion of others. For God
is not like the proud ones of the earth. He does
not despise the afflicted." — C. A. B.]
Sir. X. Ver. 24. The affliction of the af-
flicted.— This nomen. abslr., owing to a false de-
rivation, is rendered by the Sept., Vulg., Pes-
chit5, Chald., as prayer, or cry, and by Jerome
as modesiia. [Perowne : " The same word is used
with Messianic reference, Is. liii. 4, 7 ; Zech. ix.
PSALM XXIL
175
9 —He hath not hid (comp. Pss. x. 1; xiii.
1). . . . W^hen he cried He heard. What a
contrast between vers. 1, 2 ! Very remarkable
is this confideac acknowledgment of God's good-
ness in hearing prayer." — ^C. A. B.]
Sir. XI. Ver. 26. From Theo (comes) my
praise in the great congregation. — The song
of praise has as its subject the deliverance by
God, and on this account takes its departure, or
its origin from God, who naturally, at the same
time, remains as the object of the praise (ver.
22). [So Perowne: " From Thee, not (as A.
V.) of Thee, as if God were the object only of
his praise. It is God Himself who has put this
great subject of praise into his heart, and into
his mouth. The will and the power to praise as
well as the deliverance comes from Him. Comp,
Ps. cxviii. 23, where the construction is precisely
the same 'from Jehovah is this.'" — C. A. B.]
— My vows win I pay. — It follows from the
following verse, " they shall eat," that the refe-
rence is to bringing, after the deliverance, the
thank-oflFering, which was vowed during the
trouble (Lev. vii. 16). This was partaken of as
a sacrificial meal with the legal assistance of the
Levites (Lev. xii. 18; xiv. 26) and in company
with invited friends (Prov. vii. 14, Josephus'
Jewish War, vi. 9, 3), after that the sprinkling
of the blood and the presentation of the fat pieces
had taken place at the altar. Since now in re-
ference to the tithes, Deut. xiv. 29; xxvi. 12,
and at the harvest feast, Deut. xvi. 11, an invi-
tation of widows, orphans, and the poor, to par-
ticipate in the meal, was prescribed, the refe-
rence to the wretched can so much the less ap-
pear strange in connection with the typical pro-
phetical character of the Psalm; since even in
sacrificial meals the participation of others than
those legally invited was not excluded (Deut.
xxxiii. 19; 1 Sam. ix. 13, 22). From the earli-
est times, therefore, most Christian interpreters
have referred this passage to the Lord's Supper,
often directly and exclusively, which is indeed im-
proper. Others have gone to the contrary extreme
(Cleric, Venema, Rosenm., v. Hofmann, Hupf.),
partly by denying and partly by eflfacing the re-
ference to the Shelamim oflFering, and have taken
the eating, and becoming satisfied as merely a
usual formula of prosperity and refreshment, and
interpreted the thank-ofi^ering in the spiritual
sense ^ songs of thanksgiving. Others suppose
a merely spiritual participation under the figure
of a meal (Umbreit, Tholuck, Hengst., Bdhl,
Bade). This much may be said, however, that
the sensuous partaking and the material advan-
tages were not the chief things in the sacrificial
meals themselves, and that all oflFerings in the
meaning of the law should be fulfilled with a dis-
position corresponding to them ; that on this ac-
count the expression of thanks should excite a
pious joy, and nourish and strengthen the spiri-
tual life; and that in consequence of this even
the song of thanksgiving itself can be designated
as a sacrifice (Heb. xiii. 15), and many expres-
sions in the Old Testament, as in this Psalm, so
likewise in Pss. 1. 14, 23; Ixi. 5, 8; Ixix. 30-32,
and frequently are in a transition state from the
narrower to the wider meaning, and from the
proper to the figurative sense, as then the vow
likewise not only refers to sacrifice (Ps. liv. 7 ;
oxvi. 14) but likewise to the confession of Jeho-
vah as dfeliverer (Jonah ii. 10). Moreover, in-
dependent of the reference to sacrifice, the gene-
ral preservation and strengthening of the life
against hostile attacks are designated as a feeding
by Jehovah (Ps. xxiii. 5), and this, again applied
to the spiritual life, regarded as eating the word
of God (Jer. xv 16; comp. Ezech. iii. 1-3), and
referred to the refreshment and satisfaction of
men in the kingdom of God, is described as a
meal prepared by God (Isa. xxv. 6 sq.)
Ver. 26. The afflicted shall eat.— The af-
flicted are not those who are poor in this world's
goods in a general sense, but the pious who are
oppressed in the world. These are now called
aniyim, now anavim. In the former word the ex-
ternal affliction is more prominent, in the latter
the internal affliction. The servant of Jehovah
belongs among these sufferers first of all (Isa,
liii. 4, 7 ; Zech. ix. 9).
Sir. XII. Ver. 27. Shall remember and
turn unto Jehovah. — An important passage
to characterize the heathen in their relation to
God, whom they have forgotten (Ps. ix. 17), but
to whom they will turn again, because Jehovah
will vindicate His royal right to all nations (Gen.
xviii. 25; Ps. xcvi. 10; xcix. 1; Zech. xiv. 9),
when the proclamation of the Divine deliverance
by Him who suffered as no other one suffered,
comes to them. " The conversion of the nations
by that preaching will bs thus the realization of
the kingdom of God." (Delitzscb). The promises
to the patriarchs (Gen. xii. 3; xxviii. 14; comp.
xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4) form the foundation
of this view. Here likewise the prophetical mo-
ment in the type is very manifest, and even in
its expressions the discourse assumes the charac-
ter of prophecy. The connection with the pre-
vious clause is so exceedingly loose that v. Hof-
mann denies the connection of thought that has
been given, and finds merely the reference to this
thought, what He is, a God who has heard the
prayer, namely, the Ruler of the world to whom
the worship of all nations is due. But Hupfeld,
besides, leaves room for doubt, whether this con-
clusion belonged originally to this Psalm, be-
cause such an effect of the deliverance of the
poet, and its proclamation upon the minds of the
heathen, would have been too much to expect,
and too fantastic. The ancient interpreters
have, on this account, referred all to Christ, only
they do not do justice to the intermediate mem-
bers of the thought. Some interpreters (Heng-
stenberg, Reinke), have sought to restore the
close connection of the clauses, which is missing,
by translating " consider "=take to heart, in-
stead of "remember" or "think of." This is
just as unsatisfactory as unnecessary, like the
proposal to take the verbs as jussive (Bohl) as
directly connected with the preceding wish.
Ver. 19 even is sufficient to show the connec-
tion.
Ver. 29. They ate, and all the fat ones of
the earth shall prostrate themselves, and
before his face all those shall bend the
knee -who have fallen in the dust, and
Tvhosoever cannot keep his soul alive. —
The preterite in close connection with the fol-
lowing imperfects (futures) states the participa-
tion in the meal as presupposed and as thr
i76
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
foundation of their worship and homage of God
and the preservation of their own lives, but
puts the whole in the time of the reception of
the heathen into the communion of the'people
of God, which is surely to be expected. — In this
relation the external position in life and charac-
teristics make no diflference. It is for those who
in the fat of the earth abound in worldly pros-
perity and for those who have fallen down in the
dust. It is an unfounded assertion, that the last
expression must mean the dust of the grave and
that therefore either a contrast is expressed of
the living and dead, over whom the rule of God
extends, in like manner as in Phil. ii. 10 (Mus-
cul., Stier, v. Hofmann, Hupf.), or only a desig-
nation of the human race in general as mortals
(Flamin., Cleric). For if it is generally granted
that the expression, "sitting or dwelling in the
dust," is a symbol of filth and thence of lowli-
ness, sorrow, affliction, it cannot be doubted
that those who have descended from the height
of prosperity into such lowliness may be con-
trasted as those who have fallen in the dust,
namely of the earth, with those who are above
in the fat of the earth, especially as constantly
elsewhere it is made perceptible, as in ver. 15,
that the reference is to the dust of death or of
going down into the pit, death, Sheol (Pss.
xxviii. 1 ; xxx. 3 ; Ixxxviii. 4 ; Job viii. 9 ;
xxxiii. 24). Only we must not take the contrast
too narrowly, as is usually done, as that of the
rich and poor, or of the strong in life and the
frail, with which at times the entirely mislead-
ing reference is mixed, that tbe latter by afflic-
tion and destitution have been almost bowed
down to the grave (Rosenm., De Wette). In the
third clause of the verse, moreover, the refe-
rence is not to the danger of perishing from
hunger, but the definite thought steps forth
from the veil of the figure, that it has to do
with the preservation of life for every one
in the most comprehensive sense. With this
interpretation the clause is not a repetition
of the previous clause with a change in the
turn of expression (most interpreters). No
more is it necessary, in order to get an in-
dependent thought, to change the divisions of
the verse and attach this clause to the following
verse as antecedent (Hupf.) in the sense: If
one has not remained alive himself, his seed
will, etc. But this would give at least a clear
idea and could find a support in the text. On
the other hand the interpretation which follows
is untenable according to its sense and does not
correspond with the words. Thus, it is said,
there is only one class of persons spokon of in the
entite passage, men of distinction as the repre-
sentatives of the entire people and the thought is
expressed, If these have eaten and worshipped
and bowed themselves before God, because they
were about to die, their seed will, etc., Sept., Syr.,
Theodotion, Syramach., translate after another
punctuation : and my soul lives for him.
Ver. 30. The seed will serve Him : It
will be told of the Lord to the {coming)
generation.— Others (finally Delitzsch) trans-
late: A seed, which will serve Him, will be
counted to the Lord for a generation [similarly
A. V. A seed shall serve Him: it shall be account-
ed, etc.] But not to mention the destruotion of
the parallelism the subject of which is further
carried out in the next verse, it is likewise doubt-
ful whether this Hebrew word can have the
meaning of "count" in the Piel. Besides ver.
22 is in favor of our interpretation. The 7 be-
fore adonai is then as frequently:=in reference
to. The Sept., has: "my seed," and in the
second member to which it attaches the first word
of the following verse: The coming generation
will be announced to the Lord,
Ver. 31. His righteousness. — The right-
eousness of God which is to be declared from
generation to generation is not His virtue in
general, still less His goodness (Rosenm.), but
likewise not merely the righteousness shown iu
the deliverance of the pious (De Wette, Hengst.),
but with reference to His entire conduct and
government, in His keeping afar oflF from the
pious for awhile, especially in His participation in
their peril of death (ver. 15), which was hard to be
understood of His righteousness. The reference
is not at all to the righteousness purchased by
the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ and accepta-
ble before God. — That He has accomplished
it. — The closing word is not absolute (^that
He has acted, that is, shown Himself glorious,
done well), but pregnant looking back upon the
entirety of that which has now been carried out
and accomplished according to the decree, as at
the close of the narrative of the creation. Gen.
ii. 3. It is scarcely to be doubted, that the last
cry of the dying Jesus on the cross, looks back
to this passage. The reference back to the
righteousness mentioned in the preceding mem-
ber of the verse is too narrow (Hitzig, "that He
has exercised it"), or the explanation : the mira-
cles which He has done (Chald.). It is inadmis-
sible to regard the ""3 as a relative with refer-
ence to the people considered as the object which
He has made (Sept., Vulg., Syr., Jerome). These
with the exception of Jerome have added as the
closing word: the Lord. So likewise AquiL and
Theodotion. The Vulgate has cceli between an-
nuntiabunt and justitiam which may have wan-
dered from Ps. 1. (Vulgate xlix.) to this place.
"The righteousness of God has come out as an
external act of His Omnipotence=Goodnes8 in
the work of redemption; and this doctrine ia
not a philosophical wisdom of the schools, but a
transmitted declaration, that the Lord has ac-
complished an act." (Umbreit).
[Perowne: "Unnatural as I cannot help
thinking, that interpretation is, which assumes
that the Psalmist himself never felt the sorrows
which he describes, nor the thankfulness which
he utters, but only puts himself into the place of
the Messiah who was to come, — I hold that to be
a far worse error which sees here no fore-
shadowing of Christ at all. Indeed, the coinci-
dence between the suflFerings of the Psalmist and
the sufi'erings of Christ is so remarkable, that it
is very surprising that any one should deny or
question the relation between the type and anti-
type."*—C. A. B.]
* [Barnes: "The scefrw. in the Psalm ia the cross, the Re«
deemer suffering for the sins of men. The main features of
the Psalm relate to the course of thoughts which there
passed through the mind of the Redeemer ; His sorrow at
the idea of being abandoned by God ; His confidence in God ;
the remembrance of Hie early hopes ; His emotions at the
PSALM XXII.
177
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The pious sometimes experience calamities
of Buch a fearful character, that the impression
may arise, that the saflFerer has been ffiven up by
God and left to his enemies. Then more painful
than the oppression of suffering and more terri-
ble than the peril of death, is the painful /eeZmy
of the contradiction on the one side between the
sufferer's worth and his lot, particularly his de-
votion to God, and his being forsaken by God,
on the other side between the holy nature of God
and His actions. On this account it seems more
mysterious and perplexing, the more persevering
and fervent the prayer proves to be, though un-
heard, and the less the present actions of God
agree with His usual dealings with His people,
which they have experienced and praised at all
times. "For although He is the same God, yet
He has heard and delivered the fathers who
have hoped and cried to Him; but He turns
away from and forsakes this one who like-
wise hopes and cries. It is truly a hard thing
which greatly provokes one to despair and curs-
ing, that God treats one differently from another
without his being guilty ; for he who is per-
plexed with such a trouble as this, feels such
unutterable misery in his conscience." (Luther).
2. Yet in the truly pious, the anxious question
of solicitude for the solution of this inconsistency,
and the lament over the incongruity which has
become perceptible, may struggle forth from the
sighing of the oppressed heart, and take the
form of a description of the greatness of its suffer-
ings, but the lamentation does not become a com-
plaint and the trouble does not end in despair,
but faith in the holy government of God presses
forth through all the anxiety and grief and pro-
tects the sufferer, who has been cast down and
almost crushed, from sinking in the abyss of de-
spair and ruin; whilst it drives him to cling to
Jehovah as his God and Helper, and thereby
carries him over the chasm, which seems to open
externally between him and his God, and inter-
nally threatens to become a difference of experi-
ence not lobe denied. "Thou art the Holy
One, etc., is a corrosive power which must more
and more entirely consume the Thou hast for-
saken me." (Hengst. )
3. Yet before, the Divine deliverance, which
cannot fail and yet seems to fail, really comes, the
suffering increases even to the peril of death and
the trouble grows under the trials of faith and
patience. These trials become the most dangerous
and take the form of temptations when the right-
eous man, who has often prayed for his people
and constantly labored for their good, is not ill-
treated by foreign enemies, but is cast forth as
taunts and revilinga of His enemies; His consciousness of
prostrated strength ; His feelings aa tlie soldiers pierced His
hand.'^ and His feet, and as they proceeded to divide His
raiment; His prayer that His enemies might not be suffered
to accomplish their design, or to defeat the work of redemp-
tion ; His purpose to make God known to men ; His assu-
rance that the effect of His sufferings would be to bring the
dwellers in the earth to serve God, and to make His name
and His righteousness known to far distant times. I regard
the whole Psalm, therefore, as applicable to the Messiah
alone; and believing it to be inspired I cannot but feel that
we have here a most interesting and affecting account, given
long before it occurred, of what actually passed through the
mind of the Redfemer when on the cross." — C. A. B.]
12
an outcast by his own people, and when there is
added to shame and scorn the heart-rending
mockery of the martyr's trust in God. This trust
he has shown from his youth and has experienced
in its blessings from childhood, though now it is
most sorely attacked whether as a foolish delu-
sion or an idle pretence, whilst at the same time
his cherished conviction has always been that
he as righteous, is chosen of Jehovah, an object
of His good pleasure and of the especial care of
God.
4. The remembrance of the peace and careless-
ness, and security of earliest youth and reflection
upon the power and goodness of God wonderfully
exhibited in the birth and care of man, even as a
suckling, are especially touching, comforting and
cheering amid the aiflictions, cares and struggles
of an advanced life. " This miracle has become
common by its frequency, but if unthankfulness
did not close our eyes with blindness, every birth
would fill us with astonishment, and so likewise
every preservation of a child in his tender youth,
who at his very first entrance into the world is
awaited with a hundredfold death" (Calvin).
" Experience " likewise teaches us " that we
think of this tender, joyous, lovely work of God,
and under the hard bites of the Divine wrath
and the rod of God, have a refuge and refresh
ourselves with the sweet and delightful milk of
the womb, of the motherly heart and all those
most tender mercies which have been shown to
the age of childhood. In order that, as it is
commanded us to remember the good days when
it fares badly with us, so likewise we may not
forget the great grace and benefits of God which
He has shown to us from our youth, when we
are anxious and in need, and that when we buf-
fer as men, we may likewise think of what we
have received of God as children " (Luther).
5. When the hand of God is found to be the
power working in the very depths of the sufferings
which we have had to bear and which have
finally laid us in the dust of death, the bitterness
of the experience of suffering is thereby inten-^
sified on the one side, yet the believing hope in a
final hearing and deliverance is essentially
strengthened on the other. Yet it is very hard
to hold fast to both at the same time and in their
true relation in the soul, especially when a
proper and strong feeling of innocence is roused,
and yet the prospect of deliverance has as well as
disappeared ; and when the soul still holds fast to
God, and cries out to him in the distance, yet the
troubled look perceives only the nearness of its
enemies, but does not see God drawing near to
help. "As often as this darkness takes posses-
sion of the souls of believers some unbelief is
always intermingled, which does not let it arise
at once into the light of the new life. But in
Christ in a wonderful manner both of these were
united, the terror of God's curse and the patience
of faith, thus calming all emotions so that they
rested under the sovereignty of God" (Calvin).
6. As ihQ prayer precedes the deliverance, so it
is followed by thanksgiving; and the vow of
thanksgiving is already connected with the
prayer in the certainty of the hearing of the
prayer. Instead of the anxious cry, which in
contrast with the praises of Israel, previously
sounded from the mouth of the innocent and
178
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
horribly tortured victim, the song of praise of
the delivered, is in future to resound in the
assembly of his brothers, and the whole congre-
gation is to hear, to their own edification, the decla-
ration of the great and wonderful things that God
has done to this one who was so afflicted and
utterly lost. " God makes it exceeding agree-
able so that all the godly must love and praise
Him, that His eyes alone see and are turned upon
the troubled and poor, and the more despised
and forsaken a man is, the nearer and more
gracious God is to him" (Luther).
7. The congregation is not merely to hear in
devout and loving sympathy, what God has done
to one of its members and to learn Ihe word of
the glad tidings of his deliverance by joining in
his thanksgiving and praise. Its members exter-
nally and internally afflicted, like the delivered
sufferer, who has previously called them "his
brethren" (Heb. ii. 11 sq.), are to havetheir hearts
refreshed by i\xQ festival which has been prepared
by him and at which they are to be his guests,
which according to his wish is to endure forever
The sufferings of a servant of God like this, as
well as his deliverance, transcend in their blessed
effects his own person, and the circle of his im-
mediate relatives ; both have an importance and
agency in the history of redemption, at first for
Israel and then likewise for the heathen, since it
has to do nob merely with carnal relationship,
but with spiritual reserfblance and relation with
the spread of the kingdom of God in the world,
with the preservation and increase of the con-
gregation of the Lord from all nations.
8. The heathen are, it is true, people who have
forgotten God, but they have not been forgotten
by God. Non igitur sic erant oblitse istse gentes
Deum, ut ejus nee commemoratse recordarentur (Au-
gustine, de trin. 14, 13). With their need of re-
demption is associated their capability of redemp-
tion, but the word of the completed redemption
and the invitation to participate in its blessings
comes to both according to the purpose of God
and in His time (1 Tim. ii. 4-6). And this invi-
tation, which is unlimited by the external rela-
tions of men and is to be published to all, will
be successful. Those who share in the festival
meal offered to them, will recognize the royal
Tiijht of God to all nations, and will personally,
as men converted to Him, fulfil the homage and
worship which is due to Him.
9. All this, however, will not be limited to a
fiingle generation, but will fulfil itself from gene-
ration to generation. There will always be a seed
to serve the Lord, and transmit to children and
children's children, even to the invisible distance,
the declaration of the fact that the Lord has ac-
complished it and what He has accomplished. Thus
there is opened for the sufferer on the border of
the grave not only a prospect of personal deliver-
ance, but likewise a view of the connection of his
sufferings, and their effect and end, with the
everlasting refreshment of his fellow-believers,
and with the conversion of the heathen; and
this is finally enlarged to the contemplation and
the expression of the assurance that these gra-
cious and saving effects will extend over the
entire world and exhibit themselves powerfully
through all time. The particularism of the Old
Testament is thus done away with within itself,
and the prophetical element breaks forth from
the historical form of David as undeniably typical.
Compare Exegetical and Critical.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The greatest trouble in all sufferings is trouble
of soul; nothing helps against this hni prayer
and trust in God. — Even the true children of God
may be pained by the feeling that they are for-
saken of God, when answer to prayer has long
been delayed, especially in peril of death, yet this
feeling is only transient. — Whoever does not give
up God, even when his trouble of body and pain
of soul has advanced to the highest point, soon
has the experience that God has not forsaken
him. — God may, it is true, delay His help, yet it
does not fail, but it always comes at the right
time. — When the help ardently implored tarries
even the soul of the righteous has a feeling that
God is afar off, yet he is not internally estranged
from God, but seeks Him still more ardently. —
In times of trouble perseverance in faith is very
much strengthened; 1) by looking at the holiness
of God ; 2) by remembering the Divine care
always exercised, partly over the fathers, partly
over his own person; 3) by the prospect of the
Divine blessings which go forth from these suffer-
ings for others likewise. — He who before his de-
liverance not only cries hut prays, will after his
deliverance not only be glad but thankful. — What
hast thou promised and vowed to God in trouble ?
and how hast thou kept it ? — The sufferings of
the righteous are according to the Divine pur-
pose not only to be of advantage to the present
congregation but likewise to the heathen through-
out the entire world. — God will spread abroad
His kingdom through the whole world, and vin-
dicate His royal prerogative over all nations.
Who is His righteous servant, by whom He ac-
complishes such things? — However great the
apostasy from God may be in the world, yet a
righteous seed remains to Him, preserved through
all generations, to do homage to Him and serve
Him. — The promise of redemption, which has
been purchased by the sufferings and triumph of
the righteous servant of God, is likewise for the
heathen, who not only need it, but are capable of
receiving it. — The declaration of what the Lord
has accomplished, is the very best thanks for His
benefits and the most efficient means to bring
about the recognition of His glory and the exten-
sion of His name and His kingdom.
Starke : The greatest pain to the troubled
soul is not to be sure of the hearing of hia
prayers. — The ungodly even are often obliged
against their will to give the best advice in
trouble; for in trouble what is better than to
have a Lord to whom we can lament, and who
can deliver us. — No shame can more dispirit the
soul of a believer than to have his piety mocked,
and God's gracious looking upon him denied. —
God is our God from our mother's womb. 0!
that He would remain our God even till our last
breath. — When we pray for deliverance from
trouble we must bring before God a heart which
despairs entirely of our own and of all other
human help. — Be not afraid of the dust of death;
Jesus has prepared it as a couch for you. — As
often as you put on or take off your clothes, ro-
PSALM xxir.
179
member the fall of man and likewise the naked-
ness of Ctirist; they will bring you to a know-
ledge of s^in, and keep you from all extravagance
in dress. — That is a strength of faith, in the
midst of the weakness of death to call the Lord
his strength, expect, surely hope, and- obtain
Btreagth from Him. — The chief reason for prais-
ing God in time and eternity is for believers, that
the Lord has provided redemption through Jesus,
has carried it out, accepted it, and caused it to
obtain their salvation. — That which Jesus gained
by His bitter sufferings. He gives to His believers
to enjoy. — Those who seek God tind Him in
Christ, the Redeemer of the world, in such a
consoling manner, that they can praise Him
during their life and rejoice in Him forever. —
The limits of the Church and the kingdom of
Jesus have no end, but are to extend as far as
the world ; let us diligently pray. Thy kingdom
come. — Great riches and honor do not help to
salvation ; there must be other riches, other food
to satisfy the soul, and all the rich who would
be saved must first become poor in spirit. — The
poor and despised members of the kingdom of
Christ are not always to live in trouble; the
time is coming when their afflictions will be ex-
changed for enduring happiness. — Although the
world is full of evil, yet there is a holy seed in
it, which serves God. — The chief subject of
evangelical doctrine is the making known of the
righteousness purchased for us, and appropriated
by us ; how then can true Christians do other-
wise than seek to extend further and further the
knowledge of this important truth which they
have learned.
Calvin : Whilst violence of pain and weak-
ness of flesh will extort the cry : Why hast Thou
forsaken me ? faith adds thereto, his God, in
order that he may not succumb, thus at the same
time improving the invocation of God, who is
said to have forsaken him; yes, faith hastens
before, so that he already takes refuge in his
God before he allows himself to utter the lamen-
tation.— Satan can aim no mpre deadly shot
against our souls, than when he robs us of hope
by converting God's promises into mockery. —
OsiANUER : If we are not always delivered in
the way in which we desire it, yet we ought to
know with certainty that we are no less truly
heard, and a mighty help will soon ensue. —
However ungodly and unthankful the world may
be, yet we ought not to despair of the Church
of God ; for God always reserves some who ac-
cept the doctrine and do not lack diligence in
transmitting it to their posterity. — Renschel :
The trouble and dear death of the Lord are the
ground of the salvation which is prepared for
th6 pious. — Selnekker : When trouble comes
upon us which seems to be something, the devil
strives to induce us not to pray and whispers
dangerous and ungodly thoughts. These words
alone stand against him : He has not despised,
etc. [ver. 24], — Menzel: Christ reminds us by
the name of brethren: 1) of His love and faith-
fulness towards us all; 2) of the glory in which
He sets us and to which He brings us ; 3) of our
duty towards Him — Herberger: Sin must be
a very great burden, because it could be atoned
for in no other way than by the severe suff"evings
of Christ. — Whoever hears of the sutferiiigs of
Christ should repent.— Baihinger: That is the
end of God's way, that He conducts all the nights
•of sorrow to a blessed end, and that He is
praised on account of His benefits. — The pious
sufferer vows to celebrate his deliverance by
proclaiming the name of Jehovah. — Tholuck :
These are the trials of faith, with which the
wicked enemy intensifies the other trials of the
body and the soul, when a pious man is given
up to the furnace of suftering. — A soul that loves
God more than self, would rather take upon it-
self the floods of shame, than have merely a
drop of it fall on the name of his God. — If men
are friendly only to that which is high, God is
most gracious to that which is low. — Prayer is
the weapon with which the bars of the gates of
heaven are burst open. — Stiller: The Gospel
is the heavenly food, which brings comfort and
refreshment; the guests at this heavenly meal
are all nations upon the whole earth. — Taube :
The first born among many brethren is the Holy
One of Israel and its King ; that begets in His
people trust without presumption. The Holy
One of Israel is our brother ; that begets hu-
mility without despair. — Dibdrich : To the same
extent as my soul has, a share in Christ will it
have the experience of this way through the
cross to the crown. — The righteous man here in
this world is cruelly hunted about like a poor
hind ; but in God's eye he is yet so lovely that
He finally sends the dawn of deliverance.
[Ma,tt. Henry: Spiritual desertions are the
saint's sorest afflictions. — When we are lamenting
God's withdrawings yet still we must call Him
our God, and continue to call upon Him as ours.
— When we want the faith of assurance, we must
live by the faith of adherence. — The entail of
the covenant is designed for the support of the
seed of the faithful ; He that was our fathers'
God must be ours, and therefore will be ours. —
He was Adam, "a mean man," and Enosh, "a
man of sorrow ;" but lo Ish, " not a considerable
man ;" for He took upon Him the form of a
servant, and His visage was marred more than
any man's. — The blessings of the breasts, as
they crown the blessings of the womb, so they
are earnests of the blessings of our whole lives.
— When we cannot rejoice in God as our song,
yet let us stay ourselves upon Him as our strength,
and take the comfort of spiritual supports when
we cannot come at spiritual delights. — Seeing
we cannot keep alive our own souls, it is our
wisdom by an obedient faith to commit our souls
to Jesus Christ, who is able to save them, and
keep them alive forever, — Barnes (ver. 8) : It
is one of the most remarkable instances of
blindness and infatuation that has ever occurred
in the world, that the Jews should have used
this language in taunting the dying Redeemer,
without even suspecting that they were fulfilling;
the prophecies, and demonstrating, at the very
time when they were reviling Him, that He was
the true Messiah. — Spurgeon : For plaintive ex-
pressions uprising from unutterable depths of
woe we may say of this Psalm, '* there is none
like it." It is the photograph of our Lord's
saddest hours, the record of His dying words,
the lachrymatory of His last tears, the memorial
0 His expiring jcys. David and his afflictions
may be here in a very modified sense, but, as
180
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
the star is concealed by the light of the sun, he
wlio sees Jesus vill probably neither see nor
care to see David. — No daylight is too glaring,
and no midnight too dark, to pray in ; and no
delay or apparent denial, however grievous,
should tempt us to forbear from importunate
pleading. — If prayers be unanswered, it is not
because God is unfaithful, but for some other
good and weighty reason. We may not question
the holiness of God, but v^e may argue from it,
and use it as a plea in our petitions. — Let us
wonder when we see Jesus using the same pleas
as ourselves, and immersed in griefs far deeper
than our own. — Strange mixture! Jehovah de-
lights in Him, and yet bruises Him ; is well
pleased, and yet slays Him. — Behold the humi-
liation of the Son of God ! The Lord of glory
stoops to the dust of death. Amid the moulder-
ing relics of mortality Jesus condescends to
I lodge! — Never was a man so afflicted as our Sa-
viour in body and soul, from friends and foes,
by heaven and hell, in life and death ; He was
the foremost in the ranks of the afflicted, but all
these afflictions were sent in love, and not be-
cause I^is Father despised and abhorred Him.
'Tis true that justice demanded that Christ
should bear the burden which as a substitute He
undertook to carry, but Jehovah always loved
Him, and in love laid that load upon Him with a
view to His ultimate glory and to the accomplish-
ment of the dearest wish of His heart. Under
all His woes our Lord was honorable in the
Father's sight, the matchless jewel of Jehovah's
heart. — There is relief and comfort in bowing
before God when our case is at its worst ; even
amid the dust of death prayer kindles the lamp
of hope. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXIIL
A Psalm of David,
1 The Lord is my shepherd ;
I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul :
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
For his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil : for thou art with me ;
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a tab^e before me
In the presence of mine enemies :
Thou anointest my head with oil ;
My cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life :
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Origin, — Under the figures
of the shepherd, ver. 1, and the host, ver. 5,
which were familiar to all Israelites, which are
connected with that of the guide, ver. 3, the
Psalmist describes, in clear and flowing language
corresponding throughout with his calm, confi-
dent, hopeful feelings, the comprehensive and more
than sufficient care of God for him, who describes
his present and future condition under the cor-
resj)onding figures of member of the flock, ver.
2, wanderer, ver. 4, and guest, ver. 6. These
figures are so natural to the national life, that
we cannot conclude from them that David sung
this Psalm, if not in the times of his shepherd
life, at Ipast in a time when the recollection of
those days was still fresh (Tholuck), or that the
feast contains a reference to the meal in the
house of David's father after he was anointed,
1 Sam. xvi. (Muntinghe). But we have no more
reason to look away from every historical refe-
rence and from every particular reason for the
use of these figures, and since there; is no evi-
dence of a prophecy of Christ (many ancient in-
PSALM xklll.
181
terpreters), or that it was directly meant for the
oongregatioQ, to suppose that it was a free ex-
pression of feelings rejoicing in God, whether
of an unknown poet (Hupfeld), or David in the
latter peaceful and prosperous period of his
government (Calvin and most interpreters). For
the enemies, ver. 6, seem not to belong to the
past but to the present, and are mentioned in a
connection, from which we may conclude that
there was destitution, yet not a destitution among
the enemies whilst the Israelites, under the Mac-
cabean leaders besieged in the ifortress at Jeru-
salem, had plenty (Olshausen), but with the
Psalmist, who must certainly be regarded as
remote from the house of God (ver. 6). If this is
recognized likewise as a historical feature, it is
easy to find the occasion for the preceding de-
scriptions in a sojourn of the Psalmist in the
wilderness, but not to think of an allegorical re-
ference to the return of the people from exile
(Kimchi), or a reference back to the Divine
guidance of Israel from Egypt through the wil-
derness (Chald.), but to abide by David in ac-
cordance with tradition, and put this Psalm in
the period of the rebellion of Absalom (.Ruding.,
J. D. Mich., Ewald, Maurer, Delitzsch). Only
we must not refer to 2 Sam. xviii. 26, for the
tone and sentiment do not agree with it. But
we may indeed think of 2 Sam. xvii. 27 sq., and
compare with Pss. iii. 6 ; iv. 7. The resemblances
to Pss. xxvii. and Ixiii., are of an entirely dif-
ferent kind from those to Pss. xxv. 21 ; xxxvii.
4, as it is then too bold to refer to Jeremiah, ou
account of the style and the sentiment. Re-
specting the house of Jehovah vid. remarks upon
Ps. V. 7.
Str. I. Ver. 1. My shepherd. — God is thus
named already by Jacob, Gen. xlviii. 15; xlix. 24.
This figure is afterwards frequently used (Pss.
Ixxx. 1; Ixxviii. 62; Mic. vii. 14; Isa. Ixiii. 13
sq.). It is likewise applied to theocratic rulers,
Jer. iii. 15 ; xxiii. 1, and is used with reference
to the Messiah, Isa. xl. 11 ; Ezek. xxxiv. ; com-
pare Zech. xi. 4 sq., and hence is applied to
Jesus in the New Testament, John x. 1-16; Heb.
xiii. 20; 1 Peter ii. 25; v. 4. In accordiince
with this the people are called His flock or the
sheep of His pasture, Pss. Ixxiv, 1 ; Ixxix. 13;
xcv. 7 ; c. 3; Jer. xxiii. 1. The expressions
which follow are taken from the life of the
shepherd and correspond with the figure. The
oasis of the wilderness is not merely a station
of rest for the tired flocks at the time of the
noonday heat (Song of Sol. i. 7), but at the same
time a place of refreshment by means of the
green meadows and the waters, which are men-
tioned either as flowing quietly and therefore
without danger in contrast to the wild mountain
brooks and rushing streams (Calvin, Geier, De
Wette, Hitzig [Alexander, Barnes]), or as the
indispensable condition of refreshment for the
pleasant resting-place where ihe flocks lie down
for recreatiou (Sept., Stier, llengst., Hupfeld
■[Perowne]).* The imperfects are not to be re-
* [It is better to translate this latter clause with Ewald
and Hupfeld : Tn waters of refreshment He. hadeth me. The
idea ia not of a flock grazing in a rich meadow land on the
banks of a quiet stream, but that of a flock led by the shep-
herd to their resting-place and watering-place. In this
place they lie down satisfied, in the midst of the richest
gardtSd as futures (Hengst., et ah), or indeed as
referring to the past (Sept., Chald.), but denote
actions continuing and repeated in the present.
Str. II. Ver. 3. He restoreth my soul. —
This does not mean conversion (the ancient
translations), but the refreshment of the soul
under the figure of leading back him who was
about to flee away, comp. Ps. xix. 7. — [He
leadeth me. — The oriental shepherd does not
drive the flock before him but goes before the
flock and leads them, vid. Thomson's The Land
and the Book, p. 202 sq. ; Smith's Diet, of the
Bible, Article, Shepherd. — C. A. B.]. — In right
paths. — In the figurative language of this Psalm
it is evident that the "right paths" are not to
be regarded as in similar passages, excluding
the figure, as ways of righteousness (Hengst.
[A. V.]) in the moral sense, or passing over the
intermediate member, as ways of salvation (De
Wette, Ewald, Hitzig), but as straight and even
paths, excluding error and stumbling, direct
and leading certainly to their end (most inter-
preters after the Rabbins), which are then really
paths of righteousness and salvation.
Ver. 4. Even ^vhen [A. V., Yea, though'\z=s
even then when. — The contrary of ver. 2 is sup-
posed as an objeciive possibility ; but only with
reference to the external condition in life and
circumstances threatening with peril of death.
— Valley of the shadow of death. — In order
to explain this figure De Wette cites from Mo-
rier's second journey to Persia, p. 179 : ** In the
vicinity of Ispahan is a remarkable valley, bar-
ren, gloomy and destitute of water, which is
called the valley of the angel of death." [It is
unnecessary to go beyond the Holy Land itself.
The Psalmist refers to those deep wadies or wild
and gloomy ravines, which abound in the moun-
tains of Palestine, the rocky sides of which are
filled with caves and caverns, the abodes of wild
beasts of pr<^y. It is often necessary for the
shepherd to lead his flocks through these wadieS
and across these ravines, and it is always peril-
ous even to the shepherd himself. There is no
reference here to death itself, but to the peril of
death fo often experienced in life. — C. A. B.]. —
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
— The soul when thinking of the possible danger,
is quieted and comforted by the assurance of the
faithfulness of the Divine Shepherd. The shep-
herd not only leads the flock, but defends it,
hence tho mention of two staves; so likewise
Zech. xi. 7, upon which an especial emphasis ia
put by the pronoun. It follows Jrom this that
this verse is not a general description of the rest
of trust (De Wette, Hengst.), nor has a poetical
and rhetorical fulness of meaning, nor indeed
that one of the staves was given by the guide to
the wanderer, the other retained by himself.*
abundance of pasture and refreshing water, all their wants
being supplied. It is not necessary to think of a stream,
since in the Orient flocks are fed from wells or fountains in
troughs, Gen. xxix. 10, 11 ; Ex. ii. 16-21. Vid. Tristram,
Naural History of the Bible, p. 142.— C. A. B.]
* [The reference is still to the shepherd guide. The rod
and staff are synonymes, expressing the twofold use of the
crook in ruling find defending. The crook is essential to the
shepherd's business. He U8en it Hsa walking stick in ascend-
ing and descending the mountains ; he uses it to punish the
rebelliimfl and stubborn sheep. It has a curve on one end
with which he CHtches the sheep by their hind legs and urgea
them on. It is likewise a weapon to beat the dogs and ward
182
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Sir. III. Ver. 5. [Perowne: "God is even
more than a ehepberd wbo provides for the
wants of his sheep. He is a King who lavishes
His bounty in rich provision for His guests."
Although the figure of sheep and shepherd pass
over into that of guest and host the ideas are the
game, though in different forms. There is a
beautiful correspondence throughout. As the
sheep lie down satisfied with the rich provision of
the shepherd, in the green pastures and by the
refreshing waters, so the guest sits down satisfied
with the rich provisions of the table of the Lord.
—In the presence of mine enemies. — As
the wild beasts surrounded the sheep in the
gloomy wady and they were comforted by the
sliepherd's rod, so the enemies surround the
guest, and he is comforted by the table of the
m )narch. In the Orient the host was obligated
not only to entertain the guest but to protect him
from his enemies, and when once the meal of
hospitality had been partaken all the power and
strength of the host became assured to the guest.
He was now safe and secure, and his enemies
were powerless to injure him, for from this time
forth he was the guest and friend of the host
and would be protected and defended by him.
Thus the idea is not of a hasty meal upon a
battle-field, after which the fight was lo be re-
newed, but of a calm and secure repose at the
table of the host, with the assurance that all
danger was past and the enemies were no longer
to be regarded or feared. — C. A. B.]
After that Thou hast anointed my head
■with oil. — Anointed, literally made fat, as a
perfect subordinate to the imperfect, refers to
the sprinkling of the beard, hair, elc, with
sweet-smelling essences, which in ancient times
preceded the festival meal, hence the figurative
use, Pss. xlv. 7 ; civ. 15.* — My cup runneth
over. — The ancient translators have instead of
this, drunlienness, which meaning, however, is
admissible only in the Aramaic, but not in the
Hebrew. The Sept. has connected the first
words of the following verse with this clause
and translated, (jg Kpdriarov.f
Ver. 6. Only. — Instead of '* only," as Pss.
xxxix. 6, 12; cxxxix. 11, it may be rendered,
"yes!" as Pss. Ixxiii. 13; Ixxxv. 9; Gen. xliv.
28. [The rendering of the A. V., " surely," is
off the beasts of the wildernefis. Then finally he uses it
V'hen he puts the sheep into the fold, causing them to pasa
i|inder the rod us he tallies them olT to see that none are
missing. Thus the crook is the symbol of his power and
authority, and at the same time of his love, care, and pro-
tection. When the flocks are led through the gloomy wadies
they crowd close together, and the rod and staff iu the whep-
herd's hands reassures them and gives them a sense of com-
fort and security, though the wild beasts roar and growl
about them.— C. A. B.J
. * [The entertainment was royal, the guest was received
•with the highest honors. Oil was used at the feasts of the
•wealthy to do honor to their guests. It was used to anoint
the head aa a symbol of the grace of God which the host
would have his guest enjoy. It is not unusual at the present
day n the Orient to sprinkle the guests with perfumes and
10 burn incense in the festival rooms, diffusing delightful
odors. Vid. Lane's Modem Egyptians, p. 203. Vid. Amos
vi. 6 ; also Luke vil. 46, where Jesus contrasts the devotion
of the witman with the neglect of the host who did not
honor Him with the basin of water, the kiss of fiiendship
and the anointing oil.— C. A. B.]
t [For the meaning of the cup vid. Pa. xvi. 5. It is full
and satisfying and more than abundant. As the oil was the
symbol of grace and favor, so the cup is the symbol of joy
aud gladness.— C. A. B.J
better. — C. A. B.]. — Happiness and grace
will pursue me. — " Pursue " is used not only
in the sense of follow or accompany (Olsh.j. as
an inversion of the usual figurative phrase used
of men : pursue something «ec^arj=aspire after
(Hupfeld), but is used in contrast with the pur-
suit of the enemies. [His enemies had pursued him
even to the presence of his host, henceforth
grace and joy will pursue him and load him
with blessings. — C. A. B.]. — And returned
shall I dw^ell in the house of Jehovah to
length of days. — The closing word does not
mean: lifelong (Hupfeld), but in contrast with
the short affliction (Delitzsch), opens a prospect
of an indefinitely long time, Ps. xxi. 4, and in-
deed of communion with God and the enjoyment
of His grace, Ps. xxvii., which is afforded by the
use of the religious institutions of grace. Many
ancient translations have, after the Sept., " my
dwelling," etc. They have likewise regarded the
infinitive with the sufiSx as from yashab. So
likewise Geier, Rosenm., De Wette, Hengst.
But then we must read shibthi, as Ps. xxvii. 4.
But our text has shablhi, which vocalization the
Masoretic Punctators could only have fixed in
accordance wi'h tradition. Now some have re-
garded this form after De Muis as a perfect
of yashab, supposing that the first syllable has
fallen away. But the possibility of such an
aphaeresis is disputed by Olsh. and Hupfeld as
ungrammatical. The examples cited in its favor
are explained by the former as mutilations of
the text, and are regarded by Delitzsch partly as
a corruption, as Jer. xlii. 10, partly as only be-
longing to the vulgar tongue, as 2 Sam, xxii. 41,
Hitzig, however, again appeals particularly (o
Judges xix. 11, together with Jer. xlii. 10. la
any case the matter is very doubtful, and there-
fore the derivation from shUb (=return) is pre-
ferable, yet it cannot be translated: I return to
the house (Knapp, et at.), for it is followed by
the preposition ^ and not /X, and duration is
expressed. This leads to the acceptance of a
pregnant construction (Delitz.>5cli ). The idea of
dwelling is not expressed in words, but is indi-
cated as a consequence of the return, by the
nature of the closing word, as already mentioned.
The perfect with the Vrt,v consec. after the im-
perfect has likewise the meaning of a future.
Misericordia Dei prxcedit, comitatur et subsequitur
nos (Augustine). [Alexander: "Dwelling in"
the house of Jehovah does not mean frequenting
His sanctuary, but being a member of His house-
hold and an inmate of His family, enjoying His
protection, holding communion with Him, and
subsisting on His bounty." — C. A. B.].*
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Every member of the congregation of God
* [IVordsworth : " David, the shepherd of Bethlehem, could
speaHc from personal experience of what the shepherd fefls
for his sheep. He had led his flock through the dark defiles
of the rocky fastnesses of Judah, which presented an image
of the gloomy valley of the shadow of death, and he experi-
onced in his exile the loving care of hospitable friends, like
Barzillai, who spread for him a table in the wilderness, when
he fled from Absalom his son (2 Sam. xvii. 27-29), and his
eyes were raised upward from them and their affectionate
care, to a lov ng contemplation of his home and Father iu
hea en."— C. A. B.J
PSALM XXIII.
' 183
may appropriate in faith the promises which
Qod has given to the people of the covenant, but
he must likewise make earnest use of the privi-
leges graciously bestowed upon the congregation,
and have, hold, and confess the God of the cove-
nant as his own God, in order tu have in himself
the evidence and experimental sense of the all-em-
bracing and all-sufiB.cient care of Ood, which is
always comforting and refreshing in every cir-
cumstance of life. Comp. P. Gerhardt's hymn
which has grown out of this Psalm : Der Herr,
der alter Enden.
2. He who would truly experience in himself
that love, power, and faithfulness of God, whereby
believers are called, sustained, preserved and
entirely furnished in this world as a flock of the
good shepherd, mast likewise, in the constant
sense of his need and weakness and at the same
time in unshaken faith in the willingness and
the power of God to help him, lay hold of for
himself and use the means of grace and salvation
prepared and offered to him ; he must likewise
truly let himself be led, refreshed, protected,
cared for and saved by God, and meet the conde-
scension of God with the resignation of himself to
God, '• Although this confidence in the care of
God does not exclude provision for the body, yet
we are to think chiefly of the supply of all our
spiritual need, which comes down from above "
(Umbreit).
3. Trust in God and resignation to His will
is essentially facilitated by the fact that we have
to do, not with an unknown and hidden God,
but with the God of historical revelation, who has
made known His name by His word and His
works, and has declared therein what we have
to think and expect of Him. On this fact we
should base ourselves in the changeable fortunes
which meet us in this world, and should hold
fast to it amidst the changing feelings and dis-
positions of the heart ; for that is " the golden
art, to hold on to God's word and promise, de-
cide according to it and not according to the
feelings cf our hearts ; thus help and consola-
tion will surely follow and we shall not lack
anything at all " (Luther). — " But now when
God has revealed Himself as the Shepherd in
the person of His only begotten Son, much more
clearly and more gloriously than formerly to the
fathers under the law, we do not sufficiently
honor His keeping, unless we tread under foot
all fear and danger by fixing our eyes upon
Him" (Calvin). — "For David here prescribes
one common rule for all Christians, that there is
no other means or expedient on earth of escap-
ing from all kinds of trouble, than for a man to
cast all his cares on God, apprehend Him by
His word of grace, hold fast to it and let it in
no wise be taken from him. He who does this
can be satisfied, whether it fares well with him
or ill, whether he lives or dies, and can likewise
finally endure, and must prosper in spite of all
the devils, the world and misfortune" (Luther).
4. The best consolation in trouble is the cer-
tainty of the nearness of God, as this is the strong-
est reminder of our duty when successful. But
we have these, not that '« we may make of
His benefits a ladder by which we may ever
ascend nearer to Him " (Calvin), but we have
them on tbe ground of His condescension to us, in
virtue of His dwelling among us and in conse-
quence of our reception into His house and to His
table, where He has Himself prepared what serves
for our sustenance and complete satisfaction, and
where He likewise anoints those who partake of
these blessings, good things and joys , that is,
He festively prepares, distinguishes, and adorns
them. This advances by many stages from the
typical to the fulfilment, from the Old Testament
to the New, from time into eternity For a time
is coming when wandering will cease and the
shepherd as the host will not allow His guests
again to leave His house. But first of all we
must abide by this. "This presence of the
Lord is not to be perceived with the five senses ;
faith alone sees it, which is sure of the fact, that
the Lord is nearer to us than our own-selves "
(Luther).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The glad spirit of a Christian in life and in
death: 1) how it shows itself; 2) whence it
springs ; 8) whither it moves and leads. — The
happiness of those who can confess : the Lord
is my shepherd: 1) in what it consists ; 2) how it
is attained; 8) how it is preserved. — Who goes
most successfully through the world? 1) The
wanderer in God's flock ; 2) the guest at God's
table; 3) the child in God's house. — He who lets
himself be led by God will likewise be kept and
provided for by God. — Eyea pious people are not
spared the walk in the dark valley; but they
have a threefold comfort : 1) that the Lord leads
them in; 2) that the Lord remains with them; 8)
that the Lord in time helps them out. — Thecertainty
that the Lord is with us : 1) on what it is based; 2)
what its effects ; 3) what supports it. — .We will
attain that happiness and grace will step in the
place of our persecutors when we resign our-
selves entirely to the guidance, care and training
of God with willing obedience, humble desire and
hearty trust.
Starke : The ungodly man may call Jesus a
shepherd, but not his shepherd, which is only
for those who appropriate Him. — It often seems
as if the little flock of Christ lacked many things
in this world ; yet these words of Christ must
remain true for all time with respect to spiritual
things (John x. 11), and with respect to bodily
things they may be satisfied with the loving pro-
vision of the Great Shepherd. — Believers find in
the pastures of the Gospel not only complete
satisfaction, but likewise gentle rest. — The many
who do not experience refreshment of heart
from the Gospel have only themselves to blame.
— The ungodly grudge believers a piece of bread ;
their Good Shepherd, however, gives them not
only this, but likewise the heavenly manna. —
That which seems to be needful, pleasant and
good, is not good unless it is a gift of the mercy
of God (James i. 17). — It is well for him who
has his portion in the house of his heavenly
Father ; there are many mansions there ; but
the most joyous thing is that their possession
endures to all eternity. — Renschel : Christ car-
ries the rod woe and the stuflF mild.
[Matth. Henry : If God be as a shepherd to
us, we must be as sheep, inoffensive, meek and
quiet, silent before the shearers, nay, and before
184
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
the butcher too, useful and sociable; we must
know the shepherd's voice, and follow Him. —
Let those not fear starving that are at God's
finding, and have Him for their feeder. — Those
who would be satisfied with the fatness of God's
house must keep close to the duties of it. — F.
W. Robertson : Beneath the burning skies and
the clear starry nights of Palestine there grew
up between the shepherd and his flock a union
of attachment and tenderness. It is the country
where at any moment sheep are liable to be
swept away by some mountain torrent, or car-
ried off by hill-robbers, or torn by wolves. At
any moment their protector may have to save
them by personal hazard. . . . And thus there
grows up between the man and the dumb crea-
tures he protects a kind of friendship. . . . You
love those for whom you risk and they love you;
therefore it is that, not as here where the flock
is driven, the shepherd goes before and the sheep
follow him. They follow in perfect trust, even
though he should be leading them away from a
green pasture, by a rocky road, to another pas-
ture which they cannot yet see. He knows them
all — their separate histories, their ailments, their
characters. . . , Alone in those vast solitudes,
with no human being near, the shepherd and the
sheep feel a life in common. Difi'erences disap-
pear ; the vast interval between the man and the
brute, the single point of union is felt strongly.
One is the love of the protector: the other the
love of the grateful life; and so between lives so
distant there is woven, by night and day, by
summer suns and winter frosts, a living net-
work of sympathy. The greater and the less
mingle their being together : they feel each
other. *' The shepherd knows his sheep, and is
known of them." . . Try to feel, by imagining
what the lonely Syrian shepherd must feel to-
wards the helpless things which are the com-
panions of his daily life, for whose safety he
stands in jeopardy every hour, and whose value
is measurable to him not by price, but by his
own jeopardy, and then we have reached some
notion of the love which Jesus meant to repre-
sent, that eternal tenderness which bends over
us — infinitely lower though we be in nature —
and knows the name of each and the trials of
each, and thinks for each with a separate solici-
tude, and gave itself for each with a sacrifice as
special and a love as personal, as if in the whole
world's wilderness there were none other but
that one." — Spurgeon : Sweet and full are the
doctrines of the Gospel ; fit food for souls, as
tender grass is natural nutriment for sheep. —
These twin guardian angels (goodness and mercy)
will always be with me at my back and my beck.
Just as when great princes go abroad they must
not go unattended, so it is with the believer.
Goodness and mercy follow him always — the
black days as well as the bright days, the days
of fasting as well as the days of feasting, the
dreary days of winter as well as the bright days
of summer. Goodness supplies our needs and
mercy blots out our sins. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXIV.
A Psalm of David.
1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fuhiess thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ?
Or who shall stand in his holy place ?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart ,
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This 18 the generation of them that seek him,
That seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates ;
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ;
And the King of glory shall come in.
PSALM XXIV.
185
8 Who 1.3 this King of glory ?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ;
Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors ;
And the King ot glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He ia the King of glory. Selah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — According to
the tradition of the Talmud this Psalm was sung
in the temple every Sunday morning during the
presentation of the wine offering, and indeed
with reference to the history of the Creation.
The addition to the title made by the Septuagint,
rfjq fitdg aa^jidrov, corresponds with this. The
Church likewise finds it appropriate to use this
Psalm on Sundays, as well as at Advent and at
the consecration of churches. For unless we
would divide the Psalm into two entirely differ-
ent Psalms (Ewald, Olsh.), the celebration of the
entrance of Jehovah into the Holy Place of His
gracious presence stands out as the prevailing
thought of the whole, which has its essential
meaning in the statement of the characteristics
of this God and His worshippers. Among these,
the all-embracing moral and historical nature of
these relations, advancing from victory to victory,
is rendered most conspicuous as the decisive
characteristic. In this consists the richness of
the application of this Psalm, without its thereby
being typical (Geier, Stier, Hengst.), or indeed
Messianic (Seb. Schmidt, J. H. Mich.). More-
over it is not to be regarded as.a"/rce clothing of
an idea with general reference to the temple
(Hupf.), as instruction and exhortation to the
citizens of Zion (Venema), or as a song of dedica-
tion composed by David for future use after the
example of Ps. xv., after that the place for the
future temple had been pointed out to him by a
revelation, 1 Chron. xxi. 22 (the Rabbins, llu-
dinger, Rosenm., Stier). Moreover, it is en-
tirely unnecessary to regard the doors and gates
ver. 7 sq., as those of the stone temple, and then
to think of the dedication of the temple of Solo-
mon (De Wette). It may properly be referred
to the very ancient citadel of Zion, and the occa-
sion for its composition by David may be found
in the removal of the Ark of the Covenant by David
from Kirjath Jearim to Mt. Zion (Grotius and
most interpreters). Then David had it placed
in a tent set up especially for it after his victori-
ous expeditions (2 Sam. vi. 17; corap. xi. 11;
1 Kings i. 39), whilst the Mosaic tent remained
at Gibeon (1 Chron. xxi. 29; xvi. 39), and only
afterwards was put with its vessels in the tem-
ple of Solomon (1 Kings viii, 4). The points of
contact with Jeremiah in the language of the
expressions (Hitzig) are only of a very general
and indefinite kind, and the relation between
vers, 3 and 4 of this Psalm and Ps. xv. is not a
mere copy. The tone which passes over from
the didactic to the hymnic and almost dramatic
character, has often led to the supposition of
choruses (Rosenm., Tholuck), whose responses
Delitzsch puts at first below at the foot of Mt.
Zion (vers, 1-6), and then above at the citadel of
Zion, and both interrupted and enriched by solo
verses.*
Str. I. Ver. 1. Its fulness, denotes first and
properly its inhabitants (Dent, xxxiii. 16 ; Pss.
1, 12; Ixxxix 11; comp. Amos vi. 8; Pss. xcvi.
11 ; xcviii, 7), but allows likewise a wider con-
ception, which is applied by the Apostle Paul,
1 Cor. X, 26, with reference to the eating of
flesh.
Ver. 2. The earth, especially the orb of the
earth (Isa, xl. 22), is partly designated as
bounded and surrounded by the ocean (Prov.
viii, 27), so that the orb of the heavens rests
upon it (Job xxii. 14 ; xxvi. 10), partly as having
gone forth out of the water (Gen, i, 9) and firmly
established (Ps. cxxxvi, 6 ; comp. civ. 5 sq. ) by
Divine Omnipotence upon the unstable and fluc-
tuating waters (Jonah ii, 4), so that the source
of the great flood (Gen, vii. 11) and waters under
the earth (Ex. xx. 4) are mentioned significantly
together with the heavens and earth. The
waters, however, are not the foundations which
essentially support the earth. Such a foundation
is the Omnipotence of God (Job xxxviii. 6), who
has hung the earth on nothing (Job xxvi. 7) ; as
then the Abyss and the deepest world below, are
* [The two parts of this Psalm are sharply dlTided, but
this does not justify Ewald in regarding them as dififerent
Psalms. Delitzsch is more correct in regarding the first
part as sung at the foot of the mountain and the other part
above at the citadel, but it seems better to regard the first
part of the Pcalm as composed for and sung when the festi-
val procession halted before the house of Obed Edom, and
the second part at their appearance before the gates of Zion.
The fii-st part expresses the feelings of David and the people
in the presence of that holy ark which had chastised the re-
bellious Israelite, vindicated its sanctity among the Phil-
istines, smitten the men of Beth Shemesh (1 Sam. vi. 19 sq.),
and the unwary Uzzah (2 Sam, vl, 6), Vers, 1. 2 is a general
chorus of. praise of the God of the whole eanh, Ver, 3 is
the inquiry, perhaps of a single voice, who shall approach
this holy ark ? The place and the hill where it rested was,
for the time being, the holy place and the holy hill, Zion
could not be this, as Rwald contends, until the ark bad been
established there. Vers, 4, 5 give the response, perhaps
likewise by a single voice : He that hath clean hands alone
dare touch the ark ; he that is pure in heart, alone may enter
into that sacred place ; he alone will receive the blessing of
Obed Ediim and his house, Comp. the words of the men of
Beth Shemesh : " Who is able to stand before the holy Lord
God? " (1 Ham, vi, 20), of David, "How shall the ark of the
Lord come to me ?" (2 Sam, vi, 9), Ver. 6 is the voice of the
general cliorus. This is a generation seeking Jehovah's face,
it is Jacob, The second part was sung at the gates of Zion,
Ver. 7 is a general chorus of the triumphal procession, call-
ing upon the cify to open its gates to Jehovah. Ver. 8 is the
question of a single voice upon the walls : Who is this King
of glory? Ver. 9 is the response of a single voice, reciting
the characteristics of this King of glory. In ver. 10 the
general chorus takes up the question with emphasis and re-
plies with a triumphal strain, closing the Psalm. — C. A. B,]
186
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
beneath the waters (Job xxvi. 6). It is accord-
ingly inadmissible to deviate from the usual
meaning of al with words of founding and estab-
lishing and to accept here the meaning of by, at
(Luther after the Rabbins), or over (Calvin,
Geier, Hengst.).
IStr. II. Ver. 3. Ascend into the hill of
Jehovah. — Hupfeld: •' This indicates prima-
rily visiting the sanctuary (Temple), but it is
borrowed from visiting a human house or tent, as
a guest and having the privilege of a guest
therein, like Ps. xv. 1, 'dwell in Thy holy hill,'
and ♦ be a guest in Thy tent ;' the futures are to
be understood here in the same way as there."
— Stand in His holy place. — This is used of
the privilege of the guest of God and refers pri-
marily to the privilege of the priests and Levites,
and thence in a spiritual sense to the whole
people as a nation of priests to the Lord. Both
these expressions are used of access to the sanc-
tuary of the holy place of the ark, which might
not only be said of Zion but likewise of Shiloh
and wherever else the ark of the covenant
rested.— C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 4. [Clean hands, with special
reference to touching sacred things and with a
probable reference to the unclean hands of
Uzzah.— C. A. B.].— Who hath not lifted up
his soul unto vanity. — This clause is parallel
to the following one, and expresses the eflForts
and strivings of the soul, which correspond with
the false oaths and internally precede and ac-
company them. It is unnecessary, therefore, to
regard the general expression in this clause,
particularly as falsehood (Syr., Chald.), or false
doctrine (Luther), or as idolatry in a rough
sense (Seb. Schmidt), or in a nicer sense (Stier),
although it designates the vain and frivolous in
general, and therefore in a special case might
naturally have a more specific reference and
meaning. — The Syr. and Cbald. at the same time
put swear at once in place of lift up ; and whilst
the latter paraphrases, to the guilt of the soul,
the former seems, by its translation "by his
Boul," to have thought of the well-known for-
mula of oaths, which, however, was only used
by Jehovah (Am. vi. 8 ; Jer. li. 14). The Rab-
bins, with express reference to this and at the
same time to the prohibition Ex. xx. 7, prefer
the reading "my soul," which is very unusual
and has very little support. This would be put
instead of "my name," because God Himself
epeaks here, or the soul is a paraphrase of the
person (Stange).
[Ver. 5. Blessing refers to the blessing of
Obed Edom and his house. — Righteousness.
— Delitzsch : " This is the righteousness of God
after which even the righteous, but not the self-
righteous, hunger and thirst, that moral perfec-
tion which is the restored and realized image of
God: transfiguration into the image of the Holy
One Himself."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 6. Such fis) the generation of them
that seek after Him, that seek Thy face.—
Jacob. — [Those who seek after God, who desire
to ascend into the hill of Jehovah, stand in His
holy place and see His face, are such persons as
those just described — they constitute a genera-
tion, a race, and that generation bears the histo-
rical name of Jacob, — U. A. B.]. Jacob is either
the summary of the preceding predicates in the
historical definition. Isa. xliv. 1, 2 (most inter-
preters at the same time with an emphatic sense),
or the vocative God which preceded it has been
left off (Flamin., Vogel, Ewald, Olsh., Hupf.
[Perowne]), which is the reading of 2 codd.,
Kennic, Sept. and Pesch. For the translation
"In Jacob" (Vatabl., Cleric.) is grammatically
inadmissible; and to supply " are," before Ja-
cob (Hengst. [Alexander]), with the supposition
of an independent clause parallel with the
former member of the verse and in an explana-
tory sense, is connected with premises and dis-
tinctions that are untenable.
Sir. IV. Ver. 7.* Lift up your heads, ye
gates. — Some, not understanding the poetry of
the expression (Geier, Cleric, Venema) have
referred the "heads " directly to the lintels of
the gates ;f others (Flamin.) have referred to
the guards of the gates of heaven and its inhabi-
tants, with a Messianic interpretation of the
Psalm of the ascension of Christ, whilst the ma-
jority emphasize too much the figurative language
(Vatabl., Geier, Schmidt, J. H. Mich.), and
think of the entrance of God into the heart of
men, or indeed (Calv ) expressly reject the re-
ference to the ark of the covenant. — Lift your-
selves, ye primeval doors. — Those who think
of the temple rather than the citadel of Zion
translate, ^^everlasting doors" [A. V.]. But
then it certainly does not mean t\ie firm seat after
long wanderings (Kimchi, Rosenm.), but the
dwelling of the Eternal (1 Kings viii. 13), abid-
ing forever (Ps. cxxxii. 14) (Calvin, Hupf., Hit-
zig). We cannot think of doors in the world
(Luther), because 6lam gains the meaning of
" world " only after the completion of the canon
of the Old Testament, but elsewhere refers now
backwards to primeval times (Gen. xlix. 26;
Isa. Iviii. 12), and now forward into eternity.!
— King of glory. — The ark of the covenant
might not only " bear the name of Jehovah "
(2 Sam. vi. 2) as the throne of God, but likewise
be addressed as Jehovah (Num. x. 35 sq.), and
as Jehovah be named the glory (1 Sam. iv. 21
sq.), on which account there is likewise ascribed
to it the warlike attributes which God has
as the chieftain of His people (Num. xxi. 4 ;
Ps. Ixviii.. et al.).
Sir. V. Ver. 8. These warlike attributes (Ex.
XV. 3 ; Isa. xliii. 17) are here strongly empha-
sized without compelling us to think of the
bringing back of the ark of the covenant after
the conclusion of a successful war (De Wette),
or of the contrast between Israel and heathen
* [Ewald : " A new king is about to enter the ancient and
venerable city, and indeed the highest and mightiest con-
ceivable, Jehovah Himself, enthroned upon the Ark of the
Covenant. Such a King has never entered this city, and the
grey gates, «lthough venerable with age, are too small and
mean for Him (for the height of the gates must correspond
with the dignity of the Lord who enters them, so that at
times gates of extraordinary size were built, comp. Prov.
xvii. 19 ; Jrmrn. as., 1856, II., p 479 ; Munzinger'a Ostc^fru
kanischf. Studim, p. 328, 6 sq.). Those who accompany the
new King call to them from a distance to lift up themselves
and become young again. ' — C. A. B.]
t [Thomson's Land and tJie Book, p. 244, refers to the an-
cient manner of lifting up the gates instead of opening them,
as at present. — U. A. B.]
J [Delitzsch : " The cry, ' lift up your heads, yo gates,' has
essentially the same meaning as the voice of the cry in Isa.
xl. 3: 'prepare the way of Jehovah, level in the wilderness
a highway for oar Qod.' " — C. A. 3.]
PSALM XXIV.
187
nations (Hitzig). — [Mighty in battle. — Alex-
ander : " The word translated mighty, although
properly an adjective, is constantly used as a
noun substantive, and is the nearest equivalent
in Hebrew to the classical term hero. But the
simple majesty of David's language would be
marred in translation by the use of this word,
and still more by that of the combination, mar-
tial or military hero, in the other clauses. The
idea both in this and other places is borrowed
from the Song of Moses, Ex. xv. 3, and recalls
all those victories which Jehovah had given to
Hia people — the warlike expeditions with the
ark during the wanderings in the wilderness,
the crossing of the Jordan, the conquest of
Jericho, etc., and then last of all Jehovah's vin-
dication of His ark after it had been abandoned
by His people and left to their enemies." — C.
A. B.]
Sir. VI. Ver. 10. Who is he then, the
King of glory? — The question already in ver.
8 was strengthened by HT, which here, as Ps.
XXV. 12, etal., is to be taken adverbially. Now
when repeated here it is strengthened still more
by the insertion of the pronoun N^H, which
points back to the reference already mentioned
and strongly emphasized the subject. — Jehovah
Sabaoth [A. V., Lord of hosts]. — The choice of
this name of God (an abbreviated form of Jeho-
vah Elohe Sabaoth, Amos iii. 13, et al.), which
had become usual during the period of the
kings, is without doubt connected with the use
of warlike attributes in the preceding verses,
but likewise, without doubt, not only^God of
war (Koster), or God of the battle array of
Israel (1 Sam. xvii. 45 ; comp. Num. xxi. 4 ;
Jos. iv. 9), although the form Sabaoth used alone.
Num. i. 3, 52 ; Deut. xx. 9 ; 1 Kings ii. 5 ;
1 Chron. xxvii. 3, always means real hosts ; but
with respect to the beginning of the Psalm al-
ludes to the comprehensive sense, which the
Sept. renders by TravTOKparup. The justification
of this rendering is found in Gen. ii. 1, and in
the general meaning of Saba^agmen; comp.
Jer. iii. 19. It is not allowable to limit the ex-
pression to the "hosts of heaven," which com-
prehend partly that host mustered by Jehovah
(Isa. xl. 26), the hosts of stars (Jer. xxxiii. 22;
Ps. cxlvii. 4), partly the hosts of angels, which
in ranks (Jos. v. 14) surround the throne of God
(1 Kings xxii. 19; Ps. ciii. 21 ; cxlviii. 2). For
id all these cases either the singular is used or,
as Ps. ciii. 21, the plural masculine. [Delitzsch :
"The gates now become silent and open them-
selves and Jehovah enters Zion, throned above
the cherubim o/ the holy ark."— C. A. B.]*
* [Wordsworth : " When David uttered these words with
prophetic inapiratiou, and when he beheld the Ark of the
Lord's presence going up, and passins through the gates of
the hill of Zion to the Sanctuary prepared for it ; when he
8aw that same Ark going up thither, which had led the
people of Israel to victory from Mount Sinai through the
wilderness, and across the river Jordan, whose waters fled at
its presence, and had brought them into Canaan ; and at the
power of which, when it had compassed the city seven days,
the walls of Jericho fell down, and before which the gods
of Philistia fell prostrate on the ground — when David medi-
tated on this triumphal progress of the Ark of God, a march
continued for more than four centuries, from Sinai to Sion —
surely, he may be supposed to have been transported by the
Spirit in a lieav«'ily rapture, and to have beheld the glorious
consummation which was foreshadowed by all these tri-
umphs; namely, tlie victory of the Lord Christ, whom he
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The God of Israel is not merely a God of
the family, tribe and nation, but He is rather
the Lord and Creator of the entire world ; and
He would not have this obscured or suppressed,
after He has entered into a special relation with
Israel by gracious condescension in behalf of
the historical execution of His eternal counsels
of salvation and thoughts of peace ; but He
would have it recognized and praised. A writer
of the Talmud derives from ver. 1 the duty of
asking the blessing at the table, and Basil an-
swered the Emperor Valens with it when threat-
ened with banishment.
2. The members of His covenant people are
to keep constantly before their eyes and take to
heart not only His power and exaltation above
all creatures, but His holiness as the true ma-
jesty and glory of His morally perfect nature.
For from the beginning of the world there have
been those "who served God without heart,
without grace, without spirit, and merely with
external works, ordinances, offerings and cere-
monies and the like. As Cain offered to God
his gifts, yet withheld his heart and his per-
son " (Luther).
3. He who would truly draw near to the holy
God, truly have communion with Him, remain
constantly near Him and receive and retain the
blessings of this covenant must not be as the
hypocrite and as "proud saints," but "he alone
is such who has this one thing in himself, that
he is pure internally and externally " (Luther).
We should be reminded of this by every walk to
the house of God, every Divine service, every
use of the means of grace, and especially by
that feast which announces and celebrates the
coming of the Lord. For God would not only be
among us, but would dwell in us, and walk in
us, and as our God have His law in our hearts
(Jer. xxiv. 7; xxxi. 33).
4. The institutions and means of salvation of this
covenant which are provided with especial jsower
and fulness of blessing serve to give us this loving
view of the Almighty and Holy God. But they
do not work salvation in every one without ex-
ception that engages in them, but are in an in-
ternal and essential relation to the moral nature of
those who use them, as well as the holy nature
of Him who has instituted them ; and they work
miracles, it is true, in accordance with this, but
not as magical means, or by the mere use, but
as means of grace according to the order of salva-
tion.
6. We must distinguish the righteousness
which as a gift of God accomplishes the transfor-
mation of the man, who has been taken into
favor, into the likeness of God, and bis renewal
and transfiguration into the image of God, and
which presupposes sanctification, from that
righteousness which is imputed by the judgment
of God as the justification of the sinner and pre-
cedes sanctification. The true posterity of
Jacob consist of such men (Isa. xliv. 2).
6. The opening, elevation and widening of the
salutes aa Lord of Host <, over all the power of Satan, and
His triumphal ascent into His capital c'ty, the heavenly city,
and the exaltation of the Ark of His Church, in which His
presence and power dwell." — C. A. B.]
188
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
gates of entrance correspond with the glory of
the Almighty Ruler who enters in, upon whose
command an innumerable host attend. The ap-
plication of this to the spiritual life, demanding
that all hindrances, limitations and restraints
should be removed, is to render easy the recep-
tion of the Lord by referring to the fact (hat
against such a Lord, who has long since shown
Himself to be a strong and victorious hero, every
resistance is as foolish as it is vain, whilst the
worthy reception of Him is at the same time both
fitting and salutary. *' The honorary titles, by
which the Psalmist here extols God's power,
have the design of showing to the covenant
people that God does not sit idly in His temple,
but is ready to help His people and to stretch
out His strong hand to defend their salvation "
(Calvin). — "He names the doors everlasting,
because the human heart is immortal and will
always be a door into which God may enter "
(Luther).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The glory of God : 1 ) as the Almighty Creator
of all things ; 2) as the victorious Lord of the
world; 3) as the holy and helping King of His
covenant people. — The condescension of God to
His people is as great as His exaltation above all
the world. — When God the Lord would have His
entrance, He announces His coming and demands
open doors. — God has His people on earth and
among them the institutions of salvation and the
means of His grace ; but He likewise sees to it,
how His people is constituted, how His institu-
tions are used, how His means are employed. — •
God requires of those who desire to commune
with Him threefold jOKrt^y; 1) of hand (of works) ;
2) of heart (thoughts) ; 3) of mouth (words). —
It is fruitless to visit the house of God, unless
we take away with us the blessing of God and
obtain the gift of righteousness from the God of
salvation. — Because all things belong to God the
Lord as His work, we ought to consecrate them to
Him as His property and sanctify ourselves par-
ticularly as His people. — In the service of God
we have protection against all enemies &n.d power
of victory over the entire world. — He who in-
quires after God and seeks His countenance, will
experience to His salvation that God is already
on the way to visit him. — It is more difficult to
remain before the face of God than to come before
Him ; but it is a characteriMic of the truly pious
that they seek both.
Starke : If God does not let the little lump
of earth sink in the abyss of the sea and be
swallowed up in the great waters, He surely will
be able to preserve His Church amidst all the
storms and waves of the kingdom of darkness.
— Many men inquire after the way to heaven ;
but they do not like to tread it or to travel it. —
There is always a difference between the world
and the Church in the world, between God's
places and the devil's places, and that difference
is diligence in sanctificatiou. — Examine yourself
whether you are a subject of the King of glory;
the mere outer confession does not suffice; that
must be accompanied by indubitable marks of
faith. — The surest mark of the true Church is
the disposition of Jacob, struggling and striving
for the blessing and righteousness from the God of
our salvation. — He who takes a great deal with
him, cannot enter in through a narrow gate;
Christ comes to us with many heavenly blessings,
therefore the doors must be made wide and
opened for His entrance. — Calvin : Since God's
house is holy, the desecration and abuse of those
who unrighteously press into it, are nothing but
a violation of it. — Osiandeb. : The earth is the
Lord's ; He can provide for us and sustain us
wherever we maybe. — Frisch : All your bur-
den of care is nothing when compared with the
globe, and yet your Almighty God sustains that.
All your troubles are nothing when compared
with the waves of the stormy sea, and yet the
Lord has set bounds even to them — Herbekqer :
The earth is the Lord's; therefore it is good
everywhere on earth: 1) to dwell, 2) to pray,
and 3) to die. — Shut to the devil, open to Christ,
so will the King of glory enter into you —
Tholuck : We should regard our worship of God
not so much as a duty, but rather as a grace
bestowed upon us. — It is the warlike God, who
has gained the victories which are in the remem-
brance of all. — Von Gerlach : When the Lord
would make an entrance and take up His abode,
the entire world is too small; His advent trans-
forms it.
[Matth. Henry: When God gave the earth
to the children of men, He still reserved to Him-
self the property, and only let it out to them as
tenants. — All the parts and regions of the earth
are the Lord's, all under His eye, all in His
hand, so that wherever a child of God goes he
may comfort himself with this, that he doth not
go off his Father's ground. — This is a good
reason why we should be content with our allot-
ment in this world, and not envy others their's;
•' the earth is the Lord's," and may He not do
what He will with His own, and give to some
more of it, to others less, as it pleaseth Him ? —
Barnes : God will not regard one who is living
in wickedness as a righteous man, nor will He
admit such a man to His favor here, or to His
dwelling-plaoe hereafter. — Spurqeon : Provi-
dence and Creation are the two legal seals upon
the title-deeds of the great Owner of all things.
He who built the house and bears up its founda-
tion has surely a first claim upon it. — What
monarch would have servants with tiltliy hands
to wait at his table? They who were ceremoni-
ally unclean could not enter into the Lord's
house which was made with hands, much less
shall the morally defiled be allowed to enjoy
spiritual fellowship with a holy God. — True re-
ligion is heart work. — Tbere must be a work of
grace in the core of the heart as'well a,s in the
palm of the hand, or our religion is a delusion.
— False speaking will shut any man out of
heaven, for a liar shall not enter into God's
house, whatever may be his professions or
doings. God will have nothing to do with liars,
except to cast them into the lake of fire. Every
liar is a child of the davil, and will be sent
home to his father. — God first gives us good
works and then rewards us for them. — To desire
communion with God is a purifying thing. — All
true glory is concentrated upon the true God, for
all other glory is but a passing pageant, the
painted pomp of an hour. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXV. ^ 189
PSALM XXV.
A Psalm qf David.
1 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in thee : let me not be ashamed, "
Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed :
Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
4 Shew me thy ways, 0 Lord ;
Teach me thy paths.
6 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me :
For thou art the God of my salvation ;
On thee do I wait all the day.
6 Remember, 0 Lord, thy tender mercies and thj loving-kindaesses;
For they have been ever of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions ;
According to thy mercy remember thou me.
For thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
8 Good and upright is the Lord :
Therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
9 The meek will he guide in judgment :
And the meek will he teach his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth
Unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; ^
For it is great.
12 What man is he that feareth the Lord ?
Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
13 His soul shall dwell at ease ;
And his seed shall inherit the earth.
14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ;
And he will shew them his covenant.
15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord ;
For he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me )
For I am desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged :
0 bring thou me out of my distresses.
18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain ;
And forgive all my sins.
19 Consider mine enemies ; for they are many ;
^And they hate me with cruel hatred.
190
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
20 O keep my soul, and deliver me :
Let me not be ashamed ; for I put my trust in thee.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me ;
For I wait on thee.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
Out of all his troubles.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Form and Contents. — This is one of the
nine alphabetical Psalms, resembling in most re-
spects Ps. xxxiv. ; for in both Psalms^ the strophe
with 1 is missing, both have an additional strophe
with 3 and resemble one another in thought and
expression in corresponding strophes. It is un-
certain whether some inaccuracies (the absence
of the p and the use of T twice) are due to the
author or the copyist, since they are easily obvi-
ated, as in ver. 2. There is not the least occa-
sion for the supposition of a subsequent addition
of a closing strophe (Rosenm.). The alphabeti-
cal form is regarded by many, without reason,
as a subsequent refinement. There is nothing
to favor this but the loose connection of the
clauses. Yet there is not perceptible here a mere
wreath of prayeis, waich have been gathered
together by an alphabetical arrangement of
current proverbs, but there is an advance in the
different phases of the fundamental thought that
God helps the pious. For the Psalmist turns to
Jehovah in prayer (ver. 1), and bases his trust
in God's help against his enemies (ver. 2) on the
general experience of the Divine treatment of
those who trust in God and those who are faith-
less (ver. 3). Therefore he prays for instruction
and guidance in the ways of Jehovah, the God of
his salvation, in whom he trusts (vers. 4, 6), and
this mercy which has been shown to men from
of old, he now implores (ver. 6), with confession
of sin (ver. 7), and with an appeal to the nature
of God, and His dealings, which have originated
from His nature (vers. 8, 9), with sinners and
tbe wretched, as well as with those who observe
His law (ver. 10). And he refers back to his
personal needs (ver. 11), the satisfaction of
which is confidently expected, since he has the
necessary prerequisites and conditions (vers.
12-15). The importunate prayer for immediate
help rises on this foundation in connection with
all the motives previously adduced (vers. 16-21)
and ends with the closing sigh for the deliver-
ance of all the people from all their needs (ver.
22). — Even this turn of thought does not neces-
sarily lead to a later period of composition. On
the other hand the individual features are not
concrete enough, to refer them directly to histo-
rical events in the life of David. — This Psalm
has especial significance to the Church from the
fact that the name of the 2d Sunday in Lent
has originated from the Latin word which be-
gins ver. 6 [Reminiscere Sunday], the name of
the 3d Sunday from ver. 16 [Oculi] ; and that
Selnekker's dying hymn, **AUein nach dir, Herr
Jem Christy has originated from ver 1, and the
whole I'salm Iris been givpu in Gerhardfa hymn,
^■Nach dir, o O'oJ, cerianijet mich."
[Sir. I. Ver. 1. Unto Thee, Jehovah,— Pe-
rowne: " This is emphatic, not to any false god,
or to any human deliverer. Similarly vers. 2,
5," — Do I lift up my soul. — Delitzsch: "In
need of help and longing for salvation he lifts
his soul, withdrawn from all earthly desires, to
Jehovah; the God who alone can grant that
which truly satisfies. His Bffo, which has the
soul in itself, gives to it the direction upward to
Him, whom he names 'my God' [ver. 2], be-
cause he cleaves fast to Him and is united to
Him in the confidence of faith."
Ver. 3. Yea, none that wait on Thee
shall be ashamed. — Perowne: "The writer
passes from the optative, with /N (fi^), ver. 2,
to the future, with K / (ov). He here expresses
not so much a general truth as his own indi-
vidual conviction, and includes tacitly himself
in the number of those who thus hope. The
Sept. is mistaken, in returning, in the second
clause of the verse, to the optative [So A. V.].
For the sentiment, comp. Rom. v. 6, 7 6i e?nTlg
bv Karat(T;j;i;iai."-r-Delitzsch : "Hope is the eye
of faith, which looks clearly and fixedly into the
future." — Ashamed shall be the traitors
V7ithout cause. — Alexander : "The position of
the verbs, at the end and the beginning of the suc-
cessive clauses, give a peculiar turn to the sen-
tence, which is lost in some translations. — With-
out cause qualifies the word immediately preced-
ing, and describes the enemy not only as perfidi-
ous, but as acting so gratuitously and without
provocation. "^C. A. B.]
IStr. II. Ver. 4. Thy ways, Jehovah,
make me to know. — liarnes: "The 'ways'
of God are His methods of administering the
ajffairs of the world; His dispensations; the
rules which He has prescribed for Himself in
the execution of His plans; the great laws by
which He governs the universe."
Ver. 5. Lead me in Thy truth Alexander:
"Ttie obvious meaning of this verse, interpreted
according to New Testament and modern usage,
would be that of prayer for Divine instruction
in religious truth or doctrine. But the usage
of the Psalms, and the preceding context, are in
favor of explaining truth to mean the veracity
of God, or the faithful performance of His pro-
mises. See Pss. XXX. 9; Ixxi. 22; xci. 4. The
teaching asked is then experimental teaching or
the actual experience of God's faithfulness." —
God of my salvation — Barnes : " The word
salvatinn is not to be understood here in the
sense in which it is now commonly used, as de-
noting deliverance from sin and future ruin, but
in the more general sense of deliverance — deliver-
ance from danger and death." — C. A. B.l
[Sir. III. Ver. 6. For from everlastfng are
they. — Hupfeld: "The grace of God is oftett
PSALM XXV.
101
thus designated, c. g, Ps. c. 5; ciii. 17, espe-
cially in the refrain which has become a formula,
♦for His mjercy endureth forever,' Ps. cxxxvi.,
el al. The remembrance of this and appeal to
this is especially appropriate in times of trouble,
when 'God hides His face' and seems to have
forgotten His suppliant."
Ver. 7. The sins of my youth and my
transgressions. — Hupfeld : " Sins of youth,
because youth, as the time of hot sensuousness
and passion, is especially inclined to such errors
as those designated by HlXCSn, whilst the D'^^tya
are more appropriate to the cold and deflec-
tive age of manhood." " The mention of both
together, that is, the sins of youth and manhood,
shows that in praying for forgiveness he thinks
not only of the more recent sins, but is conscious
of having heaped sin upon sin from the earliest
times, and he bows under this burden (Calvin)."
— C. A. B.]
[Str. IV. Ver. 9. He will guide the hum-
ble, etc. — Alexander: "The common version
of D'13j^, meek, is too restricted and descriptive
of mere temper. The Hebrew word is the
nearest equivalent to humble in its strong reli-
gious sense. The omission of the article may
be explained as a poetic license, and the word
translated the humble so as to include the whole
class. But the intimate connection between this
verse and the one before it makes it more natu-
ral to take D''1JJ7 as a description of the sinners
mentioned in ver. 8, who are then cf course to
be regarded as penitent, believing sinners, i. e.
as true converts." — G. A. B.]
[Sir. V. Ver. 10. Grace and truth.— De-
litzsch : " These paths are "IDH, for the salvation
of men is their end, and HOK, for they confirm at
every step the reliability of His promises. But
only those who were true and obedient to His
covenant and testimonies, were partakers of such
grace and truth. The name of Jehovah, which
unfolds in grace and truth, is dear to the Psalm-
ist."—C. A. B.]
Str. VI. [Ver. 12. The way that he should
choose (A. v., shall choose). — This is the ren-
dering of Moll, Hupf., Perowne, et al., and is
better. Luther, followed by Ewald, translates,
^^ den besten Weg."
Ver. 18. His soul shall dwell in good
(A. v., at ease). — Perowne : " Literally, ' to pass
the night,* but used in the more extended sense
as in Pss. xlix. 12; xci. 1; Prov. xix. 23." —
Alexander : " In good, not goodness, but good
fortune or prosperity." — His seed shall pos-
sess the land. — Alexander: " The verb trans-
lated shall possess, denotes specifically to inherit
or possess as an inheritance, i, e. from genera-
tion to generation, in perpetual succession. — The
land, to wit, the land of Canaan ; and as this
was the standing promise of the law, uttered
even in the decalogue (Ex. xx. 12), it became a
formula for all the blessings implicitly embraced
in the promise of Canaan to the ancient Israel,
and is so used even by our Lord Himself (Matth,
V. 5)."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 14. The friendship of Jehovah. —
The Hebrew word "VD, s8d, which is very ob-
scure in its etymology, has this meaning Prov.
iii. 22 ; Job xxix, 4. [So Alexander and Barnes.
Hupfeld readers friendship, but gives secret in
the margin.— :C. A. B.]. Others, after Theodot,,
prefer the meaning, secret [A. V., so also De-
litzsch and Perowne.* — C. A. B.], because in
intimate association, Ps. Iv. 14 sq., there is a
free expression and sharing of secrets (Job xix.
19). Syramach. renders it bfiOda; Aquil. ar:6pj}rj-
Tov, after the meaning which became usual only
afterwards ; Sept. Kparaicjua (Vulg. firmamentum),
confounding it with *11D'_
[Ver. 15 My eyes ever towards Jeho-
vah.— Hupfeld: "We must supply either "'nXiyj,
/ lift, Ps, cxxiii. I (comp. cxxi. 1), or look, as
Ps. xxxiii. 18, It indicates looking out for help
from God, whether in anxiety (comp. cxxi. 1),
or, as here, confidently:=with hope and trust in
Him."— Prom the net. — Alexander : " The
figure of a net is a favorite one fur dangers
arising from the craft and spite of enemies."
Vid. Pss. ix. 16 ; x. 9.— C. A. B.]
Sir. VIII. Ver. 17. Distresses have ex-
tended themselves over my heart. — Since
" to enlarge one's self," likewise=to add to one's
extent, it is unnecessary to depart from the in-
terpretation which prevailed among all ancient
interpreters, of the extending of distresses,
which is likewise indicated by the vowel points.
Most recent interpreters, however, change the
reading by connecting the ^ with the following
word, and thus by changing the vowel points get
the imperative form harchibh. Thus they gain a
complete parallelism with the following member
of the verse, f
IStr. IX. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me. — Delitzsch : "That piety which
fills the whole man and not that which divides
his heart or is hypocritical, is called q'p\, and
that honesty which goes after the Divine will,
without going astray or in crooked ways, is
called "l^"" — these two fundamental virtues (comp.
Job i, 1) he wishes to be the guardians of his
way, which is dangerous, not only on account
of external enemies, but likewise on account of
his own sinfulness : they are not to let him go
out of their sight, that he may not withdraw
himself from them (comp. Ps. xl. 12; Prov. xx.
28). He can claim this for himself, laecause the
object of his hope is God, from whom DD and
lU^"" go forth as good angels." — C. A. B.j
* [Perowne : " Ab God said, Gen. xviii. 17, ' Shall I hid©
from Abraham that thing which I do?' Or the word may
mean 'close and intimate communion,' in which God makes
Himself known to the soul. See Ps. Iv.l4; Prov. iii. 22;
Job xxix. 4. God alone possesses the truth, for He js the
truth, and therefore He alone can impart it, and He im-
parti it only to them that fear Him." So Wordsworth :
" He sits, as it were, as a guest and friend, and co verses
familiarly with them. Comp. John xiv. 23, 'If any man
love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him ;' and see Rev. iii. 20."— C. A. B.]
f [Perowne: " As the tpxt now stands, we can only render
' Distresses have enlarged my heart,' i. e. have made room
for themselves, as it were, that they might come in and fill
it ; or have rushed in like a flood of water, swelling the
stream till it overflows its banks, and so spreads itself over
a wider purfoce. Unless, indeed, we take the word in the
same meaning as in Ps. cxix. 32, where to enlarge the heart
=to open it to instruction. But that sense is scarcely suita-
ble here. Most modern editors read \"lplVDD^ DTTin
(imperat.). The rendering then is : 'My heart is troubled
(?■. fi. is nothing but troubles, is full of tronhles), 0 set it at
liberty 1 And out of my distresses,' etc."— C. A. B.J
192
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Where the soul is really directed towards
God, it is full of seeking for help and longing for
salvation. In this is the warrant of de-
liverance, as the conditions of salvation and the
certainty of answer to prayer, consist in trust in
God, which does not ask that God should make
this special case an exception, but rather relies
upon the sureness and faithfulness of God, which
are manifested and proved in His government,
which is always the same, in the deliverance of
the pious, and the punishment of the faithless,
who break the covenant without cause.
2. It is necessary, on this account, to walk in
the ways of God and pray for enlighteiiment and
guidance, because His ways are grace and truth
(ver. 10; comp. Pss. xxvi. 3; Ixxxvi. 11; John
i. 17). Accordingly they cannot be known or
found without God, neither can any one walk in
them or remain in them without Him. Yet those
who hope continually and uninterruptedly in
God may expect such gracious help from the
God of salvation.
3. However, we must not only pray for assist-
ing grace, but likewise tor pardoning mercy. For
we may say on the one hand : " Because our sins
set up a partition between us and God, so that
He does not hear our wishes, or stretch forth
His hand to help us, David now takes this
hindrance away ; he confesses that he cannot
share in the grace of God except by having his
sins blotted out" (Calvin). On the other hand,
the forgiveness of sins is that declaration of
Divine grace by which the mercy of God has
from the earliest times been historically made
known to sinners as proper to the being of God,
and which as the expression of His favor and
love accomplishes the salvation of men. This the
Psalmist claims for himself, on this account,
partly by appealing to the remembrance of God ;
partly by referring to his own personal previous
transgressions, particularly to the sins of his
youth; for "where there is forgiveness of sins,
there is life and blessedness " (Luther) ; and
"if our sins are many, His grace is much
more."
4. Now as sure as the safe direction of sinners
and guidance in the right not only come from
God, but likewise, as based upon the Being of
God, give expression to the excellence of His
Being; so, moreover, it is just as sure that it is
necessary that there should be a corresponding
behaviour on the part of those who would attain
the salvation to which grace points and leads,
and would experience in themselves the truth,
that is, the reliability of the Divine declarations
and actions, at every step of the way. It is not
fhe greatness and grievousuess of the sins that
itt themselves exclude from salvation, but the
lack of forgiveness of sins when it is neither
sought nor found. Therefore we must hold fast
to the covenant and testimonies of God. For
though they disclose the misery of man, yet they
likewise unveil the depths of the Divine mercy,
reveal the name of God, whose ways are grace
and truth, and offer the means of atonement and
forgiveness to those who would use them. There-
fore, " this is our Theology, which we pray in
the Lord's prayer ; forgive us our debts in order
that we may know that we live under grace
alone. Grace, moreover, not only takes away
sins, but likewise endures them and bears them "
(Luther).
5. But all this is said not that we may sin
wantonly, but that we may not despair with the
knowledge of the greatness and grievousness of
our sins, in the feeling of our weakness and our
misery, under the chastisements and sufferings
which arise from our guilt. It is that we may
be comforted by the grace of God, invoke the
mercies of the Lord, and lay hold of and use the
means of salvation offered in the gracious cove-
nant, in order that we may walk in the right
ways pointed out to us. Thus we are to attain
that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of
all wisdom, and which finally leads io ih.^ friend-
ship of Jehovah and to that love which is the ful-
filment of the law (Rom. xiii. 10; comp. Eccl.
xiii. 12). This brings blessings to our own per-
sons and to oviV posterity (Deut. v. 3; xi. 21).
6. Thus the soul of the pious may at times be
overwhelmed with anxiety of heart fi^ with a flood
and may feel itself solitary and wretched, espe-
cially when the snares in which he has become
entangled are about to be drawn together as a
net; yet he is never xeaWj forsaken and hopeless,
so long as he can lift up his eyes to the Lord
and bring before God in prayer and supplication
the condition of his heart and take refuge against
the assaults of all his enemies in faith in the
Almighty as His Helper. Oculi mei ad te, oculx
ergo tui vicissim ad me ; respice in me, ut suspicio in
te (Cassiodor). There is an interchange between
trust and faithfulness, as between uprightness and
salvation.
7. Within the covenant of grace the individual
feels not only in communion and intercourse
with God, but likewise united as a member of the
people of the covenant. From his personal
needs his individual feeling of pain is enlarged
so that he sympathizes with the troubles of the
congregation, and from this arises comprehensive
love, in like trust in the God of the community
and often indeed at the same time in supplication
that the general as well as the particular distress
may be removed. The prayer has accordingly
become intercession, and remains, likewise in this
respect, directed to the God of the covenant. It
may address Him, moreover, with the universal
name of God [Elohim), because it has to do with
the Divine help as such.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
We can never do better than : 1) trust the
faithfulness of God; 2) look to God's truth; 3)
build on God's grace. — It is good in trouble to
take refuge with God ; but it is not enough to
implore deliverance from earthly need, we must
likewise pray tor forgiveness of sins, for the cause
of all misery is in sin. — To lift up the soul to
God is to begin the lifting of the entire man out
of all need. — He who would obtain salvation
must toalk in the ways of God, but he needs for
this Divine instruction and guidance ; both he
will gain by praying for them as a needy suppli-
ant.— However tar back we may look, we find
human sin and Divine mercy ; and it is necessary
PSALM XXV.
193
and good for us to be reminded of both in our
misery, but likewise to think of this, that God's
mercy extends still farther back and springs
from the perfect Being of God.^How it will fare
with us, depends finally upon the ways in which
we walk. — Those who /ear (?orf obtain i\i.e friend-
ship of God and an abiding blessing for themselves
and their posterity. — There are three things
which are most oppressive and often prepare
gv^Sii anxiety ot heart: 1) many and unrighteous
enemies ; 2) many and grievous sins ; 3) many
and well-deserved troubles. Against this anxiety
there is, however, a threefold remedy : 1) trust
in the assistance of the Almighty God; 2) the
comfort of forgiveness of sins hy God's grace; 3)
the prayer for redemption by the God of salvation.
— Grace and truth on the part of God, bad and
right on the part of men, this is the best meet-
ing, the most powerful blessing, and the surest
preserving. — He who would fare well -let him re-
main: 1) walking in the ways of God ; 2) holding
to the law and testimonies of God; 3^ trusting in
the name of God. — Let us not forget in our par-
ticular troubles the general need, but rather hold
in close connection our own personal salvation
with the welfare of our people and the congrega-
tion of God, and by prayer and intercession bear
witness to the communion in which God has placed
us, strengthen and enlarge it. — God is the best
treasure and the best protection.
Starke : The true lifting of the heart to God
is the true worship of God in the spirit and the
chief power of the life of true faith. — True living
hope in God is the sure and only ground of true
consolation, by which the spirit rests in God
and His promises as a ship at anchor. — The
ways and stairs of God are known to no creature
80 well as to Himself; therefore He can give us
the best instruction in them. — It is not enough
to be taught of men, we must go to school to
God, that is, resign ourselves obediently to the
guidance and training of the Holy Spirit. — God
would justify sinners, but likewise sanctify
them^ — God will not lead the strong, who regard
themselves as able, but the weak and miserable,
who recognize their weakness and inability. —
All true penitents regard their sins as great ;
and all believers regard the name of the Lord,
that is, His grace, as still greater. — He who will
not fear the Lord, cannot enjoy His gracious
guidance in the blessed way. — The blessing of a
believer does not die with him, but rests cer-
tainly on his posterity, provided that they fol-
low his faith, — The cross has this advantage
among others, that we are thereby more occupied
with God. — The snares which Satan and the
world put about the Christian are innumerable,
and, without the assistance of God, unavoidable;
therefore it is necessary to watch and pray. —
The communion of saints demands that we al-
ways include in our prayers the affairs of all the
children of God.
Luther: If we forget our sins, grace will be
little thought of by us (1 Peter i. 9). Moreover,
we do not thank God if we forget our sins.
Moreover, if we do not thank God, then we feel
safe, and are bold to commit grievous sins and
blasphemies. — Osiander: The impenitent can-
not comfort themselves with Divine help, but the
penitent are never to despair of His grace. — The
13
cross and trouble are very good to induce us to
leave off sin and lead an honorable life. — It is
simple paternal faithfulness, what God does with
us poor sinners, although at times it has a dif-
ferent appearance to our mind. — Selnekker*
The lamentation of the saints is, half a saint and
entirely a sinner. There is now no other coun-
sel than to own and confess our sins and pray
for their forgiveness ; we are and live under
grace. — Renschel: Confess your guilt; trust
in God's mercy; wait with patience; hold fast
to the Word, the refuge of the soul ; pray always.
— Frisch : The praying Psalmist, 1) testifies his
faith, a) by longing after God, b) by trust in God ;
2) he seeks God's grace, a) to govern him, b) to
forgive, him; 3) he praises a) God's goodness,
and b) the welfare of the pious; 4) he implores
help, a) for himself, b) for the whole Church.—
Herberoer; The deeper the source of prayer
within the heart, the stronger is its impulse up-
wards through the clouds of heaven. — If God is
your God, then all that God is is yours, His
grace, His help, His heaven ; therefore you may
be glad. — Two kinds of ways belong to Chris-
tianity: 1) the thankful way of life and virtue,
2) the right stairway of faith and heaven. — Von
Gerlach: Grace and truth are the two stars,
which David had constantly in view in his walk.
— Tholuck : As fire must be kept up by coals, so
the flames of our prayers need constant invigo-
ration by keeping before us the universal truths
of our religion, in which we believe. — The way
of the fear of God is the best of all ways ; by it
the soul reaches its true home and takes posses-
sion of it forever. — Umbreit: God teaches sin-
ners His way by righteousness and goodness.
Righteousness must punish them in order to make
known the wickedness of their way ; goodness
leads them back in contrition and penitence to
that which they have renounced in their own
wicked wills. — Baihinqer: Salvation and hap-
piness from Jehovah are the inseparable com-
panions of the fear of God. — Taubb : The ways
of God are of two kinds: the one in which He
goes to us and with us ; and the one in which we
must go to H!im. — The true desire after God is
when His glory draws and your need drives you
to Him.
[Matth. Henry: Prayer is the ascent of the
soul to God; God must be eyed, and the soul
employed ; sursumcorda, — "up with your hearts,"
was anciently used as a call to devotion. — Those
are the worst transgressors that sin for sin-
ning's sake. — If we sincerely desire to know our
duty, with a resolution to do it, we need not
question, but that God will direct us in it. — It is
God's goodness and not ours. His mercy and not
our own merit, that must be our plea for the
pardon of sin, and all the good we stand in need
of. — The devil leads men blindfold to hell; but
God enlightens men's eyes, sets things before
tnem in a true light, and so leads them to heaven.
— They that receive the truth in the love of it, and
experience the power of it, best understand the
mystery of it. — Sincerity will be our best secu-
rity in the worst of times. — Integrity and up-
rightness will be a man's preservation more than
the wealth and honor of the world can be. — In hea-
ven, and in heaven only, will God's Israel be per-
fectly redeemed from all troubles. — Barnes : It is
194
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
always true that we are dependent on God for
everything ; it is not true that we always feel
this. — Religion is not selfish. The mind under
the influence of true piety, however intensely it
day feel its own trouble, and however earnestly
it may pray for deliverance, is not forgetful of
the troubles of others; and prayers for their
comfort and deliverance are freely mingled with
those which the afflicted children of God offer
for themselves, — Spurgeon : It is the mark of a
true saint that his sorrows remind him of his
sins, and his sorrow for sin drives him to his
God. — Faith is the cable which binds our boat
to the shore, and by pulling at it we draw our-
selves to the land ; faith unites us to God, and 1
then draws us near to Him, As long as the
anchor of faith holds there is no fear in the
Vforst tempest ; if that should fail us there would
be no hope left. — SuflFering enlarges the heart by
creating the power to sympathize. — We ought to
be grateful for occasional griefs, if they preserve
us from chronic hard-heartedness ; for of all
afflictions, an unkind heart is the worst, it is a
plague to its possessor, and a torment to those
around him. — If the Lord will only do unto us
in the future as in the past, we shall be well
content. We seek no change in the Divine
action, we only crave that the river of grace
may never cease to flow. — Proud of their own
wisdom, fools will not learn, and therefore miss
their road to heaven, but lowly hearts sit at
Jesus' feet, and find the gate of glory. Blessed
teacher! Favored scholar! Divine lesson!
My soul, be thou fanyliar with the whole. —
Keepers of the covenant shall be kept by the
covenant ; those who follow the Lord's com-
mands shall find the Lord's mercy following
them. — We all wish to choose our way ; but
what a mercy is it when the Lord directs that
choice, and makes free-will to be good-will ! If
we make our will God's will, God will let us
have our will. — Saints have the key of heaven's
hieroglyphics ; they can unriddle celestial enig-
mas. They are initiated into the fellowship of
the skies ; they have heard words wliich it is
not possible for them to repeat to their fellows,
— Blessed is the man to whom sin is more un-
bearable than disease, he shall not be long be-
fore the Lord shall both forgive his iniquity and
heal his diseases. Men are slow to see the inti-
mate connection between sin and sorrow, a grace-
taught heart alone feels it. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXVI.
A Psalm of David.
1 Judge me, O Lord ; for I have walked in my integrity :
I have trusted also in the Lord ; therefore I shall not slide.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me ;
Try my reins and my heart.
3 For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes :
And I have walked in thy truth.
4 I have not sat with vain persons,
Neither will I go in with dissemblers.
5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers ;
And will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash mine hands in innocency :
So will I compass thine altar, O Lord :
7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving,
And tell of all thy wondrous works.
8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house,
And the place where thine honor dwelleth.
9 Gather not my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with bloody men.
10 lu whose hands is mischief,
And their right hand is full of bribes.
PSALM XXVI.
196
11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity :
Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
^ 12 My foot standeth in an even place :
In the congregations will I bless the Lord.
EXEGETICAIi AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The Psalm'
ist declares not so much, his honesty before God
connected with prayer for the actual recognition
of it, and that he may be distinguished from the
ungodly (Hupf.); but he bases his prayer for help
(vers. 1 and 11), and for preservation from the
fal:e of the wicked (ver. 9), on the government
of God which surely doex justice to the righteous.
This he claims, because he not only is convinced
that he personally belongs to the number of the
righteous, but in this respect, with entire confi-
dence, puts himself under the Divine judgment
internally anl externally (vers. 1, 2). Yet he
does this, not in the sense of self-righteousness
and righteousness of works, but with the express
confession, that his dependence on the grace
(ver. 3 a) and truth (ver. 3 b) of God, constitutes
the basis of the position of his heart and life,
whereby he has hitherto separated himself from
hypocrites and wicked persons (vers. 4, 5), and
likewise in the future would, in love to the sanc-
tuary of God (vers. 6, 8) remain separate from
them. He concludes with an expression of pious
confidence and joy, as well with reference to his
lot as his conduct (vers. 9, 11), and therefore
embracing both sides of the relation (ver. 12).
The priestly expressions in ver. 6 sq., do not com-
pel us to the conclusion that the author was a
man of the priestly order (Hitzig) ; they merely
attest his priestly disposition, and likewise his in-
timate acquaintance with the worship of God in
the life of Israel, as well as his longing after re-
newed participation in it, in the holy place of the
sanctuary. This is sufficient to lead us to think
of the time of the rebellion of Absalom, in con-
nection with David as the author, which has no-
thing against it; comp. 2 Sara. xv. 25.*
Str. I. Ver. 1. Do me justice, for, etc. — Ac-
cording to the mere words we might translate,
judge (= prove) me, that. Then ver. 1 would
be parallel with ver. 2. But usage decides either
for the meaning declare rtghteous, speak the pious
and oppressed free by a judicial sentence ; or for
the meaning, do Justice, in the execution of the
sentence, and thus helping, and delivering, and
treating the innocent in accordance with justice.
The latter meaning is the usual one, when God's
judgment is referred to ; here it is made espe-
cially appropriate by ver. 11 and the tone of the
entire Psalm. — For I have walked in my in-
tegrity.— on (in the full form CDP), herecon-
* [Perowne : " This Psalm has some points of resemblance,
both in thought and expression, to the last. Both open with
the same declaration of trust in God (xxv. 2; xxvi. 1); in
both there is the same prayer that God would redeem (xxv.
22; and xxvi. 11) and be g^aciou^ (xxv. 16 ; xxvi. 11) to His
servants. Other pointi of contact may be found in xxv. 21 ;
xxvi. 11 ; and xxv. 5 ; xxvi. 3. There is, however, this marked
difference between the two, that there are wanting, in this
Psalm, those touching confessions of sinfulness and pleadings
for forgiveness which in the other are thrice repeated." — 0.
A, B.]
nected with the suffix of the first person, in order
to emphasize the babiiual and personal charac-
teristic, indicates not the perfection of the walk,
but the purity of the heart (Gen. xx. 5 sq. ; 1
Kings xxii. 34), the honesty and cTrAdr^f of the
soul, which characteristic is accompanied by an
unwavering trust in God.* — And in Jehovah
have I trusted without wavering, f" With-
out wavering " is an adverbial clause according
to Moll, Delitzsch, Perowne, et al., and not a de-
pendent clause in the future {A. V., therefore
I shall not slide) or a clause in the future, ex-
pressing confident anticipation (Alexander). —
C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. Since the Psalmist is speaking of the
inner man, a prayer to God follows for examina-
tion, investigation, searching of the heart and
reins. — [Try me, Jehovah, and prove me;
assay my reins and my heart. — Alexander :
" The first verb is supposed by etymologists to
signify, originally, trial by touch, the second by
smell, and the third by fire. In usage, however,
the second is constantly applied to moral trial or
temptation, while the other two are frequently
applied to the testing of metals by the touchstone
of the furnace. This is indeed the predominant
usage of the third verb, which may therefore be
represented by the technical metallurgic term
assay." Perowne : " The reins, as the seat of the
lower animal passions; the heart, as comprising
not only the higher afi'ections, but also the will
and the conscience. He thus desires to keep no-
thing back ; he will submit himself to the search-
ing flame of the Great Refiner, that all dross of
self-deception may be purged away." — C. A.B.]
The reading adopted by Hengst., HDIiy, refined
that is, verified, found pure and genuine, is not
appropriate to the context. The kethibh niJIlif
is to be retained, which is an unusual imperative
form, the usual n£)"12f being lengthened by the
1, and accordingly receiving the tone. Forma
entirely parallel with this are found, Judges ix.
8, 12; 1 Sam. xxviii. 8; Ps. xxxviii. 21; Isa.
xviii. 4. •
[Ver. 3. For Thy grace is before my eyes,
and I walk in Thy truth.— Delitzsch ; " God's
grace is his aim, the delight of his eyes, and he
walks in God's truth. IDT) is the Divine love
condescending to His creatures, especially to sin-
ners, in undeserved advances, flpK the truth
with which God maintains the will of His love,
and the Word of His promise, and executes them.
This kindness of God has been constantly the mo-
del of his life, this truth of God the rule and limi-
tation of his walk."-C. A. B]
[Str. II. Ver. 4. Men of falsehood.— So
Moll., Hupf., Alexander, c< a^. Alexander : =
*• Liars and deceivers, which appears to suit the
context better than the wider sense of vain men
♦[Delitzsch: "DP is according to Gen.xx. Ssq. ; 1 Kings
xxii. 34, entire freedom from sinful intention, unity of cha-
racter, purity, simplicity {aKaKia, airAiTijs)." — C. A. B.J
196
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
(A., v.), i. e., destitute of moral goodness, good
tor nothing, worthless. The same class of per-
sons are described in the last clause as masked,
disguised, or hypocritical." — C. A. B.]
Sir. III. Ver. 6. I wash my hands in inno-
cency. — Originally this was a symbolical action
connected with a rite of atonement, to declare
innocency of a murder (Deut. xxi. 6 sq. ; Matth.
xxvii. 24) ; then in general di, figure of speech to
attest innocent conduct and warranted purity
(Job ix. 30; Ps. Ixxiii. 13; Ezek. xxxvi, 25);
here the more appropriate, as there is directly a
reference to an entrance into the sanctuary, which
was in ancient times always preceded by lustra-
tions. Comp. the action of the priests who were
to wash themselves before performing their ser-
vice, Ex. XXX, 20 sq. — And w^ould compass
Thine altar. — Olshausen and Delitzsch regard
this clause as optative, but it is rather cohorta-
tive [Perowne]. This is not to be understood
merely of surrounding = being near as an ex-
pression of dependence (Luther), in contrast
with the assembly of the ungodly (Hengst.), or
as a privilege of the pure and pious (Hupf.), but
it is in connection with the loud thanksgiving
with which the delivered Psalmist would praise
the Lord in the house of God, in the congrega-
tion of the pious (ver. 12). Thanksgiving is an
offering, hence the mention of the altar. The
compassing of the altar, like the washing of the
hands, is not to be taken literally. Moreover,
there is still less reason for a reference to priestly
and Levitical functions, since such a solemn pro-
cession about the altar is not mentioned in the
Old Testament. [Perowne: "I am disposed
to think that the whole passage is figurative and
amounts to this, ' I would fain give myself to
Thy service even as Thy priests do,' just as in
Ps. xxiii. 6, he utters the wish to dwell in the
house of Jehovah forever." — C. A. B.]
[Ver. 8. Alexander : " This verse expresses
more directly and literally the idea of ver. t>
above, and shows that his compassing the altar
was intended to denote his love for the earthly
residence of God, the altar being there put for
the whole sanctuary, which is here distinctly
mentioned. The habitation of Thy house might bo
understood to mean a residence in it; but the
usage of the first noun and the parallelism show
that it rather means the place where Thy house
dwells, perhaps in allusion to the migratory
movements of the ark before the time of David.
So too in the last clause, Hebrew usage would
admit of the translation. Thy glorious dwelling-
place, as in Ps. xx. 7(6); but the use of Hlij
in the Pentateuch to signify the visible presence
of Jehovah (Ex. xxiv. IG ; xl. 34, 35) seems de-
cisive in favor of explaining it, the place where
Thy glory dwells, i. e., where the glorious God is
pleased to manifest His presence." Hupfeld :
'• This is particularly the Holy of Holier, where
the ark of the covenant was the throne of His ma-
jeity in its earthly manifestation." — C. A. B.]
[Str. IV. Ver. 9. Gather not my soul with
sinners. — Wordsworth : " Bind me not up in
the same bundle with them, like tares for the fire
(Matth. xiii. 30). The contrast to this is seen
in the following Psalm (ver. 10), 'When my father
and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
take me up ;' literally, will gather me to His
fold,"— Men of blood. — Alexander: "Lite-
rally bloods, i. e., murderers either in the strict
sense or by metonymy for sinners of the worst
class," probably the latter.
Ver. 10. In whose hands is crime. — Alex-
ander : " The word tTST is a very strong one,
used in the law to denote specifically acts of gross
impurity, but signifying really any wicked act
or purpose. The common version mischief is too
weak. The last word in the verse denotes espe-
cially a judicial bribe (Ps. xv. 5), and may be
intended to suggest that the whole description
has reference to unrighteous rulers, or to wicked
men in public office." — C. A. B.]
Str. V, Ver. 12. My foot standeth upon
the plain, [A. V,, evenplace]. — The plain is not
a figure of righteousness but of safety. [Pe-
rowne: "His prayer has been heard. He is
safe. He stands in the open, level table-land,
where he has room to move, and where his ene-
mies cannot hem him in, and therefore he fulfils
the resolve made before (ver. 7), and publicly
pours out his thanksgiving to God." — C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL,
1. When the wnZ^ of a man is the expression
of the purity of heart which is his own and inse-
parable from him, and this parity is accompanied
with an unshaken trust in Ood, then he may con-
fidently make the righteousness of God the founda-
tion of his hope of a favorable turn in his for-
tunes, and may lay direct claim to it, in order
that its holy government may do justice to the in-
nocent in this unrighteous world. In this is ex-
pressed not the boldness of self-righteousness,
but faith in the righteousness of God, and the
confidence of a good conscience. " The right-
eousness of faith of the Scriptures is not the enemy
of righteousness of life, but its mother." (Heng-
stenberg).
2. Now he who has no reason to fear the ex-
ternal jndigment of God, but raiher desires to be
protected from his enemies by its operation, must
with all the more earnestness let the searching
judgment of God execute itself in his own inmost
soul, the more emphatically sincere his protesta-
tions are, that he has kept himself as far away
from false and hypocritical men as from bold and
wanton sinners, and that he in future no less than
in the past designs to keep, in the congregation
of the pious, to the institutions and means of
salvation
3. But where piety and righteousness go hand
in hand, and the use of the means of grace as-
sists to walk in purity and without punishment,
there the prayer may be made with comforted
spirit, on the one side for preservation according
to God's righteousness from the fate of those with
whom the suppliant has no communion of dispo-
sition or walk ; on the other side for redemption
from all evil by God's mercy. " It might seem at
the first view as an absurd prayer, that God
should not involve the righteous in the ruin of
the ungodly, but God allows according to His
paternal indulgence His own children to make
such free expressions of their feelings, in order
that their apprehensions may be quieted by the
prayer itself. For David, whilst he expresses
this wish, places before his eyes the righteous
judgment of God, in order to free himself from
PSALM XXVI.
,197
apprehension and fear, because nothing is more
foreign to God than to mix good and evil toge-
ther" (Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
A good conscience is essentially different from
the imagination of self-righteousness, and from the
pride of righteousness of works as well in its ex-
pressions as in the foundations of the confidenoe, —
He who would walk in the truth of God, must not
lose sight of the grace of God. — No one can be
better advised than to hold on to God's people,
God's house, God's altar. — In the irreproachable-
ness of a walk is shown 1) the purity of piety, and
2) \is power. — The righteous may appeal to tbe
righteousness of God, but they can never do with-
out God's mercy. — True morality and siacere piety
condition one another, and are thereby distin-
guished from legal righteousness. — He who would
not share the lot of the ungodly, must not only
separate himself from them in disposition ; he
must also not only remain a stranger to their evil
doings; he must not even share their compani/. —
He who allows himself to be judged by God in-
ternally, need not fear the punishment of God, and
yet daily has to implore redemption and God's
mercy. — It is becoming to no one to have a
hierarchical disposition and life.
Starke: How beautiful it is, when man can
appeal with certainty to God's judgment, and
when his heart does not condemn him. Let every
one strive to attain such innocence. — He who is
earnest in avoiding sin, let him avoid likewise all
that could give opportunity and inducement to
sin. — The true worship of God has this sure fruit,
that a soul knows the wonders of grace, and
thereby is awakened to heartfelt thanks. — He
who despises th-e assemblage of the congregation,
what else is to be seen than that he has very lit-
tle care for the glory of God and his own salva-
tion (Prov. xiii. 13). — Not to be involved in the
plagues of the ungodly is a great grace of God,
since the pious, especially the faint-hearted, are
not without sensible pain, as well on account of
the assaults of Satan as on account of the wicked
judgments of the world. — The hands which gladly
take rewards cannot certainly wash in innocency
but are instruments of unrighteousness. — With
the greatest application to an innocent walk we
are not to boast of it before God, but rather to
pray for His grace, for before Him there is no
living being righteous in and for himself.
Luther : I should hate what I cannot love with
God. — When now they preach anything that is
against God, all love and friendship are gone. —
God's house and assembly are where God's word
is and nowhere else ; for there God Himself
dwells. Therefore David praises the house of
God with so much joy on account of the Word of
God. — ^Aendt : The true Church of God looks not
at the visible, and depends not upon the tempo-
ral, but seeks the future native land, and has its
glory, honor, and riches in heavenly possessions.
— Peisch: Be not slothful in attending church,
appear there with holy reverence ; think why
you are there; and do what you have come to
do. — Von Gbrlach : Where the Lord reveals
Himself as graciously near, where He exhibits
His glory, where He expressly declares that He
will be found, where He puts visible pledges in
which He may be known, apprehended and pos-
sessed, there the heart and inclination of believers
love to be. — Tholuok: In circumstances, where
among men no justice is to be found, we learn to
properly value the consolation that there is a
Judge in heaven above all the judges of earth. —
Stiller : The Christian houses of God are houses
of thanksgiving, in which the praise of God sounds ;
they are likewise memorial houses to reflect upon
the Divine wonders.
[Matth. Henry: It is a comfort to those who
are falsely accused that there is a righteous God,
who sooner or later will clear up their innocency;
and a comfort to all that are sincere in religion
that God Himself is a witness to their sincerity : —
Great care to avoid bad company is both a good
evidence of our integrity, and a good means to
preserve us in it. — All who truly love God truly
love the ordinances of God, and therefore love
them, because in them He manifests His honor,
and they have an opportunity of honoring Him.
— Barnes : The whole Psalm should lead us
carefully to examine the evidences of our piety ;
to bring before God all that we rely on as proof
that we are His friends ; and to pray that He
will enable us to examine it aright; and when
the result is, as it was in the case of the Psalm-
ist— when we can feel that we have reached a
level place and found a smooth path, then we
should go, as he did, and offer hearty thanks to
God that we have reason to believe we are His
children, and are heirs of salvation. — Spurqeon :
Worried and worn out by the injustice of men,
the innocent spirit flies from its false accusers to
the throne of the Eternal right. — What a comfort
it is to have the approbation of one's own con-
science ! If there be peace within the soul, the
blustering storms of slander which howl around
us are of little consideration. When the little
bird in my bosom sings a merry song, it is no
matter to me if a thousand owls hoot at me from
without. — The doubtful ways of policy are sure
sooner or later to give a fall to those who run
therein, but the ways of honesty, though often
rough, are always safe. — A man who does not
hate evil terribly, does not love good heartily. —
What God hates we must hate. — Let each reader
see well to his company, for such as we keep in
this world, we are likely to keep in the next, —
Each saint is a witness to Divine faithfulness, and
should be ready with his testimony. — C. A. B.]
198 . THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XXVII.
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my light aild my salvation ;
Whom shall I fear ?
The Lord is the strength of my life ;
Of whom shall I be afraid ?
2 When the wicked.
Even mine enemies and my foes,
Came upon me to eat up my flesh,
They stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host should encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear :
Though war should rise against me,
In this will I be confident.
4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after ;
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in his temple.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion :
In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me ;
He shall set me up upon a rock.
6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about mei
Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy ;
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice :
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee.
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
9 Hide not thy face far from me ;
Pat not thy servant away in anger :
Thou hast been my help ;
Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take me up.
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord,
And lead me in a plain path,
Because of mine enemies.
12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies :
For false witnesses are risen up against me,
And such as breathe out cruelty.
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
PSALM XXVII.
199
14 Wait on the Lord :
Be of good courage, and lie shall strengthen thine heart
Wait, I say, on the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The Vulgate
has in the Title the additional words: before he
was anointed. According to Theodoret this ad-
dition was not in the Hexapla of Origen, and is
only found in the Codd. Vatic, of the Sept., yet
it came into consideration in connection with the
question as to the time of composition, for three
anointings of David are mentioned, at first 1
Sam. xvi., then when acknowledged by the tribe
of Judah, 2 Sam. ii. 4, finally in connection
with the homage of all Israel, 2 Sam. v. 3. No
one can think of the first anointing with any
propriety, and the historical statements of this
Psalm being indefinite, there is no sufficient rea-
son for the second (Grotius), or the third, (Ro-
senm.) Thus even at the present day those in-
terpreters who maintain the Davidic authorship,
without regard to this uncertain title, either
think of the period of the persecution by Saul,
or the rebellion of Absalom. The latter suppo-
sition is supported by many resemblances with
Ps. iii., (J. H. Mich., Stier, Delitzsch). There
is nothing in favor of the peril of death (Rab
bins) mentioned 2 Sam. xxi, 16, from which
David happily escaped; yet we cannot regard
ver. 10, as being against this supposition. For
the text does not demand that it should be inter-
preted literally, (Geier) and it has given ancient
interpreters unnecessary trouble. Since the
dwelling, of God is successively called house, pa-
lace, tent, we cannot infer any particular period
of time, with any certainty; and we need not
descend to Jeremiah, who was rejected by his
family, and found a refuge in the temple (Hit-
zig); or indeed to the Maccabean times (Olsh,,
who at the same time finds here two different
Psalms united); or regard it as a general Psalm
of lamentation of some Hebrew in later times,
(De Wette,) on account of the remarkably high
estimation of the splendor of the temple and
its forms of worship, in connection with the ab-
sence, in other respects, of individual references.
It is true the tone and rhythm are very much
changed in ver. 7, and subsequently, yet only in
accordance with the change of subject as in Ps.
xix., and elsewhere, (Hupf.). From the certainty
of communion with God springs the fresh and
joyous expression of confidence in God's protec-
tio'i, fearlessness in danger, certainty of victory
over strong and numerous enemies (vers. 1-3),
connected with the hope of faith in the fulfillment
of his dearest and constant wish to be able to
offer thank-offerings, as one delivered by God and
protected in the shelter of the dwelling of God
(vers. 4-6). On this foundation rises the prayer
that he may be heard hreT. 7). This is based on
the call of God (ver. 8) with reference to the po-
sition of the Psalmist as a servant of God in need
of help (ver. 9), who trusts in the God of his sal-
vation, even in his greatest abandonment (ver. 10),
and hopes in accordance with God's instruction
and under Qod'a guidance (ver. 11) to escape from
violent and lying enemies (ver. 12). He would
be lost without such trust (ver. 13) ; hence he ex-
horts himself to persevere in it (ver. 14), Comp.
P. Gerhardt's hymn " Gott ist mein Licht, der Herr
mein Heil," and ''Ist Gott fiir mich, so trete, etc."
Sir. I., Ver. 1. Jehovah is my Light. — The
supposition, that this address to God, my Light I
which occurs only here, is a figurative expres-
sion, to be explained through the two following
expressions : my salvation and defence of my
life ! which are not to be regarded as figurative,
but as literal (Calv. Hengst. Hupf.), is entirely
without foundation. They are three appellatives
parallel, yet expressing different relations to
God and founded in essential attributes of
God. God is just as essentially Light (Is.
Ix. 7) as He is salvation and strength, and
the one word is no more nor no less figu-
rative than the other, when applied to God.*
— Defence of my life. — This is literally the
stronghold, the bulwark. For ITpD is to be de-
rived from TIJ^ = to be strong, firm ; not from
I^j^ = to flee, according to which etymology (J.
D. Mich.) some translate, refuge.
[Str. iP Ver. 2. When the evil doers
drew near to me. To eat up my flesh ; My
adversaries and my enemies. They stum-
bled and fell. — The A. V. gives the sense but
is not literal, and disorders the members of the
strophe. Evil doers are compared to wild beasts
approaching their prey, comp. Ps. xiv. 4 ; xxxv,
1. The third clause is much disputed. Some
refer '7 to the verb, and regard it as parallel
with ^bj^ of the first clause. So, Hitzig, Hengst.
Delitzsch, Perowne, Alexander. They therefore
render ; my adversaries and my enemies to me
(draw near, being understood or some other verb
supplied). But De Wette, Hupfeld, Moll refer it
to the enemies as I have rendered it. The they
of the final clause is emphatic, they stumbled and
fell.— C. A. B.]
[Str. IIL, Ver 3. A host.— Perowne: " Lit-
erally ' though a camp should encamp against me.'
but the English idiom would hardly admit of
such a rendering." — For all this, do I trust. —
Perowne 1 "So the same expression is rightly
rendered in the A. V. of Lev. xxvi. 27. The
fuller form occurs Ps. Ixxviii 32; Job i. 22.
Cocc, rightly, Aoc non obstante, 'in spite of this,'
and Mendelsohn, * Auch dann bleib' ich getrost.'
The Rabbinical commentators, as Aben Ezra and
Rashi, explain, 'In this,' viz.: that the Lord is
my light, etc., ver, 1, 'do I trust,' Rosenm. re-
fers the pronoun * this ' to the war mentioned
* [Hupfeld : " LigM is here that which issues from God as
a beam of His light-giving countenance (Ps. iv. 6), that, aa
the light of the sun is the source of all life and growth in
nature, so it is the source of all life and well-being in the hu-
man heart, comp. Pa. xxxvi. 9. Hence it is the usual figure '
of life, success, joy, and all good, negatively of deliverance,
freedom, help, etc., in contrast to darkness, which is the figure
of death, misfortune, danger, captivity, sorrow, etc. Comp.
Ps. xliii. 3: Ixxxiv. U ; xcvii. 11; cxii. 4; Prov. iv. 18 sq. ;
Job xi. 17 ; xviii. 18 ; xxx. 26 ; Isa. v. 30 ; ix. 1 ; Ivlii. 8, 10 ;
Micah vii. 8, ete."— C. A. B.]
200
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
just before, ' even in the battle itself,' in ipsa
pugna. But the first rendering is more forcible.''
— C. A. B.]
Sir. IV. Ver. 4. That I may dwell in
the house of Jehovah all the days of my
life. — This is not to be taken literally, or to be
explained of the daily visiting the house of God,
(most interpreters) especially as even the Leviti-
cal priests did not dwell in the temple. It is a
figurative expression of the relation to God de-
scribed above (Hengst., Hupf.). But it did not
originate from a mingling of the figure of a hos-
pitable tent with the usual idea of the house of
God or temple (Hupf.), but from a prophetical
view and longing (vid. Ps. xv, 1 ; xxiii. 6) which
is to take its figurative expression from the
sphere of the Levitical worship of God, and yet
at the same time is justified in breaking through
this sphere and lifting itself above it, the more
as attendance upon the house of God (Ps. v. 8),
and walking in the ordinances of Divine worship
are the means ordained of God for communion
with Him. To behold the favor of Je-
hovah.— Since Hin is not construed with the
accusative here, as Ps. liii. 2, but with 3 it de-
notes a beholding which tarries with the thing,
is well pleased with it and feeds upon it, which
is an enjoyment in which the loveliness (Ps. xc.
17) and the sweetness (Prov. xvi. 24) of God are
perceived in the experience of His gracifks presence.
There is no reference to the splendor of the Lord,
and it is not allowable to understand by this the
splendor of the sanctuary (Luther: the beauti-
ful worship of God), or the heavenly temple, and
its arrangements, as its archetype (Kimchi,
Aben Ezra, Calv., Geier). The reference is to
the favor of God which those are enabled to
taste and experience, who have become members
of His family, and enjoy as His guests the right
of protection within His house. To this the Psalm-
ist's wish is directed, which he has already pre-
viously expressed in. prayer (the perfect) and the
fulfilment of which he continually seeks (the
imperfect), and thus he describes it as anxious,
pious and constant. To meditate in His
palace. — [A. V. to inquire in his temple^. — Since
">p3 denotes looking closely in order to discrimi-
nate, and is elsewhere never construed with 3,
it is more natural to regard this preposition here
as a designation of place (Venema), than either
to lift the temple with its symbolical forms into
an object of pleasing contemplation (De Wette),
or to regard the whole manner of expression as
entirely joaraZZei with the preceding (Hupf.). It
is unnecessary to supply an object (Hengst.);
the verb may be absolute = to make reflections,
to meditate. Some of the Rabbins regard it as
a denominative of *1M in the signification of ap-
pearing in the morning (Ps. v. 3), which then is
extended to every morning. Delitzsch does not
regard this as too bold. The translation, visit
(most interpreters) essentially weakens the sense
and is without grounds.
Sir. v., Ver. 5. For He conceals me in a
tabernacle in the days of evil, He shelters
me w^ith the shelter of His tent. — [A. V. In
the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion :
in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.] —
Our translation of the former verse is favored by
this, for the same place which is called the house
of Jehovah ver. 4, A, and His palace ver. 4, d,
with reference to His royal character is in ver.
5, b, called His tent, with reference to the pre-
sent or original (comp. Ezek. xli. 1) real char-
acter of the ritual dwelling-place of Jehovah in
the midst of His people. This sanctuary is now
characterized as a place of safety for those who
seek refuge, who find there shelter and protection
against the pursuit of their enemies, and indeed
not because David really once had concealeii
himself there (Knapp after the Rabbins), but
because the places of worship had the general
meaning of asylum. From this point of view
the same house of Jehovah is in ver 5, a, named
with an expression which designates a covered
place for dwelling and lodging, as fitted to give
shelter, a tabernacle, a bower.* As a matter of
course this is figurative, as then in ver. 5, c, the
safety which has been gained is described as be-
ing set up upon a rock. But it does not follow
from this that the reference to the sanctuary is
here to be abandoned (Hupf.), and that the figure
is derived from, a shepherd (Geier), or of a hos-
pitable householder (De Wette), or protector
(Ruding.), and would give the sense, God is the
protector of the pious everywhere, and even out-
side of His sanctuary (Calvin). The reference
here is rather to this very thing, that the house
of Jehovah, which appears without doubt in ver.
6, and which is referred to in various forms in
accordance with the various references contained
in the idea, is here as an asylum, (Geier) and
not as the tabernacle (Hengst.). Moreover, it
would not change the sense of the passage, but
only the color of the thought, and this but
slightly, if we should translate according to the
reading and accentuation of the Hebrew word,
either: in a tabernacle, as Ps. xxxi. 20, comp. Is.
iv. 6 ; or, in His tabernacle. For the 7\2D of Je-
hovah (Job xxxvi. 29) is called in Ps. Ikxv. 2;
Jer. XXV. 38; Lam. ii. 6, likewise, His rjQ, although
this word is used particularly of the couching-
place of lions in thickets (Ps. x. 7), and with
definite reference to this is likewise used in the
above-mentioned passage, Jer. xxv. 38.
Sir. VI., Ver. 6. Sacrifices of rejoicing.
— This means particularly the thank-offerings, be-
cause they were brought with songs of rejoicing
and praise. The mention of singing and playing
which immediately follow, shows that the refer-
ence is to them. This, most interpreters now
admit with Syr., Kimchi, Luther. Moreover, ac-
cording to Hupf., comm, de primitiva festorum
Heb. ratione ii. 20, not. 40, the use of the word
n^T was appropriate for these offerings. A re-
ference to the sacrifices accompanied with the
sound of the trumpet, (Gesen., De Wette), is con-
trary to the text, since only puftZic thanksgivings
at the time of festivals (Num. x. 10) were distin-
guished with this music of the priests.
Str. Yll. [Ver. 7. Perowne: "The triumph-
ant strain of confidence now gives way to one of
sad and earnest entreaty." — C. A. B.]f
* [Alexander trauslates covert, which " means a booth or
shelter made of leaves and branches, such as the Jews used
at the feast of Ubemacles (Lev. xxiii. 42). It is here used as
a figure for secure protection in the day of evil, i.e. of suffer-
ing or danger." — C. A. B.] '
+ [Forowne: " Is it (as Calv.) that the Psalmist sought in
PSALM XXVIT.
201
Ver. 8. To Thee my heart says — (at Thy
call) : seek Thy face ! — Thy face Jehovah
will I seek. — The heart answers the Divine
call, consenting thereto as aa echo of it (Calv.).
It is better to regard this obscure construction as
a bold combination of two clauses fHupf ), which
we can make intelligible in Englisn only by sup-
plying some appropriate words (Delitzsch).
[Thus A. v., When thou saidst seek ye my face,
etc-l This is much simpler than the- supposition
of a 7 auctoris (Dathe, Olsh.): Thine is, speaks
my heart, namely the word, etc. ; not to say any-
thing of the artificial and strained explanations
of many ancient interpreters. Hitzig follows the
Vulgate; of Thee speaks my heart, seek Him, my
face! The Sept. has: To Thee, etc., but then:
diligently have I sought Thy face and Thy face
will I seek. The true sense is given by the pa-
raphrase of Luther : my heart holds Thy word
before Thee. So Hengstenberg. Similarly
Geier, J. H. Mich., Rosenm.* Seeking the face
of Jehovah is not with reference to Ex. xxiii. 17,
another expression for visiting the temple (De
Wette), but it denotes the desire to enter into the
vicinity and presence of God, in order to gain
comfort, assistance, certainty of being heard, tes-
timonies of grace, and the like. Comp. Ps. xxiv.
6; cv. 4; 1 Sam. xxi. 1; used of earthly rulers,
Prov. xxix. 26. This is accomplished by acts of
Divine service, especially in the house of God,
but it is not to be regarded as the same thing as
those acts. It is uncertain whether there is a
direct reference here to the passage Deut. iv. 29,
which is re-echoed in Hos. v. 15.
Str. VIII. [Ver. 9. Hide not Thy face from
me. — The inserted "/ar " of the A. V. does not
help the sense of the passage, but mars it. The
Psalmist is seeking Jehovah's face, and the prayer
is that the face of Jehovah may not be veiled from
him so that he cannot see it. Vid. Ps. iv. 6. —
Put not away in wrath =: Thrust not aside
as one unworthy to be in Thy presence, and be-
hold Thy face. The Psalmist does not wish to be
removed or banished from the place of Jehovah's
presence, and from the light of His countenance.
— Reject me not, and forsake me not. — The
reiteration of the positive and negative form of
the idea of depriving Him of the presence and
the face of God.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 10. For my father and my mother
have forsaken me. — This statement cannot re-
fer to 1 Sam. xxii. 3sq., for then David sepa-
the former part of the Psalm to comfort himself with the re-
view of God's uafailing strength and protection, that he might
with the more reason utter his prayer for help ? Or is it not
rather that even whilst he is thus strengthening himself in
hia Qod, a sudden blast of temptation sweeps over his soul,
freezing the current of life, — some fear lest he should he for-
saken, some thought of the craft and malice of his enemies, —
till now the danger which threatens him is as prominent an
object as the salvation and defence were before ?"— C. A. B.]
* [I'erowne : " The words seefc ye My face are the words of
God, which the servant of God here, aa ic were, takes from His
mouth, that so laying them before God, he may make his ap-
peal the more irresistible. Thou hast said, ' Seek ye My face ;'
my heart makes these words its own, and builds upon them its
resolve. It takes them up and repeats them ' Seek ye My
face.' It first claims thus Thine own gracious words, 0 Lord,
and there its echo to those words is, ' Thy face, Lord, will T
seek.' Such is the soul's dialogue with itself when it would
comfort itself tn God. We are reminded of that touching
scene in the Gospel history where another, a woman, over-
comes the Saviour with His own words : ' Yea Lord, yet the
4og8 eat of the crumbs,' efc."— C. A. B.]
rated himself from his parents in order to leave
them under the protection of the king of Moab.
But it is not at all necessary to think ot some his-
torical fact unknown to us (G. Baur). This state-
ment is certainly neither to be taken as a pro-
verbial manner of expression (Do Wette),* nor as
a hypothetical antecedent (Calvin, Stier, Tbol.,
Hupf.)f It is positive, and expresses what has
happened, but it states in an individualizing form,
(Hengst., Delitzsch) the fact that the nearest re-
latives of the afflicted man have forsaken him in
his time of trouble ; and he on this very account
turns to Jehovah in prayer, trusting in the love
of God which transcends parental love (Isa. xlix.
16; Ixiii. 16).^[But Jehovah will take me
up. — Perowne: " The verb is here used in the
same sense as in Deut. xxii. 2; Jos. xx. 4, 're-
ceive me under His care and protection,' or as
Stier suggests, * adopts me as His child,' vid. Ps.
xxii. 10."— C, A. B.]
[Ver. 11. Lead me in an even path be-
cause of my adversaries. — [A. Y., plain — ene-
mies']. This is an even, level path as opposed to
rough and rugged paths of adversity. Delitzsch :
•' Crafty spies pursue all his steps, and would
gladly see their devices and evil wishes realized
against him. If he should turn into the ways of
sin unto destruction, it would bring dishonor
upon God, as it is a matter of honor with God
not to allow His servant to fall. Therefore he
implores guidance in the ways of God, for the
union of his own will with God's will makes him
unapproachable."
Ver. 12 And they that breathe out vio-
lence.— Alexander : " A strong but natural ex-
pression for a person, all whose thoughts and
feelings are engrossed by a favorite purpose or
employment, so that he cannot live or breathe
without it. Comp. the description of Saul's per-
secuting zeal in Acts ix. 1, and the Latin phrases,
spirare minas, anhelare scelus." — C. A. B.J
Ver. 13. If I did not trust to behold the
excellence of Jehovah in the land of the
living — ! — The consequent is lacking (as G»n,
xxxi. 42) after vh}!, which is unnecessarily
marked by the Masora vfiih. puncta exlraordinaria,
as suspicious. In accordance with such an apo-
siopesis "unless," and "if" not unfrequently are
lacking, and this increases the emphasis. J The
land of the living is contrasted with Sheol, but
it refers here not beyond this life to eternal life
(Rabbins, Clauss, Stier) but back to life in this
world.
Ver. 14. In the closing verse the Psalmist ex-
* [Perowne: " '(Though) my father and my mother may
have forsaken me,' i. e., though my condition be helpless and
friendless as that of a child deserted of his parents, there is
One who watches over me, and will take me to His bosom.
rid. Isa. Ixiii. 16; xlix. 15. The phrase has, as De Wette
says, somewhat of a proverbial character." — C. A. B.]
f [Hupfeld : "It serves to illustrate the greatness of the
grace and love of God by comparing it with the highest form
of human love, parental love, which it transcends, just as in
the passage already adduced by Calvin, Isa. xlix. 15, and in
a similar construction with this, laa. Ixiii. 16: Tor Abra-
ham has not known us, and Israel recognized us not : Thou,
Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer,' etc." This is the
preferable interpretation. — C. A. B.]
X [Perowne : " The holy singer feels now, at this moment,
when the false and violent men are before his mind, how
helpless he would be did he not trust and hope in his God:
' There were an end of me — or what would become of mo,
did I not believe, cfc.' "—0. A. B.l
202
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
horts himself and not others in a similar condi-
tion with himself (most ancient interpreters). —
Be firm, and let thy heart sho^T^ itself
strong. — This does not express a comforting
promise "He will strengthen" (most interpreters
[and A. V.]) nor indeed with a correct interpre-
tation of the clause as optative, the wish that Je-
hovah would strengthen the heart (Calv., Cle-
ric, Rosenm., Hupf. [Alexander]) but it is a con-
tinuation of the Psalmist's exhortation of him-
self.— [Wait on Jehovah. — Alexander: The
repetition, wait for the Lord, and wait for the Lord,
implies that this is all he has to enjoin upon him-
self or others; and is more impressive in its na-
tive simplicity, than the correct but paraphrastic
version of the last clause in the English Bible,
wait, I say, on the Lord. — C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. No night of sorrow can be so dark, no evil
80 fearful, no enemy so dreadful as to cause those
to tremble, despair, and perish, who have God
for their Light, for their salvation, for the strong-
hold of their life. Such a man overcomes in all
his troubles, so much so that even in his days of
suffering, at times, in the confidence of Divine as-
sistance, a triumphant tone may be heard in his
prayers, whence arise his fearlessness, his he-
roism, his certainty of victory in the midst of all
his dangers, struggles, and calamities.
2. But he who puts his confidence truly and
alone in God, and firmly trusts in the faithfulness
and goodness of the Almighty, not to leave him
or neglect him in his troubles, is very far from
that proud self-sufl5ciency, and that half proud,
half lazy carelessness, which on the one side im-
pels to foolhardy and presumptuous ventures, on
the other side restrains from seeking and using
the means provided to increase his strength, and
bring about and secure him success. He who
truly has his confidence and strength in God,
likewise seeks constantly and earnestly to be near
to God, and uses conscientiously the means af-
forded him in ihQ forms of worship to strengthen
his communion with God, and to secure as well as
gain the blessings of the presence of God,
3. Hence it is, that those who have attained
the most and the best on earth, the noblest and
most glorious of our race, and the most exalted
rulers among them, the boldest heroes, the most
celebrated warriors and masters of every depart-
ment of life, have shown themselves to be at the
same time pious and humble men, who lay all their
exaltation, glory, and honor, at the feet of God,
and publicly recognize that they have to thank
the Lord their God not only for their endowments
SiVid powers, but likewise for what they have done,
and for their success, and that they must seek,
like all other men, forgiveness of their sins in the
grace of God, and that they would rather be at
all times with God. Hence they gladly visit His
house and His table, and besides study diligently
God's word, in which they gain good advice, and
are reminded at the right time to assent to it and
respond to it with heart and mouth.
4. It is at once a duty and a joy to seek the
countenjvnce of the Lord, that is, to desire and
strive to be personally near to the grace of God
and to be sure of it. God Himself calls us to
this, and gives those who seek Him the blessed
experience that God's love is not mere human
favor, but transcends even parental love, as no-
thing can be compared with God's assistance,
power, and protection, or take their place. So
likewise those who do not withdraw from inter-
course with God will not be deprived of them.
They will much rather be lifted up to a height
which is inaccessible to all their adversaries, and
will be placed in safety against all hurtful as-
saults.
6. Accordingly all depends upon whether we
allow ourselves to be directed to the way of the
Lord and guided therein. On this depends our
walking the path of life in the good pleasure of
God (in the light of His countenance), and our
attaining the end of that path in the protection of
God's salvation by means of that which God im-
parts in all dangers, sufferings, and struggles,
and in spite of all envy, slander, and opposition.
The trust in God, which is indispensable for this,
is often severely tried, especially when we are in
danger of losing our rights, our honor, and our
life by enemies who are as wicked and unjust as
they are strong and crafty, and when we are for-
saken by our nearest relatives, and given up by
all the world. Then not only the flesh trembles,
but the heart likewise quakes, and is in danger
of losing patience and hope. We would be lost
indeed, if our eyes and our hearts should lose
sight of God. But this is impossible if we main-
tain OUT faith ; then we will not despair. And
because God continues faithful we will not perish.
In order now that faith may be able to impart
the necessary consolation and encouragement to
wait on God, and the patience, resolution, and
strength necessary thereto, it needs that it should
have unfailing nourishment, support, discipline,
and strengthening. — However little this Psalm
may have of a Messianic character, yet some par-
ticular features may be readily and devoutly re-
ferred, in accordance with Augustine's example, to
the sufferings of Christ and His behaviour in them,
which is a model for all. The Roman Catholic
Church has assigned this Psalm to the offices of
Char-Saturday.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
When danger is near and great we are taught
to properly estimate and value, being near to God
and the power of faith. — We can lose everything
and yet lose nothing if only we retain God. — Our
hearts need daily strengthening in confidence in
God ; whence comes it? and how may it be ? — We
cannot be lifted up in any better way than with
God ; therefore it is of the utmost importance
that we should come to God andremain with God.
— Our worst enemies are not those who envy us
and afllict us, but our little faith, our spiritual
sluggishness and laziness, our impatience. — Many
would gladly dwell in safety if only it were not to
remain near to God. — Whoever has God has all
things in One ; and yet only A few make anything
of God.— It is enough that God should let His
light sAme, His salvation come, His power work;
yet we must let ourselves be instructed and ruled,
and delivered thereby. — It is well with us if we
not only trust in God's power, wisdom, and good-
ness, but value above all communion with God,
PSALM XXVII.
203
and are diligent to seek His face, and for this con-
scientiously use the institutions and means of sal-
vation.— There are in a pious heart not only
thoughts of God, but likewise echoes of His word.
— When men forsake us it may give us pain, but
we will be comforted above all when Ood takes
us up. — At first many care more for God's pro-
tection than for His presence, but if they give heed
to the word and ways o/God, they likewise learn
not only to know the strength of being near to God,
but likewise to value the blessings of intercourse
with Him, and prize \,h.Q good things of His house.
Starke : Care for souls, longing to walk with
God, to be sanctified in the communion of saints,
these are the chief desires and only necessary
things to the Christian. — It is well for those who
seek safety with God; that is better than the
highest rock. — If we pray as God has commanded,
we are heard as He has promised. — God plants
in the hearts of believers a sure confidence of
gaining eternal life, by which they are uncom-
monly strengthened in their battle of faith. — No
time will seem so long to us as the time of cross-
bearing; therefore it is that we are exhorted
with so many words to hope and patience. — It is
the constancy of hope which makes our walk and
life happy. — The Lord is not only the truest, but
is likewise the mightiest and most reliable Father
and Friend, — You may know the right way and
walk in the right path, yet you very much need
Divine enlightenment and gracious guidance on
account of the craft and wickedness of your ene-
mies.— What can give a believer's heart more
pleasure and joy than to be heard by the God of
grace ?
Fbisch: David testifies 1) his joyous faith, 2)
his heartfelt pleasure, 3) his longing desire, 4)
his comforted hope. — David uses only one ar-
mor against the crowd of his enemies and their
power, and that is faith; by this he appropriates
God's light, strength, and salvation. Arm your-
self in time, you will never "lack enemies; the
closer you come to friendship with God the more
will the enmity of the world increase against you.
— Herberoee : In whose hands is our life ? Not
in our power, not in the will of our enemies, but
in the power of God. — The strength of armies
and of hosts cannot go further than God will al-
low.— Christians have many observers, therefore
it is said: take care. — Stier: 0! that I might
never yield ! This one thing troubles me, not
the defiance of enemies ; for he who remains with
God is safe. — Tholuck: In hours of internal an-
guish the word of God should resound in the
breast as the echo in the mountain, in order to
increase our confidence by its repeated exhorta-
tions.— Stiller: David at first declares his
trust, then says, how he strengthens his trust,
and why he relies on God, and finally adds, when
true trust shows itself. — God is so gracious that
He not only allows His children to find Hib, but
likewise encourages them by His word to seek
Him. — Umbreit: It is significant with respect to ^
the piety which pervaded the entire life of Da
vid, that all the favor and grace of God are
united to him in this chief thing, that he may
abide in His house forever. — Taubb: David — a
hero in the courage of faith and a master in
prayer. — The surest handle of prayer by which
we may lay hold of God is His own word, which
calls us to seek His gracious countenance. That
is a strong command and a comforting promise
in one.
[Matth. Henry : All God's children desire to
dwell in God's house ; where should they dwell
else? not to sojourn there as a wayfaring man
that turns aside to tarry but a night, or to dwell
there for a time only, as the servant that abideth
not in the house forever, but to dwell there all
the days of their life; for there the Son abideth
ever. — A gracious heart readily echoes to the call
of a gracious God, being made willing in the day
of His power. — Even the best saints are subject
to faint when their troubles become grievous and
tedious. Their spirits are overwhelmed, and
their flesh and heart fail ; but their faith is a
sovereign cordial. — Nothing like the believing
hope of eternal life, the foresights of that glory,
and foretastes of those pleasures, to keep us from
fainting under all the calamities of this present
time. — Barnes: The Christian sanctuary — the
place of public worship — is the place where, if
anywhere on earth, we may hope to have our
minds enlightened, our perplexities removed,
our hearts comforted and sanctified, by right
views of God. — Spuegeon : Salvation finds us in
the dark, but it does not leave us there ; it gives
light to those who sit in the valley of the shadow
of death. After conversion our God is our joy,
comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our
light; He is light within, light around, light re-
flected from us, and light to be revealed to us. —
It is a hopeful sign for us when the wicked hate
us; if our foes were godly men, it would be a
sore sorrow, but as for the wicked their hatred
is better than their love. — Holy desires must lead
to resolute action. The old proverb says,
"Wishers and woulders are never good house-
keepers;" and "wishing never fills a sack."
Desires are seeds which must be sown in the good
soil of activity, or they will yield no harvest. —
The pendulum of spirituality swings from prayer
to praise. — Mercy is the hope of sinners and the
refuge of saints. All acceptable petitioners
dwell much upon this attribute. — A smile from
the Lord is the greatest of comforts. His frown
the worst of ills. — Slander is an old-fashioned
weapon out of the armory of hell, and it is still
in plentiful use ; and no matter how holy a man
may be, there maybe some who will defame him.
— Wait at His door with prayer ; wait at His foot
with humility ; wait at His table with service;
wait at His window with expectancy. Suitors
often win nothing but the cold shoulder from
earthly patrons after long and obsequious wait-
ing ; he speeds best whose patron is in the skies.
— C. A. B.]
204
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XXVIII.
A Psalm of David.
1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock ;
Be not silent to me :
Lest, if thou be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when 1 cry unto thee,
When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity,
Which speak peace to their neighbors,
But mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endea-
vours :
Give them after the work of their hands ;
Kender to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands.
He shall destroy them, and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield ;
My heart trusted in him, and I am helped:
Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; •
And with my song will I praise him.
8 The Lord is their strength,
And he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance :
Feed them also, and lift them up for ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. Although
there are no individual historical features which
are sharply and unmistakably prominent, yet
this Psalm is not a mere Psalm of general lamen-
tation (De Wette.), composed by David for the
suflFering and afflicted (Hengst,), or composed by
a later poet for liturpical use for the people
(Olsh.), as it is pretended with a superabundance
in expression and rhythm, as is often the case in
the later Psalms and Prophets, in connection with'
the heaping up of current phrases (Hupf. ). We
hear in this Psalm the voice of supplication, as
it rises pressingly and earnestly, in peril of
death, (ver. 1,) to Jehovah, (he Holy One, im-
ploring to be heard (ver. 2). It is from the
mouth and heart of a man, who would not be
swept away with evil doers and hypocrites (ver.
3) ; and he implores for them righteous recom-
pense (ver. 4) ; and he founds this judgment on
its necessity and describes it in its reliable work-
ings (ver. 5), whilst he himself in the certainty
of being heard and of the constant protection of
Jehovah, praises Him (ver. 6), and furthermore
will praise Him thankfully in songs (ver. 7) ; for
Jeliovah is the Protector and Deliverer of His
people and His anointed (ver. 8). Finally he
prays for continual blessings for the people —
they are (he: property of Jehovah (ver. 9). These
last two verses must then be regarded as the
words of the anointed himself unless we should
regard them as an appendix of intercession for
the king and the people (Hupf.), and there is no
apparent occasion for uniting them with the pre-
ceding verses. It is then more appropriate to
think of David as the author, in the time of the
trouble with Absalom, although the "longing
turning towards the sanctuary " (Delitzsch) ia
PSALM XXVIII.
205
not yery apparent. This is better than to think
of Josiah (Ewald), or Jeremiah (Hitzig). There
are frequent and evident resemblances to the
preceding Psalm.
Str. I. [Ver. 1. To Thee Jehovah, do I
cry; My rock, be not silent from me,
lest, if Thou be silent from me, I become
like them that go dow^n to the pit. — The
A. V. is not properly punctuated. My rock be-
longs to the second clause. For the meaning of
rock vid. Ps. xviii. 2. The preposition jD, from,
is used with a pregnant meaning=Turn not
away from me in silence, (De Wette, Moll. Pe-
rowne, el al ).* The pit is the grave in its nar-
rower and broader sense. Comp. Is. xiv. 15; Pss.
XXX. 4, Ixxxviii. 6,
Ver. 2. When I lift up my hands.f — To
lift up the hands and spread them out towards
heaven was the usual posture of prayer with the
Hebrews, (1 Kings viii. 22, Is. i. 16), so like-
wise among the Greeks and other ancient na-
tions. And so also they were lifted up towards
the sanctuary at Jerusalem, especially by the
later Jews. So the Mahometans pray towards
Mecca, and the Samaritans towards the holy
place of Mt. Gerizim.— C. A. B.]— To Thy holy
throne-hall. — This is literally the back room as
a local designation of the Most Holy place, (1
Kings vi. 6, 16 sq., viii. 6, 8), where was the
throne of God (1 Kings viii. 30, 39, 43, 49) in
the temple (I Kings viii. 30; Dan. vi. 11, Ps. v.
7,) as in heaven (1 Kings viii. 22, 64), to which
the hands were lifted up (Pss. Ixiii. 4 ; cxxxiv.
2 ; cxli. 2 ; Lam. ii. 19), and spread out (Ps.
cxliii. 6 ; Ex. ix. 29, 33 ; 1 Kings viii. 22, 38, 64 ;
Jos. i. 15) corresponding with the lifting up of
the heart (Ps. xxiv. 4; Lam. iii. 41). This
meaning of debir is completely proved by compar-
ing with the Arabic, comp. Delitzsch and Hupfeld
in loco. This was first proved by C. B. Michaelis
in 1735 in a dissertation (now printed in Potts,
sylloge V. 131 sq). then first by Conrad Iken
1748 in his Diss. Phil. Theol. I. 214 sq. In ac-
cordance with the derivation from c??66er=speak,
which Hengstenberg again justifies, the ancient
interpreters thought of an audience-room and
parlor, and translated it by oraculum, "kaT^TiTf/pLov,
;j;/)7?/zari(TT^p«ov. Luther translates, chor.^ [A. V,
fioly oracle\.\
[5<r. II. Ver. 3. Draw me not away, e. g.,
to destruction, vid. Ps. xxvi. 9; Ezek. xxxii. 20;
Job xxiv. 22. — W^ho speak peace. — They
make peaceful and friendly professions whilst
plotting mischief and war, hypocrites, dissem-
blers, frequently alluded to in the Psalms. —
C. A. B.]
\_Str. III. Ver. 4. Render to them their
desert.— Delitzsch: "This phrase S^DJ TK^H,
which is frequently used by the prophets, means
* ("Alexander follows Hupfeld in rendering; lest Thou
hold Thy peace from me, and I be made like those going down
(into) the pit. The rendering in the text is better. It is
that of jDe Wette, Ewald, Dditzsch, Moll, Perowne, et al. —
C. A, B.J
t [So A. v., Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Perowne, et al. De Wette
translates, because I cry, etc ; Hitzig, since I cry, etc.; Moll
and Alexander, in my crying, etc. — C. A. B,]
t [Delitzsch agrees with Moll and translates, to Thy holy
throne-hall ; Hupfeld and Perowne, to the innermost place of
Thy sanctuary ; Ewald, to Thy holy chamber ; Hitzig, to Thy
holy unapproachable place.— <!. A. B,]
to recompense, or repay to any one what he
has performed or rendered, likewise what he
has committed or deserved. The thought and
its expression remind us of Is. iii. 8-11, and
i. 16."
Ver. 5, Because they regard not, — De-
litzsch : "The propriety of prayer for recom-
pense is derived from their blindness towards
the righteous and gracious government of God
in human history (comp. Is. v. 12; xxii. 11). —
The contrast of nj3, build, with D"in, tear
TT T T
down is in the style of Jeremiah (xlii. 10,
comp. i. 10, xviii. 9, et al." — C. A. B.]
[Str. IV. Ver. 6. Because He hath heard,
— Hupfeld : " This is not a praising God because
He has actually heard, this being presupposed in
the perfect, "IDiy .as Pss, vi. 9 sq.; xx. 7; xxvi.
12; xxxi. 22 sq.; nor as if he had, in the mean
time, received an answer from the sanctuary
(ver. 2) as Hengstenberg supposes; but in the
confidence of faith..'' — C. A. B.]
[Str. V. Ver. 7. "With my song will I
praise Him. — The Vulgate has a different
reading here, following the Sept. [It reads my
fiesh [caro mea, ^ adp^ uov) for my heart in the
third clause, and my will (ex voluntate mea,
kii^eTiijIiaTdQ fiov) for my song, in the fourth
clause. — Delitzsch: "In "'y^'P the song is re-
garded as the source of the Amn. From his
sorrows springs the song, and from the song
springs the praise of Him who has taken these
sorrows away." — C. A. B.]
Str. VI. Ver. 8. Jehovah is protection for
them. — This turns the glance upon the true
members of the people whose fortune the Psalmist
bears upon his heart together with his own, al-
though they have not been mentioned before.
Hitzig and Delitzsch very properly reject the
correction of "iD/, which all codd. have, into
'ISJ^/ that is, for his people, however appropri-
ate this might be. — And He is the saving
defence of His anointed. — This is literally,
the defence of deliverance, [Delitzsch: "Jeho-
vah is then ^}) because Hie mightily preserves
them from the destruction into which they them-
selves would fall or be plunged by others ; and
He is the Pi^^W] TIJ^D of His anointed because
He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of
refuge; which secures him salvation in its ful-
ness, instead of the ruin contemplated." — C.
A. B.]
Ver. 9. Feed theiti and bear them for-
ever.— This reminds us of Deut. i. 81 ; xxxii. 11 ,
Is. Ixiii, 9. and the conclusion itself of Ps, iii,
and xxix. [Perowne: "It is impossible not to
see in these tender, loving words, 'feed them
and bear them,' the heart of the shepherd king.
Feed them, 0, Thou true Shepherd of Israel,
(Ixxx. 1): bear them, carry them in Thine arms
(Is. Ixiii. 9, xl. 11).— C. A. B.]
I DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. If God could be deaf and dumb to the sup-
plications of His servant, there could be neither
comfort nor hope for bim. And if God should
turn away from him, his ruin would be certain.
200
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
But thea the servant of God would share (he
fate of the wicked. This however is impossible,
so long as the servant of God is neither unfaith-
ful nor a hypocrite. If he can really establish
himself on God as his rock, when he lifts up his
hands and heart in faith (ver. 7), to the God en-
throned in the Holiest of All, then he will expe-
rience, that even on the brink of an abyss there
is a way of escape and he will not be drawn
down into its depths with the ungodly. For God
is just, and shows Himself in His unchangeable
faithfulness and truth as a rock, to those who
trust in Him and abide by Him. Moreover when
threatened with ruin, all depends on this alone,
his showing himself by his conduct as stand-
ing on this rock and fortifying himself there by
his actions.
2. If we not only set before our eyes the Judg-
ments of God, but likewise establish ourselves
near to God and on His side, then there arises
partly a feeling of security in the protection of God,
which discloses itself at once as the assurance of
being heard in prayer, partly a strong feeling of
the contrast between ourselves and ungodly and
hypocritical oppressors. This feeling looks at
their conduct as they sin against God and their
neighbors, and sees that it will be doubly punished,
and it discloses itself in appealing to God to ex-
ecute His judgments. Under such circumstances
and feelings it is possible to pray; recompense
them, without sinning.
3. The characteristics of the ungodly, and the
indications of their swift ruin, are their not ob-
serving the doings and actions of God, which are
exactly opposed to their own. God will be con-
stantly less intelligible and conceivable to them
whilst they blind themselves in such a manner
that they fancy that they can not only deceive men
by their hypocrisy, but likewise can escape the
judgment of God by not observing the Divine
government. But the less attention they give to
these things, the deeper they involve themselves
in wicked plans, and the more surely they fall
when they least expect it, into the recompensing
hand of God.
4. God is the Avenger and Deliverer, Defence
and Helper, not only for His anointed, but like-
wise for His people. For He is not only their
Lord who will not allow His property and inhe-
ritance to be taken from Him ; but He is likewise
their Shepherd who watches and protects, cares
for and leads the people especially belonging to
Him; He is their God and Father, who bears
them in their weakness, " at all times from of old,"
(Isa. Ixiii. 9), as a man his son (Deut. i. 31) and
as an eagle her young (Deut. xxxii. 11) lifting
them above all hindrances, and bearing them
forth out of all dangers, and thus raising them
above all present and all future enemies. (2 Sam,
V. 12). — "To His work you must look if your
work is to endure " (P. Gerhardt).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
When trouble increases, trust in God must not
decrease ; our prayers must not be silent, though
God for a while is silent. — That prayers are not
heard for a while, is no sign that God is angry,
but that He would try our faith, and train us in
patience. — Great sufferings cannot choke the de-
sire for prayer so long as the heart does not he-
comQ faint-hearted. — The confidence of the pious in
God's assistance against ungodly enemies, has its
ground not in the feeling oi personal worth, but in
ihQ assurance 0^ Divine righteousness. — Not to ob-
serve the Divine government, is a characteristic of
the ungodly and the sign of their ruin. — Many
trouble themselves no more with God's judgment
than they do with His commandments ; but he who
transgresses the latter cannot escape the former. —
God recompenses In^Vij', therefore fear His judg-
ment, but trust in His righteousness. — The inno-
cent may suffer much and long ; but they will not
call upon God in vain, and even when they die
they will not be swept away with the guilty. — A
pious king seeks not only his own deliverance, but
i\x.Q salvation of his people at the same time. — He
who trusts God, has built well. — God not only
protects His own children, in time, but He like-
wise blesses them for eternity.
Starke : 0 how sweet it is for the soul, when
God hears it and it is sure of this in its inmost
nature! but how painful it is when God is silent!
and yet we must persevere in patience, until it
shall please Him to hear our prayer. — He who
would not be carried away with the ungodly in
the judgment of God, must be on his guard
against their sins. — To desire puijishment for our
enemies out of a spirit of revenge, is not Chris-
tian ; but we may sigh to the righteous Judge
against the enemies of God and His glory. — If
God were not the strength and protection of His
Church, how could it endure the power of its
enemies? — If the Lord is our strength, why do
we ever lament our weakness ? Is that not per-
haps a palliation of our- indolence? — Fbanke:
In external trouble hypocrites and the ungodly
go to God in order to be freed from them ; but
they do not think of being delivered from their
troubles of sin, and therefore it is no wonder,
that they are unable to speak of answers to
prayer. — Renschel: Although the pious dwell
among the ungodly yet they are distinguished
from them, 1) by their prayers; 2) by their life;
3) by their reward- — Feisch: The help which
God has postponed He has not refused. — Her-
BERQER : God's silence often brings the greatest
sorrow ; but God is often silent in order that He
may hear thee with all the more love. — Thohtck :
He who keeps the Lord before him as the Mighty
One, and can hope in His strength, is already
helped. — Taubb: The prayer of the pious in
trouble is an evidence that they have the refuge
as well as need it.
[Matth. Henry: Nothing ean be so cutting,
so killing, to a gracious soul as the want of God s
favor, and the sense of His displeasure. — Those
who are careful not to partake with sinners in
their sins have reason to hope that they shall
not partake with them in their plagues, Rev.
xviii. 4. — A stupid regardlessness of the works
of God is the cause of the sin of sinners, and so
becomes the cause of their ruin. — The saints
rejoice in their friends' comforts as well as their
own ; for as we have no less benefit by the light
of the sun, so neither by the light of God's
countenance, for others sharing therein ; for we
are sure there is enough for all, and enough for
each. — Those, and those only, whom God feeds
and rules, that are willing to be taught and
PSALM XXIX.
207
guided, and governed by Him, shall be saved, and
blessed, and lifted up forever. — Barnes : It is
sufiBcient for us to feel that God heais us ; for if
this is so, we have the assurance that all is right.
In this sense, certainly, it is right to look for an
immediate answer to our prayers. — Spurgeon:
The thorn at the breast of the nightingale was
said by the old naturalists to make it sing; Da-
vid's grief made him eloquent in holy psalmody,
— God's voice is often so terrible that it shakes
the wilderness; but His silence is equally full of
awe to an eager suppliant. When God seems to
close His ear, we must not therefore close our
mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness ;
for when our note grows shrill with eagerness
and grief. He will not long deny us a hearing.
What a dreadful case should we be in if the Lord
should become for ever silent to our prayers ! —
We stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars ;
we lift them up, for we seek heavenly supplies ;
we lift them towards the mercy-seat of Jesus, for
there our expectation dwells. — The best of the
wicked are dangerous company in time, and
would make terrible companions for eternity ; we
must avoid them in their pleasures, if we would
not be confounded with them in their miseries.
— It is a sure sign of baseness when the tongue
and the heart do not ring to the same note. De-
ceitful men are more to be dreaded than wild
beasts ; it were better to be shut up in a pit with
serpents than to be compelled to live with liars.
— God's curse is positive and negative ; His sword
has two edges, and cuts right and left. —They who
pray well, will soon praise well ; prayer and
praise are the two lips of the soul. — Heart work
is sure work ; heart trust is never disappointed.
Faith must come before help, but help will never
be long behindhand. — When the heart is glow-
ing, the lips should not be silent. When God
blesses us, we should bless Him with all our
heart. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXIX.
«
A Psalm of David.
1 Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters :
The God of glory thundereth :
The Lord is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful ;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
6 The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars ;
Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness;
The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.
And discovereth the forests :
And in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
10 The Lord sitteth upon the flood ;
Yea, the Lord sitteth King forever.
11 The Lord will give strength unto his people ;
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
208
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents 'and Aim. — After calling upon
the heavenly beings to praise the power and glory
of Jehovah, and to worship Him with solemnity
(vers. 1-2), there is a picturesque description
of a storm (vers. 3-9) advancing from the Me-
diterranean to the mountains of Dan towards the
South (J. D. Mich.), in the fearful sublimity of
its appearance, and its effects upon nature; and
that passes over into a reference to the royal ma-
jesty of Jehovah at the flood, the greatest of the
disturbances of nature in the ancient world, and
it exalts Him as ever abiding above, which will
likewise be for the historical and saving good of
His people (vers. 10-11). The Psalm has
therefore not merely a poetic character and aim,
interwoven with general religious considerations,
but it is of a historical and redemptive character.
Its essential oiiaracter is not that of a lyrical de-
scription of a magnificent tempest, which has be-
come a hymn (Hupf.), from which finally an ap-
plication is made ; but on the occasion of a storm
and under the impression of lis power of commotion
and destruction, the host of the heavenly servants
of God are called upon to worship (notEIohim, but)
Jehovah, aud His people to trust in Him. There
is no trace of any particular historical circum-
stance, whether of the carrying of the Ark of the
Covenant to Mt. Zion (Ruding ) or of trouble from
external enemies, as Ps. xxviii. from internal
enemies (Hengst.). But this does not give the
right of an allegorical reference of this Psalm to
the giving of the Law at Sinai (the Rabbins pre-
vious to Kimchi), or of its prophetical reference
to the Messiah, and His judgment of the nations
(Kimchi), or to Christ and the power of His
word, to whom oiagistrates are called upon to sub-
mit themselves in homage and worship (Geier, Seb.
Schmidt, et al.). The following suppositions are
likewise unfounded ; that the Psalm has no per-
sonal reference, but is sung from the souls of the
people in order to edify the congregation (Hengst.);
or that it has for its foundation only the general
idea of Jehovah as the God of thunder and the
God of the nation (De Wette), or that it has as
its object, by describing the fearful power of God
in the frightful phenomena of nature, to awaken
the sleeping conscience, and particularly to
arouse the proud rulers from their security, and
warn them to submit to the sovereignty of God
(Calvin), The sevenfold repetition of the thunder
as the voice of Jehovah has become typical of Rev.
X. 1 sq., and is to be regarded as a holy number
(Geier), whilst the repetition pictures the thunder
as sounding clap upon clap. The kindling flash
uf lightning is only mentioned once (ver. 7)
Hengstenberg however presses this symbolism
of number too far with reference to the use of
the name of Jehovah in this aud the preceding
Psalm.* — In the Septuagint we find an addition
* [Hengstenbergf regards the use of the name of Jehovah
ten limes in the main part of the Psalm, as important (vera.
3-9), as signifying completeness and finish. — Ewald divides
the Psalm into five parts, the iutrodm tion and conclusion
being alike of four lines, the body of tlie Psalm consisting
of three parts of five lines each, the whole being thus highly
artistic. The storm is described in three stages. " At first
it is heard in the extreme distance of the highest heavens
(vers. 3, 4), then in rapidly iucreaaing power it covers the
to the title, eforfiou aKrjvfjg (Vulg., incorrectly, in
consummalione tabernaculi), which then seems to
imply, that it was then aung (Delitzsch) on the
closing day (Lev. xxiii. 26) of the feast of taber-
nacles [Shemini Azereth). In the middle ages it
was used as a prayer during storms as a preven-
tion of strokes of lightning. — The pretended re-
semblances with the prophet Jeremiah are very
weak.*
Str. I. Ver. 1. Sons of Gods. — [A, V., 0 ye
miffhty']. It is grammatically and etymologically
admissible to translate, sons of the mighty =
mighty ones, rulers, princes, (the Rabbins and
many ancient interpreters) ; so likewise sons of
idols = servants of idols (J. D. Mich., Doder-
lein, Muntinghe). But ver. 9 c. is against these
translations, for those who are addressed are in
heaven above. Now Mim never occurs in the
usage of the language, as plur. majest. with a sin-
gular meaning, but constantly, as plural, desig-
nates the gods of the heathen, Ex. xv. 11 ; xviii.
11 ; Pss. xcv. 3; xcvi. 4; xcvii. 9, the i^ebi. "keyS-
fjievoi, 1 Cor. viii. 5, in contrast with whom the
true God Jehovah is called El Elim (Dan. xi. 36)
or indeed El Elohlm (Jos. xxii. 22; Ps. 1. 1), EL
haelohim (Dent. x. 17) ElohS hailohim (Ps. cxxxvi.
2), because these gods have likewise the name of
Elohim (Ps. Ixxxvi. 8). Therefore we cannot
translate at once, sons or children of God (Sept.
et al.), ) justify the plural Elim by reference to
the grammatical form (Gesen. Gramm., g 106, 3 ;
Ewald ausf. Lehrbuch, ^ 270 c) of an attraction
in composition as Ex. i. 11, 1 Chron. vii. 6 (De
Wetted, or by the supposition that it is a plural
oibcn x-^., formed after the analogy of Isa. xlii.
22, compared with ver. 7 ; Isa. li. 9, compared
with den. ix. 12; Jeremiah xlii. 8 compared with
2 Sam. xxiv, 4 (Hitzig). But if neither the hea-
then gods nor their sons are addressed here, but
manifestly the angels, then these constitute the
heavenly company surrounding God (Job i. 6 ;
ii. 1) ; the heavenly host (1 Kings xxii. 19 ; Neh,
ix. 6), whose duty it is to praise God (Pss. Ixxxix.
6; ciii. 20; Job xxxviii. 7, comp. Isa. vi. 3).
These are called, usually, sons of Elohim (Gen.
whole visible heavens (vers. 5-7), finally coming from the
north and descending constantly lower it passes away in the
far south." Perowne : "The structure of the whole is highly
artificial, and elaborated with a symmetry of which no more
perfect specimen exists in Hebrew. But this evidently arti-
ficial mode of composition is no check to the force and fire
of the Poet's genius, which kindles, and glows, and sweeps
along with all the freedom and majesty of the storm; ihe
whole Psalm being one continued strain of triumphant ex-
ultation.'"—C. A. B.]
* [Wordsworth on this Psalm indulges in a series of fanci-
ful interpretations. I will give a general specimen here
which will do tor the whole Psalm. '"The voice of the
thunder, and the flash of the lightning spoke to the Psalmist
of the manifestations of God's glory on Mount Sinai, amid
thunders and lightnings, at tlw giving of the Law (Ex. xix.
1(3). Then the • voi'C of the Lord ' was heard, as Moses de-
scribes, with exceeding power (see Kxod. xix. 19; xx. 18),
and it sounded forth in the thunders of the Decalogue.
Hence the Hebrew Church connected this Psalm with Pente-
cost, the Feast of the Giving of the Law ; and in the Chris-
tian t hurch this Psalm, used in a large portion of Christen-
dom at the Epiphany, and falling, as it does, in t' e eeries.of
the octaves of the Ascension, may raise the thoughts to the
glory of the Creator and lledeemer, manifested in love ua
well aa in power upon earth, and showing His glory and
power by riding upon the clouds, and by sending down the
Holy Ghost, the Comforter, from heaven at Pentecost, with
the sound of a rushing mighty wind, and in flames of flro
(Acts ii. 2), to strengthen aua comfoit His Church."— C.
A. B.]
PSALM XXIX.
209
vi. 2, and in the passage cited from Job) when not
named maledchim with special reference to their
duty of declaring and executing the will of God.
They are likewise designated as the host of the
holy ones {kedoshtm) Job v. 1 ; xv. 15, which sur-
round Jehovah, Ps. Ixxxix. 6, 8, and entirely pa-
rallel with them, Ps. Ixxxix. 7, the beni Eltm, so
that there can be no doubt of the sense (Ps.
Ixxxii., on which Hupfeld lays great stress, is not
appropriate here). The Chald. likewise on this
passage has the paraphrase, hosts of angels. The
form of the expression is explained by the fact
that the word Elim. as well as Elohim has a gene-
ral meaning (Ps. viii. 6) and was applied to va-
rious beings of supernatural power, who might
be the objects of religious reverence, and that
the expression ben, benS did not always express
the physical derivation through generation, but
partly physical and partly moral dependence, and
included those who were thus designated in one
body. There is another translation in the Sept.,
Vulg., Syr., Jerome, "sons of rams," as a figu-
rative designation of the sacrifice. These trans-
lations lead to the reading D' /"'N, which 5 codd.
Kennic, and 4 de Rossi have, but it is improperly
explained, since this reading is often found, Ex.
XV. 15; Job xli. 17; Ezek. xxxi. 11 (singular);
xxxii. 11, where this fundamental meaning of
atrengih is very ancient, 2 Kings xxiv. 15, even in
the form D'''71S. — Give to Jehovah glory and
strength. — This is not to be changed into *' ho-
nor and praise," but the giving is a tribuere, an
offering of the tribute due to the glory and
strength of God ; recognizing it in words and
deeds, a dovvai 66^av (Acts xii. 23 ; Luke xvii.
18; Rom. iv. 20).
Ver. 2. In holy attire. — This is the priestly
attire used at festivals in the service of God (most
interpreters since Luther), Ps. xcvi. 9; 1 Chron.
xvi. 29, in which priests and Levites likewise
marched before the Lord with music when they
went forth to battle (2 Chron. xx. 21). Hupfeld
concludes from the last passage, where Tin is
construed with /, and from Prov. xiv. 28, that
the reference is here likewise to the Divine ma-
jesty and glory (so Aquil., Symm., Chald., Je-
rome, Kimchi), and that the construction with 3
includes perhaps the idea of the place, where it
was revealed, that is, the sanctuary. Calvin,
Ruding., Cleric, after the Sept. and Syriac, adopt
tlie latter view at once. — The reading in Ps. ex.
3 is not entirely certain.*
Str. IL Ver. 3. The voice of Jehovah. —
[Hupfeld: " This is not every audible declaration
of God in nature, which speaks to us at the same
time (Hengst., Hofm.), but is only a poetical and
childlike name of thunder (comp Ps. xviii. 14),
that is the murmuring and scolding of wrath (com-
pare Pss. xviii. 14; civ. 7), with which, in con-
trast with the creative word, the interference of
God in nature is connected, which restrains and
destroys." — C. A. B.] — The great waters are
naturally not an allegorical designation of the
eoUuvies gentium (J. H. Mich.), nor hardly the
waters which were above the vault of heaven ac-
• [Perowne : "In holy vestments, heaven being thought of as
one great temple, and all the worshippers ttiorein as clothed
iu priestly garments, and doing perpetual service."— C. A. B.]
14
cording to Gen. i.' 7, comp. Ps. cxlviii. 4 (Um-
breit, Maurer), but either those of the Mediter-
ranean Sea (J. D. Mich., Munt.), or correspond-
ing with the beginning of the ciescription, those
of the lowering clouds. Ps. xviii. 11; civ. 3;
Jer. X. 13 (most interpreters).
[Ver. 4. The voice of Jehovah in power!
The voice of Jehovah in majesty ! — Alex-
ander: "In power, in majesty, i. e, invested
with these attributes, a stronger expression than
the corresponding adjectives, strong and majestic
would be, and certainly more natural and con-
sonant to usage than the construction which
makes in a mere sign of that in which something
else consists." — C. A. B.]
Str. IIL Ver. 5. Breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon. — The cedars and mountains are not
allegorical designations of the great ones of the
earth, particularly of heathen princes (the
Rabbins and many ancient interpreters), and
the cedars of Lebanon are no ntore poetical
designations of the highest and strongest cedars
(Geier, Rosenm., Hengst.), than the mountains of
Lebanon and Sirion and the desert of Kadesh
are a poetical use of individuals for the whole
class (Hupfeld).
Ver. 6. Maketh them skip like a calf. —
[Hupfeld : " This is a poetical hyperbole of the
shaking of the earth, as afterwards of the desert,
ver. 8, like an earthquake occasioned by the
thunder; a standing feature of Theophanies
[vid. Ps. xviii. 7 sq.). So of mountains, Ps. cxiv.
4, 6, with a similar comparison with rams and
lambs. The suffix, them (D'), refers not prima-
rily to the mountains of Lebanon, which are
mentioned in the second clause, as many inter-
preters (even Ewald, Olsh.) suppose, but to the
cedars mentioned in the previous verse (Geier,
De Wette, Maurer, Hengst., Hiizig, Delitzsch) ;
certainly only in consequence of the skipping
of the mountains on which they stand, and
therefore they are mentioned themselves in the
second member." — C. A. B.]. — Sirion like a
young bufifalo.* — Sirion (either:=gUmmer, or
coat of mail) is the ancient Sidonian name of
Mt. Hermon, according to Deut. iii. 9, the
highest peak of the eastern range of Lebanon.
Ver. 7. Cleaveth the flames of fire. — This
is a poetical expression of forked lightning.
So Syriac, Chald., Vatabl., Ruding., J. D. Mien,
and most recent interpreters. The meaning of
the word is rendered certain by Isa. x. 15, where
the reference is to cleaving timber. f The usual
meaning : hew out, particularly stones and from
stones (Sept.), is possible here, namely in the
sense, that the flames are beaten out of the
clouds, as sparks out of the flint (Calvin). But
the usual ancient translation, hew as fl,ames of
fire (Luther), or with flames of fi.re (Geier,
Hengst. [Alexander]) is « gainst the language.
And the interpretation: to cut ouk the flames of
fire (von Hofmann), that is, that the storm wind
gives direction and form to the blazing flames,
affords a monstrous figure.
* [A. v. translates young vmicom — vid. notes on Ps. xxi^.
12.— C. A. B.]
f [Perowne : " With every thunder-peal comes the terriW-i
forked lightning, so striking in tropical and oastorr. lands.
Its vivid, zig-zag, eerpent-Mke flitsh. is given, ia a few words."
— C. A.B.1
210
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Sir. IV. Ver. 8. The wilderness of Ka-
desh. — Kadesh, literally^set apart. This was
that part of the Arabic desert west of the gra-
nite and porphyry mountains of Edom, which
was a part of the great desert (Deut. i. 19; xi.
24; Jer. ii. 6), and which was covered with hills
of chalk and drift sand. Comp. Gen. xx. 4 ;
Num. xiii. 26.
Sir. V. Ver. 9. Maketh the hinds to
calve. — Instead of niTX the Syriac read niTN.
oaks, or terebini hs, and some interpreters (Lowth,
Venema, Muntiiig.) have adopted it. But Job
xxxix. 1 sq. decides for the usual reading,
and is not in favor of the view that the refer-
ence is to the severe labor of the hinds in calv-
ing in the month of May, which is rendered
easier by the storm (Bochart, Hieroz. I., lib. 3,
cap. 17, after the Rabbins), but of a premature
delivery, brought on by fright, as 1 Sam. iv. 19
eq,, in the case of the wife of Phinehas. This
is brought about, according to Pliny [Hist. NaL,
VIII., 47), by the thunder even with solitary
Bheep, and, according to Ewald, is likewise
mentioned by Arabic authors with reference to
hinds. — And strippeth forests. — This is not
of laying bare the roots of the trees, or of the
forest by the wind (many of the older interpre-
ters), so not of stripping the trees of their
leaves and boughs by the storm (Calv., De-
litzsch), or by the shower (Hitzig), but the peel-
ing off of the bark (Joel i. 7) by the lightning
(Hupf.), since the word properly means " dis-
cover" (Sept., Jerome, Isaki, Luther [A. V.]).
— And in His temple speaks every one :
.glory ! — The palace of God is not the earthly
temple (Rabbins), or the Church (Calvin and
most older interpreters), so likewise not the
•world (Cleric.) in which sense it is improperly
(translated " in His entire palace " (Rosenm.),
Ibut heaven (Chald., Geier, etal). The partici-
ple omer expresses the simultaneousness of the
praise with the terrors (Ewald,* von Hofm.,
Hupfeld). The suffix in w3 is correctly ren-
dered by the Chald. in the paraphrase : all His
flervants. It is used in reference to the preced-
ing "in His palace " (Hitzig), but not in direct
reference to the palace it8elf=its totality (Heng-
fltenberg, [Alexander]), or to the sons of Gods,
ver. 1 (De Wette), but to an indefinite general
subject (Hupfeld)^7rdf nq (Sept., Syr.), which
receives its more specific meaning from the con-
text. [Delitzsch : «' It happens as the poet de-
sired in vers. 1, 2. Jehovah receives back the
glory displayed in the world in a thousandfold
echo of worship." — C. A. B.]
Sir. VI. Ver. 10. Jehovah has sat en-
throned above the Flood.— The reference to
the Flood is decided partly by the article, partly
by the word mabul (Syr. momul), Gen. vi.-xi.,
which is used only with this reference. And
this is not a mere recollection of the flood (Ew-
ald, Kurtz), comparing it with the overflowings
•effected by the rain-storm (Ruding., J. D. Mich.,
Koster, Olsh., Hitz.), or to the heavenly ocean
((Maurer), upon which (S used as in Ps. ix. 4,
approved likewise by Baur in De Wette's com-
* [Ewald translates at once : " whilst in His palace — all
jpeoka ' glory-' "— C. A. B.]
mentary) Jehovah sits enthroned. Since 2W'^
indicates not only the royal sitting of Jehovah,
but likewise His judicial sitting (Pa. ix. 7;
cxxii. 5), it is better to regard the 7 either as
of the purpose=of producing it (von Hofm.,
Delitzsch) as Koster, Olsh,, .Hitzig take it, with
a generalizing of the Flood ; or in the sense of
7j^=above, Ps. vii. 7 (Hupfeld), sinpe the Di-
vine judgment includes likewise a deliverance
(Chald.), and both references are here men-
tioned. The supposition of a mere reference to
time=at (Baihing., Hengst. [Alexander]), weak-
ens the sense. The Vulgate does this still more
in its rendering, which as the Sept. in some
codd. reads: Jehovah inhabits the flood; in
others reads : makes to inhabit. — And so will
Jehovah sit as King forever. — The future
with vav is in a significant contrast with the
preterite of ver. 10 a, and is not to be regarded
as a preterite, 0/1^^7 being translated, in primi-
tive time (Sachs) ; but it cannot be explained
too specifically either of the coming Messianic
judgment (Rabbins), or with reference to a
coming flood of fire and brimstone (Ephraein
Syr., J. H. Mich.), or to the saving water of
Baptism, with reference to 1 Pet. iii. 21 (Luther,
Seb. Schmidt et al.). " Whilst we still hear the
voice of the Lord in the rushing of the storm
through the forests stripped of their leaves, the
poet snatches us away at once from the tumult
of earth and places us amid the choirs of the
heavenly temple, which above in holy silence
sing glory and praise to the Eternal" (Umbreit).
[Ver. 11. Jehovah i?7ill bless His people
with peace. — Delitzsch: "How impressive
the closing word of this Psalm ! It is arched as
a rainbow above it. The beginning of the
Psalm shows us the heavens open and the throne
of God in the midst of angelic songs of praise,
and the close of the Psalm shows us on earth, in
the midst of the angry voice of Jehovah shaking
all things, His people victorious and blessed
with peace. Gloria in excelsia is the beginning
andjoaz in terris the end." — C. A, B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God has a glory and a power which are
peculiar to His nature, and He gives them to be
known likewise on earth and in heaven, so that
He may be named after them and yet His name
not be an arbitrary title, but an expression of
His nature. On the ground of this and in con-
sequence of it, He will have in heaven and on
earth the recognition to which He is entitled. He
insists upon His glory and demands the tribute
due to it, whilst He calls attention to His acts as
well as to His works.
2. Even in nature God declares Himself in its
commotions as its Lord and Master. That which
transpires in the phenomena of nature is not a
play of hidden powers ; and we have to trace
in them not the motions of the world-spirit, not
the operation of the gods of nature, not the
rushing of the spirits of the elements, but the
scolding and government of Jehovah, the God of
historical revelation ; and, therefore, we need not
fear them although all creatures tremble and
quake. For Jehovah makes nature the servant
PSALM XXIX.
211
of His ends in the government and redemption of
the world, and He is not only a King in the
kingdom of heaven and over His chosen people, but
He i3 the Almighty and Eternal ruler of all
things. *
3. When the voice of Jehovah is heard in the
thunder, the conscience may be awakened and
with the remembrance of the judgment of God
thoughts, especially of the Flood, may be excited
in the heart in connection with storms and
showers, earthquakes and floods. But the same
God who at the Flood made known His royal do-
minion in judging the world and delivering a
seed of His people, now likewise, when He puri-
fies the air by a storm, bestows refreshment to
the land, fruit fulness and the blessings of the
harvest, and acts in the same manner in the life
of the people and in the history of the world.
Hence His people have every reason, when there
are such declarations of the power of God in
nature and above nature, which are praised in
heaven as revelations of His glory, to strengthen
their faith in His help and their hope in His
blessing in stormy times and amidst the commo-
tions of life, by a remembrance of the analogous
government of God in history. Many ancient in-
terpreters, misunderstanding this connection
and internal advance of the thought, have fallen
upon a mere allegorical explanation and symbo-
lical interpretation of the entire Psalm, and
have then partly understood, not only by the
sons of God, but likewise by the cedars of Le-
banon, the great ones of the earth, and so like-
wise by the palace the temple at Jerusalem, and
indeed by Jehovah's voice the preaching of the
Divine word; and partly have regarded Lebanon,
Sirion, the desert as symbolical designations of
historical relations or indeed of spiritual condi-
tions. Roman Catholit; interpreters have often
found a particular reason for this in the circum-
stance, that ver. 5 6 in the Sept. and Vulg. reads :
"and the beloved (is) as a young unicorn," and
ver. 6 a in the Vulg., diflFering there from the
Sept., " and will crush them as calves of Leba-
non." Even Schegg brings this verse into direct
connection with the words of the title of the
Sept., and Vulg. referring to the feast of the
dedication of the tabernacle, and interprets it
of the election of Judah the beloved (or even of
Zion, Ps. Ixviii. 16), which resembles the uni-
corn in freshness of life and strength, in con-
trast with the rejection of Ephraim, Ps. Ixxviii.
67, the calf of Lebanon crushed by the Lord
(Isa. viii. 9), with reference to the comparison
of Joseph with a bullock (Deut. xxxiii. 17), and
to the places of the worsnip of the calf in the
kingdom of Israel, in the South at Bethel, in
the North at Dan in Lebanon. The desert is
then said to indicate man's renouncing all his
earthly advantages and merits, and the shaking
of it to mean its fructification and transforma-
tion (Ps. cvii. 35 ; Isa. li. 3), which is to be ex-
pected when the sevenfold flame of the Holy
Spirit pours itself, in the Sacraments, over the
soul shaken by the preaching of the Gospel.
This is sufficient to bring to mind the arbitrari-
ness and danger of the allegorical interpretation
of Scripture and to clearly show its essential
difference from the interpretation of the language
of nature speaking by signs and a practical use
of it for the edification of the congregation.
♦* The voice of God sounds at first in the thunder
of the song causing all things to shake ; but at
the end it vanishes softly away in the quicken-
ing drops of the words: He blesses His people
with peace" (Umbreit).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Many who are now cold and careless in prais-
ing God and celebrating His holy name, would
give honor to the Lord, if they were mindful of
His glory. — From the Almighty God comes the
blessing of peace upon His worshipping people. — .
The manifestation of the omnipotence of God
should lead us, 1) to praise His glory with ado-
ration, 2) to shun His judgment, 3) to resign
ourselves to His protection. — God will have the
honor due Him at first in heaven, but afterwards
on earth; all His manifestations in nature as well
as in history should remind ua of this. — What a
consolation it is, that God is 1) the Almighty
Lord of all things, 2) the righteous Judge of all
the world, 3) the King of His people, bestowing
blessings. — All the manifestations of the power of
God are likewise revelations of His glory and
His royal government, which is ever the same. —
When a storm reminds us of the Flood and the
Flood of the Divine judgment we should not for-
get that it is one and the same God, who in the
storm, the flood and the judgment brings to light
not only the terrors, but likewise the blessings of
His royal glory. — In the phenomena of nature as
well as the events of the world, God speaks to men ;
it is well for those who hearken to God's voice,
take heed to God's government and worship God
as the Lord of glory in holy attire. — It is re-
vealed amidst the terrors, destructions and
dangers in the world, what we know of God,
think of Him and expect from Him. — The particu-
lar exhibitions of the Divine majesty on earth
are transient, the majesty and power itself re-
main to this King forever.
Starke : He who perceives and experiences
the power of the voice of the Lord, may like-
wise experience in his soul the glory of God. —
If the voice of the Lord goes with such power
and strength in the physical thunder storm, what
will be said of the wonderful, penetrating power
of the thunder of His word which is yet to be
heard on all waters among all nations? — The
Lord sits in judgment over all those who. refuse
to obey His voice, as at the time of the Flood He
judged His first world. — Osiander: God has
no pleasure in splendid and costly attire and
ornaments, which are highly esteemed by the
world, but He is pleased with spirituaL attire,
when the heart is purified within by faitth, and ia
adorned with all kinds of Christian, virtues. —
Fritsch : The greatest honor of a prince, court,,
city, land is, that God's honor dwells there. —
Renschel : Take heed of the voice of the Lord ;
this shows thee His power and takes away from
thee thy pride. — Rieoer : We cannot give the
Lord anything ; but it is our bu&iuess to know
and confess His name, — Tholuck : If the saints
already on earth as soon as the storms of God roar,
worship in priestly reverence, how much more
tiiose in heaven. — VonGkrlach: Those things
which among men are for the most part far
212
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
apart, are united in God's works, infinite
power and symmetrical beauty.
[Mattu. Henry : If we would in hearing and
praying, and other acts of devotion, receive
grace from God, we must make it our business
to give glory to God. — Whenever it thunders let
us think of this Psalm; and whenever we sing
this Psalm let us think of the dreadful thunder-
claps we have sometimes heard, and thus bring
God's word and His works together, that by
both we may be directed and quickened to give
unto Him the glory due unto His name; and let
us bless Him that there is another voice of His
besides this dreadful one, by which God now
speaks to us, even the still small voice of His
Gospel, the terror of which shall not make us
afraid. — When the thunder of God's wrath shall
make sinners tremble, the saints shall lift np
their heads with joy — Spurgeon: Just as the
eighth Psalm is to be read by moonlight when the
stars are bright, as the nineteenth needs the rays
of the rising sun to bring out its beauty, so this
can be best rehearsed beneath the black wing of
tempest, by the glare of the lightning, or amid
that dubious dusk which heralds the war of ele-
ments.— The call to worsMp chimes in with the
loud pealing thunder, which is the church bell
of the universe ringing kings and angels, and
all the sons of earth lo their devotions. — His
voice, whether in nature or revelation, shakes
both earth and heaven ; see that ye refuse not
Him that speaketh. If His voice be thus mighty,
what must His hand be ! beware lest ye provoke
a blow.— C. A. B.]
PSALM XXX.
A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.
1 I will extol thee, 0 Lord ; for thou hast lifted me up,
And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God,
I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
3 O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave :
Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
4 Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his,
And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness,
5 For his anger endureth but a moment ;
In his favour is life :
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy Cometh in the morning.
6 And in ray prosperity I said,
I shall never be moved.
7 Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong :
Thou 4idst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
«
10
I cried to thee, O Lord ;
And unto the Lord I made supplication.
What profit is there in my blood.
When I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee ?
Shall it declare thy truth ?
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me :
Lord, be thou ray helper.
11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing:
Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing pra ss to thee, and not be silent.
12 O Lord my God, I will give thaiSts unto thee for ever.
PSALM XXX.
213
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents. For the Title vid. Introduction.*
Thanksgiving for Divine deliverance from great
peril of death begins the Psalm (vers. 1-3),
which is followed by an appeal to the congrega-
tion to praise the goodness of God, which soon
changes the deserved trouble into abiding joy
(vers. 4-6). This has been shown in the life of
the Psalmist, who mentions his false feelings of
security and his boasting (ver. 6), and his terror
when he perceived the loss of the Divine favor,
which constitutes the true basis of his power (ver.
7). He then states the fact (ver. 8), and the man-
ner (vers. 9-10) of his prayer and his experience
of help (ver. 11), in order that he may praise God
without intermission, as he vows likewise to do
(ver. 12). Comp. P. Gerhard's hymns: "/cA
preise dich und singe," and, " Sollt ich meinem Golt
nicht singen," with the refrain from ver. 6 f
Str. I. Vers. 1-3. For Thou hast dravrn me
up. — The Hebrew word is used in Ex. ii. 16, 19
of drawing water from a well and so is figura-
tively applied, Pro v. xx. 5. But this is not the
original idea of the word, according to Hupfeld,
but is itself a particular application of the idea
of drawn up, which is here rendered by all an-
cient translators and interpreters (so A. V.
lifted me up). This does away at once with the
chief point of the hypothesis of Hitzig, that the
reference is to the deliverance of the prophet
Jeremiah from the slimy cistern (Jer. xxxviii,).
The deep place in question is manifestly stated
in ver. 3 [as sheol and grave, vid. Pss. vi. 6 and
xvi. 9. — C. A. B.] ; and since there is described
there, not a great danger in general in a sym-
bolical manner (Calv., Hengst.), or in hyperboli-
cal expressions (De Wette, Hupf.), but the near
peril of death, we cannot understand the healing
ver. 2, which is parallel with the drawing up, of
help and salvation in general, but rather of de-
liverance from sickness. For the reading and
the construction of ver. 3 b vid. Hupfeld. — Thou
hast quickened me from among those
that go down to the grave. [Hupfeld:
"JJeZZ and grave are ideas usually interchanged
* [The genitive " of David " does not belong to " the
house " but to "A Psalm." Riehm is probably correct in
regarding the JT3n DSJITT't!' aa a later liturgical addi-
tioa to the Title, showing' that it was to be used at the feast
of Dedication, which was instituted by Judas Maccabeus in
16 j B. C. to commumorate the purification of the Temple
from its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. '^''\if is not
used in the Title of any other Psalm of the first book. The
Paalm would then have a general reference to Davids recov-
ery from sickness corresponding with Pa. xvi. and there is
no reference to a house of his own or to the temple in the
Psalm. But it might very properly be used at the feast of
Dedication in subsequent times when once fixed by the cir-
cumstances of the Maccabean period. If however the Title
is to be regarded as entirely original the house is not the
house of David, whether at its reconsecratiou from the defile-
ment of Absalom (2 Sam. XX. 3), Calvin, Cocc, t«eier, etal., or
the rebuilding of the citadel of Zion which David regarded
as the pledge of the greatness of his empire (Delitzach, Moll,
Perowne et al.), which is better ; but to the house of God.
And then it does not refer to the temple of Solomon (Chald.,
Rabbins. Hupf., et al.), but to the dedication of the thresh-
ing floor of Araunah (2 Sam. xxiv. 20, sq.) after the three
days' plague (Rosenm., Venema, Hengst., Keil, Tholnck,
Alexander, et al.).—C. A. B.]
t [ Delitzsch : " Th« pall to praise God which in Ps xxix.
goes forth to the angels above, in Psalm xxx. is directed to
the pious here below."— 0. A. B.]
and parallel: and jD, from, is used at first of
the place out of which he was drawn, then of
the association of those who are there, from
which he is taken away." — C. A. B.]
Str. II. Ver. 4. And praise His holy
memory — Memory is parallel with name, Ex.
iii. 15; Is. xxvi. 8; Hos. xii. 6; Ps. xcvii. 12;
cxxxv. 13, yet is not identical with it. The
name makes God known, the memory brings God
and our duty to Him to remembrance.
Ver 6. For a moment (passeth) in His
anger, a life in His favor; at even v/eep •
ing turneth in (literally, passeth the night),
and in the morning — shouts of joy. — The
figurative character of these pregnant words is
misunderstood by Hengst. and Hitzig and ap-
plied in the interest of their hypotheses, which
however different in other respects, coincide in
this, that they make all depend upon the dura-
tion of a single day. And it is the more re-
markable when Hongstenberg denies the parallel-
ism of the thought in ver. 5 b, and translates :
for His wrath brings on a (sad) moment, His
favor life. At any rate, usage demands that
J?jn should only be regarded as a designation of
time. It is true that D^n includes usually the
material contrast with death, in accordance with
its Biblical meaning: and so Geier likewise
translates delectatur vt7a=God has pleasure in
the life, and not in the death of the sinner: but
this destroys the parallelism at once. But Ps.
xxvii. 4. shows that the idea of time may under
certain circumstances, even in this world, appear
as the only one. So likewise in Is. liv. 7, 8, an
everlasting grace is contrasted with the moment
of anger just as here a lifelong favor. The
Vulgate has after the Sept. (which reads U'^)
quoniam ira in indignatione ejus. So Roman Catho-
lic interpreters in their expositions assert that
the cau-'e is used instead of the effect, wrath in-
stead of punishment ; particularly death.
Sir. III. [Ver. 6. And as for me. — Perowne:
*' The pronoun with the conjunction thus at the
beginning of a clause is always emphatic, and
generally stands in opposition to something go-
ino- before, either expressed or understood.
Here there is a tacit opposition between the
Psalmist's present and his former experience.
Now he had learnt through the lesson of suffer-
ing to trust in God. Before that suffering came,
he had begun to trust in himself. ' I seemed so
strong, so secure, I began to think within my-
self, I shall never be moved ; Thou hadst mad^
my mountain so strong. And then Thou didst
hide Thy face, and I was troubled' " — C. A. B.]
Ver. 7. Hadst Thou appointed strength to
my mountEiin. — The Vulgate has instead of
"to my mountain" decorimeo after the Sept. t0
Ka?2ec pov, which presupposes the reading ''*^*Tn.
So likewise the Syriac. , The Chald. has : Thou
hast placed me on strong mountains, which Hup-
feld prefers, and it is certainly better than the
interpretation of others: on my strong mountain.
The Hebrew verb TD;?n with the accusative of
the thing and dative of the person- leads, how-
ever, totheideaof appoint=givo, comp. 2 Chron.
xxxiii. 8, with 2 Kings xxi. 8. The mountain
is not so much a symbol of dignity and greatness,
as either of security and of success, or of domin-
214
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
ion, especially of the Davidic kingdom (2 Sam.
vi. 9, 12; Mic. iv. 8).~[Thou didst hide Thy
face, I vra.3 frightened. — For an explanation
of God's hiding His face vid. Ps. xiii. 1. The
A. V. " troubled" is too weak, — C. A. B.]
Sir. IV. Ver. 9. What profit by my
blood, by my going down to the grave?
can dust praise Thee ? can it declare
Thy truth ? — The mention of blood does not
lead necessarily to the idea of a violent death, for
the soul is in the blood. [Compare the argument
in Ps. vi. 5, also Ps. Ixxxviii. 10, 12 and in
Hpzekiah's words Is. xxxviii. 18, 19, which is
manifestly based on David's words. Delitzsch:
" His prayer for a prolongation of life was not
for the sake of earthly possessions and enjoy-
ment, but for the honor of God. He feared
death as the end of the praise of God. For on
the other side of the grave no more Psalms would
be sung. Ps. vi. 6. Hades was not overcome
in the Old Testament, the heavens not yet opened.
In heaven were the cSn ■'J3 (Ps. xxix. sons of
Gods), but not yet the blessed DIX ''J3 (sons of
Adam)."*— C. A. B.]
Str. V. Ver. 11. Thou hast turned my
lamenting into dancing for me, didst
undo my sackcloth and gird me with joy.
— [Hupfeld: "Dancing (dances performed by
women accompanied by songs and music at the
celebration of a victory as Ex. xv. 20; Judges
xi. 34: 1 Sam. xviii. 6, or at religious feasts
Ex. xxxii. 19, Judges xxi. 21) is here poetical
of JO}/ or shouts of joy, thanksgiving and songs, as
Jer. xxxi. 4, 13; Lam. v. 15." — Wrf. Smith's Diet,
of the Bible, art. '^ Dance."— C. A. B.]. Sack-
cloth is the hairy, tight garment of sorrow and
penitence, which was worn on the naked body,
sometimes girded on with a cord and sometimes
not. The girdles were mostly colored and served
at the same lime as ornaments, and were often
embroidered and partially adorned with costly
ornaments. Hence the expression •' gird " does
not merely pass over into a figurative meaning
as of girding with strength, Ps. xviii, 82, but is
used at once in the sense of adorn, only that the
fundamental meaning ever shines through, as
Ps. Ixv, 12: the hills gird themselves with re-
joicing.
Ver. 12. In order that glory may cele-
brate Thee.— Most interpreters take lUD here
as referring to soul. The only diflSculty is the
absence of the suflBx, for in this connection the
reference can only be to the soul of the Psalmist
and there is no example of an ellipsis of the
eufl&x (Geier, Rosenm.). And so Hupfeld sup-
plies it at once in the text, which thus becomes
like the words of Ps, cviii. 1. Kimchi thinks of
the immortal soul in the eternal life as con-
trasted with the dust, ver. 9, which he explains
of the corpse and not of the grave. But without
regard to this false contrast, the article could
not fail, if the soul as such was to be designated.
Many others depart from the context and take
the abstract for concrete=the noble (Chald.) or
* [Perowne : " The truth seems to be, that whilst the
faith of the Old Testament saints in Ood was strong and
childlike, their Hnpe of Immortality was at best dim and
wavering, brightening perhaps for a moment, when the
heart was rejoicing in God as its portion, and then again al-
most dying away." — C. A. B.j
indeed; every man who has a wise soul (.\bpn
Ezra). The Syriac has not regarded this woid
at all as the subject, but as the object : therefoi e
will I sing praise to Thee. But this is against
the construction, which is restored by the inter-
pretation : glory=praise, renown, hymn, sings
to Thee (Maurer, Olsh., De Wette). In the
song of Hezekiah (Is. xxxviii.) the last two
verses of this Psalm are re-echoed together with
many passages from the Book of Job. [Pe-
rowne : The sackcloth of his humiliation God
had taken off from him, and had clothed him
with the garment of praise (Is. Ixi. 3). How
should he do otherwise than praise God for ever
for His goodness."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. There is suflBcient reason in the exhibitions
of grace, helpings and deliverances which God
richly bestows upon men, to praise Him contin-
ually and thank Him daily. ♦' For as God lifts us
by His hand on high from the depths into which
we have fallen, so it is again our obligation to
lift up our hearts and mouths to His praise "
(Calvin). Would that the depth of our feelings
might correspond with the depths oi misery from
which we were drawn up, and the earnestness
of our praise and thankfulness with the great-
ness of our oJZe^a^jora, since we could not even
with our highest thankfulness attain to the great-
ness of God.
2. The Divine grace and help are wonderfully
exhibited to every individual, yet it is not some-
thing singular and special; therefore the fa-
vored one has confidence in the entire congrega-
tion, that they will gladly follow his appeal to
unite in the song of praise and thanksgiving
which he lifts up to God. The one bounty re-
minds us likewise of others, the particular help
of the general salvation, the present deliverance
of previous exhibitions of grace shown to other
men, so that the pious remembrance of God's
holy Being, as it is made known in His Provi-
dence in history, is awakened and sustained and
the holy memory of Jehovah forms the subject
^of the songs of praise of the congregation.
3. It is worthy of particular consideration
that whilst we richly deserve the wrath of
God and must experience its frightful eflFects
likewise in those suflFerings in which we receive
the taste oi \.\iQ punishments of our sins, yebthe
delivering/auor of God which giveth life turns
directly to the sinner when he is awakened from
his security, and is terrified on account of his
sins, and is brought in humility to the knowledge of
his true condition and implores the ^race of God.
Thus we perceive that not wrath, but love is the
essential disposition of God, and that He has both
of these dispositions in Himself. ^^Alles Ding
wdhrt seine zeit, Gottes Lieb' in JSwigkeit." (P. Ger-
hardt.
4. Even pious people have to keep before
them the dangers of prosperity and be warned
by the example of David, in order that tbey
may not be betrayed in times of prosperity to
hurtful confidence in self, and false feelings of
security and then descend from their imaginary
height, strength and abundance, and lose mora
than they ever thought it possible to lose.
PSALM XXX.
216
But the security of fools ruins them (Prov. i. 32 ;
oomp. Deut. viii. 11-18; xxxii. 15; Hos. xiii. 6).
Yet he who has been brought by sufferings to
reflection, by falls to awakening and thereby to
terror, self-knowledge, prayer, gains not only
true help and a new grace and attains to fresh
and joyous thankfulness, but gains likewise be-
yond self, to tell others his history in humble and
thankful joy, that they may be warned, instructed
and consoled. "David previously fast asleep,
suddenly begins to cry out, in terror to the Lord.
For as iron, when it has become rusty by long
disuse, cannot be again used until it is heated
again in the fire and beaten with the hammer,
80 when once carnal security has prevailed, no
one can quickly equip themselves for prayer,
unless previously beaten and properly prepared
by the cross " (Calvin).
6. God in the deliverance of those who seek
Him in penitence, declares not only His good-
ness and His faithtulness, but likewise His truth,
which is to be transmitted from father to son
(Isa. xxxviii. 19), from generation to generation
(Ps. xxii. 31). Accordingly it is incumbent
upon God and is in the interest of God not to be
robbed of those servants who have pleasure in
never ceasing to praise Him, and who in imploring
for the preservation of their life have directed
themselves not to earthly things, but to God's
glory and the efficiency of His service with
heart, mind and thoughts, in the assurance that
this can be accomplished by them only on earth
and in this life, so long as death, the world be-
low and hell have not been vanquished.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Our songs of praise and thanksgiving cannot
be drawn too deep, nor ascend too high, nor be
spread too far, nor last too long. — No misery is
80 deep thai we cannot be drawn out of it by God,
but no height is so great that we cannot be cast
down from it. — It is not God's fault if His anger
last longer than a moment. — When suffering or
joy^ turns in to us, we do well to inquire whether
God has sent us these guests. — It is not indiflFer-
ent how long we may weep or shout for joy, but
more depends upon what they are about, for God
determines their duration in accordance with it.
— We know not how many moments remain to us
in this short life, therefore it is important, that
we should always be found as servants of God, in
order that we may be ready through God" a favor
to give account at any moment, and that we may
praise forever His gracious help in bodily and
spiritual things. — In the congregation of God
are heard not only the songs of sorrow and of
praise of its members, but there may be heard
there likewise their penitential prayers and con-
fessions of faith. — The experiences of believers
should minister to the salvation of others, there-
fore they are told and written by them. — To the
preaching of the truth of God belongs the preach-
ing of His wrath against the sinner as well as the
message of His grace towards the penitent and the
narration of His love towards those seeking salva-
tion.— Wo can have no better wish, than to expe-
rience God's grace our lives long, declare God's
truth daily, praise God's name forever.
Stabk£ : It is a great benefit, when God pro-
longs a man's life until he turns to God in right-
eousness.— God's usual way is to cause a con-
stant saving interchange of sorrow and of joy,
in order that we may not sink under the bur-
den,— In good days we should think of the un-
certainty of success and of our own weakness,
and not put our trust in ourselves and be pre-
sumptuous.— Children of the world seek to
banish their sorrow by earthly pleasures of every
kind, but the children of light know that all
comes from the hand of the Lord ; hence they
wait patiently until the Lord Himself shall turn
their sorrow into joy. — Osiander: When we
are in trouble, carnal security soon falls to the
ground and we tremble and shudder for it. —
Selnekker: The guilt is man's, the punishment
comes from God. But God delights in the life
of man and has not ordained any man to death,
but would that all men should turn and live. —
Arndt : We have here an earnest warning from
the example of the dear David, that we should
fear God in good days, and not be secure and
rely upon temporal things. — Tholuck: To con-
fess that God is righteous in His chastisements
is very difficult for men, but David was always
ready to confess this after his failures. — Stil-
ler: This Psalm gives comfort in the sufferings
of life, and says first of all, from whom they
come, then how long they will endure, and
finally what profit they will have. — Guentheb :
Every one ascends high and has ascended, who
lets himself be guided in the way of the Lord.
— He who always fares well quickly forgets God,
and forgets likewise his poor soul ; he then ne-
glects to struggle, he regards himself as safe,
even the gracious countenance of God shining
upon him in continued success, he too easily
takes for God's good pleasure in his holiness. —
Thym : The pious sufferer on the bed of severe sick-
ness: 1) knows thoroughly the weakness of his na-
ture ; 2) feels therein the chastisement of the holy
God ; 3) turns to the Physician who ever helps.
[Matth. Henry: The more imminent our
dangers have been, the more eminent our deli-
verances have been, the more comfortable to our-
selves, and the more illustrious proofs of the
power and goodness of God A life from the
dead ought to be spent in extolling the God of
our life. — No one of all God's perfections carries
in it more terror to the wicked nor more comfort
to the godly, than His holiness. — Our happiness
is bound up in God's favor ; if we have that we
have enough, whatever else we want. It is the
life of the soul, it is spiritual life, the earnest
of life eternal. — Barnes : If we are to offer
prayer for the salvation of our children, neigh-
bors, or friends, it is to be done in this world ;
if we are to admonish and warn the wicked, it
is to be done here ; if we are to do anything by
personal effort for the spread of the Gospel, it
is to be done before we die. Whatever we may
do in heaven, these things are not to be done
there ; for when we close our eyes in death, our
personal efforts for the salvation of men will
cease forever. — Spurqeon : When God's chil-
dren prosper one way, they are generally tried
another, for few of us can bear unmingled pros-
perity. Even the joys of hope need to be
mixed with the pains of experience, and the
more surely so when comfort breeds carnal se-
216
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
curity and self-confidence. — How high has our
Lord lifted us ? Lifted us up into the children's
place, to be adopted into the family ; lifted us
up into union with Christ, "to sit together with
Him in heavenly places." Lift high the name
of our God, for He has lifted us above the stars.
— Heavenly heart-music is an ascending thing,
like the pillars of smoke which rose from the
altar of incense. — We die like withered flowers
when the Lord frowns, but His sweet smile re-
vives us as the dews refresh the fields. His
favor not only sweetens and cheers life, but it is
life itself, the very essence of life. Who would
know life, let him seek the favor of the Lord. —
As in a wheel, the uppermost spokes descend to
the bottom in due course, so is it with mortal
conditions. There is a constant revolution:
many who are in the dust to-day shall be highly
elevated to-morrow ; while those who are now
aloft shall soon grind the earth. — The next best
thing to basking in the light of God's counte-
nance is to be thoroughly unhappy when that
bliss is denied us. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXXI.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust ;
Let me never be ashamed :
Deliver me in thy righteousness.
Bow down thine ear to me ; deliver me speedily :
Be thou my strong rock, for a house of defence
To save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress ;
Therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me :
For thou art my strength.
5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit :
Thou hast redeemed me, 0 Lord God of truth.
6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities :
But I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy :
For thou hast considered my trouble ;
Thou hast known my soul in adversities ;
8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy ;
Thou hast set my feet in a large room.
9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble :
Mine eye is consumed with grief,
Yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief,
And my years with sighing :
My strength faileth because of mine iniquity,
And my bones are consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies,
But especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance;
They that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind :
I am like a broken vessel.
PSALM XXXI.
217
13 For I have heard the slander of many : fear was on every side :
While they took counsel together against me,
They devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord :
I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand :
Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me,
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant :
Save me for thy mercies' sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord ; for I have called upon thee :
Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence ;
Which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee ;
Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee
Before the sons of men !
20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man :
Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord :
For he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.
22 For I said in my haste,
I am cut off from before thine eyes :
Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints :
For the Lord preserveth the faithful.
And plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart,
All ye that hope in the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — According
to Luther, this Paalm '♦ is spoken in the person
of Christ and His saints, who are plagued their
life long, internally by trembling and alarm,
externally by persecution, slander and contempt,
for the sake of the word of God, and yet are
delivered by God from them all and comforted."
Brentz, Calv., and many of the older interpre-
ters have, with Augustine, interpreted this
Psalm as directly Messianic, because the cruci-
fied Saviour in the moment of dying (Luke
xxiii. 46) used the words which begin ver. 5.
Then the "iniquity," ver. 10 c, is understood
of the sins of the world imputed to Christ. But
Stier very properly recognizes in the words of
ver. 5: into Thy hand I commit my spirit, only
" the appropriation of an expression which is
full of confidence," which cannot have a pro-
phetical reference, because David, according to
vers. 4, 8, 16, hoped for deliverance from the
danger still in this life and for this life. Stier
maintains the Davidic composition of the Psalm,
although he gives up the historical reference of
most earlier interpreters, which is again advo-
cvted by Delitzsch, to the situation of David in
the wilderness of Ma6n durinst ''is persecution
by Saul (1 Sam. xxiii. sq.). Tliere is certaidly
no weight to be put upon the merely apparent
correspondence of the word ^|3n3, ver. 22, with
1 Sam. xxiii. 26, to which the title of the Sept.
eKGTdffEug, Vulg. pro ecstasi is referred by many
with the explanation, "for the trembling," be-
cause the Sept., ver. 22, translates kn EKardcei.
Yet many resemblances are apparent with the
Psalms which are generally put in that period ,
and if partly the elegiac softness, partly the
character of the language remind us of the pro-
phet Jeremiah, and especially ver. 13 a strikingly
agrees with Jer. xx. 10, yet, as even Hupfeld
states, there is no evidence in this for the com-
position of the Psalm by Jeremiah, as Hitzig
and Ewald contend, especially as there are fre-
quently found in tliis prophet expressions and
turns of thought from more ancient books, par-
ticularl5r from the Psalms. There is a change
in experience, and a transition from expressions
of confidence and trust to a lamenting descrip-
tion of need, but this does not show, any more
than the final transition from praising God to
the exhortation of all the pious, that only after
deliverance had taken place (Ruding., Rosenm.),
the prayer in time of danger has been connected
with thanksgiving for delivenmce. When Heng-
stenberg regards David as speaking from the
person of every righteous min in severe trouble,
he defaces the historical character of the Paalm,
and does away with the limits between explana-
218
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
tion and application. The contents are divided
into three principal groups, so that at first the
prayer for deliverance (vers. 1, 2) bases itself on
the confidence in the grace of God peculiar to
Him (vers. 3-5) and previously exhibited to the
Psalmist (vers. 6-8) ; then from the description of
present trouble (vers. 9-18) it rises anew with
protestations of trust in God (vers. 14-16) and
the assurance of being heard (vers. 17, 18) ;
finally it passes over into thankful praise of God
for His gracious dealings with all the pious
(vers. 19, 20), particularly for the hearing of
prayer particularly afforded to the Psalmist
(vers, 21, 22), and in the exhortation of all the
favored ones to believing hope in God (vers. 23,
24). Compare the hymn: '■'■In dich haV ich
gehoffet Herr."
IStr. I. Ver. 1. In Thee, Jehovah, have I
taken refuge. — Vid. Pss. vii. 1; xi. 1. — Let
me not be shamed forever. — Most interpre-
ters, ancient and modern, regard this a,s=never
be shamed, which could not very well be ex-
pressed Otherwise in Hebrew. Hengstenberg
however, interprets it: "Though I am put to
shame now, yet let not that shame last forever."
This verse and the two following reappear with
few variations in Ps. Ixxi. 1, 3.
Ver. 2. Be Thou to me for a rock of de-
fence, for a house of fortification, to save
me. — Compare these figures with those of Ps.
xviii. 2.— C. A. B.]
[Sir. II. Ver. 3. For Thou art my rock
and my fortress. — Perowne: "This has been
called illogical. But is it so illogical as it seems ?
The Psalmist prays, ' Be Thou to me,' or rather
• become to me, prove Thyself to be, my rock and
house of defence ; for I know that Thou, and
Thou only, art my refuge.' This is the logic of
the heart, if not of the intellect.; the logic, it
may be added, of every prayer of faith." —
"Wilt lead me and guide me, — Perowne:
" The futures here and in the next verse are not
to be rendered as imperatives. They express
the strong hope and confidence that it will be
done according to his faith and his prayer."
Ver. 4. Wilt pull me out of the net. —
Comp. Ps. ix. 16 ; xxv. 15. — For Thou art
my defence. — The Thou is emphatic. Moll
renders it, for Thou, Thou art, etc.
Ver. 5. Into Thy hand I commit my
spirit. — Perowne: "Upon the expression of
confidence in the power and faithfulness of God,
follows the expression of the singer's resolve.
My spirit [ruach) is more than my soul or life
(^nephesh). It is not only from sickness and death,
but from sin and all ghostly enemies, that the
man of God would be kept, and therefore he
commends to God, not his body or his* bodily
life alone, but the life of his spirit, vphich is
more precious (comp. Isa. xxxviii, 16, ' life of
my spirit '), — I commend (irapari^suai), i. e. place
as a deposit, entrust." — C. A. B,]*
* [Perowne : " With these words our Lord breathed out
His life, Luke xxiii. 4fi, as He hnd before used words from
another Psalm in His agony on the cross. The first words
were from a Psalm (the xxii.) which, t pically at least, fore-
shadowed His sufferings; whereas, this is not in the same
way proflictive. But the Holy One of God, in that last hour
of mortal agony, rhose these words -if one of His servants,
to express the solemn surrender of His life. And in so doing,
Ho gave them a new iuterpretatloa. The Jewish singer
Sir. III. Ver, 6. I have hated them that
regard vain idols.— The Vulgate, Syriac and
Arabic versions translate after the Septuagint,
" Thou hast hated," vt^hich is preferred by some
interpreters, as Venema, Hitzig, Ewald, Olsh,,
on account of the contrast in the second mem-
ber of the verse, comp, in Ps. v. ver. 5 with
ver. 7, whilst they read with Cod. 170 Kenn.
the second person shanSlha. The "regarding"
does not refer to portents in the sense of the
interpretation of signs and magic (Aben Ezra),
nor does it express the obedient regarding in the
sense of reverence (most interpreters, with re-
ference to Hos. iv, 10; Prov. xxvii. 18), but the
trusting and waiting attention which is contained
therein (Rosenm., Hengst., Hupf., Delitzsch),
The object is not vain things and things of
naught in general (Calv., Ruding., Rosenm.,
Stier), although these are literally designated as
"breath of nothingness," but the idols as the
"unsubstantial things of naught " (Hitzig), as
the use of this passage in Jonah ii. 9 shows.
The plural of hebel denotes likewise in Deut.
xxxii. 21 ; Jer. ii. 6; viii. 19; xiv. 22, the idols
on the side of their vanity. Their delusive
nature (Hengst.) is here expressed by XIK?, Ps.
vii. 14; Jer. xviii. 15. God constitutes the con-
trast as El emeth, for which 2 Chron. xv. 3 has
Elohe imeth, with the change from the true being
of God which ever proves itself true, to the
faithful disposition of God which ever proves
itself thus as El Smdnah, Deut, xxxii. 4 (De-
litzsch),— [As for me, I have trusted in
Jehovah. — The / is emphatic, as the Thou in
ver. 4, and is opposed to those trusting in vain
idols.— C. A. B.]
Vers. 7, 8. Let me exult and rejoice in
Thy mercy. Thou who hast regarded my
distress, taken knowledge of the needs
of my soul ; and hast not shut me up in
the hand of the enemy, hast set my feet
on a "(Vide place. — In ver. 7 c J^T with 2 does
not denote a theoretical knowledge, but a prac-
tical and operative taking knowledge, a looking
into (a being concerned about). Hupfeld says
that this construction is an unheard of one,
and since usage and the accents do not allow of
taking the soul as the object of the knowledge
(Luthej:, Stier), he would supply the object and
indeed either the sufi&x, me, or from the imme-
diate context, my distress. But Delitzsch, as
the ancient interpreters, refers to Job xii. 9;
XXXV. 15, and Hitzig compares, besides the last
passage. Gen. xix. 33 ; Isa. ix. 8, likewise the
Arabic, and remarks that 1]^ is used for 3 in
Job xxxvii. 16. — It is possible to regard IK^X
ver. 7 6 as a conjunction=that, because (Geier,
Delitzsch, Hitzig), so that the subject of the
exultation would be stated in the following
only meant by them that he put himself and alt bis hopes
into the h-ind of God. Jesns meant by them, that by .fiu
own act, of His own free will. He gave up His spirit, and
therewith His life, to the Father. And they who have died
with their Lord, have died with the same words on their
lips. These were the last words of Polycarp, of Bernard, of
Huss, of .Terome of Prague, of Luther, Melanchtbon, and
many others. 'Blessed are they,' says Luther, 'who die not
only /or tJie Lord, as martvrs : not only in the Lord, as all
beliPVHrs; but likewise with the Lord, as breathine forth
their lives in those words, Into Thy band I commend my
spirit.' "— C A. B.]
PSALM XXXI.
219
clauses, as thea likewise the perfects are for the
most part regarded as prophetical perfects.
But it is much more natural to regard it as a
relative clause, as ver. 6 b without the relative,
aa appeal to previous experience as the motive
of the prayer and reason of the hope of being
heard (Hupf.), so that ver. 7 a is notan antecedent
and a promise (most interpreters [A. V.]), but
a prayer (Rudiug., J. H. Mich.). [Alexander:
•' To shut up in the hand of any one is to abandon
to his power. The expression is a figurative
one, but occurs in prose, and even in the history
of David. See 1 Sam. xxiii. 11 ; xxvi. 8. The
figure of the last clause is a favorite with David.
See above, on Pss. iv. 1 ; xviii. 19, 36." — G. A. B.]
Str. IV. [Vers. 9, 10. Mine eye is con-
Bumed w^ith vexation— my soul and my
belly. — Compare Ps. vi. 7. The soul and belly
are general terms enlarging and adding emphasis
to the more specific term, eye. The belly stands
for the body, yet with a more particular refe-
rence to the bowels as the seat of the affections,
or as Delitzsch, " the interior of the body re-
flecting the spiritual and physical activities and
experiences." The soul and the belly thus re-
present the entire man. The expressions of ver.
10 are to be compared with Ps. cii. 3 sq. ; Jer.
XX. 18, as well as Ps. vi. The clauses are paral-
lel, the general terms becoming in each case
more specific, thus life has its parallel years;
grief, sighing; strength, bones. The bones &re the
frame-work of the body, vid. Ps. vi. 3. His
iniquity is regarded by the Psalmist as the real
cause of all his trouble. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 11. Because of all my adversaries
I have become a reproach, and to my
neighbors a burden, and a terror to mine
acquaintance. — J. D. Mich, already conjec-
tured that li<p was a substantive, with the
meaning of burden, and compared with the
Arabic. Fleischer, in Delitzsch's commentaj»y,
has proved this more accurately and thus made
an end of all the difficulties, which arise if we
retain the usual meaning of "very," which the
Sept, already expressed with a<p66pa. It has
likewise the present order of words, so the
placing of " and to my neighbors" after "friends"
(Olsh.) does great violence to the text. The
words "because of all my adversaries" could
be attached to the preceding clause with less
difficulty (Ewald) than this. But the transla-
tion which is then proposed, "I have become a
reproach even to my neighbors exceedingly," is
wrecked upon the fact that the intensive signifi-
cation of the ) (even, likewise), which most in-
terpreters with Calvin and Geier accept, in con-
nection with the usual division of the clauses
and connection of words cannot be proved. It
is admissible to regard the 1. as explanatory (=:
and indeed). But this meaning, accepted here
by Piscator, Stier, et al., makes such a drawling
clause that Hupfeld would rather suppose that
the 1 has come into the text by mistake or that
a substantive has been omitted. Hitzig trans-
lates : fled from my neighbors, since he regards
the K as a corruption of a J, but he now reads
no longer HJD, but 13??. Instead of "because
of all my enemies," he translates likewise: from
all, etc.f which is certainly better than the
translation, more than all (Vulg., and many
of the older interpreters, even Rosenm.), al-
though it is likewise allowed by the language.
[Ver. 12. Alexander: " The next stage of his
calamity was that of contemptuous oblivion,
which usually follows the acute one of disgust
and shame described in the foregoing verse. —
Prom the heart, i. e. the memory; the ex-
pression seems to correspond exactly to the
second member of the English proverb : out of
sight, out of mind. — The comparison with an
earthen vessel, at best of little value, easily
broken, and when broken worthless, only fit to
be contemptuously thrown aside, is a favorite
with Jeremiah, who appears to have derived it,
with some other favorite ideas and expressions,
from the Psalm before us. See Jer. xix. 11 ;
xxii. 28; xxv. 34; xlviii. 38, and compare Hos.
viii. 8."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 13. For I hear the Tvhispering of
many ; terrors round about ; w^hilst they
take counsel together against me — they
devise to take away my life. — [The usual
interpretation of TXTH slander does not suit here
as Hupfeld shows, and so Hitzig, Delitzsch, Moll,
et al. Ewald translates, report. The phrase,
"terrors round about," magor missabib, is a
favorite formula in Jeremiah, probably having
become a current phrase in the mouths of the
people in troublous times. Jer, xx. 10 ; also vi.
2; XX, 3, 4; xlvi. 6; xlix- 29; Lam, ii. 22, —
C, A. B.]
\_Str. V. Ver. 16. My times are in Thy
hand, — Perowne: *'^ My times, i.e., all my life,
with its 'sundry and manifold changes,' its
joys, and sorrows, its hopes and conflicts, are
not the sport of chance, or the creatures of a
blind fate but are in Thy hand, 0 Thou living
personal Redeemer. On this confidence are
grounded the petitions which follow and the
hopes expressed, ver. 18. The second of the
petitions, ver, 16, is borrowed from the High
Priest's blessing. Num. vi. 25. Comp. Psalm
iv. 7."
Ver. 17. Let the ^7icked be shamed, be
silenced in the vyorld below^. — For an ex-
planation of Sheol, vid. Ps. vi. 5, and the corres-
ponding fate of the wicked, Ps. ix. 15. Alexan-
der: "He distinguishes himself as one who
calls upon God, from the wicked who do not,
and appeals to the righteousness of God as re-
quiring that defeat, and disappointment, and
frustration of the hopes, should fall, not upon
the class to which he belongs and of which he is
the representative, but upon that represented by
his enemies, of whom it has been well said, that
they are not reckoned sinners because they are
his enemies, but enemies because they are sin-
ners, or in other words, enemies to him because
they are the enemies of God."
Ver. 18. Let lying lips be put to silence
— that is the silence of destruction, as is clear
from ver. 17 where the world below is added.
The reference is back to the whispering of ver,
13.— "Which speak arrogantly against a
righteous man with pride and scorn.—
Hupfeld: "pHi? not^hard (as Geier, J. H,
Mich.), nor impudent (as Gesen. and most recent
interps.) but arrogant, properly with the neck
thrown back comp. Ps. Ixxv. 6. ' Speak not with
220
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
a stifif neck,' comp. j'nj '^£33 Is. iii. 16), that is
proudly, as in all passages where the word occurs
(Ps. Ixxv. 5; xciv. 4; 1 Sam. ii. 3, n.n>l here).
So Luther already {stiff) and Rosenm." — C, A. B.]
IStr. VI. Ver. 19. Thou hast laid up.— Pe-
rowne: "Literally 'hidden,' comp. Ps. xvii, 4.
and ' the hidden manna,' Rev. ii. 17. This is the
love of God manifested to the soul in secret ; the
next clause tells of its open manifestation, ' Thou
hast wrought.' "
Ver. 20 Thou screenest them -with the
screen of Thy countenance from the con-
spiracies of men. — Hupfeld: '-This is here
naturally not as Job xxiv. 15, the screen with
which his countenance was concealed (mask),
but which the countenance of God afforded.
The countenance of God (usually in an evil sense
as Ps. xxi, 9) is here the ffracious presence of God
turned towards the pious in a friendly manner
{vid. Ps. iv. t)), and the source of all good [vid.
Ps. xvi. 2), particularly His protection, His
guarding countenance (comp. the eye of God. Ps.
xxxiii. 18; xxxiv. 15, comp. xxxii. 8.) as it
marched in the pillar of cloud and of fire with
the Israelites through the wilderness, Ex. xxxiii.
14, 15, which, therefore, in Is. iv. 5, 6 likewise
serves as a screen. Here this presence is in
connection with the figure of one seeking protec-
tion, whom God receives into His dwellint^ as a
guest, where he is 'before the face of God ; ' hence
a screen (properly hiding-place, latibulum=rXIinD
comp. Is. iv. 6 ; xxxii. 2) is attributed to him so
far as the dioelling -place of God is such, instead
of screen of His tent. Ps. xxvii. 6 (whence the
passage was probably derived), comp. the par-
allel n3p3 (as in Ps. xxvii. 6 ); thus mingling
it with tlie figure of a shelter." — C. A. B.]
Sir. VII. Ver. 21. In a strong city.— This
expression is usually taken as a figure of safety
either with the comparison omitted " as in a
strong city" (Symm., Stier), or the 3 is re-
garded as an expression of the comparison, "as
a strong city" (Hengst,). If we suppose that
there is a historical reference, it is more natural
to refer to Ziklag (Delitzsch) than Keila. It is
possible from the language to translate; in a
besieged city, which then can either be taken as
a figure of trouble or be referred to an actual
fact. It is taken in the latter reference by Hit-
zig who refers to Jer, xxxviii.
Ver. 22. [In my confusion. — Hupfeld:
"This is not my hasty flight (Hengst.) but in my
surprise, confusion, as Jerome in stupore meo,
Aquil. Ev -^afilSaaei, Symm. eKTrTijj^ei, Calv. in
prsecepitatione mea=perturbatione animi (which
then drives to hasty flight, but is not the flight
itself). It is the infin. constr. of Ti3n=to be
terrified, confused (comp. /HD) Deut. xx. 3
(with KT) 2 Sam. iv. 4, (D!|jS) 2 Kings vii. 15;
Job xl. 23; and only afterwards flee (as in the
Niphal=pi?3n)"-C. A.B.]— I am" cut off from
the presence of Thine eyes. — Instead of
"cut off" (^separated), which Delitzsch and
Hupfeld advocate, Hengst. and Hitzig transhite
after the Rabbins, Geier et al. "blotted out."
Str. VIII. Ver. 23. Jehovah keepeth
faith. — It is possible to translate this likewise :
Jehovah preserveth the faithful. (Chald., Jerome,
Rabbins, Calvin, et al.) finally Hupfeld. [So A.
V.]. Yet the parallelism does not force us to
regard this abstract as concrete. But this pre-
tended parallelism is rather produced by this
interpretation."*
[Ver. 24. All ye that wait. — Perowne.
"(The Psalm ends as Ps. xxvii.). Hope and
waiting are marks peculiarly of the Old Testa-
ment dispensation. Ic. is true even in the New,
one apostle writes, 'We are saved by hope.*
And another says, 'It doth not yet appear what
we shall be : ' but he adds what no believer in
the days of types and shadows could have said,
'We know that when He shall appear, we sliall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' Won-
derful indeed is the hopeful trust of the saints
ot old in God, vi^hen we remember that they did
not know Him as God manifest in the flesh. —
C. A. B."]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. "This Psalm is again a true song from the
depths as well according to the extent and
measure of the sufferings as the corres-
ponding experience of faith and grace: therefore
it is a song of the struggling Church and for (he
militant Church." (Taube), In severe troubles
those have a great consolation, who have pre-
viously gained not only the true knowledge, but
likewise the living knowledge of God and a per-
sonal experience of the blessings of trust in God
and communion with God. It is to them a true
help in prayer and serves to strengthen their faith,
as well as to awaken new Aopesand encourage to
perseverance. David " is in the position to give
God a name, which alone has already been a
mighty shield in the day of trouble. He names
Him the faithful God, has learned to know that
all other hopes previous to this, are vain, and
knows that God knows about him in the day of
need." (Tholuck).
2. The name of God says not only, who God
is, what God desires, what God does, but like-
wise reminds the souls of the pious of what they
have already received from Gc^d and what they
may always expect from God. They need mere-
ly to entreat it in faith and to accept it and ap-
propriate it in humility with thanksgiving.
There is connected with such a remembrance,
therefore, a refreshment and an encouragement.
John Huss strengthened himself on his way to the
stake by repeatedly praying from ver. 5 of this
Psalm. The same verse was the last word of
the dying Stephen, of Polycarp, of Basil the
Grgat. For many examples: vid. Geier and
Bake.
3. The soul often feels itself straitened by
bodily trouble ; and again anxiety of heart
causes likewise the body to fail. The only relia-
ble helper against both kinds of need is Jehovah,
the faithful God, whose government is as just as
it is gracious. He is the redeeming and the de-
livering God. It is therefore well done to com-
mit our spirits into the hands of this God even
* [Hengat., Ilitzig, Riehm and Alexander agree with
Moll ill his rendering. Riehm : " The clause is parallel not
with the first clause of the verse, hut with Ihe third as the
accusatives indicate, and forms the contrast to it, as in Ex.
xxxiv. 7." Perowne follows Hupfeld and the more au-
cient interpreters. — C. A. B.j
PSALM XXXI.
22J
with respect to the life of the body. The servant
of God thus declares not only his,piou8 disposition
and the wish to be preserved hy the power and grace
of God, but he likewise makes his deliverance sure.
For whether .he is externally about to die or to
live, his communion with God is strengthened and
sealed by this resignation, and thus he gains the
pledge, that ha has not taken refuge with God
in vain.
4. The true communion and closer union of the
pious with Jehovah constitute not only the
pledge of their deliverance, but at the same time
the foundation of their hopes and the means of
their realization. For on the one side they
know that they are internally and externally
separated from the worshippers of idols in all
things, by the fact that they hold fast to, wit-
ness to and strengthen this communion with
God by faith and trust in God in the severest
Bufferings and trials, amid the terrors which
surround them and in connection with the scorn
and threats of those who regard them as loat; on
the other side they continue to be mindful of
their sins as well as their weakness and are led
to communion with God in the strongest manner
even by this, that they have to base their deliv-
erance as well as their salvation not on their
own works and merits, but solely on the power
and grace of God and that they can safely expect
it from the faithfulness of God. Ut infinitum non
potest finiri, ita nee termini misericordise statui
(Savonarola).
5, There may certainly be times in the life of
pious men, when the countenance of God seems to
be turned away or veiled from them and the
feeling of the presence of God threatens almost
to vanish. In such gloomy times the more ear-
nestly the light of the Divine countenance is
sought and the more fervently the attestation of
the Divine presence, which alone comforts and
helps, is implored out of the experience of the
trouble of abandonment, the more manifestly is
disclosed to the soul, the faithfulness of God,
or the Being and Providence of God which are
eternally the same, the more vitally do the riches
of the Divine /M^nesa of power and grace present
themselves, the more powerfully does the re-
membrance of the self-evidencing miracle of the
distribution of these treasures work upon them.
Thus the confidence of trust in God returns, and
in the assurance of the hearing of prayer, the cry
for help is transformed into a song of praise
and the jorawe of the Lord is connected with the
exhortation of their companions to love God,
in thankfulness for His grace which has been
^previously shown to them; and the encourage-
ment to steadfastness in waiting upon God in the
view of His righteous Providence. The concep-
tion of the virtus iotius psalmi in the Gloss, ord.
is to narrow, " ne carnis fragilitas timeat tot mala
aeculi." Burk's divisions are more correct in
his Gnomon: '■^fiducia erga dominum declaratur ;
exercita earn promoventia narrantur ; preces ad do-
minum adduntur ; usus generalis exinde elictury
HOMTLETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Our confession says what we know and teach
about God; onr prayer, what we believe and hope
about God ; our life how we love and honor God.—
Our sins bring us to shame and disgrace, but not
so with our trust in God. — Man can do nothing
better than trust in God's faithfulness, build on
God's strength, look upon God's countenance. — He
who has God as his friend, need not fear the
crowd of his enemies ; God provides him a better
refuge than a fortified city. — A hearty trust in God
can only exist in connection with a sincere resig-
nation to God , both mutually strengthen one
another and lead to waiting for help and salva-
tion.— We can observe how the soul prospers
by that upon which it puts its confidence ; upon
what its love depends; upon what its hope is di-
rected. That man alone is helped, who not only
commits his external fortunes, but likewise his
spirit into the hand of God. — It is not enough to
have hopes in the mind; all depends to what they
are directed, upon what they are based, how long
they hold out — God sees not only our misery ; He
is concerned about our needs; He delivers, those
who trust Him from ruin; This is reason enough
for prayer, praise and thanksgiving, — The effects
of sin extend to the soul and the body ; but
God is the Redeemer and Helper in time of need;
this is experienced by those who believe on Him,
turn to Him, wait on Him. — We may know that
we are innocent towards men and appeal to the
righteousness of God to protect us against their
unrighteous treatment of us, and yet we must
c nfess ourselves guilty before God and console
ourselves with the grace of God. — For those who
fear God, there is not only laid up a treasure of
good things in the future, but God likewise im-
parts to them now out of these riches that which
i^ needful of grace. — Communion with God is the
tabernacle of safety for believers in all the trials
and dangers of life.
Starke: Believing hearts speak with their
God as a child with his father, secretly lament
their troubles to Him, are comforted by His al-
mighty protection and commit themselves to His
Divine government. — Although we may not pre-
scribe the time and hour of help to our God,
yet He allows us to call upon Him to hasten the
help, though with entire resignation to His will.
— He who allows himself to be led by human
advice and wisdom alone, often errs, but he who is
guided by the advice of God can accomplish great
things. If Satan and his followers have ventured
even to lay snares for our Redeemer, how much
more will he strive to do us harm? But he who
has the Lord of strength with him will not be
injured by him. — The impenitent know of no
true sorrow for sin ; but the penitent feel anxiety
of conscience so, that soul and body are often
nigh to death. — A true servant of God is not ex-
cluded forever from the light of grace, nor cast
out in the darkness. — God's chamber of grace
has many secret corners, in which our enemies
will be obliged to leave us alone. — Believers may
strengthen themselves and confirm their confi-
dence in God by a faithful use of the promises
of grace and a believing use of prayer.
Calvin : Nothing is more difficult when we see
our faith mocked by the whole world, than to di-
rect our words to God alone and to rest in the tes-
timony of our conscience that He is our God. —
OsiANDBR : Although we are sinners, yet we may
call upon God for help on account of the unren-
souableness of our enemies, when our cause is a
222
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
just one. — Selnekker : These are glorious con-
solatioQS to a godly man : 1) that God gives him
to know heavenly wisdom; 2) that He protects
him against all tyrants and all misfortunes ; 3)
that He gives him everlasting treasures and
everlasting goods, eternal life and eternal blessed-
ness.— Menzel: How shall suffering Christians
strengthen their confidence and their faith ?
David refers us : 1) to God's righteousness, 2)
to His strong power, 3) to the honor of His
name, 4) to His faithfulness and goodness, 5) to
his own example and experience. — We learn: 1)
what distresses and trials befall the believer ; 2)
that our dear Lord God does not reject His own
children on account of such weaknesses, but
spares them, and indeed can" sufi^er that they
pour out and lament their weaknesses befor.i
Him; 3) we should be careful not to meddle
with those who are plagued and troubled. —
Bake : Let us believe without guile, live with-
out guile, die without guile, and so we will
please God. — Arndt ; All temporal and eternal
consolation arises from this faith and hope, that
God is our God. — Where faith and love meet to-
gether and both depend on God, God cannot re-
fuse us anything. — Franke : If we had our
heart truly given to God, the world would soon
show itself displeased. — Frisch: To know one
in trouble is the mark of true friendship. The
pious David boasts this of our God. Make and
retain God as your friend; He knows your soul
in trouble. His knowledge is power, consola-
tion and life. — Tholuck: Great evil serves to
awaken in man the consciousness of sin. — The
faith of David sees not the number and power
of his enemies, but the hand of God alone,
which distributes to men their lots. Thus the
believer transacts his business in his chamber
with his God instead of with his enemies ; and
whilst they fancy that they are entirely safe, the
power of his prayers fights against them from
heaven. — Schaubach: It is so easy to explain
the word " trust:" it is not so difi&cult to believe
that the Almighty God is able to help out of
every trouble; but to be sure that the Lord will
and wishes to help likewise me and thee in every
affliction, in which we have fallen for the sake
of His honor, that will only be learned and ex-
ercised by true and manifold experience. —
Taube : How hope does not let a believer's heart
be ashamed even in the deepest need : 1) it im-
pels to prayer and supports prayer ; 2) it hopes
even under circumstances where nothing is to
be hoped ; 3) it is therefore so gloriously crowned
with the assurance of a hearing, that it praises
loudly and extols the wonderful goodness and
faithfulness of the Lord.
[Matth. Henry : They that have iu sincerity
avouched the Lord for theirs may expect the
benefit of His being so, for God's relations to
us carry with them both name and thing. — It is
the wisdom and duty of every one of us solemnly
to conamit our spirits into the hands of God to
be sanctified by His grace, devoted to His honor,
employed in His service, and fitted for His
kingdom. — Those know not how lo value their
hope in God who cannot find joy enough in that
hope to balance their grievances, and silence
their griefs. — Let those that are airy and gay
take heed of running into extremes, and never
set sorrow at defiance ; God can find out ways
to make them melancholy if they will not other-
wise learn to be serious. — Such swallow friends
the world is full of, that are gone in winter.
Let those that fall on the losing side not think
it strange if they be thus deserted, but make
sure a Friend in heaven that will not fail them,
and make use of Him. — There is enough in
God's goodness both for the portion and inheri-
tance of all His children, when they come to
their full age, and for their maintenance and
education during their minority. There is
enough in bank, and enough in hand. — The
saints are God's hidden ones. — Special preser-
vations call for particular thanksgivings —
Barnes: We shall live as long as God has ap-
pointed ; we shall pass through such changes as
He directs ; we shall die when and where and how
He chooses. In the faithful discharge of our
duty, therefore, we may commit all these things
to Him and leave all at His disposal. — Spur-
geon: Faith's repetitions are not vain. The
avowal of our reliance upon God in times of ad-
versity is a principal method of glorifying Him.
— In our most importunate intercessions, we
must find breathing time to bless the Lord;
praise is never a hindrance to prayer, but rather
a lively refreshment therein. — Better spend our
years in sighing than in sinning. — If we wan-
tonly give a portion of our strength to sin, it
will by and by take the remainder from us. —
We must not look for the reward of philanthro-
py this side of heaven, for men pay their best
servants but sorry wages, and turn them out of
doors when no more is to be got out of them. —
The sovereign arbiter of destiny holds in His
own power all the issues of our life; we are not
waifs and straws upon the ocean of fate, but are
steered by infinite wisdom toward our desired
haven. Providence is a soft pillow for anxious
heads, an anodyne for care, a grave for despair.
— We generally speak amiss when we are in a
hurry. Hasty words are but for a moment on
the tongue, but they often lie for years on the
conscience. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXXII.
228
PSALM XXXII.
A Psalm of David, Maschil.
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old
Through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:
My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah,
5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee,
And mine iniquity have I not hid.
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ;
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest
be found :
Surely in the floods of great waters
They shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place ; thou shalt preserve me from trouble ;
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go :
I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding :
Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,
Lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked :
But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous :
And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. Respecting
maskil vid. Introduction. This is the second of
the seven Penitential Psalms [vid. Ps. vi.]. It
was a favorite of Augustine. It is cited by the
Apostle Paul in Rom. iv. 6-8. According to
Luther it is " an extraordinary doctrinal Psalm,
which teaches us what sin is, how we may bo
free from it and be righteous before God. For
the reason knows not what sin is and thinks to
render satisfaction for it with works ; but he
Bays here that all the saints are likewise sinners,
and can be holy and blessed in no other way,
than by recognizing that they are sinners before
God, and that they are regarded as righteous be-
fore God by faith alone without merit and with-
out works." The doctrine however does not
appear here as a result of universal religious
consideration, but as an immediate result of per-
sonal experience. For the blessedness of the justified
sinner (vers. 1-2) is based upon the description
of a twofold experience, first the pain and distress
of the Psalmist so long as he held back his con-
fession of sins (vers. 8-4); then the forgiveness
of sins, directly received with the confession
of sins. On this foundation likewise arises not
only an encouragement of all those in the covenant
of grace to similar action in behalf of similar
blessings (ver. 5), but it takes directly in ver. 6,
a thoroughly jpersona^ turn in the description of
the saving consequences which are to be expected
in the future. Then comes the exhortation and
warning (vers. 8-9), that they may not be com-
pelled to, but may of their own accord take this way
to Go I ; and then the general contrast in the con-
sequences of pious and ungodly conduct (ver. 10).
224
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
These form the transition to the final summons
to rejoice (ver. 11), which is in a fox'm which re-
fers back to the beginning of the Psalm and thus
rounds off the whole. — The assertion of some
after Amyraldus, that this Psalm which like
Psalm I. begins. with "blessed" is yet in irre-
concilable conflict with it, because the blessed-
ness there appears as a reward of righteousness,
but here as a consequence of forgiveness of sins,
leaves out of view the circumstance, not only
that the same thing may be represented from
different stand-points without internal conflict,
but that already in the Old Testament the inter-
mediate members of these different representa-
tions, are in many ways brought into view, e. g.
that no flesh is righteous before God and no one
could stand before God if He should impute sin ;
that all human innocence and righteousness is
merely relative; that righteousness is not the
work of merit of the man himself, but a gracious
work of God, etc. However we must not overlook
that side of the Old Testament economy of salva-
tion which is here very striking, which is related
to the Qospel and in its direction. Hupfeld very
properly remarks, that the confession of sins in
itself, and indeed publicly expressed, was an
ancient Legal part of the sin offering (Lev. y. 6 ;
xvi. 21; Num. v. 7j, and that here this require-
ment of the law is merely made more internal,
as a requirement of the conscience, and is shown
in its internal necessity. — Related thoughts are
found in Prov. xxviii. 13; IJohn i. 8-9. — There
are no tenable grounds for giving up its compo-
sition by David and with Hitzig hit upon Jere-
miah. The prevailing supposition, that this
Psalm refers particularly to the great sin of
David with Bathsheba and against her husband,
is less certain. Venema already regarded its
circumstances as more general, and Stier, Clauss,
and Hitzig with De Wette find the circumstance
doubtful from the fact, that here the emphasis
is put upon the anxiety of conscience and the
free confession of sins which sprang from it,
whilst in 1 Sam. xii, 7 sq. this anxiety is not de-
scribed, and the confession follows the disclosure
of Nathan which shook him and chastised him.
Yet we may say with Hengst., that the address
of Nathan was not the cause, but the occasion of
the confession of David. Many particular fea-
tures of that history correspond entirely with
the Psalm, and the Psalm has grown entirely from
personal experience.* Delitzsch very well remarks
that the words of Augustine might be placed
as the motto of the Psalm : intcUigentia prima est,
ut te noris peccatorem. Selnekkcr narrates of
Augustine, that he " often read this Psalm with
weeping heart and eyes, and before his death
had it written upon the wall which was over
against his sick bed, that he might be exercised
and comforted by it in his sickness." There is
* [Ewald : " We must in any caae suppoBO that the poet
does not speiik during the change itself, but some time after-
wards, after having gained complete internal restnnd cheer-
fulness, looking over all that had transpired and the entire
Divine ordinances of grace. With this song ho concludes the
entire tragedy throuKh which his soul has passed. In this
respect the Psalm is particularly distinguished from Ps li.
whicfi was spoken durinp; the change, before he was entirely
calmed." Delitzsch: 'David was for an entire year after
hia sin of adultery as one damned in hell. In this hell
Ph. li. was composed, Pa. xxxii. however after his deliverance,
the former in the midst of his penitential struggle, the latter
after having gained internal peace.''— C. A. B.]
no historical support for the conjecture of Gro-
tius that this Psalm was the prayer of the Jewish
people on the great day of atonement,
Str. L Vers. 1-2. Blessed is he whose
transgression is taken away, etc. — Sin is here
designated by those three names, after Ex.
xxxiv. 7, whose etymologies lead to the ideas of
falling away or breaking faith, deviation or
failure and perversion (in usage frequently of
guilt). Their forgiveness is likewise mentioned
in three forms as lifting up, (to take away their
burden), as covering (whereby they are removed
from the eyes of the judge and therefore from
punishment), as not imputing (with reference to
their guilt). According to the grammatical
form, however, that which is designated as taken
away and covered is not, as usually elsewhere,
the sin, but the person of the sinner, "because
the forgiveness of sins is not merely a transac-
tion with men, but in men, in their personal
life." (Delitzsch). Ver. 2 b. mentions not the
sanctification of the heart (some more ancient
interpreters) as a fruit of justification, but con-
tains actually already the statement of the
condition of forgiveness of sins, particularly
carried out in the following verses, and is re-
garded by some (Isaki, Flamin., Seb. Schmidt,
Stier) as a conditional clause, but usually as a
relative clause.
Str. XL Vers. 3-4. For I kept silence, etc.
This silence is not the quiet and patience of con-
trition as the internal beginning of penitence
(Venema), but the holding back of confession of
sins as an effect and a manifestation of the guile
just mentioned. For although the Psalmist
howled and groaned (the same word is used as
in Ps. xxii. 1 ; hence there might be included
likewise lamentation and prayer in the cries of
anxiety and pain), during the long time in
which the chastening hand of God was heavy
upon him without interruption (day and night),
yet he failed to admit his guilt; and this silence
was the cause as well of the continuance of the
Divine chastisement as of the increase of his
torment of soul. It makes no essential differ-
ence whether the '3 of ver. 3, is translated like
the ""J of ver. 4 as giving the reason and ex-
planation "for" (Stier, Hengst., Hupf.) or as
introducing the following clause "because" or
"since" (Hitzig, Delitzsch). [The Rabbins,
Olsh., Ewald and the A. V. translate "when"
which gives a better sense. — C. A. B.]. In any
case ver. 3 carries out more clearly the funda-
mental thought expressed in vers. 1-2, so far as
it is based on personal experience. The "for"
takes up directly the thought involved in the
mention of guile and ver. 4 at all events gives
the reason of ver. 3. The Divine hand is the
efficient cause of the sufferings which affect at
the same time the body and the soul, the silence
is the conditional cause. In this connection it is
not probable, that the decay of the bones was
occasioned by the roaring (Delitzsch), or crying,
that is the bodily sickness by the violent ex-
pressions of sorrow (Hupf.) ; or that the anxiety
of conscience had produced in the Psalmist a
violent fever (Hitzig). The heat of summer into
which the sap of life becomes changed, might
much more easily be taken as a figurative de-
signation of anxiety and heat, which would after-
PSALM XXXII.
225
war.ls be regarded as the heat of Divine anger
(Sticr ; similarly Calvin, Geier, De Wette,
Hengst.). Yet it is more natural to supply a D
of comparison (Luther after Symra., Chald.) ; or
to suppose a silent comparison (Hupf. ); unless
it is preferred with Delitzsch to cake the 2 as
that of the condition, in which the change, that
is the deterioration, took place (Job xx. 14)
The meaning "sap of life" which most interpre-
ters after the Chald. and Aben Ezra, give to
IK' 7 and derive from the Arabic, is disputed by
Hengst. and Olsh. The former explains the
word of the heart, comp. Ps, cii. 4, properly, a
compact mass according to Num. xi. 8 ; the lat-
ter explains it of the tongue. The Vulgate after
the Sept. translates entirely different: conversus
sun in terumnam (corrected reading instead of
bRTumna mea) in infigendo spinam.
Sir. III. Ver. 5. [My sin I will make
known to Thee, and my guilt I did not
conceal, etc. Alexander: "Most interpreters
explain the future verb of the first clause as a
preterite, because all the other verbs of the first
clause ar? preterites; but this only renders the
future form of the first verb more remarkable,
and makes it harder to explain why a past tense
was not used in this, as in all the other cases, if
the writer intended t6 express past time. The
oaly consistent method of solution is to under-
stand the first clause as a reminiscence of the
Psalmist's resolution in the time of his distress,
repeated in the second clause, and in both cases
followed by a recital of the execution of his pur-
pose. (I said,) my sin I will make known to Thee
and my guilt I (accordingly) did not conceal, I
said, I will make confession to Jehovah. And Thou
didst take away the guilt of my sin." Moll trans-
lates as past with most interpreters.* The clauses
of this verse stand in beautiful contrast with
those of vers. 1, 2 in an inverse order. The sin
is acknowledged that it may not be imputed, the
iniquity is uncovered that it may be covered,
the transgression is confessed that it may be
taken away, which latter the closing clause of
the verse expresses with emphasis : And Thou,
Thou takest away, etc., thus turning back to the
opening clause of the Psalm. — C. A. B.] At
the close of this verse many ancient Psalteries
after Cod. Alex, of the Sept. have instead of
impietatem peccnti met, impietatem cordis met.
Str. IV. Ver. 6. Therefore let every fa-
voured one supplicate Thee at the time
of finding, — that is so long as it may ba found,
namely that which is sought, here grace (Ruding.,
De Wette, Hupf.),=time of grace (Ps. Ixix. 13 ;
la. xlix. 8; Ix. 1, 2), in which sense the Ara-
bic version translates: time of hearing; or
Jehovah, (Isaki, Calv., most interpreters), accor-
ding to Is. Iv. 6, comp Deut. iv. 29 ; Jer. xxix.
12-14; Ps. cxlv. 18, with essentially the same
sense, yet to be preferred on this account, be-
cause, what Hupfeld overlooks, this object may
easily be supplied from the 1"'Si< which is very
near, and prayer is a seeking God (Hitzig). Lu-
* [Perowae translivtes similarly to Alexander: "I cannot
see why it may not be designedly employed not to express
the past action, but the past resolve, the sentence being some-
what elliptical : ' (Then I thought, then I resolved) I would
ackaowledge.'"— C. A. B.l
16
ther after the Sept. explains, at the right time
Ewald, at the time of reaching, comp. aptus,
Uavdg. Knapp after Schroder, Schnurrer and
Michselis, leaving the connection of words given
by the accents, still seek the object of the find-
ing in the following p*!, to which after an
Arabic etymology they give the meaning of "com-
passion. But this verb is the usual adverb,
yet not merely a particle of limitation and ex-
ception, but likewise of general contrast and
hence of contrary assertion or assurance (Hup-
feld).— That the flood and waves in general have
become a figure of great trouble and danger,
particularly of Divine punishments, has with the
geographical position and geological formation
of Palestine, its ground and reason in the Flood.
There is no occasion however with Hengst. to
think particularly of that, here. — The "there-
fore " at the beginning cf the verse is usually
after the Chald. and Calvin regarded as a state-
ment of the motive; others however after the
Vulg. and Luther find expressed here the object
of the supplication and translate : for this.
Ver. 7. Here there is an assonance scarcely
to be mistaken. If 'ill is genuine and not to be
derived from the last three letters of 'JlVJl as a
repetition according to J. D, Mich., Jahn and
Hitzig, then we must suppose, that the infinitive
p Job xxxviii. has here been treated as a sub-
stantive and that the £37«3, which is likewise
made a substantive, is the second member
of the Btat. const. The expression, " sur-
rounded with shouts of deliverance " is un-
usual, it is true, yet it is inadmissible to seek
in "shouting" a metonymy instead of salvation
or grace (Olsh., Hupfeld). We may either think
of the congratulations and songs of praise of those
who participate in the celebration (or even who
share in the deliverance) (Stier), or of the mani-
fold deliverances with the occasions for shouting
which flow together at the same time from all
sides (Calvin, Geier, Hengst.). The Vulg. and
Sept. are entirely different : Thou art my exulta-
tion, deliver me from those who surround me.
Sir. V. Ver. 8. I will instruct thee.—
Most of the older interpreters, even Luther and
Seb. Schmidt, among recent interpreters Clauss,
Stier, finally Hitzig, regard vers. 8 and 9,
Ewald at least ver. 8, as the words of God,
wherein the most particular protection and the
most faithful spiritual preservation and guid-
ance are promised to the sinner who has turned
to God and received pardon. Almost all recent
interpreters however, with Calvin and Geier, re-
gard these verses as the words of David, which
point all sinners to the God, who has pardoned
him, comp. Ps. li, 14. — Will give advice (di-
recting) mine ey6 upon thee. — Ewald trans-
lates'this with the Sept. " I will fix my eye upon
thee," and rejects the meaning of advice, here.
[Hupfeld contends that there is here an instance
of a double subject of the person and the instru-
ment, as in Ps. iii. 5. The use of /;? comes
from a verb of watching, preserving and protecting
which is understood. He translates, mine eye
is to advise (watch advising) over thee. Pe-
rowne, regards the words " mine eye upon thee"
as merely added as "a further explanation of
226
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
the manner in which the counsel would be given.
According to the accents, however '^ly must
be connected with ny^''>{, 'I will consult upon,
or concerning thee, i. e. for thy good ; ' and then
"•J'i^, ' with mine eye,' will be equivalent to
» watching thee with mine eye.' " The transla-
tion of Moll is, however, better,— C. A. B.]
Ver. 9. In bridle and bit {consists) its har-
ness to tame it, {they will) not approach
thee. — Hitzig again upon Ezek. xvi. 7 contends
for the meaning of cheek for HJ/ and translates
here with Sept., Vulg., Aben Ezra; whose
cheek to constrain with bridle and bit, (then he
changes the vowels and translates: rather draw
thyself in, rein thyself in). Luther has, " in the
mouth" as he renders the same word in Ps. ciii.
6, likewise as "mouth," where the Sept. reads
kTTL-dv[iLav and others advise otherwise, sometimes
even to accept two entirely diflFerent words in
these two passages. Ewald, who would change
the vowels and explain by the Arabic, Delitzsch
who translates the ambiguous "bit," waver, yet
incline to the same explanation. Ewald trans-
lates : "bit and bridle must shut the cheeks of
those who draw near to thee unfriendly," and
finds in the second supplementary clause like-
wise the easier transition in the address to God,
which formerly most interpreters found here,
yet it is very improbable, since the expression
leads much more to the continuance of the de-
scription of that natural shyness and wildness,
which prevents animals from approaching men.
There is certainly no reference here to an approach
for the purpose of injuring, which some after the
Kabbins find here, but of a warning and exhor-
tation not to be like the irrational and obstinate
animals, which do not approach men unless tamed
by compulsory means. The application of the
figure is left to the reader, and the address,
which in ver. 9 a had gone over into the plural,
has returned to the singular, in order that every
individual may be referred with the more empha-
sis to his own person and experience Since /D
is used elsewhere only with the finite verb, but
here follows an infinitive or a noun, perhaps the
verb has been left off; thus, (they will) not ap-
proach thee; or, approach to thee (does) not
(occur). The first is preferable, because with
the second, an " else " must be inserted in order
to be clear, as already Seb. Schmidt. If it
were not for the difificulty of the construction of
73, the asyndet. clause might be resolved simply
by: because or, if. Calvin finds very properly
in the comparison, actually two things: sham-
ing by the reproachful comparison and at
the same time the fruitlessness of the opposition.
As concerns the disputed HJ^, it may be de-
rived with Hupfeld from mj^ (=:rdraw in) and
means then not so much "ornament" (in
connection with which ancient interpretation
Stier and Hengst. find an irony expressed) as
rather "harness," as already the Chald. para-
phrases. Jerome shares with the other more
ancient translators the view of fastening to-
gether the jaws of those who do not approach
thee, with bit and bridle. Instead of the im-
perative, which most ancient interpreters have
after the Cod. Vatic, of the Sept., the Psalter
Roman, reads after the Cod. Alex, of the Sept.,
the finite verb, namely constringes=ay^e/g.
Str. VI. Ver. 10. Many pains, 6tc. — Instead
of "pains," that is, plagues, as Ex. iii. 7, many
older interpreters, after the Sept, and Vulgate,
have "scourges." [Perowne : " The usual con-
trast between the lot of the ungodly and that of
the righteous, as the sum of all that has been
said, and as a great religious axiom." — C, A, B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Those are truly to be considered happy who
really have received God's forgiveness of sins ^ so
that the burden of their transgressions no longer
presses them to the ground and their conscience
is no longer troubled, because punishment for
them is no longer threatened and their guilt is
no longer imputed to them. How unhappy then
must those be who retain this burden, are in
constant expectation of the coming judgment,
and must regard the punishment as well-deserved
and unavoidable, because the sinner cannot him-
self blot out his guilt, but God is the impartial
Judge and the infallible Bewarder, and even
now before the final judgment does not allow
men to pin unpunished and deceive themselves,
although the sinner may cherish deceit in his
spirit and hypocritical excuses,
2, The deceit, with which a sinner would cover
over, conceal and excuse either the presence or
the greatness, or the ill-desert of his sins from
himself and others, does not afford any real
relief or any true justification, but brings on
the opposite of the blessed experience of for-
giveness of sins, namely the painful feeling of
the pressure of the strong hand of God, pressing
upon him, and the torment of anxiety of con-
science, which consumes the sap of life. For sins
can not be brought to a dead silence, and the
conscience cannot be hushed up by false pre-
tences. Even prayer no longer comforts and
refreshes the man who cries to God in his
anguish, yet is silent before God respecting his
sins. He will only become the weaker, even in
body, the more he toils in this inconsistency,
that he strives to conceal the true cause of his
misery from the Omniscient Searcher of hearts,
and yet craves relief from his troubles. His
sins will not be brought into forgetfulness by
intentionally not thinking of them ; and they
will not remain xinpunished although he is full
of self- deception and does not consider or weigh
the consequences of deception. Hengstenberg
remarks very properly : " Deception found in
David, notwithstanding the enormity of his
transgressions, sufficient points of contact, as
always, where the heart is inclined to rely upon
them. He had not sought the first sin, but the first
occasion to it had been afforded him. It must
have been very natural for a king, especially an
Oriental, to measure himself in this respect by
a special rule. That which was connected with
this transgression might very easily present
itself more in the light of a sad event than of a
severe guilt." The following remarks of the
same scholar are likewise worthy to be pondered:
" The roots of this deception, which we meet
immediately after the Fall, are pride, lack of
trust in God and love of sin. Many are thereby
PSALM XXXII.
227
prevented from any knowledge of their sins ;
in their misery they are satisfied in a Pelagian
self-deception and regard themselves as very
excellent. Others exhibit the first beginnings
of true knowledge of sin, but do not attain the
desired end, because deception does not allow
them to attain to the knowledge of the great ex-
tent of their evil. Likewise those who really
have attained to a state of grace are very much
troubled by deception in the salvation of for-
giveness of sins, in the possession of which they
have come by sincerity of heart. What exposes
them particularly to this temptation, is their
stern view of sin and its condemnation by God
and the consciousness of the grace received
from God and their condition. Nature struggles
violently against the gre;it humiliation which
accompanies to them the knowledge and confes-
sion of their sins. Therefore it is necessary to
take deeply to heart these words : Well for those
whose sins are taken away, etc, which David
utters from his own painful experience of the
misery, which accompanies the sins which are
not forgiven on account of deception of
heart."
3. The only way to gain true forgiveness of
sins, aud the sure way, is therefore, the thorough
knowledge and penitent confession of sin ; for this
leads first to seek and then to find the grace of
God. "Since I would not confess that I was
nothing but a sinner, my conscience had no rest,
so that I must confess and trust alone in the
goodaess of God." (Luther, marginal note). —
"This must, however, take place with true sin-
cerity of heart, and indeed in all things, that we
are altogether guilty before God, that we must
stop our mouths and charge ourselves as great
sinners before God, in accordance with all the
commandments of God, that we are ruined alto-
gether, through and through and in and out."
(Bogatzki). Such a feeling of true contrition
and entire condemnation before God in a peni-
tent sinner is very diflFerent from the anxiety of
soul in a despairing man, as Cain and Judas,
where the confession of sin is entirely separated
from faith in the possibility of forgiveness, and
which, moreover, has not the character of a
penitent confession of sin flowing forth from an
awakened heart, but more that of an admission
forced by circumstances and anguish. "Let us
make it very clear, that failk is a necessary part
of true and genuine penitence, that without
some remnant of trust and faith in God the
penitent sinner could never approach God in
prayer ; then will we see that there is still an-
other kind of impenitence (namely rudeness and
dullness of conscience), where not so much the
bites of conscience as faith is lacking, where
the terrified conscience feels the guilt very well,
and even on this account, because it is so deeply
felt, fears to make confession of it before God "
(Tholuck). Sometimes there is a long interval
before the internal conflict is ended and the in-
terchange ceases of those conditions of soul in
which accusations and excuses struggle with one
another (Rom. i. 15). But God Himself comes
to the help of the struggling soul by at once
awarding forgiveness, by His grace, to the sin-
cere confession of sin ; that is, adjudging it and
imparting it. Absolution follows confession.
But where there is forgiveness of sins there is
likewise life and blessedness.
4. The personal experience of these states of
the soul impels first to an impressive de-
scription of them, and then has in itself aU
ready not only an interesting, touching and
edifying, b(it even a typical character. More-
over, if the subject of these experiences regards
himself on the one side as a member of the con-
gregation, on the other side as a servant and in-
strument of God, this description will be en-
larged in part to a representation of the general
and similar condition of all who are similarly dis-
posed, partly will pass over into a direct claim
upon his companionsy as well in admonition and
warning as in consolation and encouragement,
yes, will change into a punitive and threatening
address to stiff-necked and stubborn sinners.
Hengst. very properly remarks, that it must have
been infinitely more difficult under the Old Cove-
nant to elevate oneself to the confidence of for-
giveness than- under the New Covenant, where
we behold the mercy of God in Christ and the
ground of our justification in His merits. He
draws this earnest conclusion from the above :
"If we delay to takejour refuge in the pardoning
grace of God, our guilt is far greater than that
of David."
6. Since God's infallible punishment follows
upon unforgiven sins, which like a flood will
break irresistibly upon the sinner, they must
seek the forgiveness of sins at the right time,
that is, whilst ^race is to be found. And since
the pains which are prepared for the ungodly
are great and numerous, and man as such is not
an irrational and senseless beast, it is as foolish
as it is ruinous, and as unworthy as it is unwise,
to seek the gracious hand of God only after the
arm of the Lord has laid hold upon us in pun-
ishment. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Manasseh
are historical examples, how God compels and
subdues those who will not hearken to His word.
It is better to follow willingly than by compul-
sion.
6. He who uses sincerely the time appointed
for penitence, seeks and finds the forgiveness of
sins in the way pointed out to him by God, and
as a man now justified puts his trust immovably
and truly upon God, will not only find one de-
liverance, but will remain preserved in the future
likewise, surrounded and protected by grace, and
will make his joyful thanks to be heard, sound-
ing forth and reechoing without cessation in the
shouts of a company surrounding him and prais-
ing God. "The joyful exclamation of ver. 1 is
only a feeble beginning of the song which re-
sounds after the preservation from the last
anxiety. We can see, finally, how the selah,
strikingly placed thrice, vers. 4, 6, 7, divides
exactly the three stages of anxiety, before the
wrath of Ood, the confession unto forgiveness,
the joy in complete deliverance" (Stier). There
is opened for those who are justified by grace
an unlimited prospect of an abiding salvation and
an eternal joy.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
How God awakens the slumbering conscience,
comforts it when terrified, blesses it when calmed.
228
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
— The threefold confession of the pious : 1) that
he is punishable for his sins and liable to the Divine
judgment; 2) that he has obtained forgiveness of
sins through the grace of God ; 3) that he is to
thank God forever for this. — The forgiveness of
sins: 1) who neecf it ? 2) who mjsar^s it? 3) who
receive it?— The wretchedness of those who conceal
their sins ; the blessedness of those who confess
them. — Deception and sincerity of heart: 1) their
characteristics, 2) their consequences. — As we have
appropriated our sins, in confessing them as our
own, so we must likewise appropriate grace, that
we may thereby be justified and blessed. — How
necessary and salutary it is to confess our sins,
1) sincerely, 2) at the right time, 3) in trust in
God's mercy. — The salutary comparison of our
spiritual experience in the state of forgiveness
with those which we previously experienced
under the pressure of sin. — It is well for those
who do not deceive themselves, 1) with respect to
their guilt, 2) with respect to their forgiveness.
Starke : Instruction respecting the justifica-
tion of a poor sinner: 1) the advantageous con-
dition of justification ; 2) the way in which it is
attained ; 3) the necessary conduct afterwards.
— There is no greater treasure than forgiveness
of sins ; for where there is no sin there is no
wrath of G>od, no curse of the law, the devil
cannot injure, death cannot strangle, hell cannot
swallow up. — Our righteousness is not that we
have no sins, or have sufficient good works, but
that God forgives our sins (Isa. xliv. 22). — God
alone makes the righteous blessed in heaven,
and penitence alone makes the sinner blessed on
earth. — All the pious know from their own ex-
perience that it is not so easy to suppress the
wickedness of the heart ; hence their daily cry-
ing and murmuring against sin. — Sin is like a
violent fever ; as long as its heat remains within
it consumes the bowels; but when it breaks out
upon the lips, it is a sure sign of health. — Do
not postpone your penitence, but take heed of
the right time ; for the time of grace is not in
the power of any man, the enemy is not idle,
death does not tarry. — Peace with God causes a
pious man in all his adversities to be comforted
and joyous. — The sincere in heart can never
lack reason and impulse to glorify and praise
God. — Lange : Although man cannot by his own
will make himself fit for the kingdom of God,
yet he should not misuse prevenient grace by
resisting it. — It is a well-deserved punishment
to be chastised by anxiety of conscience ; it is a
good thing when it leads to penitent knowledge,
consequently likewise to the forgiveness of sins.
OsiANDEK : There is no more certain help and
no stronger protection than to have a gracious
God. — Selnekker: Silence injures the soul and
has no consolation. — An evil conscience, which
feels its sins and the wrath of God, is a pain of
all pains. — The true joy of the godly is the
Lord Himself. — Menzbl : To be holy and pray
/or forgiveness of sins appears to be almost
absurd, yet we must learn properly to under-
stand it. — Christians should be instructed by
the word of God: 1) to know themselves, 2) to
believe in Christ, 3) to lead a godly life. —
Frisch: Of the blessedness of a justified sin-
ner: 1) In what it consists ; 2) whence it arises;
3) to whom it properly belongs ; 4) what par-
ticularly are its consequences. — With earthly
judges it is: repent and be hanged. But it is
very different with God's judgment. — He who
would be saved, must betake himself to the
order of salvation.— Franckb : He who imagines
that he has faith and yet has not tasted of any
true penitence of heart, has no real faith, but is
deceived. But where there is no faith, there is
likewise no forgiveness of sins. — Umbreit: The
impenitent heart of the sinner must be broken,
the deceit with which he conceals his transgres-
sions from God and seeks to palliate and excuse
to himself by lying thoughts, must depart from
his spirit ere he can be entirely sure of forgive-
ness of sins in his own soul. — Diedrich : Not
to be willing to trust in the Lord God, since He
has promised complete forgiveness, is the'worst
kind of ungodliness ; but to confess all to Him
in confidence is well-pleasing to Him. — Taube :
Our God is much more inclined to forgive us our
sins, than we are inclined to confess them and
pray for His grace.
[Matth. Henry: The forgiveness of sin is
that article of the covenant which is the reason
and ground of all the rest. — Some inward trouble
is required in repentance, but there is much worse
in impenitency. — We must confess sin with shame
and holy blushing, with fear and holy trembling.
— You may as soon find a living man without
breath, as a living Christian without prayer. — It
is our honor and happiness that we have under-
standing, that we are capable of being governed
by reason, and of reasoning with ourselves. Let
us, therefore, use the faculties we have and act
rationally. — Where there is, renewing grace,
there is no need of the bit and bridle of restrain-
ing grace. — Barnes : The pardoned man has
nothing to fear, though flood or fire should
sweep over the world. — The feeling that we are
pardoned fills the universe with melody, and
makes the heaven and the earth seem to us to
be glad. The Christian is a happy man; and
he himself being happy all around him sympa-
thizes with him in his joy. — Woruswortu: God
is deaf to the bowlings of the impenitent, but
the least whisper, and even the unexpressed
aspiration of the contrite heart, are a roaring
to Him. — God covereth the sin of bim who doth
not cover his own sin. — The effect of God's eye
on the tender heart, is expressed in the touching
words of the Evangelist, " The Lord turned and
looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the
word of the Lord; and Peter went out and wept
bitterly" (Luke xxii. 61, 62). St. Peter's eyes
streamed with tears, responsive to the piercing
glance of the Divine eye of Christ. — Spurgeon:
What a killing thing is sin ! It is a pestilent
disease ! A fire in the bones ! While we smother
our sin it rages within, and like a gathering
wound swells horribly and torments terribly. —
Alas for a poor soul when it has learned its sin
but forgets its Saviour, it goes hard with it in-
deed.— .When the soul determines to lay low and
plead guilty, absolution is near at hand. — 0,
dear reader, slight not the accepted time, waste-
not the day of salvation. — We ought to be as a
feather in the wind, wafted readily in the breath
of the Holy Spirit ; but alas ! we lie like motion-
less logs, and stir not with heaven itself in view.
Those cutting bits of affliction show how hard-
PSALM XXXTII.
229
mouthed we are, those bridles of infirmity mani-
fest our headstrong and wilful manners. —^Reader,
what a delightful Psalm ! Have you, in peru-
sing it, been able to claim a lot in the goodly
land? If so, publish to others the way of sal-
vation.— C. A. B.]
PSALM XXXIIL
1 Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous :
For praise is comely for the upright.
2 Praise the Lord with harp :
Sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing unto him a new song ;
Play skilfully with a loud noise.
4 For the word of the Lord is right ;
And all his works are done in truth.
5 He loveth righteousness and judgment :
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made ;
And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap :
He layeth up the depth in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord :
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him :
9 For he spake, and it was done ;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought :
He maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever.
The thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord;
And the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The Lord looketh from heaven ;
He beholdeth all the sons of men.
14 From the place of his habitation he looketh
Upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashioneth their hearts alike ;
He considereth all their works.
16 There is no king saved by the multitude of a host ;
A mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
17 A horse is a vain thing for safety :
Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him.
Upon them that hope in his mercy;
19 To deliver their soul from death.
And to keep them alive in famine.
280
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord:
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in him,
Because we have trusted in his holy name.
22 Let thy mercy, 0 Lord, be upon us,
According as we hope in thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Arrangement of the Contents — The pioua
members of the congregation are summoned to
give to the Lord the praise due unto Him (vers.
1-3). This is based upon a reference to the
nature of the word and work of God (vers.
4, 5), the Almighty Creator and Preserver (vers.
6, 7j, as well as the Ruler of all the world, who
is to be feared (vers. 8, 9) In contrast with
the thoughts of men, His eternal and unchange-
able decrees are victoriously carried out in his-
tory (vers. 10, 11), therefore the people chosen
by Him for His own, are to be called happy (ver.
12), The Omniscient King of heaven observes
all things (vers. 13-15) ; worldly power is not
the cause of victory and of deliverance (vers. 16,
17), but the eyes of the Lord are directed upon
the pious for their deliverance and preservation
(vers. 18, 19) ; hence waiting and trusting in
Him are essentially the work of the members of
His congregation, and this expresses itself as
well in thankful confession as in joyous hope and
confident jora?/«r (vers. 20-22). With this closing
clause the movement of thought returns to its
beginning, which has the closest relation with
the closing words of the preceding Psalm. From
this may be explained the position of this Psalm
in its present order in the book, yet it hardly
shows that these two Psalms originally belonged
together (Venema), or are a pair of Psalms
(Heugst.), although the tiile which is usually
appended in this book is absent here, which is
the case only in the first two Psalms and in Ps.
X. \yid. these Psalms for the reasons of this. —
C. A. B.]. For Psalm xxxii. has its source in
the personal experience of an Israelite who was
previously impenitent, yet was pardoned after
having confessed his sins, and it maintains this
character of individual testimony even where it
passes over from the description of the contrasted
conditions and experiences into a summons to
all his companions to give personal expression
to similar experiences, under similar treatment
in similar circumstances, by praising God. The
present Psalm, on the other hand, moves through-
out in the tone of a hymn determined for the
congregation as such, which has its foundation in
the happy feeling of security of the people, who
know that they are chosen and guided by the
Creator and Ruler of the whole world as His own
people. With this thorough-going difference of
circumstances and character it is unimportant
that this Psalm has twice as many verses as the
previous Psalm, and that its fundamental thought
appears immediately at the end of the first half
of the Psalm.*
* [However different these two Psalms may be in some re-
spects, yet the close resemblauce and the frequently recur-
ring references in expressions and in sentiment to the previ-
OOB Psalm, favor the idea that the two Psalms were originally
Str.l. [Ver. 1. Praise is comely.— Hupfeld:
" This means that it is their duty as well as that
it redounds to their honor and is an ornament,
just as on the contrary, silence is to their shame :
because they alone have a peculiar experience of
the glorious government of God, and so they
alone are fitted for this."
Ver. 2. Upon a ten stringed harp play-
to Him. — For the musical instruments vid. In-
troduction. The A. V. improperly makes a
separate clause for an instrument of ten strings.
— G. A. B.]
Ver. 3. Play "well. — This expression (comp.
1 Sam. xvi. 17 ; Isa. xxiii. 16) is given a too
narrow reference by some interpreters, after the
Sept., to the skill, by others, after Symm., to the
power of the execution. The new song is one not
heard before. Such an one may spring from a
fresh impulse of the heart (Stier), since God's
glory is new every morning (Hengst.), without
necessarily distinguishing itself by its origi-
nality, or taking its materia,! ever, as Ps. xL 4
and Rev. v. 9, from a new occurrence. There-
fore it is a false conclusion to suppose that this
expression has been afterwards reduced to an
insignificant formula, because it occurs in such
Psalms as xcvi., xcviii., cxlix. And the conjec-
ture, that the Psalm might refer to the disap-
pearance of the Scythians, Zeph. iii. 15 (Hit-
zig), may be connected externally with vers. 5,
10, 16, but cannot be derived from these rerses,
nor be supported by a comparison of ver. 6 with
Jer. ix. 23, or vers. 13, 14 with Ps. xiv, 2, which
comparisons though ingenious are violent. Nor
can it be explained by the reference of ver. 4
to Ps. xxxii. 8, where it is said that Jehovah's
counsel and protection are promised, nor can it
be made probable by the remark that is made,
that the flood mentioned in Ps. xxxii. 6, which
passed away without harm for the entire people,
might b? referred to the same inroad, since Ps.
xxxii. takes consideration of a hostile invasion,
and Ps. xxxiii. 1 is connected without title with
Ps. xxxii. 11, and the perfect in Ps. xxx. 10 in-
dicates a particular event, probably of the recent
past, a mighty deed of the national God. No
more is the design of this "new" song to be re-
garded, with the more ancient interpreters, as
for use at a sacrificial feast, especially as H^nn
one, but were afterwards separated for use in the congregar
tion. The first verse of this Psalm takes up directly the
sentiment and words of the closing verse of the previous
Psalm. The references in Str. II. to the justice and goodness
of Gnd fully accord with these sentiments. The reference to
the Divine power in the creation and government of the
world is natural in this connection, where the penitent is
rejoicing in the forgiveness of sins, especially i.s the two
ideas are brought together in an inverse order in Psalm xix.
It is not unimportant that ver. 12 ascribes the same blessed-
ness to the nation and people as wua ascribed to the indi-
vidual at the beginning of Ps. xxxii. The terms and senti-
ments of vers. 16 sq. are in accordance with Ps. xxxii. 8, 9.
And the final expreseions of hope and trust in Jehovah's
holiness and mercy form a proper conclusion to the seatk
ments of both Psalms. — C. A. BJ
PSALM XXXIII.
281
does not mean " sound of trumpets " (De Wette),
but merely shouting. Comp. Ps. xxvii. 6.
Sir. II. Ver. 6. The predicates, "just and up-
right or honest," are not to be taken as a later
designation of the Israelites in general (Maurer),
but as an address to the (rue members of the
congregation (Hengst., Hupf. ), yet so, that the
national contrast of the people of God with
heathen nations is at the same time indicated
by this e&pression which characterizes the
destiny of Israel. Comp. Num. xxiii. 10.
Sir. III. Ver. 6. Breath of His mouth.—
The connection of these two expressions and
their relation to the former half of the verse do
not permit the direct reference of ancient inter-
preters to the hypostatic Spirit of God. But the
unmistakable reference to the history of creation,
is as clearly against the modern limitation of this
expression to the meaning of utterance which
is synonyvions with the word Isa. xi. 4. And so,
if the interpretation of ruach as breath is to be
retained, we must yet think of the creative
Omnipotence and breath of life, Job xxvii. 3;
xxxiii. 4; Ps. civ. 30 (I^engst.), and the relative
expressions are only synonymous " in so far as
there is rendered prominent in dabar not only
the creative power, but likewise wisdom (Jer.
X. 12 ; Prov. iii. 19), whilst in ruach peh particu-
larly the vitalizing power embraced in the form
of the word (the operative breath from God's
own internal nature)." (Stier).
Ver. 7. He gathereth the w^aters of the
sea together as a heap. — Tbe Hebrew par-
ticiples in this and the following clause might
in themselves be translated by the perfect as
well as by the present. The structure of the
clause, however, in its relation to the previous
verse favors the latter. For since Jehovah is
not the subject of the previous verse, a close
connection of the participle with it and at the
same time a limitation to the fact of the Crea-
tion, which happened once for all, are excluded,
although even the chosen expressions likewise
take their departure in part from this fact. The
clause is independent and expresses an abiding
and characteristic action of God ; similar to
ver. 6. This is likewise favored by the follow-
ing expressions. For the comparison of the
waters of the sea with a heap of sheaves (Isa.
xvii. 11 decides for this meaning) reminds us
of the narrative of Ex. xv. 8, likewise Jos. iii. 13,
16; Ps. Ixxviii. 13, mentioning with the same
expression the towering up of the waters by a
miracle of Divine Omnipotence in the passage
of the Israelites through the Red Sea. But
here this fact as such is not mentioned, but by
the choice of words the idea is called forth of
the waters of the high sea, swelling up above
jet held firmly together by the Omnipotence of
God. There is no reference in the first half of
the verse to limitations such as those formed by
the banks and the beds of the waters. If with
Cleric, and Hupf. an additional thought is added
under the figure of parietes horrei, whilst it is in
other respects a true explanation, it displaces
the point of comparison given in the text. In
the translation of Ewald, Luther and all ancient
interpreters, "as in a bottle," we must read
nod [1j=n«J] instead of ned [13], the correct
meaning of which was already given by €alvin
and Ruding. after the Rabbins. Under the
" bottle " was often understood the clouds, and
then they thought of the upper or heavenly
waters. Hitzig likewise refers this passage
to this heavenly ocean (Job ix. 8), which accord-
ing to Job xxvi. 8, by dint of the Omnipotence
of God, is borne by the clouds without their
being torn, and this although he translates : He
restrains as with a dam. For whilst a real dam is
placed to the earthly sea, whose character afi^ords
reason to wonder at the greatness of God, (Jer.
V. 22), here a comparison is expressed. At the
same time Hitzig lays emphasis upon the close
connection which arises from this explanation
with ver. 6, and upon the circumstance, that
elsewhere likewise (Job xxxviii. 22; Jer. x. 13;
Sir. xliii. 14) only the heavenly reservoirs are
called treasury, as here in the second half of the
verse. And so he refers this half likewise to the
heavenly waters. But Dinjl, which, apart from
the history of the Creation and the Flood, is only
found in poetical pieces, denotes constantly the
roaring and unfathomable depth. However, it
is not necessary, therefore, with the Babbins, to
think of the waters under the earth, according to
Gen. vii. 11. The reference in both halves of
the verse is to floods of the sea, which in their
apparent irregularity are subjected by God's
power to His will (Jer. v. 22), and are held to-
gether and stored up for the purposes of the Di-
vine household.
Str. IV. 9. For He said and it was.— [The
He is emphatic in this and the following clause].
This verse refers back to the omnipotence of
God shown in the Creation (most interpreters,
with the ancient translations), as a motive for
all men to fear such a God as this. To take it
as present (Luther, De Wette, Delitzsch) con-
founds application with interpretation. The
supposition that this verse refers to the same
fact, which is more clearly given in ver. 10 (Hit-
zig), and relates to an event which only recently
occurred (Venema), arises from the presumption
which has not been proved, that a special histo-
rical occurrence like this was the occasion of this
song. In connection with this interpretation,
Hitzig understands by the hunger mentioned in
ver. 19, real hunger, which took place after that
the people of the country had been pressed lo-
gether into the strong cities (Jer. viii. 14; iv.
5), This expression, however, may be more
easily taken as a designation of great need and
peril of death in general, as Ps. xxxiv. 10 sq.;
xxxvii. 19; Job v. 20, and often in the Pro-
phets.
[Sir. V. Vers. 10-11. Perowne: "After speak-
ing of God's power in Creation, the Psalmist goes
on to speak of His Providence as ordering the
world. There is a manifest antithesis between
' the counsels and the thoughts ' of men which
Jehovah brings to naught, and ' the counsels and
thoughts' of Jehovah which abide forever."
Ver. 12. Alexander: *' This is the centre of
the whole Psalm, the conclusion from what goes
before, and the text or theme of all that follows.
Under the general proposition is included a par-
ticular felicitation of Israel as the actual choice
and heritage of God, i. e., chosen to be His, in a
peculiar sense, by hereditary succession, through
a course of ages." — C A. B.]
232
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Sir. VI. [Vers. 13, 14. From His Providence
the Psalmist passes over to His Omniscience.
Comp. Pss. xi. 4; xiv. 2.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 16. Former of their hearts all at
once. — The reference here is not to governing
the heart (Luther) as in Prov. xxi. 1 ; Jer. x. 23.
By emphasizing (he participle (Hengst., Delitz.)
there is gained the idea of a continued and essen-
tial activity of God ; but the word itself and the
context lead not to a DWin^influence with respect
to forming the thoughts oi the heart, but only to
the creative formation of the heart. The over-
looking and judicial activity of God described in
vers. 13, 14, God exercises in the twofold ca-
pacity stated in ver. 15. If IIT' stood at the be-
ginning of the verse as Ps, xlix. 3, 11, it would
have to be referred with Hupfeld to both clauses
in the signification of pariter ac. Its present po-
sition, however, is in favor of the usual mean-
ing ; all at once, altogether. The Vulgate ren-
ders this idea of being without exception, by
singillatim after the Sept, Kara fi6vag, whilst the
plural Kapdiag is put instead of the singular.
Sir. VIL Ver. 16. The king is not helped.
— The article before melech makes the translation
"no king" (De Wette [A. V.]) inadmissible.
The particle of negation is to be referred to the
participle with strong emphasis. Comp. Ewald,
I 821, a.
[Ver. 17. The horse is a delusion for help.
— Alexander: "The horse meant is the war-
horse, and is singled out as one of the elements
of military strength in which the ancients were
especially disposed to trust. Vid. Ps. xx. 7 ; Is.
xxxi. 1-3. A lie, a falsehood, i. e,, something
which deceives and disappoints the confidence
reposed in it." — C. A. B.]
[Sir. VIIL Vers. 18, 19. Alexander: "While
the material strength of other men fails to secure
them, those who fear the Lord and hope in His
mercy are secure beneath His vigilant inspec-
tion."—C. A. B.]
Str. IX. Vers. 20-22. In the first half of the
verse Hengstenberg finds an allusion to Gen.
xlix. 18, in the second half to Deut. xxxiii. 2G,
29. [For an explanation of help, and shield, vid.
Pss. V. 12; X. 14; xxii. 11; xxx. 10. Perowne :
"This attitude of hope and trust is the attitude
of the Church in all ages, for she is not yet made
perfect; but the Jewisli Church was in a special
sense the Church of the future, and therefore
also in a special manner a waiting and hoping
Church. The whole history of Israel may in-
deed be summed up in Jacob's dying words : ' I
have waited for Thy salvation, 0 Lord.' " — C.
A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The solemn and thankful praise of God in the
congregation corresponds on the one side with
the will of God, who by His prophet has de-
manded it, on the other side is appropriate to
the upright, who by virtue of their position in the
congregation and to God, in the fulfilment of this
duty of the appropriate recognition of God, are
able to give suitable expression to it. Their jubi-
lation has not only as its subject the glory of God,
but exhibits itself likewise as a jog in the Lord,
which does not despise the use of art, yet em-
ploys it for the honor of God, encourages those
like-minded to praise God by personal, joyous
confession, and is impelled and enabled to make
known in new songs and new ways the renewed
feelings of the heart. "To the unrighteous the
glory of God is not the subject of joy and of
praise, but of terror and aversion.-^It is a sad
sign of the decline of the Church when the de-
mand to sing Him a new song is no longer exe-
cuted. The more careful then must it be to
preserve its old songs" (Hengst.) Comp. Ps.
1. IG.
2. The inexhaustible reason for breaking forth
in new songs of praise, and the fresh sounding
forth of the old songs of faith in the congrega-
tion, is the recognition of the glory of God, as it is
manifest to the congregation in the word and
providence of the Lord. Both mutually confirm
one another, and declare God as the one who is
worthy of praise, and who is alone reliable as
well on account of His moral perfection as with
respect to His Omnipotence, which are testified
to in the creation and governmetit of the world,
whilst they realize in .both the unchangeable
thoughts and counsels of the righteousness and love
of God, which are made known to His chosen
people in the words of revelation.
3. All men have therefore good reason to fear
a God like this, but to esteem His chosen people
as blessed, that they have such a Lord for their
God. They have every reason to trust Him, in
the greatest dangers to hope in His assistance,
and to expect deliverance from Him out of tlie
greatest troubles. For no creature can success-
fully resist the Creator, nothing can escape the
service of the Almighty, no works, yea no
thought of the heart can be concealed from the
eye of the Omniscient. And when men attempt
it and not only singly, but in great masses fol-
low their own end, turning away from God, they
are obliged to experience that God's decrees and
order stand fast forever and not only maintain
themselves against all opposition and resistance,
but are carried out in the world to the honor of
God, and the good of His people, whilst the
thoughts, counsels and works of the adversaries
are observed, judged and brought to nought by God.
4. Since this is so, it is becoming for the pious,
not only to praise God, but no more to fear the
power of the adversary than rely upon earthly
means of help, but much rather in true fear of
God to resort to the Lord, and in living faith hope
in His grace. But the hope of those who fear
God and trust in Him will not be put to shame,
for it is not based on human presumptions, sup-
positions and wishes, but on the holy name, in
which the true God has revealed His holy nature,
and in which grace and faith meet one another.
Those who hide themselves in God, will rejoice in
God, yet in all their rejoicings in God will not
forget io pray as penitent sinners for new tokens
of grace from the faithful God of the covenant,
and thereby as true members of the con-
gregation, show how God ceases not to show
Himself to them even to the end, the same
as He has declared Himself from the be-
ginning, as ever the same reliable God. "The
wickedness of men may have in itself the
desire to injure, but it has not the power;
there is no power except from God " (Augustine).
PSALM XXXIII.
233
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
To praise Ood is for the pious a duty as well
as au honor and joy. — A new heart is necessary
for new songs.' — How art is sanctified, whea it is
vlsqA to praise God &nd edify the congregation. —
The happiness of the people whose God is the
Lord: 1) ia what it consists; 2) how it is ex-
pressed; 3) hovf it may he preserved. — The great
joy of the pious in God's works and government
is magnified by their joy in God's word and holy
name, and is fulfilled in a joy in God Himself by
a life in His grace. — What God preserves in His
treasury He bestows in blessings or in curses,
in accordance with Sis will and the conduct of
jfien. — Human thoughts and Divine decrees. — On
what the confidence is based that God will help
His people out of all their troubles and can help
them! — The pious can rely upon God's holy word
with the same confidence, as upon God's holy Pro-
vidence.— The reliable, comforting and blessed meel-
iog of the Divine grace and human faith. — How
we may accomplish that our life as well as our
song may begin and close with joy in God. —
God is not only the almighty Creator and the
kind Preserver of the world , He is likewise the
watchful Guardian of the ordinances and laws
instituted by Himself, the Omniscient and fust
Judge of all men, the only reliable Protector and
Helper of His people. — The consideration of the
word and works of God should encourage us to
fear, love and trust in God respecting all things.
— God has made known to us His holy name in
order that we may call upon Him in all our trou-
bles, pray to Him, praise and thank Him.
Staeke : If the work which is done is to
please God, the person must first of all please
Him and be justified by faith. — If we properly
understood our great benefits and heave^nly
treasures we would rejoice more over them than
«ver all the honor and glory of thjs world. — The
ungodly cannot praise God, for they have no
taste of the goodness of God; their praise pleases
God as little as their prayers. — All the works of
God show, that He is honest, faithful and true.
—In all the commands, threatenings and pro-
mises of God look alone to the Divine authority
of the Ruler, this will strongly impel you to the
obedience of childlike respect and trust. — If God
has created the wonderful structure of the hea-
vens with all its hosts and has thus far upheld
it, how shall He not be able to sustain thee, who
art only one creature and a little piece of earth ?
It is an especial grace of God, that He brings to
nought the blood-thirsty devices of the enemy,
the church would otherwise long since have
perished. — All that thou dost, take counsel at
first with God, for if thiai is neglected it is an
easy thing for Him to bring to nought all thy
plans. — Wilt thou have the gracious eye of God
directed upon thee, then direct thine eye con-
stantly to Him in faith, love and obedience. — If
we do not persevere in patience and constancy,
we forfeit true Divine help, and do not obtain
what we otherwise would.
OsiANDER : We should use temporal good so that
it may be our greatest joy that God is graciously
disposed toward us. — Mknzel : God not only does
righteousness, but He loves it and demands it like-
wise of others. — Renschel : If it is true that God
can and does do so much, it is likewise fair 1 ) that
we should wait on Him, 2) that we should make
Hira our shield. 3) that we should rejoice in
Him. — Frisch: If a joyous praise and service
of God is lacking to a man, he lacks like-
wise a true knowledge of what he has in God.'
— Arndt: The great seals surrounded by the
commandments of God; how should He not then
bridle men on eartS, and put a bit in their
mouths? — Francke: Where a new song like
this is sung, there must likewise be a new tongue ;
but a new heart is presupposed. — Nitzsch: The
glorifying of God our Saviour by the new songs,
which He has awakened from the earliest times
in His congregation. These songs glorify Him,
1) by virtue of their origin, since they come only
from a newly created heart which is full of sal-
vation ; 2) by means of their meaning and con-
tents as the signs of the highest satisfaction,
which it is possible for men to attain here below , -
3) by means of their long and deep effect upon
the present and future ; 4) as the living alliance
of the saints with the lovely and beautiful. — Um-
breit: The same God, to the ordinance of whose
words the physical world must submit, rules for-
ever in the kingdom of spirits. — All true power
comes from God, and is crowned with victory by
Hira. — Tholuck: The throne of God is not an
idle seat of care, but the judgment seat of a king,
from which with lofty glance the fates of the
world are ruled. — All victories on earth are
gained only by the power of God. — Taube: An
appeal to all true Israelites to praise the glory
of the Lord, who is the terror of His enemies,
but the consolation of His people. — Make no pa-
rade with the creature, but be not afraid of the
creature, for it is in the hand of God. — Schau-
BACH. Fear and hope are seldom found together
in men; but he who would hope in the goodness
of God, must likewise fear His holy name.
[Matth. Henry: What pity is it that this
earth, which is so full of God's goodness, should
be so empty of His praises; and that, of the mul-
titudes that live upon His bounty, there are so
few that live to His glory. — How easy may this
thought make us at all times, that God governs
the world, that He did it in infinite wisdom be-
fore we were born, and will do it when we are
silent in the dust! — They that fear God and His
wrath must hope in God and His mercy; for
there is no flying from God but by flying to Him.
..—Barnes : God is a great and glorious Sovereign
over all, and He will make everything subordi-
nate to the promotion of His own great designs.
— True piety leads men to wait on the Lord ; to
depend on Him; to look to His interposition^ in
danger, sickness, poverty, want ; to rely on Him
for all that is hoped for in this life, and for sal-
vation in the life to come. — Spurgeon : To re-
joice in temporal comforts is dangerous, to re-
joice in self is foolish, to rejoice in sin is fatal,
but to rejoice in God is heavenly. — Heartiness
should be conspicuous in Divine worship. — God
writes with a pen that never blots, speaks with
a tongue that never slips, acts with a hand which
never fails. Bless His name. — If earth be full
of mercy, what must heaven be, where goodness
concentrates its beams ? — Happy is the man who
has learned to lean his all upon the sure word
234
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
of Him wlio built the skies. — The cause of God is
never ia danger; infernal craft is outwitted by
infinite wisdom, and Satanic malice is held in
check by boundless power. — All Adam's sons
are as well watched as was Adam himself, their
lone progenitor in the garden. — The eye of pe-
culiar care is their glory and defence. None can
take them unawares, for the celestial Watcher
foresees the desigos of their enemies and pro-
vides against them. — Believer, wait upon thy
God iu temporals. His eye is upon thee, and
His hand will not long delay — The root of faith
in due time bears the flower of rejoicing. Doubts
breed sorrow, confidence creates joy. — C. A. B.J
PSALM XXXIV.
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech ; who drove him away^ andhedo'
parted.
1 I will bless tlie Lord at all times:
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord :
The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord and he heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened:
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard hirriy
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
And delivereth them.
8 0 taste and see that the Lord is good :
Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints :
For there is no want to them that fear him.
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing,
11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is he that desireth life.
And loveth many days, that he may see good ?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil,
And thy lips from speaking guile.
PSALM XXXIV.
235
14 Depart from evil, and do good;
Seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
And his ears are open unto their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth.
And delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous :
But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
20 He keepeth all his bones:
Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked:
And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants :
And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Title. — la the title there is a reference to
the madaess which David feigued, when he en-
tered the land of the Philistines in his flight from
Saul; was recognized there and brought before
the king, who dismissed him as a madman, upon
which he concealed himself in the cave of Adul-
1am in the wilderness of Judah. Hitzig recog-
nizes the fact that Abimelecb, on account of Gen.
XX. 2, compared with xxvi. 8, was probably not
a proper name, but a name of rank of Ihe Philis-
tine kings. Comp. Hengst., Beitrage, III., 306
sq. With this vanishes the objection that the
king of the narrative bore the name of Achish.
If now the author of the title had this passage
of Scripture before him as his authority, the
change of name is not only remarkable, but the
question remains unanswered, how he could
have gained this authority for the Psalm. For
the subject of this song, which is very general,
and treats of deliverance by Jehovah from many
and gri.^at dangers, more in a tone of reflection and
instruction, than in that of a prayer of thanks-
giving, contains no allusions or reference} to
this particular event in David's life. And the
supposition, that the rare word ^HJ^^ (:= taste),
ver. 8, reminded the compiler (De Wette, Hupf.,
Hitzig) of that IDi'D, 1 Sam. xxi. 14 (= his un-
derstanding, Luther, after the Sept. and Vulg.,
incorrectly, his gesture), and that he besides this
brought the /./D^^V^ gloriaris, ver. 2, into con-
nection with the '7Shn^ insanivit in Samuel
(Olsh.), not to say anything of the artificiality
and trifling which is ascribed to the author, re-
futes itself ; for the words compared are entirely
difi^erent from one another in sound as well as
in meaning. The idea of comparing them could
only be entertained by comparing the conso-
nants alone, entirely apart from the sense and
context of the words ; accordingly with only the
written text in view. The question how our au-
thor came upon that text, is not in the least an-
swered by this subtle hypothesis. Or are we to
take refuge in chance and speak of blind con-
jecture (Hupf ) ? Since it is yet more advisable
to think of tradition and to explain the similarity
of expressions by supposing a common source,
namely, the annals of David, Ps. xviii. 1, com-
pare with 2 Sam. xx. 1, (Delitzsch).
Its Contents and Form. — The last mentioned
supposition enables us to set aside the objections
made to the Davidic authorship from the didactic,
in part reflective tone, the parabolic character
of the individual verses, and their alphabetical
order, which latter is exactly like Ps. xxv. in
that a strophe with 1 is missing, and an extra
verse with 3 is added at the end. All this how-
ever is only against a lyrical efl^usion occurring
in the time of that event, yet not against a later
use of it in order to general purposes of devotion
by him who had experienced it, when he was
seized with a very vivid remembrance of his re-
markable preservation (Hengst.). The course
of thought is in favor of this. The opening
strophes (vers. 1-3) express the resolution and
vow of continued praise of God in connection with
an appeal to pious sufferers to do likewise. The
reasons (vers. 4-10) strongly emphasize his per-
sonal experience and its application to the reli-
gious life of his companions in the congregation.
Finally si, paternal position is assumed (ver. 11)^
236
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
with the view of teaching to fear God, as the onli/,
but reliable condition of Divine assistance, pro
tection, and salvation (vers. 12-22). In all this
there are such genuine Davidic features, that on
the basis of tradition we have good reason to re-
fer this Psalm as well as Ps. Ivi. to the same
event,* whilst we find its position in the collec-
tion determined by thoughts and expressions si-
milar to the preceding Psalms. Comp, ver. 15
with xxxiii. 18 ; furthermore the blessedness
ver. 8 b with xxxiii. 12 : xxxii. 1, 2 ; finally ver.
11 with xxxii. 8. — For the use of this Psalm at
the Communion in the ancient Church, on account
of ver. 8 a, comp. Const. apoi$. VIII. 13; Cyrill.
cat. myst. V. 17.
Ver. 2. The sufferer. — The anavim are the
pious (Hitzig) who have learned the disposition
of the sufferer in the school of sorrow (Delitzsch),
and therefore may likewise be designated as the
meek (Hengst.). This reference disappears in
the translation : miserable (Luther), or dis-
tressed (Hupf.), which can be applied better to
dniyyim, and used in ver. 6.
Ver. 4. Cod. Alex, of the Sept., which is fol-
lowed by all Latin Psalteries, has ^?uipE6v fiov,
the Cod. Vat. however irapoiKLdv /lov = those
who dwell around me, by which some have un-
derstoou, enemies, dangers, troubles. Symmach,
has similarly avardae^v uov
Ver. 5. They looked unto Him and be-'
came bright, and their faces needed not
to blush. — The subject is not to be taken di-
rectly from ver. 2, but to be derived from the
context as in ver, 17. This parallel example is
against (Hupf.) gaining the subject by a relative
or a hypothetical construction: those who looked,
etc., or, if one look, etc. (Rabbins, Luther, Cal-
vin, De Wette, Delitzsch). — inj usually means,
flow together, flow, in Aramaic, however ;
beam, shine ; hence mnj (Job iii. 4) light, day.
The latter meaning, as an expression of cheer-
fulness and joy (Ps. iv. 7), applies here (Sept.,
Chald., Isaki, Aben Ezra, and recent interpre-
ters), as Is. Ix, 5. Luther's '^ anlaufen" origi-
nates from the first meaning, which is main-
tained by Kimchi and Geier. The contrast is
the face covered with shame. The subjective
negation /K is stronger than Jw.
Ver. 6. This distressed one. — Delitzsch
translates this, the sorrowful. In this passage
Venema, Koster, Hupf., take the singular as used
for the plural. Most interpreters, however, re-
fer it to the person of the Psalmist.
Ver. 7. The angel of Jehovah. — It is
questionable whether this expression is to be
taken as collective, and referred to the host of
angels, which surrounds the pious, protecting
them, Ps, xci, 11; 2 Kings vi. 17 (Calv., Hupf.,
Camph.), or whether we are to think of the "an-
gel of the presence," Is. Ixiii. 9, the especial
mediator of the revelation of Jehovah (most in-
terpreters in all times). In favor of the former
view is the predicate " encamped about," which
demands plurality (Aben Ezra) , in favor of the
latter, the fact that Maleach Jehovah has gained
* [Delitzsch: "Pa. xxxiv. is one of the 8 Psalms, which are
referred by their titles to the time of the peiseciition by Saul,
and arose in that long way of sufferine; from Oibeah of Saul
to Ziklag, (in about this chronological order; vii., lix., Ivi.,
xxxiv., Iii., Ivii., cxlii., liv.)"— 0. A. B.]
the meaning of a term, techn., and is staQiped
with a meaning in the Pentateuch itself, wliich
is so often re-echoed in the Psalms. Hence it is,
that apparently there is a reference in nJH to
Mahanaim, the double camp of the angels, which
Jacob beheld with the eye of faith as a fortress
of chariots protecting his camp (Gen. xxxii. 2
sq.), and at the head of it we have to think of
the angel of Jehovah, according to Gen. xxviii.
13; xxxii. 25 sq., the prince of the host of Jeho-
vah (Jos. V. 14; comp. 1 Kings xxii. 19). Since
now njn is not only used of hosts, but likewise
of captains, 2 Sam. xii. 28 (Hengst.), so the cap-
tain might be mentioned here likewise, the host
being supplied in thought. We may likewise
suppose that this angel, so significant with refe-
rence to the history of redemption, is named, in
so far as he can aff'ord a protection on all sides, as
a spiritual being above the limits of space. In
favor of this is particularly Zech. ix. 8. — The
Vulgate has not taken the 7rape/j,(3a2,ei of the
Sept. as intransitive, but has translated it by
immittet. Since this was obscure, the variation
arose which was already rejected by Augustine:
immittit anqelum [angelos) dominus.
[Vers. 8, 9. Taste and see. — Delitzsch:
"Tasting, etc. {yevaaa-&ai, Heb. vi. 4 sq.; 1 Pet. ii.
3) stands before seeing; for spiritual experience
leads to spiritual knowledge and not conversely.
Nisi gustaveris, said Bernard, non videbis. David
desires, that others likewise may experience
what he has experienced, in order to know what
he has known ; the goodness of God. Therefore
the appeal to the saints to fear Jehovah (INT
for ^N"1^ in order to distinguish veremini and vi-
debunt, as Jos. xxiv. 14 ; 1 Sam. xii. 24), for he
who fears Him, has all things in Him." — C.
A. B.]
Ver. 10. Young lions. — Luther after the
Sept. has "rich." Most ancient interpreters,
finally, Hengstenberg and Hitzig, think of such
rich (Sir. xiii. 19) and mighty enemies (Ps. xxxv.
17). But the usual usage of this figure, which
in Jer. ii. 15 is likewise applied to the heathen,
cannot decide anything here, where the clear
and comforting thought appears much more sig-
nificant, if the proper meaning is retained (Kim-
chi, Calv., Ruding., Maurer,* Hupf., Delitzsch).
Comp. Job iv. 10 sq.
[Ver. 11. Come children.- Delitzsch: "These
are not children in years or understanding, but
it is an aff^ectionate address of the Master who is
experienced in the ways of God, to all and every
one, as Prov. i. 8, et al." Similar is the use of
reuva in the Epistles of John. — C. A. B.]
[Vers. 12-14, Hupfeld : " The question, with
the following imperatives, is only a lively expres-
sion of an antecedent and consequent instead of,
He who loves — let him take care, etc. [vid. Ps,
XXV. 12). So 1 Pet, iii. 10 sq. ; James iii, 13. —
Life is not used in the common external sense,
but in the higher sense, of a happy life, prosperity
^parallel Good, and ' way of life,' ' tree of life,'
frequent in the Proverbs [vid. Ps. xvi, 11). —
Days = parallel life, or more particularly long
life, which in itself was a good in the Old Testa-
* [Hupfeld : " The hungry lions indicate the need of tht
creature wlien Uft to itself, even of the strongest beast of prey
in contrast with the higher protection of the piouB."— C.
A. B.J
PSALM XXXIV.
237
meat, as a promise of the Law." Sins of the
tongue, in the avoidance of which righteous-
ness of speech consists, which manifests itself in
accordance with its nature chiefly negatively.
They are here as Ps. xv. 2, immediately against
their neighbors, yet in general direct themselves
likewise against Ood, comp. Ps. xxxix. 2-4. The
Proverbs of all nations are full of this taming and
training of the tongue, so likewise the Old Testa-
ment. Comp. Pss. xxxix. 2-4 ; cxli. 3 ; Prov.
iv. 24; xiii. 3; xxi. 23; Sir. xxviii. 25; James
iii. 2 sq. Righteousness of act; negatively, in
being far from evil, positively in doing good. Both
connected likewise, Ps. xxxvii. 27 (comp. Isa. i.
16 sq. ; Am. v. 14), and indeed the usual for-
mula; especially the first, as Prov, iii. 7; Job
xxviii. 28; i. 1,8; ii. 3. — Pursue =: aspire
after, Ps. xxxviii. 21 ; Prov. xxi. 21 ; Deut. xvi.
20; Isa. li. 1.— C. A. B.]
[Vers. 15, 16. Hupfeld: " The eyes of Je-
hovah are used as the organ of His gracious
care, with /N and without a verb entirely like
Ps. xxxiii. 18. Parallel with this His ears as
the organ of hearing their cry for help, their
prayer, as Ps. xviii. 6; cxlv. 19 ; comp. the pa-
rallel Is. i. 15. — In contrast with this is the face
of Jehovah, in a bad sense with 2 (as all
verbs of hostility): ('directed) against evil
doers,' =the angry look, the judicial eye of God.
[vid. Ps. xxi. 9."— C. A. B.]
[Ver. 17. They {namely, the righteous) cry. —
Vid. remarks upon ver. 5. Delitzsch supposes,
with Hitzig, that this verse with S originally
stood before the previous one with J7 in accord-
ance with the order of Lam. ii.-iv. Thus the
subject would be in the previous verse. De-
litzsch: " With the present order of thought, ver.
19 is formed in the same way as ver. 6 : Clamant
et Dominus audit=si qui [quicunque) clamant. It
is a crying out of the depths of a soul despairing
of itself. Such crying finds a hearing with God,
and a hearing which proves itself in the grant-
ing."—C. A. B.]
[Ver. 18. Delitzsch: "Broken in heart are
those whose selfish, self-seeking life, which re-
volved about its own personality, has been
broken at the root. — Contrite in spirit are
those who have been brought down by severe
experiences from the false height of proud self-
consciousness, and have been led to repentance and
thoroughly humbled. To such Jehovah is near,
He preserves them from despair, He is ready to
erect a new life in them in the ruins of the old,
and to cover their infinite deficiency. He makes
them as those who are susceptible of it and crave
it, participants in His salvation." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 19. Many afflictions. — These are not
punishments for their own sins, many of which
the righteous man still has, so that he is here
reminded of the imperfection of human right-
eousness and then is referred to the greatness
of the Divine mercy (Hengst.). The context
demands that we should think of the mortifica-
tions, afflictions, snares and persecutions which
the righteous have to experience from other
men. These are many, but Jehovah delivers
out of them all.
Ver. 20. Keeping all his bones, — ex-
presses the most particular oversight and care
by a figure differing from Matt. x. 30, but with
similar import and /o7Te. A Christian reader is
reminded of its literal fulfilment in the care over
the crucified. Yet this is not to be regarded as
prophetical, because not a syllable of this Psalm
hints at the righteous one in the perfect sense
(Is. liii. 11; Jer. xxiii. 5; Zech. ix. 9; Acts
iii. 14; xxii. 14), but rather the absence of the
Hebrew article in the context, shows that the
singular represents the category, as then the
Vulg. after the Sept. has used the plural. For
the sake of clearness we therefore translate a
righteous man and not the righteous man.
Since now John «ix. 36. expressly states that
the facts narrated from ver, 33, took place in
fulfilment of Scripture, and besides the title of the
righteous one is not used of Christ in connection
with this event, the conjecture, that John may
have had in view not only, Ex. xii, 46, but like-
wise the present passage (Delitzsch, Hitzig), can-
not be supported, although the remark is correct
in itself, that not only the paschal lamb but like-
wise to a certain extent the sufferings of the
righteous are typical (Delitzsch),*
Vers. 21-22. The emphasis lies upon the word
which begins each verse, so that the thought is,
evil slayeth the ungodly, whilst Jehovah redeemeth
the soul of the righteous^his life, out of all these
troubles. In favo» of this is likewise the con-
text with ver. 19 sq. and the word n^l=mis-
fortune, evil. If the thought was to be expressed
here that wickedness slayeth the wicked (De-
litzsch), we would have reason to expect J?T which
is usual in the Psalms. — Dl^K means not only to
become guilty, but likewise to pay the penalty of
guilt. Both sides of the idea of guilt flow into
one another, and hence arises at times the dou-
ble sense.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Profound piety cannot be satisfied with
once thanking God for His benefits, protection,
answers to prayer and tokens of grace; it pre-
serves, awakens, and strengthens, the remem-
brance of them in the soul, so that the desire
arises for uninterrupted praise of God, and the
thankful jn&n invites his fellow-believers, particu-
larly his fellow-sufferers, to similar experience,
and encourages to similar action, whilst he calls
them to share his Joy and to commune with him in
prayer. Thus the example of David in this
Psalm of thanksgiving serves "as a general ex-
ample for all the righteous, that they may learn
how God does not despise the cries of His saints."
—(Luther).
2. The proclamation of the sure hearing of
prayer, by the mouth of a believer who has expe-
rienced it, is as comforting to the afflicted sufferer,
as the experience of the quickening enjoyment of
the goodness of God is beneficial to the spiritual
life, and the promise of the happiness of those who
fear God is attractive to those who desire it.
The true knowledge of the goodness of God and
the seeing, is preceded by personal appropriation
or tasting; but this presupposes readiness to be-
stow, on the part of God, and is conditioned on
believing approach and laying hold of, on the
part of the needy. The reference to the angel
* [For the meaoing of bonea, vid. Ph, vi. 2, — C. A. B,]
238
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
of Jehovah, the Mediator of the history of redemp-
tion, before all else encourages to this.
3. No creature, however strong he may be, is
able to provide for himself and protect himself:
but be who fears God and trusts in Him has no
lack of anything. His righteousness does not pro-
tect him against afflictions; but the gracious near-
ness of God comforts him in affliction, and delivers
him from all his afflictions ; for God makes him
free from guilt and punishment. The ungodly,
however, perish ; for in their misfortune, the pun-
ishment of their guilt overtakes them, and death
as the wages of sin (Rom. vi. 23) is their sure
and miserable end.
4. The true, that is the only and safe way of
life and happiness, is accordingly the trusting exer-
cise of the fear of God for the righteousness, which
we are to have shown to us by those who have
known it in their own experience, in order that
•we may fulfil it ourselves. The entire instruction
may be comprehended in the clause, depart from
evil and do good. But the extent of this pre-
scription is so great, that the first includes
bridling of the tongue and the latter seeking and
pursuing, that is, the diligent and careful striving
after peace, as the good understanding between God
and man which is conditioned on good behaviour,
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The praise of God 1) as an expression of per-
sonal thankfulness, 2) as a means of general edifi-
cation, 3) as a recognition of the honor due to
God. — The fear of God and trust in God do not
exclude one another, but are the common founda-
tion of human happiness. — God is near to all men
according to His Omnipotence, but only to the
pious according to His grace — He who would lack
no good thing, must not depend upon any other
than God, but upon Him earnestly and constantly.
— God allows us to seek Him, and likewise to
find Him, and then there is great salvation and
joy. — The knowledge of the goodness of God grows
with experience, hni oulj personal appropriation by
faith helps us. — God's goodness makes the man
happy who finds refuge in Him. — All the help that
there is on earth comes from the Lord, whether
God sends His angels or uses other means. — The
a.t&\ciioa3 of the righteous have a diflFerent cause
and issue from those of the ungodly. — It makes
an essential difference, how a man expiates his
guilt whether by penitence or punishment. — Hu-
man wisdom does not help out of real trouble,
nor any strength of the creature, but only the
grace of the Lord. — ThecareofGod overthe right-
eous, how it encourages us a) to praise God, b) to
trust in God, c) to fear God. — We should learn,
teach and do the will of God. — God will keep
every bone of the pious, they should likewise
serve Him with every member. — He who would
live free from guilt and from punishment, must
take refuge in God as His Redeemer. — Life, hap-
piness and peace are good things, desired by all
men, properly valued hy few, and only found and
retained by those who seek God. — All men have
afflictions, but only the pious have a broken heart
and thereby the way to true consolation and con-
stant blessing.
Starke : How many beautiful plans would
have failed, if the saints of God had undergone
no danger. — To be miserable and yet rejoice and
praise God with joyous mouth is foolish to the
reason and hard for a troubled heart; neverthe-
less such a heart cannot and should not withdraw
itself from this. — As one light kindles another
so a believing heart seeks to awaken others and
excite them to the righteous praise of God. — God
will be no greater by our praise, we cannot ex-
alt Him in Himself, but we exalt His name in
ourselves when we praise Him in all His works
and give Him alone the glory. — We must not
only look to God, but must likewise run to Him.
— Take care and do not wilfully deprive your-
selves of the service of the holy angels. — If the
ungodly knew how good the Lord is, understood
how He alone is the highest good, in whom all
blessedness meets — Why! they would make
haste and turn to Him. — He who seeks God and
finds Him, gains more, than the entire world
besides, what should he lack? — Blessed business
when we not only come to Christ ourselves, but
likewise seek to persuade others, to give ear to
the inviting voice of eternal Wisdom. — Children
should early be accustomed to godliness, in order
that they may not offer to the devil the best blood
of their youth and only the residue of age to God.
Ah ! how many men destroy their peace by their
own mouth. — When no one will hear and see the
miserable, God sees and hears them ; and when
no one can overcome the ungodly persecutors,
God can subdue and destroy them with an un-
favorable look. — Although the pious have many
troubles, yet they do not redound to their ruin
as to the ungodly, but to their benefit. — The un-
godly and those who hate the pious, are accus-
tomed to be white hot and to throw all the blame
on the righteous, but it is very different accord-
ing to the Divine judgment.
Selnekker: Tbe example of the saints when
properly considered, works great good in the
hearts of the pious and strengthens their faith,
hope, prayer and patience. — Schnepf: We have
angels to protect us, one of which is mightier
than a whole army. — Menzel : It belongs to the
doctrine of the cross, that we properly know;
1) upon what persons our Lord lays the cross
first and chiefly; 2) why it is, notwithstanding,
that He lays the dear cross upon such people in
preference to others; 3) how the righteous are
accustomed to feel and their experience under
their cross ; 4) how they act under it, what
they should do and whatnot; 6) what God does
to them in return. — Arndt: Our whole life
should be nothing but one constant praise and
confession of God — to God's honor and the com-
fort and improvement of our neighbors. — Roos :
Mighty men, who like lions live by prey, must
at last suffer hunger and want: but those who
seek the Lord will not lack, any good thing. —
GuENTHER : The greatest calamity of our times
is, that there are so few broken hearts and con-
trite spirits. — Taubb : We must seek not so much
the gift, as the Lord, the Giver. — What a God He
is of whom His people can say, Wish Him we
have no fear, no lack, no guilt!— Thtm: The
cross, the source of inexpressible comfort, 1)
where the cross is great there is great comfort
from the Lord; 2) where there is great comfort
there is great joy in the Lord; 3) where there is
great joy there is sure glory with the Lord.
[Matt. Henrt: God's praises sound best in
PSALM XXXV.
239
concert, for so we praige Him as the angels do
in heaven. — Would we pass comfortably through
the world and out of the world, our constant
care must be to keep a good conscience. — They
that truly repent of what they have done amiss,
will warn others to take heed of doing otherwise.
Sad is the case of that man who by sin has made
his Mi,ker his enemy, and his destroyer. — Pa-
rents that are very fond of a child, will not let
it be out of their sight; none of God's children
are ever from under His eye, but on them He
looks with a singular complacency, as well as
with a watchful and tender concern. — There is
no rhetoric, nothing charming, in a cry, yet
God's ears are open to it, as the tender mother's
to the oxsy of her sucking child, which another
would take no notice of. — No man is desolate
but he whom God has forsaken, nor is any man
undone till he is in hell. — Barnes : The most
lonely, the most humble, the most obscure, and
the poorest child of God, may have near him and
around him a retinue and a defence which kings
never have when their armies pitch their tents
around their palaces, and when a thousand
swords Tvould at once be drawn to defend them.
— Spurobon : He who praises God for mercies
shall never want a mercy for which to praise. —
What a blessing one look at the Lord may be J
There is life, liberty, love, everything in fact, in
a look at the crucified One. Never did a sore
heart look in vain to the good Physician; never
a dying soul turned its darkening eye to the
brazen serpent to find its virtue gone. — We little
know how many providential deliverances we
owe to those unseen hands which are charged to
bear us up lest we dash our foot against a stone.
— Positive virtue promotes negative virtue; he
who does good is sure to avoid evil. Salvation
is linked with contrition. — Believer, thou shalt
never be deserted, forsaken, given up to ruin.
God, even thy God, is thy guardian and friend,
and bliss is thine.— C. A. B.J
PSALM XXXV.
A Psalm of David
Plead my cause, 0 Lord, witli them that strive with me :
Fight against them that fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for mine help.
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me;
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul :
Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Let them be as chaff before the the wind :
And let the angel of the Lord chase them.
Let their way be dark and slippery:
And let the angel of the Lord persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,
Which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares ;
And let the net that he hath hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my sduI shall be joyful in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee,
Which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him,
Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth hiro 1
240
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
11 False witnesses did rise up;
They laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good
To the spoiling of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:
I humbled my soul with fasting:
And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother ;
I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:
Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew ii noti
They did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts,
They gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on ?
Rescue my soul from their destructions,
My darling from the lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation:
I will praise thee among much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me:
Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace :
Bat they devise deceitful matters against ihem. that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me,
And said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
22 This thou hast seen, O Lord : keep not silence :
O Lord, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment,
Even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, 0 Lord my God, according to thy righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts. Ah, so would we have it !
Let them not say. We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together
That rejoice in mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
That magnify theinselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause :
Yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified,
Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness
And of thy praise all the day long.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition —This Psalm
Is not so much a lamentation, which repeats the
same phrases prolixly and to excess (De Wette,
Hupfeld), as a rythmioal and agitated prayer. The
same three thoughts recur in the three chief di-
vieions (vers. 1-10,11-18, 19-28), but always
with different forms, references and figures.
These are 1) i\iQ prayer that Jehovah will inter-
fere without delay for the protection of Hi? ser-
vant, that his righteous cause may be carried out
and his enemies ruined ; 2) the description of the
wickedness and unthankfulness of these enemies,
which have previously received sympathy
and tokens of love from him whom they now per-
secute without cause ; and 3) the vow of thankful-
ness, which the delivered man will offer as an
expression of his entire resignation to the Lord,
publicly in the congregation and to their edifica-
tion. The movement of these thoughts around
PSALM XXXV
241
in a circle corresponds throughout with the
deeply felt experiences of a heart, which is sha-
ken to its foundation by bitter experiences, which
have been so contrary to all his expectations.
His heart can become master of its own emotions
only gradually, and indeed only by urgently
clinging to God. This, as well as the manner of
expression, which is picturesque, in part drastic,
and corresponds closely with his experiences
even to the tone of the language, is opposed to
the idea that the author speaks from the person
of the righteous as such (Hengst.) The citation
of ver. 19 in the mouth of Jesus (John xv. 25),
which may be derived from Ps. Ixix. 4, as well,
does not demand either this supposition, or the
Messianic interpretation of the ancient church,
or the typical interpretation in the narrow sense,
but is founded upon the general relation of the
sufferings of Jesus to every undeserved suffering
at th% hands of wicked and unthankful men.
This is only strengthened and brought into nar-
rower historical connection by maintaining its
composition by David, which has nothing against
it. For the correspondences with Jer. xviii. 19;
xxiii. 12: Lam ii. 16, upon which Hitzig lays so
rnwch stress, do not lead to the priority of the
prophet Jeremiah, since the opening strophe of
the Psalm uses the language of a man of war.
In the life of David the most suitable time for
the composition of this Psalm is found in the
time of his persecution by Saul, and it is most
nearly related to Pss. xl,, Ixix. It seems to be a
lyrical carrying out of the words used by David
1 Sam. xxiv. 16, and owes its place in the col-
lection of Psalms, probably to the circumstance
that the Maleach Jehovah is mentioned here in
the singular, as in the preceding Psalm.
Str. I. Ver. 1. Fight them that fight me,
make V7a.x upon them that make w^ar upon
me. — The expression y> pleads at first to the
idea of litigation, but this when carried out
brings about directly warlike complications. Tlie
r\N is not the preposition with, but the sign of
the accusative.* If the fundamental meaning
of Dm were vorare (most interpreters), yet it
does not follow that war among the Hebrews was
once connected with devouring men (Daumer
der Feuer und Molochdienst der alten Hebr. g 242).
We might think of a figure of the entire
annihilation of the enemy as it is used Num.
xxiv. 8. We may likewise, however, according
to the derivation from the Arabic, get the mean-
ing of a dense throng, a large crowd, and tumult
(Delitzsch).
Ver. 2. Target and shield. — The figures
displace one another, and thus, with the strong
anthropomorphic description of the Divine inter-
ference, lead away from the form to the subject.
This is shown clearly by the mention of the two
shields, never used by a warrior at the same time,
the smaller one to protect the head (1 Kings x.
16), and the larger to protect the entire body.f
* fit 18 better to translate by strive which retains the ori-
ginal meaning and yet may likewise refer to warlike strife.
— C. A. B,]
t [Perowne : " An amplification of the figure occurring
Already in the Pentateuch where God is spoken of as a man
of war, Ex. xv. 3 ; Deut. xxxii. 41. The bold anthropomor-
phic working out of the figure is, however, remarkable. It
Bhows the earnest desire in the Poet's mind to realize the
16
Ver. 3. Stop {the way). — This may be desig
nated by a military technical terra (Hengst.),
although we do not think exactly of the circle
which was formed by the light armed in retiring
from their adversaries after throwing the spear
(Schegg). At any rate "iJD was taken as an
imperative by all ancient translations. Most
interpreters supply, at least in thought, viam,
with the translation mierc/wie. Hitzig compares
the ^thiopic and Arabic in faror of the mean-
ing; advance rapidly, haste. The explanation
of the word of the battle-axe of upp^r Asia, par.
tioularly of the Scythians (Kimchi, Hupf., et al ),
to which Greek writers give the name of cdyaotf ,
whilst in other respects acceptable, has particu-
larly against it the fact that the substantive
n^jp occurs in H )8 xiii. 8, Job xxviii 15, in
an entirely different meaning (Geier).
Str. II. [Ver. 4. Confounded,— disgraced,
— blush, — Hupfeld: " The usual formula for the
frustration and failure of the hopes and under-
takings of the wicked : heaped up to strengthen
the sense as ver. 26, vi. 10, xl 14, etc., but con-
nected by the retreat hack, that is be beaten back^
{vid. Ps. vi. 10) with the preceding figure of
hostile attack, and thus to be taken here in this
particular sense" — C. A. B ]
Ver, 5. As chaff before the wind. [Comp
Ps. i. 4, xviii. 42; Ixxxiii. 13].— Jehovah's
angel — Hitzig remarks correctly, that Jehovah
(Ps. civ. 4,) makes the winds his angels, but
here in reality the angel takes the place ot the
wind in the comparison, and the angel is desig-
nated as the evkpyeia of the flight. From this
we conclude, that the angel is not figurative, or
a collective, but is to be taken individually and
properly, which is confirmed by the parallel ver,
6, as well as the similarity with Ex. xiv. 25;
Judges V. 25. " That this angel here takes part,
when the question is whether the kingdom of tbe
promise shall be destroyed in its origin or
not, agrees with the appearance of the Maleach
Jehovah in the fundamental period of the history
of redemption " (Delitzsch). If now this angel is
a mediator of Divine help for the servants of
God, he is an angel of judgment for their ene-
mies. Calvin, it is true, takes the expression
here as in the pi*evious Psalm, as collective, but
makes the remark which brings forward the cor-
rect thought, that the angels could not protect
and save, unless they on the other side could at
the same time prevent and punish Accordingly
if this is true, without doubt, then every prayer
for the Divine interference for deliverance from the
power of wicked enemies, implicitly contains the
prayer for a Divine punishment of these^ enemies.
In most cases this reverse side of the- prayer for
deliverance either does not come to consciousness,
or takes the form of a petition fos- one's own de-
liverance, whilst the treatnue-nb of the enemy is
left to the estimation of God. It may, however,
hapoen that the servant of God,' as he is obligated
to proclaim the Divine judgment, may thus feel
justified in the prayev for its execution, that is,
when he has to do with the affairs of God's kingdom
and the decision of a/fficdrs in the history of redemp-
tion, and the petitioner regards himself as execu-
fact that God not only taught hia fingo s to fight, but mixed
in the battle, fighting, as it were by his side und assuring
him of victory."— Ci A. B.]
2:2
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
ting the Divine will. The highest stage of per-
fection then renders possible, in looking at the
fulfilment of the Divine plan of the world, still
further intercession for the forgiveness of guilt,
(Luke xxiii. 34 eq.; 2 Peter iii. 9, 15), and the
limitation of the punishment to temporal ruin
(Gal. L 9; V. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 14), and in the
sense of evangelical chastisement (1 Peter iv.
6; 1 Cor, V. 5). The Old Testament has not gone
as far as this, although the duty of love to the
enemi/ is most distinctly commanded and recog-
nized (Ex, xxiii. 4; Lev. xix. 18; Job xxxi.
29; Prov. xx. 22; xxiv. 17; xxv. 21). But we
must not say that David acted selfishly and re-
vengefully, and that his thankfulness ver. 9 sq.
even has a trace of joy in the misfortunes of his
enemies. His thankfulness refers expressly to
the help he has received, and it is designated as
a rejoicing in the Lord.
[Ver. 6. Alexander: '■'■ Dark and slippery,
literally darkness and smoothness, an emphatic
substitute of the abstract for the concrete. The
fearful image thus suggested of men driven, like
chaflF before the wind, along a dark and slippery
path, is rendered more terrible by the additional
idea of their being hotly pursued by the destroy-
ing angel. The construction of the last clause,
both in this verse and the one before it, is; (let) the
angel of Jehovah (be) pursuing them," — C. A. B.]
JStr. III. Ver. 7. For without cause they
have hid for me their net, /rithout cause
digged a pit for my soul. — The reading
Dr\iyi r\r\U is scarcely tenable. For "the pit
of their net" or "their net-pit" might actually
mean a pit provided with a snare, which was
covered with boughs or earth ; but the connec-
tion of these words, partly with one another,
partly with the verb " hide," is unheard of, and
the figurative reference of pit to ruin, as if
the reference could be to the net of de-
struction (Luther, von Meyer), is therefore to
be rejected, because pernicies laquei (after the
Sept. 6ia(l)&opa Tray/dof) notwithstanding Grotius,
can no more stand for laqueus exitialis than the
destruction of their net can mean : their de-
structive net. Since now to "hide nets" and
"dig pits" are usual figures of hostile waylaying,
4 he removal of PiTMD from the first line to the
second, proposed by Houbigant and best advo-
cated by Hitzig and Hupfeld, is the more to be
approved as the verb '-dig" would otherwise
lack its usual object.
Ver. 8. Let destruction come upon him
unavrares. — It is uncertain whether HNIJ!/
means the disordered confusion of things or of
.times, in its origin and in this passage. Most
interpreters take it in the former sense=:fall,
ruin, devastatio, and remind us of the parallels in
Pss. xxxiv. 21; xxxvi, 12. Venema, Hitzig and
Ewald take it in the latter sense as, roar, noise,
ithe latter thinking particularly of a storm.
Delitzseh takes ver. 8 a in the former and ver.
'8 c in the latter meaning, which Calvin (^cum
\tumulta-=korrore) changes without authority
from an objective event to a subjective experi-
ence, Kurtz combines both meanings in ver. 8 a :
crashing fall. The Syriac translates "in the
pit" as if it had read nnU'. But since it adds
*♦ which he dug," we are to suppose rather a
paraphrastic explanation than another read-
ing A like explanation is given by Seb.
Schmidt, J. H. Mich,, Stier, Hupf with the
translation in vastalionem (quam mihi pnravit) in
eandem incidat. Olshausen thinks of a marginal
gloss which has come into the text. And the
manner of expression of ver. 8 c is certainly
striking in its relation to ver. 8 a, yet it is not to be
designated as a corruption, with any certainty. —
The singular sufl5x=" Ajm" does not necessarily
designate a particular person, as, for example,
Ahithophel, Shimei, Mephibosheth (Ruding.), nor
properly the ideally wicked (Hengst.), but is
used as an individual (Hupf.) for the class, and
thus for every individual (Hitzig) of the enemies
conceived as one body (Delitzsch). — The idea
of sudden and unavoidable is expressed in He
brew by the asyndetical, "he knows not" as Is,
xlvii. 11 ; Prov v. 6.
Ver. 10. All my bones. — This does not
mean the innermost being (Hengst.), but the
body as the complement, of the soul mentioned
in ver. 9 (Aben Ezra), at the same time it con-
tains a prayer and hope that the Lord will pre-
serve all his bones (Ps. xxxiv. 20), will keep
him unharmed (Stier). — [Jehovah, who is
like Thee. — Delitzsch: "This exclamation is
from Ex. xv. 11, it demands emphatic expression,
it serves not for closer connection, but for ren-
dering more decidedly prominent." — C. A. B.]
[Str IV. Ver. 11. Qnjust witnesses rise
up, they question me of w^hat I am un-
conscious — This is a figure of persecution and
especially slander, derived from the complaints
and questionings of a criminal process (De Wette,
Hupfeld). They demand of him the admission
of things of which he is unconscious, and which
are contrary to his course of conduct (Delitzsch).
Ewald renders "cruel witnesses," without suffi-
cient reason, and is ^followed by Alexander, Pe-
rowne, et al. but the translation given above is
that of De Wette, Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Moll,
et al., and is better.
Ver. 12. My soul is bereaved. — Perowne:
"I am alone in the world. I, who have ever
sought to help the friendless and comfort the
afflicted, and who prayed so earnestly for others,
am forsaken of all."*— C. A. B.]
Str. V Ver. 13. And my prayer — into
mine own bosom it returned — The context
shows, that this is not of the recompense of the
intercession, whether in a sarcastic sense, comp,
ver. 12 (Hupf.), or as an optative (Sept., Jerome,
Isaki, Flamin., Sachs). f No more is it of its
failure, since, on account of the ungodliness of
those who were prayed for, it returned empty
(Riehra.J after an explanation proposed by Cal-
vin). Usage does not allow us to think of a
* [Delitzsch refers to the real bereavempnt of David in the
time of his persecutiou by Saul. His parents had been
obliged to flee to Moab. Michal had been torn from him,
Jonathan withdrawn, all those at the court of Saul, who had
previously sought hia favor and friendship as the favorite of
the king, were now his enemies. — C. A. B.]
f [Perowne : "The prayer I offered for them is a prayer I
might have otfered for myself. So true a prayer was it, so
full of love, that I could wish nothing more than that the
blessings I asked for them should be vouchsafed to me. This
agrees with what follows, 'As though for my friend or my
brother,' etc"- C. A. B.]
X [Riehm refers to Matth. x. 13; Luko x. 6; and refers to
the custom of carrying valuables in the bosom (likewise of
taking to the bosom what is returned tooae).— C. A. B.J
PSALM XXXV.
243
repeated or an ardent prayer from the heart, or
for something lying upon the heart (Aben Ezra.
Luther, Geier, et al.), or a silent prayer of the
heart (Calvin) ; but it allows the expression to
be understood with reference to the being bowed
down, mentioned in the next verse, of a prayer
flowing back into the bosom, because it was
spoken with the head bowed down. Yet this does
not needfor an explanation,that the bowed posture
of prayer should be brought into consideration
(most recent interpreters), which is customary
among the Mohamedans (Reland, de relig. Moham.
p. 87), but is not mentioned among the Hebrews,
and has no suitable parallel in 1 Kings xviii. 42.
It is " the natural expression in the body, of the
being bowed down in oneself in sorrow and
pain " (Clauss).*
[Ver. 14. As a mourner for a mother,
squalid I bow^ed do^vn. — Alexander : *' He
not only mourned in their calamity, but with
the deepest grief, as for a friend, a brother, or
a parent, which terms are so arranged as to pro-
duce a beautiful and striking climax. — The verb
in the first clause corresponds very nearly to the
familiar English phrase went on, in the sense of
lived or habitually acted. — The Hebrew word
lip means squalid, dirty, in allusion' to the
ancient oriental practice of neglecting the ap
pearance, and even covering the dress and per-
son with dust and ashes, as a token of extreme
grief. The bowing down is also to be taken as
a part of the same usage." — C A. B.]
Str VI. Ver. 15. Smiting, and I know it
not. — According to that which is supplied the
latter clause may be taken^ureawarea, as ver. 8,
comp. Job ix. 5; Jer. xiv. 18, unexpectedly (Stier,
Hupf., Hitzig), or innocently, comp. ver 11 6
(most interpreters), or whom I do not know
(Hengst., Delitzsch). Much more difficult is the
preceding word DOJ, which is suspicious in form
and obscure in sense. Yet it is not allowable on
this account to change the word into D'lpjzzz
strangers in the sense of foreigners (Olsh.j, so
long as there is the least possibility of an ex
planation. The word is hardly a substantive,
although it is thus taken by the Sept. and Vulg.
and translated: ^'scourges;'' and Hitzig, by
means of the Arabic, formerly brought out the
meaning of fools. Hitzig now changes the read-
ing into D))3D=as water. The word inclines to
the substantive, only as a participle from a root
which means smiling. According to its form it
might have a passive meaning (Job xxx. 8), thus:
beaten. But the context shows that there can no
more be a reference to the afflicted, in the sense
of worn out {Holland, and Berleberg. Bibel), than
of smitten in spirit. For the latter would lead
not to the idea of blindly raging, but either
to that of the mad or disordered spirit, or tha^,
of simple fools, or weak in spirit, or to that of
deeply troubled (Isa. xvi. 7). We must accord-
* [This doea not seem to give a very clear sense. The con-
text is in favor of heartfelt prayer. And though usage does
not allow a direct reference to repeated prayer or praying
from the heart, yet the return of the prayer to the bosom
may very well be in order to remain there in the bosom as
the abiding possession of the soul. The figure of the bosom
as the place for the valuable and b-loved thing is in favnr of
this. (Ps. Ixxxix. GO; Num. xi. li; Isa. xl. 11). Thu-" 1
prefer the explanation of Aben lizra, Luther, Calvin, et at. —
U.A B.]
iugly think of the afflicted in the sense of out-
casts (Kimchi, Calv., Grot.), or knaves (Mendels-
sohn), or men reduced in circumstances (Hengst.),
vulgar men, of the dregs of the people (Delitzsch).
But this meaning is artificial in its origin rather
than proved from the language of the text. Still
less can we with Luth*r translate limping, since
the additional " on the feet," which decides
the meaning in 2 Sam. iv. 4, is missing here, not
to mention the fact that this reference, whether
in scorn (Piscator, et al.), or as applied to the
two-faced hypocrite (Luther's gloss), is inappli-
cable here. On this account the word may per-
haps be taken as active, notwithstanding its unu-
sual form (Symmach., Jerome), unless we should
change it into D'SD ; yet it cannot be explained
of smiting «7iYA the tongue, of pettifogging (Chald.,
Gesen., Stier), for this very specific addition
made in Jer. xviii. 18, is not made here. We
must stand by the idea of violent ads (Hupf).
To this the J/lp in the following line of the verse
may be referred ^Hengst., Hupf.), which has
elsewhere the meaning of tearing open the mouth
in scorn and laughter (Kimchi, Vatabl., Schmidt,
et al.), or that of slander (Aben Ezra, Delitzsch),
as a tearing down with words (Stier).
Ver. 16. In the most wicked stammer-
ing of distorted things.— The fundamental
meaning of *13n is impure, defiled , hence in a
religious reference, the profane, so that in the
Syriac and .^thiop. the corresponding word is
likewise applied to the heathen and heretics
(comp. Gesen. Thesaurus). The translation ;
hypocrites (ancient interpreters, after the Vulg.
and the Rabbins) is therefore incorrect. The
preposition 3 expresses not communion with
(Stier), but denotes the characteristic or the con-
dition. The connection with what follows is
such that we may either connect the superlative
with the following 5'en^^ partit. (Delitzsch, Stier,
Bottcher), or suppose independent designations,
subordinate to one another (Hitzig). The former
is to be preferred, because \J4»S, which only oc-
curs besides in Isa. xxviii. 11, and indeed of
stammering of the lips with reference to the
unintelligible language of the foreigner, is appa-
rently a plural of a nom. abstr., not of an adjec-
tive. The sense l^ads not to speaking wit and
scoffings, but to expressions which sound to the
Psalmist as perverse, Si& foreign and unintelligible.
It is not necessary here to think of a real for-
eigner, or heathen barbarians, with whom hia
enemies had confederated, or after whose ex-
ample they acted (Hupfeld, with wicked stam-
mering of gibberish). It designates very appro-
priately the furious speech of bitter enemies.
That this is at the same time unjust, is expressed
by the following obscure and disputed word,
which according to the context is to be most
properly derived from JIJT in the meaning, gained
through the Arabic, of crooked, distorted, but
is not to be regarded as foreign, unintelligible
language (Hupf.), or as the words of scorn
(Hitzig), but as those of slander (Ewald). Thus
all ancient translators have thought of a word
like the previous one (Sept.). or related to it
(Chald.)- Symmach. lias at once: kv vKOKpiaet,
1 l3T]uaai TTETThtafihoLg, Jerome : m simulations ver-
24 1
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
borum fictorum. Similarly Kimchi, laaki was
tbe first to understand JlJ^D^HJ;^, as 1 Kings
xvii. 13, of the flat bread of the Hebrews, which
was baked in the ashes, and to refer the expres-
sion to the fawning flatterers, which as favorites
of Saul, or in order lo obtain food and drink
from Saul, and to pleas* him, made sport and
witticisms respecting David. Such parasites
would then be designated here as outcasts who
mocked for bread (Hengst.), or as cake -mockers
(L)e Wette, Delitzsch). At any rate this is bet-
ter than the interpretation which regards these
wicked persons as making mockery as indiffer-
ently or as willingly as they would eat a piece
of bread or cake (Aben Ezra). But this whole
explanation is very uncertain, because bread
Las this name only on account of its circular
form, which has then given rise to the reference
to prating around the table (Bottcher), or to
mockery in the circle=\n turn (Koster).
\_Str. VII. Vers. 17-18. For" the meaning of
how long, vid. Ps. xiii. 1. — From young lions my
only one, or solitary one. Comp. Ps. xxii. 20,
21. For the vows of thanksgiving comp. Ps.
xxii. 22, 25.— C. A. B.] •
Sir. VIII. [Ver. 19. Wink with the eye.
— Hupfeld : " This is often in the Proverbs a
gesture of agreement between confederates, and
of cunning, as Prov. x. 10, with 3, vi. 13, for
which likewise the verb XViy is used with TJ/,
xvi. 30z=to close the eyes, and parallel with it, to
press the lips together in the same sense " — C.A.B.]
Ver. 20. Against the quiet in the land. —
The construction is like Isa. xxiii. 8, and the
meaning is derived from Isa. xviii. 12 and Jer.
vi. 16, where the nom. abstr. can only have the
sense of " quiet.^' Thus it is very properly taken
by Luther, after Syr. and Chald. The Rabbins
on the other hand explain it as cleaving the earth
=:-hiding-place, which is followed in part by
Calvin in his translation super scissuras terras, or
they understand the word of fat, rich, and take
7^^=with. Clauss translates : " for the stirring
up of the land." The attempts of the Roman
Catholic interpreters with the words of the
Vulgate, in iracundia terrge loquentes dolos cogita-
bant, are very artificial. Now it is said to mean
a wrath that has worn away (Allioli), then a
wrath of a carnal-minded heart (Bellarmin), then
vrisith^pain and ea,rth^me?i (Agellius), yes, even
terrx is taken as a dative and is made to mean
»' to the earth "=with itself (Calmet), then the
wrath of the earth = common vulgar wrath
(Schegg). Jerome has in raphia terrse after
Symmach. The other Greek translations differ
from one another here. Even in the Sept. there
is uncertainty. Whilst Cod. Alex, reads : ctt'
bpyrfv yfjq ?.a?i0vvTeg, in the Cod. Vatic, there is •
en' bf)y^ SdAovq dieTioyi^ovro. The ancient Psal-
teries follow the latter reading: super iram dolose
cogifabant,
[Ver. 21. Comp. Ps. xxii. 7 for the first clause.
Alexander • " The Hebrew interjection in the
last clause (HXn) seems to be a natural expres-
B on of joyful surprise. Their success was
almost too great to be real, yet attested by their
senses. The verse ends with a kind of aposio-
pesis: 'our own eyes have seen' — what we
Bould not have belittved on the report of another,
to wit, the gratification of our warmest wishes
Vid. below, ver. 25."— C. A. B.]
[Sir. IX. Vers. 22-24. Thou hast seen.—
Antithesis to ver. 21, and referring back to ver.
17. — Be not silent. — Comp. Ps. xxviii. 1.—
Be not far. — Comp. Pss. xxii. 11, 19; xxxviii.
21; Ixxi. 12. — Arouse Thyself and awake.
—Comp. Ps. vii. 6, xliv. 23.— C. A. 13.]
[Str. X. Ver 25. Aha, our desire — K^SJ
used by metonymy for desire, and is parallel
with swallow up, and refers to the greediness of
devouring and the desire to destroy. Comp. Ps.
xvii. 9; xxvii. 12.
Ver. 26. Put on shame. — Hupfeld : " Vari-
ation of the previous clause. This is a usual figure
of attributes as well as events. Comp. Ps. civ. 1,
2; cix. 29; exxxii. 18; Job viii. 22."— C.A. B.]
Sir. XI. Ver. 27. Great is Jehovah.— Hit-
zig connects the always [A. V. continually'] with
that which is said, whilst he, with Hupfeld, De-
litzsch, et al., regard it as optative. Let Jeho-
vah be great, or be magnified. [So A. V., and
this is better, though the view of Hitzig is to be
rejected. — C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The prayer for Divine interposition for the
defence and deliverance of the person and right
of a servant of God, may be so closely connected
with zeal for the cause and glory of God, that it
cannot be stated with any certainty, what in the
prayer is in the interest of the service, and what
belongs to personal excitement. But it may be
very easily seen that such a zeal, even in its
utmost strength and its more particular form,
has nothing in common with personal revenge,
but the inflamed heart and importunity of lan-
guage. For when the heart is not kindled in
sinful passion, but in {h.^ fiery wrath of a holy love,
it will disclose this internal heat likewise in fiery
words ; but'the breath, which moves and directs
this flame, is not the whirlwind of human rage,
but the Spirit of God, who makes the servant of
God an instrument of the righteousness of God, as
well in punishing as in blessing. He, therefore, who
would earnestly carry out the Divine will in the
world, and who experiences pain, indignation and
wrath on account of the opposition of the ungodly,
with regard to its power and punishableness, as
strongly and deeply as he feels the certainty of
his own readiness to the will of God, will not for-
bear, under suitable circumstances, to implore the
execution of the DiYine Judgment in the punishment
of the ungodly, as well as in the deliverance of the
innocent and the righteous. Comp. Exeget. and
Crit. on ver. 5.
2. Prayers of this kind may in the life of a
man like David appear as necessary, and be re-
cognized AS justifiable. For David was without
doubt made, by Divine ejection and calling, a bearer
of the historical revelation of redemption, was de-
signated by the anointing ordered of God as the
royal vessel and the historical type of the royal ma-
jesty of the Messiah, and was preserved and kept
in this position and purpose by Divine guidance.
His experience and his actions are thus in the
closest and most personal relation with the his-
tory of the kingdom of God in Israel, so that his
enemies appear as the enemies of God. There-
fore David may in his prayers, in all earnestness
PSALM XXXV.
245
appeal to his just cause and the good pleasure and
interest of God in his person, may claim with con-
fidence the righteousness of God, and reckon upon
the shame and ruin of his enemies, with as much
confidence as he is sure of his own deliverance and
preservation, by faith in the Divine faithfulness
and truth. He is from this point of view the
type of the innocent, suffering, righteous servant of
Jehovah, whilst from the other side, he is likewise
a sinful man. Therefore he partly seeks his own
salvation in the grace of the merciful God alone,
partly he has to take good care, in his dascrip-
tion of the unrighteousness, wickedness, and un-
godliness of his enemies, and in appealing to
the Divii^e righteousness, that he is not carried
too far, in his mixing his own carnal nature there-
with; and that he does not transgress the legal
stand-point of the Old Testament. So much the
more then let every man who is not in a similar
historical position, calling, and situation, take
care of calling down the Divine retributive Justice.
"Tlie same zeal for the glory of God, which in
the Old Testament regarded judgment and re-
venge on the despisers of God as necessary to
atone for the crimen Ixsse majestatis, must in the
New Testament, where the grace of God stands
pre-eminent in the foreground of consciousness,
think first whether there is not perhaps a door
of grace still open for such wicked ones ; and
therefore the prayer for mercy must prevail over
the prayer for just judgment" (Kurtz).
3. If a man can with a good conscience appeal
to his own innocent, benevolent, loving beha-
viour towards his adversaries, as abundantly
shown to them in former times, and yet in remem-
bering this in times of suffering and persecution
through the wickedness and unthankfulness of
those to whom he had done good, is yet not mis-
led to revengefulness of mind, or driven to deeds
of retaliation, but gives the retributive judgment
into the hands of God, he will be preserved in the
strongest way from transgressing his privileges,
and misusing his rights, by the firm view of the
earnest and difficult duties, which are laid upon
the servant of God with respect to the glory of
God and the good of the congregation. He who
does this, will not .only oppose ih.e false love of the
world with true love, but will overcome the sinful
hate of the world by holy wrath, and in both ways,
help to break the power of the adversaries of God
in the world.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who would have God for his helper against
his enemies, must see to it that he himself has God
for his friend, and that he serves Him properly in
the congregation. — A servant of God has not only
to work for the glory of God, but likewise to suf-
fer, but by both he edifies the congregation. — The
righteousness of God is a two-edged sword for
the protection of the pious and the ruin of the un-
godly.— Prayer is likewise a weapon. He who
uses it should see to it that he carries it pro-
perly.— A man is not ruined by his enemies,- but
by his unrighteousness and his impenitence. — Good
deeds are often rewarded in the world with ingra-
titude, but the payment does not fail. — Prayer
for retributive judgment has its proper place, but
does not suit every time, and is not becoming to
everybody. — That armed enemies are opposed by
an armed God, brings terror among the ungodly,
fleeing to their own ruin, but consolation, help,
And joy to the afflicted pious. — The end of the
wicked is their ruin in their own nets, but they
are driven by the angel of the Lord. — As the sor-
rows of the pious are undeserved, so the Divine
judgment comes upon the ungodly unexpectedly.
— As God delivers the entire man, so the entire man
is to thank Him. — Wicked enemies, false wit-
nesses, and ww;"«si judges, can bring an innocent
man into great danger and severe sorrow of
heart; but God is not only our Avenger, but
likewise the Deliverer of those who trust in Him.
— What happens to thee in secret from the good-
ness of God, should be thankfully proclaimed in
the congregation. — As the goodness of God towards
us has no end, so the praise of God should never
cease in the congregation. — Wilt thou learn to
know thy heart, prove thy experiences, when thou
perceivest that it fares badly with thine ene-
mies ?
Starke : Since the enemies of a child of God
are at the same time enemies of God, he may be
comforted by the sure assistance, protection, and '
judgment of God. — An entire host of angels must
protect the pious, a single one, however, is used
to ruin an entire troop of the ungodly. — The ho-
nor of God does not permit that He should not
avenge the innocent on those who have slandered
them. — A pious man lives, as it were, among rob-
bers, who desire to rob his soul, but he relies in
comfort on the Divine promise to be his deliverer.
— A carnal mind makes men wicked hypocrites
and enemies of God. — Cruel men carry in human
form the character of wild beasts, and show
themselves to be such by their works. — If God
looks long upon the enemies. He does it, not that
He has pleasure in our persecution, but He has
pleasure in our patience.-»-God's presence, the
testimony of a good conscience and confident
trust in God can give sufficient and strong con-
solation in all persecutions. — The greatest power
of faith consists in properly appropriating and
applying to one's self the word: my God. — The
best description of believers is that they have all
their delight in the righteousness of Jesus. — The
final end of our redemption consists not in good
days and pleasure, but in-spreading abroad the
glory and majesty of God in the whole world.
Osiander: The praise of the grace and right-
eousness of God will remain and endure till the
day of judgment. For the Gospel will never be
entirely quenched in the Church of God, although
it shines more dimly at times, and then again
more brightly. — Selnekker: The world is un-
grateful, but generally rewards good finally with
evil. Accept it and fear God. The disciple is
not to be better than his master. We do not
crave anything better of the world, it remains as
it is. — Menzel : God is patient with the sighs
of the afflicted Christian — Renschel: Thefruit
of sin is shame and disgrace before God and
men. — God's is the vengeance. — Frisch : The
armor of God is protection to the pious, defiance
to the ungodly. — On earth the cross is regarded
as a disgrace, but before God and in heaven it is
all honor and glory. Our faith and hope see
this, and patience quietly waits the issue. —
Aendt : The life of an ungodly man is a con-
246
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
stant oombat; God has a defence and weapons
with which to protect us. — Tbe comfort of the
persecuted is the presence of God, the cause of
God, the righteousness of God. — Prancke : Lord,
who is like Thee? This should always be the
field-badge of spiritual knighthood. — Tholdck:
Whilst thousands who make these prayers care
for nothing more than assistance, David in the
Spirit is delighted in the moment when all his
bones being pervaded with thankfulness, he will
give the glory to God, and confess that no other
help can be compared with His help. — Stiller:
God has no pleasure in the wickedness of men,
but He often makes use of such briars in order
to train and prove His children. — Diedrich: He
who communes with God is likewise true at heart,
and makes all the troubles of his neighbors his
own, although he cannot himself be comforted by
their love in return.
[Matth. Henrt: It will be a comfort to us,
when men do us wrong, if our consciences can
witness for us that we have never done them any.
— If God be our friend, no matter who is our
enemy. — We shall not lose by the good oflBces we
have done to any, how ungrateful soever they
are, for our rejoicing will be this, the testimony
of our conscience. — Though the people of God
are and study to be a quiet people, yet it has
been the common practice of their enemies to de-
vise deceitful matters against them. — Barnes :
When we are right in our own cause we may ask
a just God to interpose and determine bel ween
us and our enemies according to His own na-
ture. As between ourselves and our fellow-men
we may bring our cause with this plea before a
righteous God ; as between ourselves and God,
we can make no appeal to His justice, but our
only hope is in His mercy. — Spuboeon. What a
glorious idea is this of Jehovah blocking the way
of persecutors, holding them at the pike's end,
and giving time for the hunted saint to elude
pursuit. — One word from the Lord quiets all our
fears. — Prayer heard should always suggest
praise. It were well if we were more demon-
strative in our holy rejoicings. We rob God by
suppressing grateful emotions. — Godis the cham-
pion, the true Knight-errant of all oppressed
ones. — Prayer is never lost; if it bless not those
for whom intercession is made, it shall bless the
intercessor. Clouds do not always descend in
showers upon the same spot from which the va-
pors ascended, but they come down somewhere ;
and even so do supplications in some place or
other yield their showers '^f mercy. — Praise —
personal praise, public praise, perpetual praise
— should be the daily revenue of the King of
heaven. — To cause hatred is the mark of the
wicked, to suffer it causelessly is the lot of the
righteous. — Malice has but one eye ; it is blind
to all virtue in its enemy. Eyes can generally
see what hearts wish. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXXVI.
T9 the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the L ORD»
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,
That there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes.
Until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit :
He hath left off to be wise, a7id to do good.
He deviseth mischief upon his bed ;
He setteth himself in a way that is not good;
He abhorreth not evil.
Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens ;
And thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains;
Thy judgments are a great deep :
O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
PSALM XXXVI.
247
8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; 5'^vU^'^7'*^\^.^
And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. - V^vfl.ixi,.^e. '^
9 For with thee is the fountain of life :
In thy light shall we see light.
10 O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee,
And thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen :
They are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Title. Respecting the
designation of David as servant of Jehovah vid.
Ps. xviii. By this reference to the position of
the speaker as well towards God as the congre-
gation, the reader's attention is directly called
to the meaning of this song as one to be well
pondered. It is certainly not a Psalm of lamen-
tation (De Wette), but a didactic Psalm (Luther).
First there is a striking description of the wicked
man, in which all moral relations and regulations
have been perverted into their opposites Tvers.
T-4) : then follows in the tone of a hymn (vers.
5-9) the pra«se of the immeasurable grace, faith-
fulness and righteousness of God; and the Psalm
concludes with a;)rayer (vers. 10-11), for further
exhibitions of these attributes towards all up-
right servants of God and towards the Psalmist
with a reference to the ruin of the wicked (ver.
12). It is uncertain whether the preterites in
this closing clause refer to historical facts which
have recently transpired (Hitzig), or are to be
taken as prophetical (most interpreters). In
favor of the latter view is the absence of any
other historical references. The house of God
(ver. 8) certainly is not used figuratively in order
to designate God as a father of a family (De
Wette), but refers to the places of worship, yet
without giving any reason to suppose that the
author was a ;?ne«< (Paulus). It is moreover
entirely unnecessary to think of the temple of
Solomon and descend to the period immediately
before the exile (Ewald, Olsh., Hitzig). The
conjecture of those who put the origin of this
Psalm in the period in which Saul still pretend-
ed to be the friend of David (Amyrald, etal.),
is likewise groundless. We have before us in
this and similar Psalms, "reflections from the
circumstances of the time and not from particular
events" (Delitzsch). This Psalm has its present
position in the order of Psalms from the use of
"servant of Jehovah" corap. Ps. xxxv. 27, the
rare word daehah ver. 12, comp. Ps, xxxv. 5,
and many correspondences with Ps. xixxvii.
Sir. I. Ver. 1. The wicked (hath) a
prompting of ungodliness within his
heart — All attempts to retain the tex. recept. ""S/
{my heart) have hitherto failed. For the turn
which has been given to the clause by Gesen.,
De Wette, Slier, Von Hofm., after -Fymmach.,
and Luther, in taking the first line as a kind cf
title as an announcement of the contents, al-
though only of the next verse (=A saying con-
cerning the wickedness of the wicked is in my
heart), is inadmissible, because on the one side
there follows, not a saying respecting wickedness,
but a description of it, on the other side usage
does not admit of connecting DXJ [stat. const, of
the part. pass, of ^^^^=zinspiratum, oraculum)
witha^en, obj. The following genitive always
designates the person which either imparts the
prompting, or utters it as a prophet (Num. xxiv.
3), or as an inspired poet (2 Sam. xxiii. 1 ;
Prov. XXX. 1). That it is entirely different with
Ki^D makes no difference. If this is admitted,
T - '
then the attempt might be made to regard the
wicked man himself as speaking, as he in ironi-
cal imitation of the well-known tone of the pro-
phet, sounds forth the "Divine word of wicked-
ness to the wicked man." If then, in order to
get the contents of this word, the words "in the
interior of my heart " are connected with the
following line (Venema), there arises a clause,
whose absurdity can be removed only by inad-
missible explanations. If this is not done
(Hengst. ), the following details do not agree
with the expectations awakened by such an an-
nouncement; and the thought, very proper in
itself, that the wicked listen to the promptings
of sin as Divine utterances, would be clothed in
such an obscure and misleading form, that it could
not be understood at all without explanation, as
then even Hengst. can not but insert for this
purpose the personal pronoun in his translation,
"to me the wicked man." All these difficulties
however aye set aside by the simple change of
'3 7 into 13 /, which is likewise in the ancient
versions, and even in some manuscripts. The
personification of sin is not strange either to the
Old Testament or the New Testament (Geu. iv.
7; Rom. vii.); and the unusual idea of an in-
spiring power is meditated by the wicked spirit
which takes the place of the Spirit of God, 1
Kings xxii. 21 sq. and by the lying spirit wliich
inspired the false prophets, Is. ix. 14; Jer. xxiii.;
Mic. ii. 11 (Hupfeld. Hitzig. Delitzsch, now
likewise Bottcher). There is therefore no occa-
sion for the conjecture DJ^J in order to get
the sense: Vice is pleasant (Diestel). And the
proposition to transpose the DK3 to the proper
title after, "by David " (Maurer, formerly like-
wise Bottcher in part, Tholuck, G. Baur, The-
248
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
nius), does not agree with the grammatical con-
struction and the place of the word in the syntax,
which elsewhere prevail. The Vulgate has
literally after the Sept. dixit injustus ut delinquat
in semet ipso, which is explained by Schegg: The
ungodly speaks to himself,persuades himself to sin.
Ver, 2. For he flattereth himself in his
eyes vrith reference to the finding of his
guilt, — literally he has made smooth towards
himself. The V/N is reflexive, as Gen. viii. 9;
1 Sam. xiv. 52. For the subject is not ungodli-
ness (the Rabbins, Olsh., Camph., Delitzsch),
but the wicked man, because the entire section
speaks of him and the translation "towardshim"
would lead to a flattery towards God (most
ancient versions, Koster, Maurer, Tholuck),
which explanation again would give an entirely
diflFerent meaning to the clause from that allowed
by the following words. For "finding of sin"
never denotes the theoretical knowledge of it.
Consequently the thought cannot be here, that
the wicked man merely lied to God, that he pos-
sessed knowledge and hatred of his sins, and
that he imagined that he could deceive God. No
more does that expression denote the accomplish-
ment of sin, as if the wicked man esteemed him-
self highly on account of his sins and his hatred
of God and Divine things (Kimchi, Geier, J. H.
Mich., Koster, Stier) in his flattering imagina-
tion against God and in contrast with his guilty
fear of God (Rosenm.). It designates only the
finding of sin by the avenger, who pursues and
reaches it with the design of punishing it.
Gen. xliv. IG ; Hos. xii. 9; comp. 1 Sam. xxix.
3-6 ; Ps. xvii. 3. This design of punishing can-
not be lost sight of. Accordingly, although the
original meaning may be given by assequi, yet
. the interpretation, that ungodliness directs flat-
tering words to the wicked man in his eyes (=
well pleasing to him) in order to accomplish his
guilt, that is in order to obtain, that he may be-
come guilty aud hate God and man instead of
loving (Delitzsch), is indeed ingenious but not
entirely in harmony with usage, according to
which the discovert/, that is the disclosing of the
guilt of another's sin, has the design of punishment,
which in this interpretation disappears entirely
behind that of being guilty. For it cannot be
said that it is taught here, that personified un-
godliness has in view, with its suggestions, the
attainment of the purpose, that the wicked man
shall constantly become more guilty in order
that he may more certainly meet his punish-
ment. Still less can any one be authorized to
make Elohim the subject of the entire clause
[Perowne]. For first, the interpretation " God
has made it smooth, acted softly towards him in
hid eyes, that is according to his fancy," gives
indeed a good sense and is correct according to
the language; but it makes the following clause
still more diflacult of comprehension. For the
translation "to find the corrupt things of the
unrighteouH so that he must hate them" (find
worthy of hatred) (Hofm.), corresponds neither
with usage nor the context. And the proposi-
tion to put ver 2 6 in a parenthesis as an ex-
planation of the fancy (Hupf.), is as much a
desperate expedient as the ingenious conjecture
of Hupfeld, that perhaps the mD (he has left
off"), which precedes the two infinitives with 7 in
the following verse, has here fallen away. Under
these circumstances it is most advisable to find
the thought expressed, that the wicked man
flatters himself with the foolish imagination that
he will escape punishment. That it is an imagi-
nation ov fancy is expressed by the words *'in
his eyes." A corresponding expression in the
previous line makes it necessary to think of the
eyes of the wicked, not those of God, in connec-
tion with which interpretation many mors
ancient interpreters thought of a merely external
service, works lying before the eyes, which the
wicked man performed hypocritically, without
internal reverence of God. But such an inter-
pretation, not to speak of other objections, is not
at all suitable to the mention of the eyes of God,
which designate above all His Omniscience and
Infallibility. Ver. 2 b refers (Hengst.) to the
sphere, in which this self-deception of the auda-
cious villain moves (comp. Deut. xxix. 18; Is.
xxviii. 15). Yet it must be conceded, that even
this interpretation is not free from the objection
that the expression is yet somewhat hard, forced
and unusual, especially when it is compared
with the other verses, which with all their sub-
limity and meaning, yet have a clear and flowing
style. It is very natural therefore to think of
a corruption of the text (Olsh., Hupf.). But al-
though only a slight change in the text would
be necessary in order to the ingenious conjecture
mentioned above, of a verb which has been
omitted (Hupf.), or to gain the sense; it flatters
him in his eyes (it tickles his pride), to discover
missteps in others and to make them suff'er for
them (Thenius), these proposals have partly ob-
jections in themselves, partly they lead to the
unbounded field of mere conjecture. The ancient
translators already diff"ered, partly from the He-
brew text, partly from one another, and rendered
it in a way which is in part unintelligible. The
interpretation of Symmachus has been renewed
in part by Clauss, in the interpretation : he acts
slippery towards God in his eyes, in order to slip
away from the finding out of his misdeed. Here
the "making smooth" is changed into a mean-
ing which cannot be proved for the word in
question. On the other hand it might be taken
in the sense of "Coquetting towards God," and
"0 be used in the sense of eav, so that ver. 3,
forms the conclusion. (Hitzig). But if then this
coquetting is taken as the hypocritical confes-
sion, he has found=becorae sensible of his sin
and hates it, this meaning cannot be regarded as
proved by the remark, that where as here the
guilty man himself finds the guilt, X)fD means
knowing, becoming sensible of what was pre-
viously obscure or uncertain. The passages
cited in favor of this, Eccl. yii, 29; xxiv. 27;
Job xxxii, 13, have not this connection of "find-
ing" with "sin" on which all depends. More-
over the entire description is not that of the
sanctimonious hypocrite, but the real villain
(Sachs) who comforts himself by his experience
in sinning (Hengst.). — The impersonal interpre-
tation: "it fl.-xtters him" (Ewald, Thenius) is
likewise contrary to the usual use of the verb.
Bottcher maintains {Neue exeget. krit. JEhrenlese
Nr. 1092) his previous (Theol. Stud, und Krit.
1850. 2 609) interpretation: for he flattereth
PSALM XXXVI.
249
himself, when he directs his eyes upon himself;
lo discover his guilt must be odious to him.*
[iSir. 11. Vers.8-4. Perowne: "Vers. 1-4 describe
generally the character of the ungodly : first the
Bin of his heart (vers. 1-2) ; then the sin of his
lips (ver. 3) ; lastly the sin of his hands, tho
evil schemes which he devises and executes (ver.
4). As there is a climax in the whole descrip-
tion of the evil man, so especially is there a
progress from bad to wprse in vers. 3-4. (1)
He hath left off to do good ; (2) on his bed he
meditates Qv\\ (Ps. iv. 4; Mic. ii. 1); (3) he re-
solutely sets himself to do evil ; (4) his very con-
science is hardened, so that he does evil without
repugnance or misgiving " — C. A. B.]
Sir. III. [Ver. S.f Thy mercy Jehovah
(reacheth) to the heavens; Thy faithfulness
unto the skies. — Most interpreters regard
3 in the first clause as equivalent to 1^ and
interpret it by supplying as in the second clause
"reacheth." In favor of this is the parallel
passage, Ps. Ivii. 11, comp, Ps. Ixxi. 19; ciii.
11; Job xi. 8; xxii, 12; xxxv. 6. Hengsteu-
berg refers to the pillar of cloud and of fire
reaching from earth to heaven and yet prefers
the rendering in the heavens which includes the
reaching to the heavens. The idea of the pas-
sage is to measure the mercy and faithfulness of
God as in the passages cited above, and therefore
it is better to regard the clauses as parallel as
in Ps. Ivii. 1 1. The mercy of God is heaven-high.
In the second clause D'pniy is the vault of hea-
!• T :
ven, the expanse beaten out like fine dust, best
rendered in English by the sky, or plural skies.
— C. A. B.]
Ver. 6. Mountains of God. — These are not
as it were the highest mountains, because all that
is best in nature or of its kind is distinguished
by the addition of the words, "of God" (the
Rabbins, Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich. etal.). This
supposition does not accord with the sharp dis-
tinction between the natural and the Divine,
which prevails in the Biblical view of the world.
This designation is used not only where there is
an emphatic reference to that which has been
produced by God (Hupf.), but likewise that
which testifies to the glory of God (His power,
goodoess, and holiness) and serves lo reveal Him.
Thus the prophets are frequently called men of
God, and Mount Sinai and Zion, mountains of
God ; 80 likewise Paradise is called the garden
of God, Gen. xiii. 10, comp. ii. 8, and the rain
* [It is better to regard persoaified ungodliness as the
subject of this clause, yet not with the explanation of De-
litzich with regard to the finding, but combined rather with
the author's view of the force of S and N^O- The translation
would then be: He (ungodliness suggesting to him and
prompting him) flatters him in his eyes with refer-
ence to finding hia guilt, to hating (it). That is, ungodliness
natters him that his guilt will not be detected, hated and
visited upon hiin.— C. A. B.]
t fPerowne: "The transition from this description of the
wicked to the praise of God's goodness and faithfulness, is
^'■'*f«Jy very abrupt ; and we can feel no surprise that
nupff Id should be inclined to doubt an original connection
between the two portions of the Psalm. Yet may we not ac-
Munt for the abruptness by a very natural recoil of feeling?
^0 good man can ever delight to portray the workings of a
heart al enated from God. If the evil he sees around him
lorce him for a time to trace it to its hidden source or watch
Its outward development, with the more joy and thankful-
I18H- will he find refuge (see ver. 7), from its hideous shadow
la the faithfulness and goodaess of God."— C. A. B.j
in contrast to artificial irrigation is called the
brook of God, Ps. Ixv. 9 ; and the cedars of
Lebanon are called cedars of God, Ps. Ixxx. 10 ;
and trees of God, Ps. civ. 16, not only because
He planted them as the aloes (Num. xxiv. 6),
but because they testify to His creative power,
and their consideration gives occasion to worship
Him. The tert. compar. in the comparison of
righteousness with the mountains of God is
therefore, their firmness and unmoveableness
(Luther and most interpreters], whether with
or without the subordinate idea of the safety of
those who seek refuge in them (Stier), rather than
their greatness and height (H«ngst., Hupf.). — ■
Thy judgments a great flood. — The effects of
righteousness, the judgments of God are directly
compared with the great flood, not with reference
to their depth as contrasted with the height of
the mountains (Hupf.), or on account of their un-
fathomablenessand unsearchableness (AbenEzra,
Geier, Rosenm., Stier, Delitzsch), or with respect
to their unmeasurableness (Hengst.) and compre-
hensive extent (Calvin), but with reference to
their power which none can escape and the cer-
tainty with which they reach their ends. For
the expression T\1'\ Dinn occurs only in Gen.
vii. 11, and therefore points, not to the un-
fathomable depth -or the unmeasurable ocean,
but to the flood which overflows all things,
which pours over the world judging and deliver-
ing according to God's will. Accordingly the
allusion to the deliverance of the animal king-
dom with Noah's family (Venema, Hengst.) in
the following clause is not a strange historical
reference mixed with the general clause (Hupf.),
although it is correct, that the cattle, that is, the
animal kingdom, in their needs appear fre-
quently as an object of Divine care and mercy in
connection with men. It is likewise to be no-
ticed, that the reference is not directly histori-
cal ; but is merely an allusion to that historical
event, in which the judgments of God actually
presented themselves as a great flood (Ps. xxix.
10). So much the easier is the idea of Divine
judgments or indeed of severe afflictions in gene-
ral, from which God delivers the pious, ex-
plained under the figure of great overflowings,
(Ps. xxxii. 6), which yet would have otherwise
been far from the mind of the Hebrew owing to
the physical character of his land. — There is not
the least reference in this Psalm to a victorious
war in which men and beasts were delivered
from the danger incurred by the inroad of hea-
then nations (Hitzig), which had broken treaties
(Hab. ii. 17; iii. 17).
Ver. 7." Shadow of Thy Tvings. — It follows
from Ps. Ixi. 4, that the shelter under the
shadow of the wings of God is connected with
dwelling in the tent. It is more natural here to
think not of the cherubim but of the hen or the
eagle, as Deut. xxxii. 11 ; Ps. xvii. 8; Ivii. 1;
Ixiii. 7; xci. 4; P-s. xci. 2.
Ver. 8. Fatness of Thy house.— This is
not the gift of the paternal goodness of God
abundantly bestowed in the world (De Wette),.
but first of all the sacrificial meals (Is. xliii. 24;
Jer. xxxi. 14), and if we may understand by
them thank offerings and peace offerings, the
reference is to reconciliation with God, and not
to victory over earthly enemies (Ps. Ixv. 4).
250
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Since however there is no reference to the use
of sacrifices as such, but these serve as figura-
tive designations of the enjoyment which those
have, who are placed near to God in communion
with Him, as Jer. xxxi. 14, we may likewise, yet
always only on this foundation, think of "rich
goods" (Luther) in a wider sense, the spiritual
joy and blessings of the entire sphere of the Divine
grace. Stxeava. of Thy pleasures. — In this
connection the Hebrew word for pleasures re-
minds us of Paradise (Eden), but the stream
(literally brook) is merely the usual figure of
fulness and of blessing. (Hupf.). Further refer-
ences to the common source of the four arras of
that stream or to the stream going forth from
Eden to water the garden Gen. ii. 10 (Hengst.,
Delitzsch), are not in the text. The figure of
receiving drink from a flowing water originates
from the idea, that God is the fountain of life
and light (Jer. ii. 13; xvii. 13; Prov. xvi. 22).
Ver. 9. For with Thee is the fountain of
life, and in Thy light w^e see light. — The
frequent connection of life and light (Ps. Ivi. 14 ;
Job iii. 20; Prov. xvi. 15) and the entire con-
text of the present passage show, that here the
reference is not to a knowledge of religious truth
in the light of revelation (most interpreters),
but to an experience which joyously shines
through men, when they retain the light of grace
(Ps. iv. 6 ; xliv. 3), the light of life proceeding
from the face of God ; and with this the light of
success and of salvation, which threatened to be
put out, rises again. Comp. Bottcher de inferia
§96.
\_Str. IV. Ver. 10. Loving-kindness. — Pe-
rowne; "For the third time he dwells on this
attribute of God, and again associates it as in
vers. 5, 6, with the "righteousness" of God, —
loving-kindness (or mercy) and righteousness."
Ver. 11. Neither let the hand of the
wicked drive me aWay. — Hupfeld: '■'■Foot
and hand are the instruments and figures of vio-
lence : the former of treading under foot, of crush-
ing; the latter of thrusting away, hunting away,
driving away, namely from the possession of
land, thus of banishment." — C. A, B.]
Sir. V. Ver. 12. There have the evill
doers fallen. — Some interpret the preterites
in this verse as future and translate, then will
fall: this is to be entirely rejected. U^ does not
refer to time, but to jt>/ace=there ; and there is
no more reference to a promise than to a ^rayer
(Luther), The thought is most natural, that
David here refers to a well known historical ex-
amjoZe (Venema, Clericus, Olsh., Hitzig, Hupf)
as Ps. xiv. 6, in order to instruct and ta comfort,
or indeed to strengthen the confidence in the
certainty of the Divine judgment. This would
be expressed by translating them as perfects
(Sept., Chald., Jerome). Yet it is admissible to
use the present (Syr., Symmach.) and to take
the preterite as prophetic (Calvin, Hengst., De-
liUsch), because in the prophetic view that which
is mentioned previously as sure, may be treated
as something that has already happened.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. If a man hardens himself in his sins by
impenitence, so that he becomes a wanton and a
villain, it goes so far with him, that the entire
interior of his heart is taken possession of by
wickedness, and a total perversion of true rela-
tions occurs. The pi ice of the voice of God
in the conscience is taken by wickedness with its
suggestions, as the supernatural power determin-
ing the man in his religious and moral relations,
and it blinds him to such an extent that God has
for him "no objectivity inspiring respect" (De-
litzsch); and no thought at all of Divine punish-
ment, especially with reference to himself, comes
into his conceited aoal, but rather defiance of &od's
variance with him is so closely connected with
the flattering imaginations of his own security from
punishment that he not only speaks wickedly, and
devises mischief, but he consciously has departed
from rational and good actions, and in bold oppo-
sition to the Divine commands, with fearful reso-
luteness, has taken his position in the way which
is not good, because he has killed at once all
love to the good with a dead conscience and
recognises no longer the blamableness of evil.
2. But if the wicked man is no longer to be
terrified by Divine judgments and can be pre-
vented by terror from no wicked act, yet the
pious man is not utterly lost. God provides
still that the trees should not grow into the hea-
vens. Thither the grace of the Eternal extends,
as it comes from thence and the acts of His faith-
fulness correspond with it. Therefore as the
heavens cannot be stormed by the ungodly, no
more can they make Him inaccessible to the
pious, or prevent the coming of the kingdom of
heaven. And still less can they cast down the
Divine ordinances in the world. The righteousness
of God is as inviolable as the mountains established
by Him and Wis judgments are executed as inevita-
bly as the great flood. But the same God who
takes away the wicked in His time, shows Him-
self to be the Saviour in such a comprehensive
sense, that even the irrational beasts, how much
more men, stand under His care and Provi-
dence,
3. But if the goodness of God is such a pre-
cious possession, worth more than all the treasures
of the world, the members of the congregation
particularly have reason to celebrate it; for
although they are indeed poor children of Adam,
yet they are not only objects of His care, as all
creatures, but they have access to the good things,
blessings and joys of ffis house. The God, who
takes His children everywhere with paternal
love into the truest protection, and spreads wings
over them, the shadow of which protects them
against the heat of affliction, here takes His
people of priests to His table and provides them
with all that they need, not only according to
their necessities, but richly and beyond all their
prayer and understanding. For in comnmnion
with God alone is the true and inexhaustible foun-
tain of life and light. God has not only both in
Himself alone in inseparable union, but He alone
is at the same time life and light in the highest
sense and in everlasting perfection; and from
free grace He imparts both in holy interchange
in the most blissful perfection (John i. 4).
4. He, therefore who desires that the joyful
light of everlasting redemption, and a blissful life
should rise for him and never be put out, and
still further craves that he may be tilled more
PSALM XXXVI.
251
and more with this life aad its light, aad that it
may shine through him to such an extent that
he may be glorified by it, must take and keep such
a position, that the gracious light of the Dioine
countenance may shine upon him and the work
of grace in imparting life to him from God may be
a constant one. The believer may and must prag
constantly for the continuance of this work of
grace. For it is certain that to be estranged from
God is like the darkness of death, and includes
loss of salvation and ruin '>/ life. But he who
knows God, doubts not of the readiness of Goi to
continue to extend His grace; and he who is of
upright heart SLXidjust mind, relies upon the work
of the Divine righteousness He may reckon upon
it with the confidence of faith, that proud
wicked men are yet not supreme and canhot
crush him or drive him from the kingdom, house,
and inheritance given him by God. But the
righteous man with"" prophetic glance sees them
already as lost people, and beholds in spirit their
irreparable ruin. They are changed into a
"field of corpses without the hope of resurrec-
tion" (Delitzsch) Is. xxvi. 14.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The defiance of the ungodly: 1) whence it
originates; 2) in what it asserts itself ; 3) how it
ends. — God's judgments may be denied but not
avoided; it is well for those who have no reason
to fear them. — Ungodliness a) in its power, b) in
its enormity f c) in its weakness. — What the right-
eous have to expect from the ungodly and what
they have to expect from God. — He who would
not fear the defiance of the ungodly must be able
a) to conceal himself in the love of God; b) to
trust in God's faithfulness ; c) to reckon upon
God's righteousness. — The ungodly may threaten
to perplex and overturn the whole world by their
doings, but he who knows God, traces in the
whole world the testimonies of the Divine govern-
ment.— The wicked are ruined /orcuer on account
of their wickedness, but the pious have in God
an inexhaustible fountain of life, whose light never
expires. — The refreshments in the house and at
the table of God help the pious to overcome all
need and anguish in the world. — The wicked do-
ings of the ungodly and the blessed gracious con-
dition of the pious.
Stakke : Since believers are servants of God
on account of their common and their special
calling, they should be the more cheerful and
willing to faithfully fulfil their duties ; the re-
ward of grace will surely follow. — The purer and
more tender the love to God and His honor, the
more sensitive the pain where they must see
and hear that which is opposed to this. — When
men are first brought by the devil to such a
state that they put away from them the fear of
God; there is no blasphemy too great but that
they should be drawn into it. — The two employ-
meats which worldlings have learned are to do
evil, and speak evil and scorn those who do
good. — No sin is too horrid for a godless mind,
that he should abhor it — it is all sport to him. —
Many men are so hardened, that, although others
give them good advice, yet they from evil custom
reject the best and choose the worst. We should
oppose the wrath of Satan and the enmity of the
world with the goodness of God, just as we
use God's truth against Satan's lies. — Wherever
we may be, we are yet surrounded by the good-
ness of God, as the heavens encompass us. —
There is nothing more precious ahd valuable to
the Christian in heaven or on earth, than the
goodness and grace of God, whence all his sal-
vation in time and eternity springs. — True
Christianity is not a disagreeable thing, but has
more joy in it, than can be found in the whole
world, although this joy is concealed from the
eyes of the world. ^God can lift up again the
poor man who has been cast down to the ground
by the proud man ; but who can help that man
up again, whom God has cast down into the
abyss? — If we are in the way of life, the hand
of God must keep us there, and for this, constant
prayer is necessary.
Osiander: As we should pray for our adver-
saries, as long as there is any hope that they
may be brought to repentance, so likewise we
may pray against them when they give good
evidence that they are entirely and utterly
hardened and will never come to repentance and
conversion; we should yet take care lest wo
judge too rashly and too soon and not regard our
own revengeful feelings as a holy zeal. —
ScHNEPF : The mercy of God is greater than all
his works: — Menzul: When God's word is let
go, there is no fear of God left. — Dauderstadt :
Not only the ungodly have falls, but likewise the
pious ; but the latter arise again, the former not.
— Bake : When a man leaves oflf to fear God ; no
sin is too great for him, — Dietelmair : If God
is the fountain whence all our joy springs, nothing
can prevent our joy. — Arndt: In all troubles
however high or deep or broad or long they
may be, God's grace and truth are still greater
and higher. — Tholuck: How gracious must the
wing of Divine care be since it includes not
only men but even irrational beasts in its broad
shadow. — Since all good things which men enjoy
come from God, the children of God may in fact
be sure that they will not be the last to receive
them when they are distributed. — No one has
ever found God except through God. — Guen-
ther: When wickedness seems to prevail every-
where, it is only appearance. God's love and
righteousness will rule forever. — Diedrich:
Those are the true servants of God, to whom
God gives the experience of the mysteries of His
kingdom, that they may be able to impart them
to others. — He who has known his treasure in
God, has no fear of ever losing it. — Taube : The
fourfold condition and advance of sin: 1) servi-
tude to sin, 2) security in sin, 3) lying and
hypocrisy,) 4) hardness and obduracy of heart.
[Matth. Henry : Omissions make way for
commissions. When men leave off doing good,
leave off praying, leave off their attendance on
God's ordinances, and their duty to Him, the
devil easily makes them his agents, his instru-
ments to draw those that will be drawn into sin,
and those that will not, to draw them into trou-
ble.— If sinners did not steel their hearts, and
brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence,
they could not go on in their evil ways, in such
a direct opposition to all that is just and good.
— If God's mercies were not in the heavens,
that is, infinitely above the mercies of any crea-
252
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
tare, He would long ere thia have drowned the
world again. — Let us not wonder that God gives
food to bad men, for He feeds the brute crea-
tures ; and let us not fear but that He will pro-
vide well for good men. — A gracious soul,
though still desiring more of God, never desires
more than God. — The pleasures of sense are
stinking puddle water ; those of faith are pure
and pleasant, clear as crystal, Rev. xxii. 1. —
Barnes : All away from God is dark ; all near
Him is light. If therefore we desire lighten the
subjects which pertain to our salvation, it must
be sought by a direct and near approach to Him;
and the more we can lose ourselves in the splen-
dors of His throne, the more we shall under-
stand of truth. — Faith often converts the promi-
ses into reality; and in the bright anticipations
and the certain hope* of heaven sings and re-
joices as if it were already in our possession, —
anticipating only by a few short days, weeks,
or years, what will certainly be ours. — Spur-
GEON : He hath the devil for his bed-fellow who
lies abed and schemes how to sin. — Faith de-
rives both light and life from God, and hence she
neither dies nor darkens. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXXVIL
A Psalm of David.
1 Fret not thyself because of evil doers,
Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good ;
So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord ;
And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the Lord ;
Trust also in him ; and he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
And thy judgment as the noon-day.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him :
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way,
Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath :
Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
9 For evil doers shall be cut off:
But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be :
Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be,
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth ;
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plotteth against the just.
And gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
13 The LfORD shall laugh at him :
For he seeth that his day is coming.
PSALM XXX VII. 263
14 The wicked have drawn out the swojd, and have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
And to slay such as be of upright conversation.
15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.
16 A little that a righteous man hath is better
Than the riches of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken:
But the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright :
And their inheritance shall be for ever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in tjie evil time :
And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish,
And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs :
They shall consume ; into smoke shall they consume away.
21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again :
But the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.
22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth ;
And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LoRb :
And he delighteth in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down ;
For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old ;
Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken*
Nor his seed begging bread.
26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth ;
And his seed is blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good ;
And dwell for evermore.
28 For the Lord loveth judgment,
And forsaketh not his saints ;
They are preserved for ever :
But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land.
And dwell therein for ever.
30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,
And his tongue talketh of judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart ;
None of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watcheth the righteous.
And seeketh to slay him.
33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand,
Nor condemn him when he is judged.
B4 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way,
s And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land :
' When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
264
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power.
And spreading himself like a green bay tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not :
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright :
For the end of that man is peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together :
The end of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord :
He is their strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them :
He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them,
Because they trust in him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — We cer-
tainly canaot call this Psalm a Theodicy, and
hardly a didactic Psalm. For it does not, as it
were, allai/ doubts of God's righteous govern-
ment (De Wette), which are solved in Ps. xlix.,
and still more in Ps. Ixxiii. but it exhorts not to
yield to feelings of ill humor excited by the ap-
parent prosperity of the ungodly; but rather to
trust in the protection of God, the righteous
Judge, and to persevere in doing good, with the
assurance of the final and often very sudden
ruin of the wicked, and the sure deliverance
and manifold blessings of the pious. And these
exhortations are not developed in a didactic
form, or elaborately proved, but they are ex-
pressed in a form corresponding with that of
Proverbs, in rounded clauses easily remembered,
which treat of the same thoughts in very dif-
ferent and often agreeable figures, and turns of
expression ; and they are so connected by an
alphabetical arrangement, that " they bang to-
gether not unlike many precious stones or pearls,
which are strung on one string in one neck-
lace " (Amyrald). Two verses of two lines are
as a rule allotted to each letter, and indeed so
that the parts of the tetrastich are connected
with one another in sense. Yet this Psalm
likewise, as the previous alphabetical Psalms
(ix., XXV , xxxiv.), has many deviations from
the rule, which are hardly to be explained from
a preconceived plan, and with reference to the
number ten as a sign of whnt is perfect and com-
plete in itself (Hengst.). The verses 7, 20, 34,
have each only three lines for the corresponding
letters, whilst the letters 3 and r\ have strophes
of five lines in two verses, yet so that the 26th
verse of two lines follows the tristich (ver. 25),
whilst the 40th verse of three lines follows the
39Lh verse with two lines, n is used twice, in
vers. 14 and 15. J? seems to be missing, and in
its place D forms a long strophe in vers. 27, 28,
29. However, there seems to be here merely a
false division of the verses. If the new strophe
is begun in the middle of the present ver. 28, it
is not necessary to supply the missing strophe
by erasing 7 of the first word Un}^! (Beller-
mann, Metrik S. 12] ) ; we need only not to count
the Lamed (Maurer), as we do not count the Yav
of ver. 39. This explanation is simpler than
the supposition that a clause has fallen oflF after
ver. 28 c, although the Sept., Symm., Vulg. have
such an one=infusti punientur, as if they had
read nDK^J D^S^j; (Capp., Ewald, et al), or
D'ynjr (Hitzig). De Wette has taken back his
supposition that the wicked are heathen and the
righteous are Jews, as indeed nothing indicates
that the poet comforted his fellow-citizens, suf-
fering under the oppression of a foreign yoke,
with the prospect of a speedy change of fortune
(Rosenmiiller). There are no references at all,
that can be traced (Hupfeld), to such relations
as occurred in the Syrian oppression (Olsh.), or
would suit the government of David (De Wette).
The contents even lead rather to a period prior to
the composition of the book of Job, than to a period
subsequent to this, and not at all to "a revived
Jewish dogmatism " (Hitzig). And, as it has
already been remarked, neither the quiet didac-
tic tone nor the alphabetic form lead to a later
period of composition. With respect to the
resemblances with Prov. iii. 31 ; xvi. 3, 8; xx.
24 ; xxiii. 17 ; xxiv. 19, these do not imply that
we have here reminiscences and repetitions (Hit-
zig, G. Baur). They may be explained ratber
from an internal relationship with the Proverbs
of Solomon which are rooted and grounded in
the poetry of David, such as is now before us
(Hengst.) Moreover, the repetition of the
same thoughts and turns of expression, is not
necessarily due to the alphabetical limitation.
They may have the practical aim of making a
strong impression (Berleb. Bibel). This agrees
very well with the advanced age of the auther
(ver. 25), who, however, can not at all be charged
with tedious prolixity, but rather discloses a
complete mastery of the material, a ripened ex-
perience and a great skill in the art of a flowing,
clear style, which, with all its simplicity, has yet
peculiarities of expression. All this is rather in
favor of David, whose life aflFords ample occasion
for the experience and feelings here expressed:
"Such examples David had certainly seen in
Saul, Ahithophel, Absalom and the like, who
were powerful in their ungodly natures, and
before one could look around him they passed
awny, so that it might be asked and said, Where
are they gone ? " (Luther). Ver. 5 has afforded
PSALM XXXVII.
255
the theme of the song of Paul Gerhardt: Befiehl
du deine Wege. — It is possible that vers. 12, 21,
31, oa account of similarity, begin special clauses
of the Psalm (Hitzig, Delitzsch).*
[Str. I. Ver. 1. Fret not thyself.— This
verb literally denotes to heat oneself with ex-
citement or anger. It is used in this form only
in Prov. xxiv. 19, and in this Psalm in vers.
1, 7, 8.
Ver. 2. Grass is the usual figure of perish-
ableness, and is frequently coapleJ with flower
of the field, comp. Ps. xc. 6; ciii. 15 ; cxxix. 6 ;
Isa. xl. 6, 7 ; Job xiv. 2. Here it is oonnecteii
with green herb, which is literally greenness
of herbage, and refers to the tender grass and
young herbage. Contip. Ps. i. 3. — C. A. B.]
Str. II. Ver. 3. Dwell in the land.— The
possession of the land and dwelling in it are
frequently designated as the rewarc? of righteous-
ness. But it does not follow from this »ny more
than from ver. 27 that we are here to think of a
promise (Rosenra., Stier, Hengst. ). The context
is opposed to this and likewise the connection of
the clauses. Accordingly, we must suppose an
exhortation, which refers not so much to a
conflict with desires to emigrate out of displea-
sure with affairs at home (most interpreters), as
to an encouragement to a quiet ^?/e, tranquillized
by God, in the land of the promise. If the ex-
pression is merely regarded as typical and ex-
plained of the entire position in which a man is
placed by God, of the possession and calling of
the individual as well as that maintained by
every one (Hupfeld, Hitzig), then the coloring
of the expression which was so comforting to
the Israelites, is too much weakened, although il
is true that this clause is parallel to that imme-
diately preceding, and the consequences of the
trust are stated (De Wette). — Practice faith-
fulness.— These words cannot mean : nourish
thyself honestly (Luther) ; or : feed securely^:
live in careless trust (Chald., Calvin) ; perhaps :
feed thyself in faithfulness. Moreover, this
faithfulness, according to the context, is not the
faithfulness of God, in which the proud are to
rejoice (Jerome, Cleric, Hengst. ). There is no
promise expressed here, so likewise it is not said
that the pious will rejoice in their own faithful-
ness, or will be fed, that is, preserved and nou-
rished on account of their constancy in faith and
their trust in God (Isaki). It is an exhortation
to the loving practice of faithfulness ; for nj7T
means: to go or be behind something (Hitzig).
[Str. III. Vers. 5, 6. Roll thy way upon
Jehovah. — Comp. Ps. xxii. 8; Prov, xvi. 3;
i Peter v. 7. The way here refers to the whole
course of life, with its troubles and cares. These
God will assume together with the care of the
way of those who trust in Him. — He w^ill do
it, that is, He will accomplish what they cannot
do and will bring it to a good end, as Pss xxii.
• [DelitZBch: "The bond which connects Ps. xxxvii. with
xxxvi. is the similarity of couteat? which here and there
likewiETe correspond in expressions. The fundamental thongiit
which pervades the whole Psalm is like that uf the first
Teraes: Be not scandalized at the success of the ungodly,
but hope in the Lord, for the success of the ungodly soon
cornea to an end, and the result separates the righteous utid
the unrighteous. Therefore Tertuliian calls this Paalm
prtviderUim Kpeculum ; Isodore, portio contra murmw ; Lu-
tlier, vestis pwrun.cu adacnptum: Uic Sunctoi um patientia
Ut (aev. xiv. l;i)."— C.A. B.]
31 ; lii. 9. This is still further carried out in
the next verse. Jehovah will cause thy right-
eousness, which is now in the darkness of night,
to go up as the light, or the daylight, the dawn-
ing sun ; and then still more emphatically: thy
right as the noonday, the clearest, brightest
and fullest light. Comp. Isa. Iviii. 10 ; Job xi.
17 ; also Job v. 14 ; Isa. lix. 10; Amos viii. 9. —
C. A. B.]
[Str. IV. Ver. 7. Be stiU before Jehovah.
— Perowne: "A word expressive of that calm
resignation which leaves itself absolutely in the
hands of God. This hushed, bowed temper of
spirit best suits us. Here is the best cure for
dissatisfaction with the present and for anxiety
about the future, that we leave both in the hands
of God."— C. A. B.]
[Str. V. Vers. 8, 9. Only to do evil,—
Alexander: "Do not indulge a passion which
can only make thee a partaker in the guilt of
those who are its objects." — They shall in-
herit the land. — The they is emphatic. The
land is the land of promise, the common blessing
of all the faithful.— C. A. B.*]
[Str. VI. Ver. 10. And thou lookest at
his place and he is not there. — Some take
the place as the subject of the last clause, as if
his very place had disappeared, but it is better
with Hupfeld, Moll, et aL, to take the ungodly
as the subject as in the parallel member, the
place which he usually occupied knows him no
more. Comp. ver. 36 and Ps. x. 15. — C A. B.]
[Sir. VIL Ver. 12. Jehovah laughs at him.
— Delitzsch : " The Lord, who regards the attack
on the righteous as an attack on Himself, laughs
at the angry plotters (Ps. ii. 4), for He, who or-
ders the fates of men, foresees from afar with om-
niscient glance, the day of the wicked, that is
the day of his death, of his visitation." — C.
A. B.]
[Str. VIII. Vers. 14, 15. The sword and the
bow are usual figures for all kinds of means of
doing injury. Here being directed against the
poor and innocent, in accordance with the lex
talionis they pierce their own heart, and are
broken under their own feet, vid. Ps. vi. 15, 16;
ix. 15, 16; Ivii. 6; Prov. *xxvi. 27; Esther vii.
10.— C. A.B.J
[Sir. IX. Ver. 16. The little of the right-
eous is better than the riches of many
wicked. — Hupfeld: "This is true in many re-
spects: 1) Because with contentment and the
blessing of God it reaches farther than the great
accumulation of unrighteous goods ; which (even
according to our proverb) does not prosper
(Prov. xiii. 25; Job xx. 12, under the figure of
food which does not agree with the body) ; 2)
because it alone affords rest and satisfaction to the
soul, which are frightened away from it by the
cares of riches and unrighteous possessions. In
this sense the similar proverbs, Prov. xv. 16, and
xvi. 8 ; because the riches of the unrighteous do
not last, but soon pass away."
Ver. 17. Arms of the wicked.— These are
the instruments of his wickedness, and the means
r* Delitzsch: "The land in this Paalm is throughout the
proraiseii posse sion of salvation, the land of the presence
of Jehovah, which has not only a glorious past but likewise
a future full of promise, and will finally be the inheritance
of the true Israel, in a more complete manner thai undtf
Joshua."— C. A. B.J
256
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
of his power; as Ps. x. 15 ; 1 Sam ii 31 ; Job
xxxviii. 15. Comp. Ps. iii. 7, where the Ueth
are broken. — C A. B.]
Sir. X. [Ver. 18. Knoweth the days — Pe-
rowne: '* Watcheth over, careth for, lovingly
orders all that befalls them. See the same use
of the verb, Ps. i. 6 ; xxxi. 7, compared with 15,
'My times are in Thy hand."'-r-(J. A. B.J
Ver. 20. The splendor of the pastures. —
Since 13 generally ^ lamb, it may be trans-
lated: as the most precious ot the lambs (Syr.,
Chald., Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Cocc, Venema,
Rosenm., et al.), by which then is understood
the fat pieces of the lambs of the sacrifice, which
were burnt upon the altar. This is much better
than to refer it to the most fine wool of lambs
(Kdster), or the most precious iambs, that is,
lambs of the sacrifice (Calvin, Cleric), The in-
terpretation: as the delight of the lambs ^=.
grass (Hengst.) is artificial. The meanings of
"circuit, meadow, pasture," are evident from
Ps. Ixv. 13; Isa. xxx. 23 (and apparently Isa.
xiv. 30 in its corrected reading). — They have
vanished in smoke, vanished. — This hardly
refers to Sodom and Gomorrah (Hengst., after
John Arndt) ; scarcely to the burning up of the
pieces of the sacrifice, or of dry grass, which
had been set on fire, Is. v. 24 (most interpre-
ters). Moreover the 2 is not to be changed into
3 after Hos. xiii. 3 ; it is rendered certain by
Pa. cii. 4; comp. Ixxviii. 33; xxxix. 6, and in-
dicates comparison, " in nature of" (Rosenm.,
De Wette, Hupf., Hitzig, Delitzsch). Our trans-
lation follows the accents.
\_Slr. XI. Vers. 21, 22. Perowne : "The bless-
ing and the curse of God, as seen in the differ-
ent lots of the righteous and the wicked. The
wicked, through God's curse resting upon him,
is reduced to poverty, so that he is compelled to
borrow, and cannot pay; whereas the righteous
hath even abundance not only for his own wants,
but for the wants of others. It is the promise,
Deut. XV. 6; xxviii. 12, 44, turned into a pro-
verb."—C. A, B],
Sir. XII. Vers. 23-24. A man's steps are
established by Jehovah.— [Hupfeld: "The
Divine blessing and assistance of the righteous
under another figure ; that of o, guide in the way
of life, who guides his steps and makes them se-
cure and although he may fall, He lifts him up
again." — C. A. B.]. Since IDJ has not the ar-
ticle, it is not to be explained as such a man, as
the one just spoken of (De Wette, et al.) The
parallel passages, Prov. xvi. 9 ; xx. 24, are in
favor of a general interpretation. Some have
translated "ordered" (after the Sept. Vulg,,
Jerome), instead of established, yet this is con-
trary to usage. — For Jehovah sustains his
hand — [So Hupf., Delitzsch, Moll, ei al., and
not with His hand, Bottcher, A. V. et al —
C. A. B.]
[Str. XIII. Vers. 25-26. Delitzsch: "It is an old
Theological rule that : promissiones corporales in-
telligendse sunt cum exceptione crucis et casiigatione.
Abandonment and poverty for a time the Psalm-
ist does not question, but he will meet the temp-
tation, which springs up to those who fear God,
from those circumstances which apparently
Doutradiot the Divine righteousness; and he does
this by contrasting the final abiding condition
with the transient one," — C, A. B,]
[StT. XV. Ver, 31. His steps shall not
vraver — comp. Ps, xviii. 3(5. The law within
the heart keeps him steadily in the right way. —
C, A. B.]
\_Str. XVI. Ver. 33. Perowne: "Men may
condemn but God acquits. — Here, as in 1 Cor,
iv. 3, the righteous judgment of the Great Judge
is opposed to the avaKpivuv of human judgment
{y/jipa). So Tertullian: ^ Si condemnamur a
7Uundo, ahsolvimur a Deo.'' '* — C- A. B.]
8tr. XVIII. V^rs, 34-36. I saw a wicked
man, arrogant, and spreading himself as
a leafy indigenous tree And one passed
by and lo he vras no more. — Hitzig prefers
instead of arrogant, a word which after the
Sept,=:towering, and translates the following line
after a corrected reading with the Sept. and
Vulg.; and spreading himself as a cedar of Leba-
non, and I went by. Hupfeld on the other hand
after Aben Ezra, Calvin, Cleric. : he passed by
=passed away.
Sir. XIX. Ver. 37. Mark the just man, etc.
The ancient translators have all taken the con-
cretes as abstracts and have likewise given the
verbs another meaning=preserve honesty and
keep rectitude (righteousness) before your eyes.
From this originated Luther's : remain pious and
keep yourself upright. In the latter case there
seems to have been a confounding of HXT with
n^T of ver. 6. But to regard these words as
abstracts is contrary to usage. IDE' is else-
where used only of practical keeping as ver. 34,
from which verse this has been made dependent
without any need. The true interpretation was
seen already by Aben Ezra, Tsaki, Calvin and
most all recent interpreters have adopted it. —
That the man of peace hath posterity.
It follows from ver. 38 that the reference here is
to posterity as cix. 13; Jer. xxxi, 17; Am. iv.
ix. 1; Ezek. xxii. 25, (Sept., Venema, De Wette,
OlsH,, Hupfeld, [Perowne]), and not to the
"future," whether for both verses (Calvin,
Cleric, Hengst. [Alexander] or only for ver. 37.
The context and the construction favors least of
all the translation : the end of the man is peace
(Kimchi, Geier, et al. [A. V. likewise].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1, Take care that the sight of the success of
the ungodly does not kindle in your heart envious
jealousy and wrath, or burning ill humor and
consuming fretfulness. Their success is only
apparent and of short duration. It is like the
green grass which soon withers and is like smoke
which vanishes away. Accordingly the pious
have no reason to be excited by it, but rather
have every reason to strengthen and exercise them-
selves in faith in the holy government of God and
in obedience to God's holy will, in order that they
may live to see the end and wait patiently for the
result. "This is a fine comparison, a terror to
hypocrites and a comfort to the afflicted. How
nicely it lifts us up above our sight and sets us
before God's sight. Before our sight the hypo-
crite's substance is green and flourishing and in-
creases and covers the whole world, so that it
alone seems to be something, as the green grass
PSALM XXXVII.
257
covers and adorns the earth. But before God's
sight, what are they ? Hay, soon to be made ;
and the higher the grass grows the nearer it is
to the scythe and fork. . . . Why then should
you be angry, when their wickedness and suc-
cess have such a short existence? " (Luther).
2. He who puts his trust in God, and has his
pleasure in the Lord, will not reward evil with
evil, will not meet violence with violence, will
not be drawn and driven by injustice to injustice,
but will continue in doing good, in devotion to
Ood, in pious conversation, and long before the
final decision comes, will live to see all the pro-
'mises of God gradually but surely fulfilled to the
pious, whilst the ungodly will never gain their
ends and often will b« destroyed suddenly. " Thus
He takes all impatient thoughts entirely away
and gives rest to the heart. As if He would say:
dear child, cease thine impatience and curse not
and wish no evil, these are human and wicked
thoughts. . . And what help is there in this
anger? It does not make the case any better,
it only leads deeper into the mire. Thou hast
hindered God from bestowing His grace and
favor, and thou hast become like the evil doers
and will be destroyed like them." (Luther). —
"Many of them do wicked things in wrath from
revenge and impatience, that they regret after-
wards forever " (Joh. Arnd).
3. The tribulation of the pious through the
violence of the wicked is often so great, that the
patient seem to be entirely subdued, yet the
meek will not only gain and keep peace, but the
inheritance, whose foundation, pledge and type
they have in the land of promise, will continue to
be assured to them by the power of God, and hap-
piness in life will by God's hand arise in shining
clearness (Job xi. 17; Is. Iviii. 8; Mio. vii. 9),
to the innocent sufferer out of every trouble.
"Since now our dear God has such a great work
in mind respecting all those who fear Him, be
still in the Lord and hinder Him not in His
work; but wait upon Him in patience," (Joh.
Arnd). On the other side the day of the un-
godly is already now before God's eyes, in
which the splendor of their success, and their
light of life will be put out. He treats the de-
vices and the preparations of the wicked as al-
ready now of nought, that is, as weak, and as fool-
ish; but He will some time bring them to nought, he
will turn their weapons and arrows upon them
in a deadly form and will break their arms, that
is, the instruments or the means of their power
and violence, so that they will no longer be able
to injure others or even to help themselves,
4. God's blessing upon the pious shows itself
in this, that they are not only satisfied and de-
lighted with a little, because they have their
delight in God, and content themselves in Him
as the highest good, but that they as individuals
can accomplish muchmore with a little, than many
ungodly persons with much, that they constant-
ly experience fresh tokens of Divine care and
provision, so that they suffer no lack, but rather
are able to minister to others with their goods and
gifts, and that they transmit their inheritance to
their posterity, which in their turn become bless-
ings. Thus a chain of blessings passes through
the life and the generations of the pious with all
the need, poverty, trouble and dangers of earth.
17
The ungodly, on the other hand, are not helped
by their number or their power, their craft or
their strength, their riches or their arrogance.'
The curse comes upon them for their wickedness,
and the judgment of God destroys them and
theirs.
5, In the distribution of blessings and curses
to the pious and the ungodly the righteous gov-
ernment of God manifests itself already in this
world. We can rely upon it with the more firm-
ness, as it has its deepest ground, in the Divine
love for justice. Even on this account, however,
he who would receive this blessing and enjoy
God's protection and help must take care, that
the marks of true piety are found in him. Such
a man may very well have to endure many tribu-
lations, needs and dangers, for the ungodly have
a hostility to the righteous and seek to put them
out of the way. But the hand of God is ready
to help those who walk in the way of God, be-
cause they have God's law in their hearts, and
this way leads above. Those who walk in it,
may stumble and fall, but they will not remain
upon the ground and perish. God puts His hand
under them to support them. But this hand ex-
terminates the ungodly with their race, so that
at last not one remains and not one escapes the
judge (Am. iv. 2; ix. 1 ; Ezek. xxiii. 25).
6. Every attentive observer sees sufficient ex-
amples of this government of God in history.
Would that this might awaken the /ear of God in
all earnestness, and strengthen the power of
trust in God, in order that every sincerely pious
man might constantly receive richer experiences
of the Divine blessing. "Thus then, let every
one see to it, how he stands and lives before God
in this respect; whether he has faith enough to
trust God for a piece of bread, and whether we
allow to Him power, wisdom and faithfulness
enough to assist us in every righteous cause,
help us through it and provide for us and main-
tain His own work" (Berl. Bib.). — "Ah, says
he, God cannot and will not suffer that faithful-
ness and confidence should go unrewarded,
else He would not be true, just, and truthful."
(Joh. Arnd). — "O the shameful unfaithfulness,
distrust and damned unbelief, that we should not
believe such rich, powerful and comforting
promises of God, and stumble so very easily, at
such little things, as when we merely hear the
wicked words of the ungodly. Help, God, that
we may some day have true faith. Amen!" (Lu-
ther). We would here with Tholuck remember
that Luther on his death-bed said to his children:
Children, riches I do not leave you, but I leave
you, a rich God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The prosperity of the ungodly blossoms but a
short time, it has a corrupt root and a bitter fruit.
— The right of the righteous may for a while be
obscured, but God brings it surely to light. — He
who has his delight in the Lord, may be troubled
for awhile in the world, but it will finally be well
with him, — Put your confidence in God, then thou
wilt not be vexed with the apparent prosperity
of the ungodly; have your delight m the Lord
and you will not envy the fleeting joy of the un-
righteous; continue in the exercise of good and
you will not change your end for the vaiu
268
THE FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
gains of the wicked. — The ungodly have no true
and abiding prosperity, but only those who fear
God. — The only, but sure means of salvation are, to
ff.ar, love, and trust God above all things. —Do not
recompense the wickedness of the wicked with
evil, but leave the judgment to the Lord. He is
the just Rewarder. — Impatience and wrath are not
productive of good, but only make the bad worse,
and evil times worse times. — It is especially unde-
served suS^ring and unjust attacks, that show the
great strength of trust in God, the power of pa-
tience and tlie strength of meekness. — The pious
are as sure of the blessing of God as the ungodly
of His curse ; and both extend even to the coming
generations. — It is due to the Divine blessing
that the pious accomplish more with little than
the ungodly with much. — Peace and joy de-
pend for men not upon riches or poverty, but
upon communion with God. — The great and abiding
gain of godliness. — The mouth, heart and steps of
the pious harmonize with one another and with
God's will and word. — Even the pious may stum-
ble and fall, but God will not let them lie upon
the ground, and prevents them from falling into
ruin by Wis hand and grace. — The righteous have
many enemies, but although their power and wick-
edness are even as great as their number, yet they
are assured of the final victory by God's faith-
fulness, power and grace. — It is a part of the
experience of the pious, that they should be
tried in patience and exercised in waiting, but
that their waiting should not be vain, because it
is founded in trust in God, and has as its end the
coming of the Lord. — It is one and the same hand
of God, which delivers the pious and exterminates
the ungodly with their seed. — There is a differ-
ence between the pious and the ungodly not
only according to their dispositions, but likewise
in their actions and their destinies. — What God
hfiB promised to the pious, He knows how to give
to them and to keep for them, yet all at the
proper time and according to His wisdom. — The
wishes of those who fear God are fulfilled; but
the devices of the ungodly perish. — God not only
distinguishes between the righteous and the un-
righteous; "Re finally separates them from one
another. — We may be visited by severe calamity,
and be given up by all the world, and yet we are
not forsaken by God. — God sees not only how
men act on earth, He reivards them for it, whether
early or late. — The pious not only receive a bless-
ing for themselves and their seed ; they will like-
wise become blessings through God's grace. — God
knows His own children and rewards their trust
abundantly; He protects them in danger; He
cinnforts them in time of trouble; He nourishes
them in days of hunger ; He delivers them out
of the hand of all their enemies.
Starke: There are evil-doers enough in the
world, but if we should conquer them with the
sword it would only be worse; seek rather to
win them by love and good conduct and leave
the rest to God. — Whoever reflects upon the
miserable end of the prosperity of the ungodly
will rather be moved to pity and sympathy and
prayer than to angry zeal and ill-will against
these poor men. — Many a man is dissatisfied
with God the Lord, because He does not do what
he desires ; but whoever is satisfied with the
will of God, receives what he desires, yea more
than he wishes. 0 what happy people we would
be, if we should cast all our cares upon the
Lord, attend to our calling with diligence and
leave the result with God. — Satan seeks to excite
believers to sinful anger by the wickedness of
the ungodly. Hence the necessity of watching,
patience, faith and prayer. — If we are obliged
to wait with much patience for the heavenly in-
heritance, it is yet worth the trouble, for it is
eternal and imperishable. — We must not reckon
the time of the prosperity of the ungodly by the
course of the physical sun, but by the numbers
of the Holy Spirit (Ps. xc. 5), thus will we find,
that in comparison with the everlasting pains of
hell, scarcely a moment has been allotted to
them. — The ungodly do not lack the will to do
mischief; but what can they do more than gnash
their teeth (Acts vii. 64). — The ungodly have
long hands and much assistance in persecuting
the pious ; but God's hands reach farther still
and are much stronger, than that they should be
laid hold of and cast down. — True riches do not
consist in great provisions, but in contentment
with what God gives. — God has already resolved,
how long the godly shall remain in the vale of
sorrow; during this time He provides for them
as a father; afterwards He will give them the
inheritance of eternal life. — Smoke rises on high
at first with strength as if it would go even to
the heavens, but a little wind can drive it asun-
der, so that it cannot longer be seen; see, the
ungodly are like this smoke, — Pious parents have
the consolation that God's blessing will come
upon their children, and pious children are as-
sured, that God will bless them on account of
their parents. — Mercy is one of the most beauti-
ful virtues, not only on account of its character,
because we thus become like God, but also on
account of its reward. — If heaven and earth pass
2^"^*y> yet the inheritance of believers cannot
fail. — It is impossible to do good and bad at the
same time. — The heart, mouth and entire walk
of the believer are sanctified and blessed by the
Word of God. — Who would not rather have a
bad beginning and a good end, than a good be-
ginning and a bad end ? — What we lack, will be
supplied by the gracious assistance of the strong
God.
Luther: The righteous give, the ungodly do
not, and yet both receive from God. — God blesses
thee temporally and eternally, that thou mayest
trust in Him, although thou art cursed and in-
jured by the ungodly. — God does not take
poverty from His saints but He will not let them
perish. — Selnekkeb : Torment thyself not with
impatience and wrath, but be satisfied with the
will of God and His long-suffering, and holdfast
to His word and promises, then wilt thou obtain
the desire of thine heart. — Experience makes
the best interpretation. — Schnepf: The posses-
sions of the ungodly burn as grease in the fire.
— Frisch: The whole earth is the Lord's, and
so belongs to His children. — Every one desires
to be happy here in time and there in eternity,
but very few use the true means of obtaining it.
— Arndt : The dear cross and poverty are no
signs of disfavor, but a trial of faith and pa-
tience, a mirror of the wonderful help and pre-
servation of God, and an evidence, that God
is not pleased with great splendor but with faith,
PSALM XXXVII.
259
fear of God, humility and patience. — OsTiNaER ;
Every day of the righteous man has in God's
purpose its special measure of grace and trial,
and serves to complete his lot. — Thocuck: The
salvation of the pious remains immovable, the
longer it seems lo tarry, the more imperishable
will be its endurance. — Who would despair,
when God declares that His own treasury is in
the possession of His children. — It must be a
rare occurrence, that any one who has been a
friend to many in trouble, should not be able to
find a friend in need. — Stiller: If it is not as
you could wish, examine yourself; perhaps it is
the fault of your wishes or your other actions.
— Gubnther: Life and death are both set before
u3, we are to choose. The choice seems easy,
and yet most make the mistake. — Taube : To be
still before the Lord is the true test, whether we
trust the Lord, have our delight in the Lord
and commit our way to the Lord in deed and in
truth. — It is particularly evil days which give
especial proofs of the faithfulness of God to-
ward the pious. — The pious may suffer want, but
not ruin. — Tiiym : If the end is good, all is good.
1) Therefore remain pious, although the cross
weighs upon you ; 2) deviate not from the nar-
row way although the world may entice ; 3)
finally, if it is well with the pious, that outweighs
all. — The righteous are never forsaken. 1) -Iij
life, the Lord leads them graciously ; 2) in death,'
He sends them His angel of peace ; 3) in eter-
nity. He crowns them with the crown of victory.
[Matt. Henry: Fretfulness and envy are
sins that are their own punishment, they are
the uneasiness of the spirit, and the rottenness
of the bones. — We must follow providence, and
not force it; subscribe to Infinite Wisdom, and
not prescribe. — If we take care to keep a good
conscience, we may leave it to God to take care
of our good name.— A fretful, discontented spirit
lies open to many temptations and those that
indulge it are in danger of doing evil. ^They
that are sure of an everlasting inheritance in the
other world have no reason to envy the wicked
their transitory possessions and pleasures in this
world. — The law of God must be a commanding,
ruling principle in the heart ; it must be a light
there, a spring there, and then the conver-
sation will be regular and unifoi^m; none of his
steps will slide ; it will effectually prevent back-
sliding into sin, and the uneasiness that follows
from it. — If we make conscience of keeping God's
way, we may with cheerfulness, wait on Him,
and commit to Him our way ; and we shall find
Him a good master, both to His working ser-
vants and to His waiting servants, — Barnes :
The small property of one truly good man, with
his character and hopes, is of more value than
would be the aggregate wealth of many rich
wicked men with their character and prospects.
— Other things being equal, the honest, tempe-
rate, pure, pious man will be the most prosperous
in the world: for honesty, temperance, purity,
and piety produce the industry, economy, and
prudence on which prosperity depends. — As a
great law, the children of the pious are
not vagrants and beggars. As a great
law they are sober, industrious, and pros-
perous. The vagrants and the beggars of the
world are from other classes ; and whatever
may be the bearing of religion on the destinies
of men in the future world, in this world the
effect is to make them virtuous, industrious, pru-
dent and successful in their worldly affairs, so
that their children are not left to beggary and
want, but to respectability and to competence. —
It is better to have God for our friend in life,
and our support in death, than to have all the
external prosperity of wicked men. — Spurgeon:
Who envies the fat bullock the ribbons and gar-
lands which decorate him as he is led to the
shambles ? Yet the case is a parallel one ; for
ungodly rich men are but as beasts fattened for
the slaughter, — There is joy in holy activity
which drives away the rust of discontent, —
Very much of the outward depends upon the in-
ward ; where there is heaven in the heart there
will be heaven in the house. — A silent tongue va.
many cases not only shows a wise head, but a
holy heart, — The evil man does not see how
close his destruction is upon his heels ; he boasts
of crushing others when the foot of justice is
already uplifted to trample him as the mire of
the streets. Sinners in the hand of an angry
God, and yet plotting against His children !
Poor souls, thus to run upon the point of Jeho^
vah's spear. — Content finds multum in parvo,
while for a wicked heart the whole world
is too little. — Where the children of the
righteous are not godly, there must be some
reason for it in parental neglect, or some other
guilty cause. The friend of the Father is the
friend of the family. The God of Abraham is
the God of Isaac and Jacob. — Among the legacies
of wicked men the surest entail is a judgment on
their family. — Policy slips and trips, it twists
and tacks, and after all is worsted in the long
run, but sincerity plods on its plain pathway and
reaches the goal. — Good men are men of mark^
and are worth our study. — C. A. B. j
260 THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XXXVIIL
A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.
1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath :
Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 For thine arrows stick fast in me,
And thy hand presseth me sore.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger ;
Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head:
As a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
6 My wounds stink and are corrupt
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled ; I am bowed down greatly ;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease :
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and sore broken :
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before thee ;
And my groaning is not hid from thee.
10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me :
As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore ;
And my kinsmen stand afar off".
12 They also that seek after my life lay snares /or me;
And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,
, And imagine deceits all the day long.
13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not ;
And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not,
And in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in thee, O Lord, do I hope:
Thou wilt hear O Lord my God.
16 For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over m©s
When ray foot slippeth they magnify themselves against me.
17 For I am ready to halt.
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I will declare mine iniquity ;
I will be sorry for my sin.
19 But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong:
And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
PSALM XXXVIII.
261
20 They also that render evil for good
Are mine adversaries ; because I follow the thing that good is.
21 Forsake me not, O Lord :
O my God, be not far from me.
22 Make haste to help me,
0 Lord my salvation.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
For the Title comp. Introduct., § 6, No. 3.
The Psalm begins (ver. 7) with the same petition
as Ps. vi., that God will bring the sufferings, en-
dured by the petitioner as a,punishment for his sins,
to an end, that He will cease from His judgment
of wrath. This prajer is based upon the fact,
that the sufferings, sent upon him bi/ God (ver. 2)
and deserved b_y great sins (vers. 3, 4), have en-
tirely worn him out in fiorfy and soul (vers. 5-7),
so that he can only sigh to God (ver. 8) in the
greatest anguish and abandonmeni (ver. 9). For
hia friends have withdrawn {rom him (ver. 10), and
his enemies, who aspire after his life, regard him
as lost (ver. 11). But he does not heed them, or
contradict them (vers. 13, 14), but has put his
hope in God (vers. 15, 16). For he is now in the
most extreme bodily weakness and anguish of
heart, on account of his sins, the guilt of which
he confesses (vers. 17, 18) ; and his enemies are
active, numerous, atid they hate him, although he
has given them no reason, but rather has sought
to do them good (vers. 19, 20), hence his sighing
prayer for the help of Jehovah, whom his faith is
still able to apprehend and confess as his God,
and as his salvation (vers. 21, 22). Hengst. sup-
poses that this Psalm did not originate from the
circumstances of an individual, but was uttered
by the righteous personified, and that the peculiar
sufferings are due to the enmity of the wicked,
whose number and superiority is regarded as an
evidence of Divine visitation, which thus considered,
make him miserable and worn out in body and
soul. Others suppose that the sufferings of the
entire people, or the pious portion of them, oc-
casioned by heathen oppressors or ungodly ene-
mies, are described by a late prophet (Chald.,
Isaki, Rosenm. II.), perhaps by Jeremiah (De
Wette), under the figure of a sickness. These
views, however, are opposed by the contents and
statements of the Psalm A real man laments,
sighs, and implores, on account of plagues which
severely afflict him perso/iaZZy ; but the cause of
his sufferings does not appear to be wicked em-
mil's, who abuse him and wound him bodily (Hit-
zig with reference to Jer. xx. 2, which however
the sti'ong self-accusations do not t-uit), oi' whose
attacks aad complaints had caused his sufferings,
which are described partly under the figure of
sickness, partly are brought under the idea of
moral guilt (Hupfeld). The enemies are not
mentioned until the second half of the Psalm,
and then, it is true, as deadly enemies, yet not
as those which have caused the bodily sufferings
described fully at the beginning, but rather as
those who have used these things as snares and
accusations agaiast him. The bodily sufferings
are represented as a real sickness, although not
exactly as leprosy (Ewald, Kdster, Maurer) ; yet
the sick man himself regards his miserable con-
dition as sufferings sent by God as a punishment
for his sins ; and from this visitation is developed
his consciousness of guilt, his continued moral pain,
his confession of sin, and at the same time his
correct behaviour towards his adversaries and his
God , towards his adversaries, which without rea-
son, yea, against all right, are at enmity with
him, instead of thanking him for the benefits
they have received, and recognizing his moral
efforts ; towards his God, on whom he ceases
not to wait as his help, abandoning all self-help,
and all excuses, and to whom as near to assist
him, he exclusively directs his prayer. By this
view the bond of unity between the two parts
of this Psalm, often missed, may be shown,
and its relationship with, as well as its difference
from Ps. vi., be placed in a stronger light ; so
likewise its order among David's penitential
Psalms.*
Sir I. fVer 1. This verse is the same as ver.
1 of Psalm vi., with merely one verbal substitu-
tion of the synonym f]}fp for 'jX Bakius has
the following paraphrases *' Corripe sane per le-
gem, casiiga per crucem, millies promerui, negare
non possum; sed castiga, quaeso, me ex amore ut
pater, non ex furore et fervor e, ut judex; ne punias
justitix rigor e, sed misericordise dulcore." — C.
A. B.]
Ver. 2. For Thine arrows have sunk into
me. — This figurative expression is used not only
of leprosy (Job vi. 4), but likewise of hunger
(Ezek. V. 16), and generally of calamities of Di-
vine visitation (Deut. xxxii. 23). Hence it fol-
lows from this various use of the figure, that it
is inadmissible to limit this to a particular kind
of visitation, yet not that the following descrip-
tion of sickness is to be regarded merely as figu
rative.
Str II. Ver 3 Soundness.— The expres-
sions in Isa. i. 6, which are entirely similar, do
not imply that they are figurative in this Psalm.
For Isaiah refers to the body of the people. In
such a connection he might very well look upon
sins as abscesses, and moral ruin under the figure
of phases of sickness, without, danger of being
misunderstood. But this explanation is inadmis-
sible for this Psalm, although it has been pro-
moted by the Vulgate after the Sept., which has
in ver. 3 6; non est pax ossibus meis, and in ver,
* fDelitzsch : "In this Psalm a peculiarity of the peniten
tial Psalms is repeated, namely, that the petitioner has to
lament not only that his soul and hody are Morn out,- but
likewise over external enemies, who come forth as his adver-
saries and make his sins an occasion of preparing ruin for
him. This is owing to the fact that the Old Testament be-
liever, whose cnnsciousncBS of sin was not so spiritual and
deep as in the believer of the New Testament, almost always
was sensible of the external act of sin. The enemies which
then would prepare fur him ruin, are the instruments of the
Satanic power of evil, who desire his death, whilst God de-
sires his life, as is likewise felt by the New Testament be-
liever even without external enemies." — C. A. B.J
262
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 a, with many ancient Psalters after the Cod
Vat. of the Sept., animamea impleta est illusioni-
bus, whilst the Cod. Alex., as likewise Symmach.
has the reading tphat instead of i{jvx^- — [No
health in my bones. — Perowne: "Such is
the proper and original meaning of the word
Oiulif (skalom), integritas ; "peace," being the
derived meaning, peace only there properly ex-
isting, where all is complete and entire, nothing
wanting." The same is true with the German
Heil which is used here by most interpreters. —
C. A. B.J
[Ver. 4. Gone over my head. — A usual
figure of danger and trouble taken from a flood
of water, comp. Ps. xviii. 16. — Too heavy for
me. — They are conceived as a burden weighing
upon the conscience, incapable of being borne
any longer, Comp. Gen. iv. 13, and Ps. xxxii.
4, where the hand of God is felt in thepi — C.
A. B.]
[^Str. III. Ver. 5. My bruises stink and
ran. — Alexander: " The two verbs both denote
suppuration, the first in reference to the offen-
sive smell, the second to the running or dis-
charge of matter." — Foolishness: — Perowne:
" His sin, as seen now in its true light, showing
itself to be folly, for all sin is self-destruction.
This confession of his sin is in fact, at the same
time, a confession of the justice of his punish-
menf."
Ver. 6. I am bent, I am bowed doTvn
exceedingly, all day long I go about
squalid. — Delitzach : " Being so deeply sick in
soul and body, he must be greatly bent and
bowed down. HIJ^J of the writhing contraction
of the body, Isa, xxi, 3, nni^ of the bowed-
down attitude, Ps. xxxv. 14, '^vn of a clumsy,
drawling walk." lip literally black with dirt,
squalid, in allusion to the Oriental custom of put-
ting ashes on the head, and going about with
rent and soiled garments as a sign of mourning,
vid. Ps, xxxv. 14.— C, A. B.]
Str. IV. Ver. 7. For my loins are full of
dryness. — "^yjp} is understood by Sept. and
Symmach, \_vid. ver. 3] not of "blasted or kin-
dled" (properly roasted, dried at the fire), but
after another derivation (Isa. iii. 5), of disre-
spect and scorn. The loins are brought into
view as the seat of strength, but are here desig-
nated not as dried out, dried up (Luther, Heng-
Btenberg), which, so far as they had become
weak, would be full of that which contempt
heaped upon the sick man, full of scorn, which
issues from the loins (Schegg) ; they are here
described as full of dryness. It is doubtful
whether we could understand by this " blasted"
(Camph.), Burning sores (Ewald) would be bet-
ter. The reference is certainly not to a burning
fever (Chald., Calvin, Geier, et al.) in the bowels
(many recent interpreters after Bochart) ; still
less as a figurative expression of the withering,
consuming power of sorrow (Hupf.). The con-
struction demands a material object, leads rather
to a special condition of sickness.
Ver. 8. [I am benumbed, cold, chilly, tor-
pid, in contrast with the warmth and energy of
life. It ia used of the disappearing of the warmth
of life, and at the same time of the stopping of
the pulse and even life itself. Perowne thinks
that it refers to the alternations of a fever fit, and
refers to the burning inflammation in the pre-
ceding verse. But it is better with our author not
to think of a fever, but of a state oi feebleness, in
connection with the real loathsome disease which
was upon him, — C. A. B.] — I roar from the
moaning of my heart. — Hitzig proposed the
reading ''yi or KOS instead of '37 (Begriff der
Kritik, -S". 120 sq.). and to translate "I cry more
than the roaring of the lion." Afterwards he
rejected this conjecture, and contended against
it, to the regret of Olsh. The words are not at
all tautological, but express that the sighing of
the mouth originates from the moaning of the
heart.
{Str. V. Ver. 10. My heart palpitates —
Alexander : The palpitation of the heart, de-
noting violent agitation, is combined with loss of
strength and dimness of the eyes, so often men-
tioned as a eign of extreme weakness. See above
on Ps. xiii. 3 and compare Pss. vi. 7 , xxxi, 9,
xl 12 "— C. A. B]
Str VI. Vers. 11, 12 Away from the pre-
sence of my plague — The translation of Lu-
ther originates from the Vulgate, amid met — ad-
versum me appropinquaverunt. It has likewise in
the following line; vimfaciebant{e^e(3cd^ovro), in
stead of: have laid snares. The Sept. has read
K'JJ instead of Ufpi or confounded the two. But
the latter is rendered evident here by a play upon
the words in the Hebrew,
[Sir. VII. Ver, 13. Deaf— dumb.— Alexan-
der: " The same two words for deaf and dumb are
used together in Ex. iv. 11. Not only the idea,
but the form of expression in this sentence, is
copied by Isaiah in his prophetical description
of Christ's sufferings (Isa. liii. 7), and seems to
have been present to our Saviour's own mind
when He ' held his peace ' before the High Priest
(Matth. xxvi. 62, 63), and 'gave no answer' to
the Roman Governor (John xix. 9)."
Ver. 14. In whose mouth there are no
replies. — Delitzsch : "The consciousness of
guilt and resignation stop his mouth, so that he
may not and cannot refute the false accusations
of his enemies ; he has no counter evidence to
justify himself."— C. A. B.]*
Str. VIII. [Ver. 15. Thou wilt hear.— The
thou is emphatic, and is thus contrasted strongly
with the enemies before whom the Psalmist was
dumb, making no replies, but pleading alone be-
fore God. Riehm : " This expectation is based
upon reasons adduced by three ^2 following one
another, yet co-ordinate ; ver. 16, upon the wish
which he has expressed, and to which God is to
respond by hearing it; ver. 17, upon the great-
ness of his misery ; ver. 18, upon his penitence."
— C. A. B.]
Ver. 17. The Vulgate after the Sept. differs
from the Hebrew text, and has: in flagella para-
* [Calvin sees two reasons for his silence ;(1) his enemies
would not suflfer him to speak ; (2) his own patient submisBion
to tlie will of God. l:»eiowne thinks thut only the last is
prominent here, but it seems better with Delitzsch to think
of his own consciousness of guilt, under the severity of the
Divine chastisement stopping his mouth with reference to
the slanders of his enemies as he appeals to Qod to bear him
aa in ver, 16 sq. — 0. A. B.]
PSALM XXXVIII.
263
tus sum. [The Hebrew text is, however, correct,
and the translation I am ready to halt or fall down
sufficiently assured. — C. A. B ]
Str. IX. Ver. 19. But mine enemies are
lively, are numerous. — The reading main-
tained by the ancient translations D"n may be
interpreted after 1 Sam. xxv. 6. Most recent
interpreters suppose after Houbigant that this
reading is a corruption from D3n, that is, with-
out cause, Pss xxxv. 19 ; Ixix. 4.
Ver. 20. After this verse many Greek and La-
tin, all the ^thiopic, and some of the Arabic,
and one of the Syriac Psalters, have the addi-
tional clause: et projecerunt me dilectum tanquam
mortuum abominatum (comp. Isa. xiv. 19), ex-
plained by Theodoret of Absalom's behaviour
towards David.
[^Slr. X. Vers. 21, 22. These petitions are fre-
quent in the Psalms. Comp. Pss. x. 1 ; xiii. 1 ;
xxii. 1, 19; xxxv. 22. Delitzsch: "He closes
with sighs for belp. He does not gain that the
darkness of wrath should be lighted up. The
fides supplez does not become fides triumphans.
But the closing words, ' Lord, my salvation,'
show the diflference between Cain's penitence and
David's. True penitence has faith in itself, it
doubts of self, but not of God."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. When a man perceives the chastening hand
of God in his severe sufferings, and tastes the
righteousness of the Lord therein, his sufferings
may be very painful, yet if he values his com-
munion with God, the experience of the Divine
wrath and his grief on account of his personal
guilt will be still more painful. Therefore he will
pray^rs^, not for the cessation of his bodily suf-
ferings, his external plague, his temporal afflic-
tion, although be may be laid upon a bed of
painful sickness and worried even to the exhaus-
tion of his strength ; he prays, first of all, for
the removal of the angry judgment of God and
the anxiety of heart on account of his sins.
2. In severe sickness and other visitations of
God, we learn, often for the first time, the crush-
ing weight of the chastening hand of God, the
depth of guilt vihich. exceeds all human thought
and imagination, the deadly power of sin which
destroys soul and body. But this most torment-
ing experience helps the sinner to permanent
health, if he does not complain, in his cries over
his misery or the treatment he has received, but
charges himself with folly and sin, and if he does
not despair, but confesses his guilt with penitence.
3. He has to undergo a severe conflict if his
friends withdraw from him in the days of his
necessity and anguish, when Divine chastisement
has come upon him, and his enemies approach
him with charges and accusations, especially if he
is entitled to a very diff'erent treatment on ac-
count of his previous relations with them. Thus
the genuineness of his repentance is tested. The
decision with reference to salvation takes place,
when the afflicted man earnestly withstands
every temptation to self-justification, renounces
all attempts to help himself, and resigns himself
with sincere self-abnegation to God with confes-
sion and prayer, and waits on God with (he
hope that his prayer will be heard.
4. The virtue oi this patient, devout and trust-
ing waiting upon God, consists in the faith of
the penitent, by which, in all his ill desert, he
yet apprehends God as his God, and trusts in
Him as the God of his help notwithstandinf the
superiority of his enemies and the strong feeling
of his own weakness. He leaves the manner Avvi
the means of help to God. But he may pray
most pressingly that God will draw near; for
this is a token to the penitent of His mercy and,
a sign of His readiness to grant his supplication ;
for although he is forsaken by all the world and
despairs of himself, yet he does not doubt, but
knows tind apprehends his salvation in God the
Lord. Ps. xxii. 19; xxxv. 3.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Sin prepares wrath, and the wrath of God has
sharp weapons ; but God may be sought by the
penitent. — Sin involves the visitation of Divine
wrath , but repentance implores and obtains
forbearance. ^jSm ruins people : but those who
are converted to God will not be lost. — Fire in
the conscience is worse than fire in the bones. —
The fire of the Divine wrath should excite not
only grief on account of the punishment of sin,
but likewise sincere repentance in the heart of
the sinner. — Stricken by the hand of God, accused'
by his own conscience, forsaken by his best
friends, attacked hy his worst enemies, the sinner
is yet not ruined, but delivered, if he is converted
to God in his misery by his sins. — Whom God
visits with chastisement He will take to Himself,
but it is necessary that He should rescue him
from the way of ruin. — It is not enough to taste
the consequences of sin, you must confess their.
punishableness, their folly, their guilt, if you
would obtain deliverance. — He who totters under
the hand of God may be saved from falling, if he
grasps the hajid which smites him. — God chastises
sinners earnestly, but not in order to kill them/,
bift to give life, if they will only observe and
learn to seek Him. — True repentance does not de-
spair ; although abandoned by all the world, it
seeks salvation in God. — The sick-bed may become
a bedof victory, 1) by humiliation under the strong
hand of God; 2) hy penitent confession of sin; 3)
by believing apprehension of God as the God of
help and salvation.
Starkk : God can seldom bring us to repent-
ance without chastisement, and He chastens us
in order that we may not regard ourselves as
guiltless. — No one knows what the anguish of
conscience is, who has not experienced it, and
been obliged to struggle with sin and the wrath
of God , there is no grief in the world to be com-
pared with it. — The hearts of many are like a
rock from which the arrows rebound. Blessed
are those whose souls are wounded unto salva-
tion by God's arrows.— Sin wounds a man unto
death, not only in his soul, but often it seizes
upon his body and makes him utterly miserable,
— It is lamentable, that whilst every animlal
helps his fellow, man alone causes all kinds of
sufferings and mishaps to his fellows, — It is not
necessary for you to hear and speak when God
has taken this upon Himself for you. You may
be entirely stiU. — The ungodly and hypocritical
seek to deny and conceal their sins as far as
264
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
possible, but the pious confess that they are
guilty before God and man. — The pious have
their faults, but this is not the reason why they
are persecuted by the world, it is because they
will rtot live as the world would have them. —
If it is your desire not to be forsaken by God,
take care that you do not depart from Him by a
wicked life and conformity to the world.
Luther: Truly to feel sin and tremble on ac-
count of a wicked conscience, is torture above
all other torture. External persecutors boldly
help to this ; for they hunt a man in his con-
science, boast against the righteous, that God is
with them. — And because He withholds conso-
lation, such terror of heart must ensue, as if
God were angry on account of sin. But yet
David teaches us to hold fast and not despair,
and defends himself against their boasting with
prayers, and rises upon Divine promises, and
lays hold of his cause by the true handle
Thus we should pray and not despair in any
anxiety of soul, although we are sinners and
feel deeply the burden of sin and its tempest. —
— Osiander: We should not pray that our Hea-
venly Father should not chastise us at all (comp.
Heb. xii. 5), but that He should chastise us with
the rod of the parent and not punish us with the
sword of justice. — Selnekker: I am well satis-
fied with my cross, for my sinful nature needs it
xvell. — Frisoh: If God has shot His arrows from
heaven into you, you must send the arrows of
prayer to heaven, and implore His grace; if He
has laid His heavy chastening hand upon your
neck, you must lay your hand of faith on your
heart; thus will He bind up your wounds and
quicken you after the affliction. — Rieger : At
first David depends on the mercy of God; then
he invokes the searching omniscience of God ;
finally he supplicates the speedy help of God. —
Tholuck: We acquire a deeper knowledge of
the state of our hearts, by our behaviour when
afflicted (impatient complaints, faint-heartedness,
disinclination to prayer), than we ever could in
good days. — If the tempter can convince the
soul, when sufferings are long continued, that
God does not trouble Himself at all about it,
that is the hottest affliction. — Diedrich: God
sends afflictions upon us that we may thereby be
brought to a more thorough knowledge of our-
selves.— Taubb : In time of trouble we see how
soon our own strength fails, and the bumble
knowledge of this is one of the blessings of re-
pentance.— Thym : We are comforted under the
severest pains. 1) By the word about Christ,
2) by prayer to Christ, 3) by strength from
Christ. — The sufferings of earth : 1) their na-
ture; 2) their origin; 3) our behaviour under
them.
[Matt. Henry: Our wounds, by sin, are
oftentimes in a bad condition, no care taken of
them, no application made to them, and it is
owing to the sinner's foolishness, in not confess-
ing sin. Ps. xxxii. 3, 4. A slight sore neglected
may prove of fatal consequences, and so may a
slight sin, slighted and left unrepented of. —
The less notice we take of the unkindness and
injuries that are done us, the more we consult
the quiet of our own minds. — When our enemies
are most clamorous, ordinarily it is our prudence
to be silent, or to say little, lest we make ill
worse. — If we are truly penitent for sin, that
will make us patient under affliction, and par-
ticularly under unjust censures. — Barnes : Trou-
ble never accomplishes its proper effect unless it
leads us to God ; and anything that wjY^ lead us
to Him is a gain in the end. — No Christian, when
he comes to die, ever feels that he has been too
much afflicted, or that any trial has come upon
him for which there was not occasion, and which
was not designed and adapted to do him good. —
Spurqeon : It seems strange that the Lord
should shoot at His own beloved ones, but in
truth He shoots at their sins rather than them,
and those who feel his sin-killing shafts in this
life, shall not be slain with His hot thunderbolts
in the next world. — It is well when sin is an
intolerable load, and when the remembrance of
our sins burdens us beyond endurance. — None
more lonely than the broken-hearted sinner, yet
hath he the Lord for his companion. — Until the
Holy Ghost applies the precious blood of Jesus,
a truly awakened sinner is covered with raw
wounds which cannot be healed nor bound up,
nor mollified with ointment. — We shall not be
left of the Lord. His grace will succor us most
opportunely, and in heaven we shall see that we
had not one trial too many or one pang too
severe. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XXXIX.
To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.
1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue:
I will keep my mouth with a bridle,
While the wicked is before me.
2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred.
PSALM XXXTX.
265
3 My heart was hot within me ;
W hile I was musing the fire burned :
Then spake I with my tongue,
4 Lord, make me to know mine end,
And the measure of my days, what it is ;
That I may know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth ;
And mine age is as nothing before thee :
Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew :
Surely they are disquieted in vain :
He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for?
My hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions :
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
Because thou didst it.
10 Eemove thy stroke away from me :
I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:
Surely every man is vanity. Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry ;
Hold not thy peace at my tears :
For I am a stranger with thee,
And a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 0 spare me, that I may recover strength,
Before I go hence, and be no more.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
For the Title, comp. Introduct. ^ 12, No. 6.
This Psalm is related in many particulars to Ps.
Ixii. and has likewise many features in common
with Job, and in some respects with Ps. xxxviii.
The Psalmist has undertaken to be at7en< respect-
ing his sufferings, in the presence of the ungodly
lest he should sin in his speech (ver.- 1). He
has been silent a short time in submission, but the
burning and violent pain of his heart, enkindled
to ill-humor in brooding over this unfortunate
state of affairs, has found vent by the tongue
(vers. 2-3). The context does not indicate that
he has uttered such words in the presence of his
enemies as have endangered his life, as Hitzig con-
tends referring to an older cotemporary of the
prophet Jeremiah. Moreover the following
words are not in favor of taking them as a
statement of what the Psalmist uttered when in
ill-huraor (Calvin, Hengst.). They do not ex-
press the self-accusation, that he then desired
death as the end of his sufferings and prayed for
an indication of its nearness. They express the
present petition and wish, that God will make
the afflicted man conscious of the shortness of life
(ver. 4), in accordance with the universal per-
ishableness of man (ver. 5). If, namely, all
mortal movements are a noise about nothing (ver.
6), the best thing for the Psalmist is wailing on
the Lord (ver. 7), whom now he implores, to
deliver him from all his transgressions and not
make him the scorn of the ungodly. He does
not desire nor does he venture to complain that
God has involved him in these sufferings (ver.
9) ; on the contrary he implores the re-
moval of the stroke of His hand, because this
would destroy him (ver. 10), considering the
guilt and weakness of man (ver. 11). Therefore
he can pressingly implore the hearing of his
prayer, which is accompanied with tears, be-
fore his departure, on account of the shortness of
his earthly pilgrimage (vers. 12-13). The same
words as those in the second half of ver. 12 are
found in David's mouth in 1 Chron. xxix. 15.
The language is more transparent than usual
and sticks closer to the subject. [Ewald: "It
is the most beautiful of all the elegies in the
Psalter." — "It has great and not accidental re-
semblances to the discourses of Job iii.-xxxi., and
since the poets are different in the color of the
language and the arrangement of the verses,
either this author has read the book of Job, or
the author of the book of Job was stimulated by
269
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
the lamentation of this Psalm to seek a higher
solution, the latter is more probable." — C.A. B.]
Str. I. Ver. 1. While the w^icked is in
my presence. — This expression, in itself, might
refer to a sinful speaking against the present
enemy (Flam., Ruding., Hilzig), or to expres-
sions of ill-will on account of the prosperity of
the wicked which was before his eyes, as Ps.
xxxvii. (Geier, J. H. Mich., Kbster, Delitzsch) ;
but since the poet is throughout the Psalm occu-
pied only with his own situation (Hupfeld), it is
best to think of murmuring against God on ac-
count of his own severe sufferings, as Ps.
xxxviii. 13sq.,comp. Job i. 22; ii. 10, (Kimchi,
Calvin, De Wette, Hengst.), in which he is in
danger of becoming a scorn of fools (ver. 8.).
Str. II. Ver. 2, Away from prosperity. —
In the situation above described the afflicted
man is silent for awhile, and indeed 31£3D-
Since words of silence never have their object
with JD the explanation "about good," e.^., the
law and praise of God, prosperity and joy,
(Chald., Aquil., Rabbins, many of the older in-
terpreters until Rosenm.), or what might serve
as a justification against slander (Calvin,
Ruding.), are inadmissible. It might possibly
be interpreted, "I was silent respecting pros-
perity," in so far as it was not asked for or was
dispensed with (Ewald, Koster), or turned away
from the prosperity of the wicked, since the
poet sought to put the inconsistency to a dead
silence (Delitzsch), which would certainly be
better than: turned away from the prosperous
(Maurer). We might likewise say: far away
from good^without joy and comfort (Geier, J.
H. Mich.) or: so that it was not well with me,
gloomy (Hupf.), or: not for good=without good
results (Hengst.). A hard ellipsis, difficult to
be understood, would result from the interpre-
tation that it is an abbreviation of the complete
clause: from good even to evil=utterly, Gen.
xxxi. 24 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 22, i[Flam., De Wette,
Hitzig). We refer the obscure and disputed ex-
pression to the circumstance, in which the poet
describes himself as an unfortunate man, whose
pain has in vain fretted within him.
[Ver. 3. Fire burned.— Hupfeld : "This is
ausual figure of internal excitement and passion,
as well as of the anxiety and pain resulting
therefrom, when it is denied expression." Comp.
Pss. xxii. 15; xxxii. 3; Is. xx. 9.— C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 4. Make me to know, etc.
The entire manner of expression shows, that the
speaker does not inquire after ihQ point of time
of his death, because his sufferings would then
be at an end, nor complain of his suflFeriugs on
account of the shortness of human life, because
he has no longer hope of help; which then is
taken as the subject of the previous complaint,
derived from the time of his ill-humor, as in Job
vi. 7 sq. ; vii. 7; xiv. 1 sq.; xvi. 22, in contrasted
reference to the present patient endurance of
what God has done (ver. 9), where Luther im-
properly translates : Thou wilt make it right.
The speaker, certainly does not implore instruc-
tion respecting the perishableness of all earthly
and human things, which indeed he has expe-
rienced in the most direct way in his own suflFer-
ings and which \a presupposed as the foundation
of his prayer. Its purpose is : that God, by His
operation upon the soul of the sufferer, may cause
him to spiritually apprehend this for moral and
practical purposes, in order that, when he ap-
prehends his own person as a vanishing thing
in the midst of the perishable, he may not
make so much bustle about himself and his
sufferings in the world, but may lay hold of
God by faith, as the only true support. Thus
there is unity in the entire Psalm and an advance
in thought. The Psalmist speaks in a narrative
form, vers. 1-3, but subsequently in prayer,
arising out of the feelings which the reflection
upon his previous action has excited in him,
and from which the previous self-accusation as
well as the increasing intensity and pressingness
of the prayer have originated and are explained.
If on the other hand ver. 4sq., is regarded as
the subject of the speech of the tongue mentioned
in ver. 3, then we must either give an entirely
new and independent beginning to the prayer, in
ver. 7 (Calvin, Ruding., Hengst.), which thus
divides the Psalm in two halves, with which
neither the refrain of ver. 6 in ver. 11, nor the
double Selah would agree; or we must with
Hupfeld regard all spoken after ver. 3, as the
contents of that which in ver. 3 welled forth
from the glowing heart upon the tongue. Then
the unity of the Psalm would be preserved, since
the first half would have the meaning of an In-
troduction; but the contents do not suit the
introduction at all, because there is no trace in
the prayer of sinning with the tongue.* — I would
know what a transitory thing I am. — It
is not at all necessary to change /"VTS into ^ m
after Ps. Ixxxix. 48, comp. Is. xxxviii. 11, (Kim-
chi, Calvin, Cocc, Cleric, Hupfeld), whose
meaning xvum is doubtful, and is taken by Bdtt-
cher in the sense of: a little heap of earth, dust
[de infer is, § 274).
Ver. 6. Hand-breadths. — Instead of this
the Vulgate has mensurabiles, and the ancient
Psalters veteres after the Sept. TraXaidg, which
however is a corruption of n-aTiaioTdg or iralEarag
which, as a literal translation of the Hebrew, is
found in the Cod. Alex., and in Chrysostom and
Gregory Nazianzen and even was known to Am-
brose and by him explained not as the palm but
as rings. [Hupfeld : "It is used as a little mea-
sure of length to indicate the shortness of life,
as with us, a span. The construction is that of
the double accusative." — C. A. B.] — Only mere
breath is every man though he stand
firmly. — It is best to connect 3:fJ with DIN in
contrast with 12T\. Man is thus described as
vigorous, standing firm (Zech. xi. 16), strong
in his own feelings, bold and stepping securely,
and not merely as one " who lives" (Sept.).
It is certainly, in no case, to be connected with
the following Selah=standing he bowed. It is
possible to connect this word with the entire
clause=only to mere nothingness is every man
appointed (Hengst. [Alexander]), or better:
* [Perowne agrees with Hupfeld in what is the best view.
" The words that he ' spake with his tongue,' are those which
follow to th-i end of the Paalm. The introduction is merely
the record of that inward struggle out of which the Psalm
itself arose. And the words that he does speak are directed
to God in prayer for teaching, not to man in complaints."—
C. A.B.]. ^
PSALM XXXIX.
267
placed as mere breath (Bottoher), constituttis est.
But this interpretation is not necessary and it
cannot be sustained by appealing to the previous
lines. For ihe assertion that "before Thee"
(t^in Thine eyes) means "according to God's
regulation " is just as untenable as that V^
never=:" nothing," but always, ^nullity. Hup-
feld adduces as decisive against it. Is. xl. 17;
xli. 12, 24. The confirming "yes" may be put
instead of the restricting "only."* Usage al-
lows the one as well as the other.
Str. IV. "Ver. 6. Only as a shadow doth
man w^alk. — The Rabbinical interpretation
that man walketh "in darkness" is incorrect.
The beth is the so-called beth essentise. [It intro-
duces the predicate. He walks about consisting
merely of an unsubstantial shadow like that
image of himself in the shadow upon the ground.
— Only for a breath do they make a noise.
— Perowne: "All the fret and stir, all the eager
clamor and rivalry of men, as they elbow and
jostle one another to obtain wealth and rank,
and the enjoyments of life, are but a breath.
Comp. James iv. 13, 14."— C. A. B.].— He
heapeth up. — It makes no difference in the
sense whether we think particularly of treasure.
(Job xxvii. 16, [A. V. riches^) or grain (Gen.
xli. 85, 49). The following verb, however, is in
favor of the gathering of the harvest, and the
suffix refers to a nom. plur. masc, understood.-}-
. [Ver. 7. And now. — Perowne: "Turning
away as it were, with a sense of relief from the
sad contemplation of man's fleeting, transitory
life, to fix the eye of his heart on Him who
abideth forever. We seem almost to hear the
deep sigh with which the words are uttered. It
is remarkable that even here, it is on God Him-
self, not on a life to come, that his hope sustains
itself."— C. A. B.].
[Str. V. Ver. 8. Transgressions are regard-
ed as the root of his sufferings and hence the
prayer that they may be removed. Comp. Pss.
xxxviii. 5, 6; xxxi. 10. — Scorn of the fool. —
Comp. Ps. xxii. 6. They, beholding his suffer-
ings, would mock him and scorn him for his
transgression, charging many things against him
of which he was guiltless.
Ver. 9. Because Thou didst it.— The Thou
is emphatic and indicates that his sufferings
were the work of God and no one else. — C.A.B.].
[Sir. VI. Ver. 11. And like the moth
makest what he desires to melt away. —
As the moth consumes ga-rments and they waste
away, so that which is dearest and most desira-
ble and precious to him, melts away under the
stroke of Divine chastisement. This is a usual
.figure of perishableness, comp. Is. 1. 9 ; li. 8 ;
Job xiii. 28. — Only a breath is every man —
Vid. ver. 5, to which this clause refers back, —
C.A. B.]
Str. VII, Ver. 12. [Tomy tears.— Delitzsch:
"Along-side of the words of prayer appear the
* [A. V. has " verily " bat this is not so good. — C. A. B.]
' f [Wordsworth : " He heapeth up wealth like sheaves on
the threshing floor and knoweth not who shall gather the
com into the barn ; corap. Matt. xxv. 24, ' gathering whpre
thou haat not strawed ' or winnowed. David heaped up a
great store of riches for the Temple of God, which he was
not permitted to build ; and he might sometimes feel mis-
. givings and apprehensions lest those preparations should be
frustrated, and that provision be dissipated." — C. A. B.].
tears likewise as a prayer understood by God,
for when the doors of prayer appear to be
closed, the doors of the tears remain open." —
C. A. B.]— For I am a guest with Thee, etc.
The expression which is rendered in the Sept.
by ndpoiKog kol TrapeTriSr^/ioc (like 1 Peter ii. 11),
originates from Gen. xxiii. 4, as a designation
of the relation, in which Abraham stood to the
natives of the land through which he wandered,
and it was referred afterwards not only to the
relation of foreign inhabitants of Canaan to the
Israelites who were possessed of the full right
of citizenship in 'the promised land, it being in
their possession, Ex. xii. 49; Lev. xxiv. 16, 22;
xxv. 6, et al. ; but likewise to the relation of the
Israelites to God as the true and only Lord,
Lev. xxv. 23. The additional clause: as all my
fathers, points to a comprehensive relation of
this kind. We have therefore to think not of a
merely personal and transient helplessness and
need of protection, or of a mere dependence upon
God, which likewise remains to those within
the fellowship of the people of God, but to in-
clude in the idea, at the same time, the thought
of the merely transient abode of man in this
world, as likewise in 1 Chron. xxix. 16, and
Heb. xi. 13 sq. — Most ancient Psalters have after
apud te, which is missing in Cod. Vat. of the
Sept., likewise in terra. The Cod. Vat. also
has this reading, while the Cod. Alex, has both
readings, kv tt) yrf irnpd cot.
Ver. 12, Look aw^ay from me, that I may
cheer up. — God's looking away refers to the
turning away His angrry face, Pss. xxi. 9 ; xxxiv.
16 ; His look of wrath, Job vii. 19 ; xiv. 6,
which has as its result the "cheering up" (Job
ix. 27; X. 20) of the human countenance, since
the clouds of care and shadows of trouble vanish.
DOCTRINAL .AND ETHICAL.
1. Even experienced believers are deceived at
times as to the Zz/i/e reliance they can place upon
good resolutions, but only for a short time. Temp-
tation shows how weak we are, how Utile patience
we have in affliction, how easy and how greatly
we sin in our impatience and despondency in
murmuring and complaining. " It is to be well
pondered that David in this Psalm does not de-
clare his virtues in that he had formed his wishes
after the rule of piety and sent them up to God,
but that he rather complains of the weakness
which misled him to foam in excessive pain and
remonstrate with God. He sets before us in his
person a mirror of human weakness, in order
that we, being warned of the danger, may learn
carefully to flee under the shadow of the wings
of God." (Calvin).
2. When, however, in the fiery trial of temp-
tation our good resolutions have not stood the
test, the way to salvation is in the confession of
our weakness and repentance for our foolish con-
fidence in self. A truly pious man after such
experiences of himself, will not justify himself
by the plea of good intentions or excuse himself
by the greatness of the temptation. He has
learned, that he has trodden false paths, whilst
he thought to conceal his weakness from the un-
godly by a strength which he did not possess,
and surrounded himself, without internal devo-
268
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
tion and tranquility, with the appearance of quiet
and patience. Then the pain consumes still
deeper the unbroken heart and if he has kindled
in it the dull heal of consuming fretfulness, this
soon enough finds vent with the violence of long
suppressed resentment.
3. The quiet patience of the pious, in the silence
of resf^wa^jon of oneself into the hands and will
of God, is an entirely different thing from the
defiant suppression of sullen fretfulness, or cold
renunciation in mute resignation. The latter is
followed too soon by the stormy outbreak of the
enchained ill-humor and the lamentable pouring
forth of the disquiet of the heart which is des-
titute of peace and joy. The former is strength-
ened by stern self-examination, by earnest reflec-
tion upon the world, and by ardent prayer, unto
perseverance Mn&Qv the sufferings and temptations
in this transitory world.
4. The iransitoriness of the world and the
brevity of human life, afford the man who is at
peace in God, no reasons for consuming ill-humor
and despondent complaints. Nor does he seek
in them any ground of comfort, when his suffer-
ings pain him, or the riddle of life troubles him.
He is not so miserable that he hopes that the one
will soon come to an end with the other. He
hopes and waits on the Lord as the only reliable
and only abiding one, who cannot be carried
away by the rushing stream of the perishable,
and whose voice cannot be drowned in the roar-
ing and yet vain noise which they make. " It is
just this which is so heroic in the Old Testament
faith, that in the midst of the riddles of the pre-
sent, and in view of a future, losing itself in a
night of gloom, it casts itself absolutely and
without hesitation into the arms of God." (De-
litzsch). Yet we must not forget, that herein is
the 7-00^ of the faith in immortality, resurrection
and eternal life, for one of the characteristic
names of Jehovah is ''n =the Living one.
5. But now the communion with God in life, is
restricted in man by sin, yet it would be entirely
destroyed, if there were no deliverance from the
power of sin, if the judging and punishing
hand of God should strike the sinner dead.
Therefore the afflicted man, who in his sufferings
not only receives but recognizes the Divine punish-
ment of his sins, directs his prayer to deliverance
from both, from his sins and his sufferings. The
former is manifest in the latter in this temporal
life and is even clear to his enemies. It is ac-
cordingly in the interest of God as well, that He
should not allow the man who waits upon Him,
having been converted to Him, to be the scorn
of the fool; and even the brevity of the human
pilgrimage in the land of promise may under
these circumstances be used as a motive for the
speedy exhibition of the Divine mercy, as in Job.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The sins of the tongue must be repented of by the
entire man. — There is a time to be silent and a
time to speak. — The silence of the sufferer who is
resigned to the will of God is very different in its
causes and effects from the silence of the tempted
sinner in th.^ pride of his self-righteousness, in the
weakness of his despondency, in the stubbornness of
his despair. — In the hour of temptation it is seen
that we need another power than our good resolu-
tions.— He who lives and suffers in faith in the
righteous government of God, may have sore trials
to bear, but he will not open his mouth in com-
plaints, murmuringa, and blasphemies, but in
confession of sin, in appeals to the mercy of God, in
praising the glory of the Lord. — He who can find
no more words for prayer, may let his tears speak
for him, and God knows what they mean. —
The more severely we have to bear i^ye burden
of our sins under the pressure of sufferings, the
more ardent is the prayer for release by the hand
of God. — The sufferings of the penitent are a scorn
of the fool, but God's eye observes them. — Even un-
der long suffering the path which we walk is but
short, and even the least burdened have heavy
burdens to b«ar; so much the more necessary is
it to find God early, for, without Him, everything
is nothing. — Take care that thou dost not ex-
change a short joy for long pain, and in chasing
SuHqt perishable goods lose God, the everlasting good.
— The explanation of our earthly .pilgrimage; a
stranger on earth, at home with God.
Starke: In the pious the spirit has to wage a
severe conflict with the flesh on account of the
prosperity of the ungodly, and the misfortunes
of the pious. — Secret fire and pain concealed
within the heart, rage with all the more vio-
lence; hence the best advice is to shake them
out in God's lap, and besides manifest oneself a
Christian well trained in the cross. — If your
tongue is to be kept from sinning against God
and your neighbors, your heart must first be pu-
rified from pride, impatience, and envy. — If the
days of our life are short and their end uncer-
tain, let us be diligent not only to properly em-
ploy a part of them, but our whole time. — Where
faith and living hope are. Christian patience and
humility under the strong hand of God are as-
sured of a desired issue.
Osiander: Man, so far as he is regenerate,
desires to quench the ill humor and impatience
of his flesh — Selnekker : Faith and Hope must
overcome all murmuring. — Dauderstadt: In
every trouble our chief care should be not to
transgress. — Bake: We build here so firmly and
yet are stranger guests. — Bengel: David in this
Psalm longs beyond measure for the heavenly
native land. — Diedrich : Blessed is the man
who has God left to him from the shipwreck of
all temporal prosperity, so that he now properly
chooses Him for himself, and considers Him. —
Taube: Without revelation we understand nei-
ther life nor death, with the everlasting lamp we
understand both. — Thoughts of death foster the
sense of our pilgrimage. — Ahlfeld: Be not de-
ceived respecting your home by a foreign land:
1). Which is the foreign land? 2). Which is the
home? 3). How may we hold fast to our home
when abroad? — Thym: How does hope comfort
in death? It fills us 1) v?ith believing trust in
our going home, 2) with glad prospects of home,
3) with comforting confidence of meeting again.
— Our life on earth is short and transitory. 1)
All men know it ; 2) but only the disciples of the
Lord think of it; 3) andyet it decides our ever-
lasting welfare. — Deichert: The poor human
heart attains rest only by resigning itself en-
tirely to God. 1) Its vain struggles for rest and
peace of soul without God ; 2) its bitter and
PSALM XL.
269
searching importunity in prayer to God ; 3) its
final triumph with God.
[Matth. Henry : Those that are of a fretful,
discontented spirit, ought not to pore much, for
while they suffer their thoughts to dwell upon
the cause of their calamity the fire df their dis-
content is fed with fuel, and burns the more fu-
riously.— When creature confidences fail, it is
our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God
to trust to, and we should thereby be quickened
to take 80 much the faster hold of Him by faith. —
Robert Leiohton: It is a piece of strange folly,
that we defer the whole, or a great part of our
day's work, to the twilight of the evening, and
are so cruel to ourselves, as to keep the great
load of our life for a few hours or days, and for
& pained, sickly body. He who makes it his
daily work to observe his ways, is not astonished
when that day comes, which long before was fa-
miliar to him every day. — We need not long lines
to measure our lives by: each one carries a mea-
sure about with him, his own hand. — There is a
common imposture among people to read their
fortunes by their hands ; but this is true palm-
istry indeed, to read the shortness of our life
upon the palms of our hands. — Every man's
fancy is to himself a gallery of pictures, and
there lie walks up and down, and considers not
how vain these are, and how vain a thing he him-
self is. — Barnes: The most perfect calmness and
peace in trouble is produced, not when we rely
on our own reasonings, or when we attempt to
comprehend and explain a mystery, but when we
direct our thoughts simply to the fact that God
has done it. — Spuroeon : To avoid sin one' had
need be very circumspect, and keep one's actions
as with a guard or garrison. Unguarded ways
are generally unholy ones. Heedless is another
word for graceless. — If I have the fever myself,
there is no reason why I should communicate it
to my neighbors. If any on board the vessel of
my soul are diseased, I will put my heart in qua-
rantine, and allow none to go on shore in the
boat of speech till I have a clean bill of health. —
Nature may do her best to silence the expres-
sion of discontent, but unless grace comes to her
rescue, she will be sure to succumb. — Worldly
men walk like travellers in a mirage, deluded,
duped, deceived, soon to be filled with disap-
pointment and despair. — Men fret, and fume, and
worry, and all for mere nothing. They are sha-
dows pursuing shadows, while death pursues
them. — All our desires and delights are wretched
moth-eaten things when the Lord visits us in
His anger. — C. A. B.]
PSALM XL.
To ihe chief Musician, A Psalm of David,
1 I waited patiently for the Lord ;
And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,
Out of tne miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
Even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear,
And shall trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust,
And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
6 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy
thoughts which are to us- ward :
They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee : if I would declare and speak of
them,
They are more than can be numbered.
270
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ;
Mine ears hast thou opened :
Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come :
In the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God:
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation :
Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
0 Lord, thou knowest.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart ;
1 have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation ;
I have not concealed thy loving kindnessand thy truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord :
Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about :
Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up ;
They are more than the hairs of mine head :
Therefore mine heart faileth me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me : .
O Lord, make haste to help me.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together
That seek after my soul to destroy it ;
Let them be driven backward and put to shame
That wish me evil.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame
That say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
Let such as love thy salvation
Say continually, The Lord be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy ;
Yet the Lord thinketh upon me :
Thou art ray help and my deliverer ;
Make no tarrying, O my God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. The Psalm-
ist narrates (ver. 1), how God has graciously
accepted his trust and cry for help (ver. 2), de-
livered him from a great danger and given him
a new song (ver. 3), all for the strengthening
of the faith of many. He pronounces those
blessed who trust in God (ver. 4), and this forms
the transition to the mention (ver. 6) of the in-
numerable and unspeakable exhibitions of grace
which have been made to the believing, for
which God would be thanked, not by external
ritual offerings (ver, 6), but by willing obedience
to the Divine will expressed in the written law
(vers. 7-8). This the Psalmist, as God knows,
has declared as a glad tidings, in the great con-
gregation (vers. 9-10). In accordance with this
he now prays (ver. 11) for the continuance of the
Divine protection ; for innumerable evils, the con-
iequences of his transgressions, have surrounded
him (ver. 12) ; and therefore he prays importu-
nately (ver. 13), that God will hasten to his help,
and bring his enemies to shame (ver. 14), as a
punishment for their scorn which they have de-
lighted to heap upon him ^ver. 15). Those who
seek God and love Him, are to rejoice and praist
Ood (ver. 16), for though the Psalmist is at
present poor and miserable, yet he trusts in God's
assistance firmly and prays to Him urgently
(ver. 17). It follows from this analysis, that
the assertion, that the Psalm is divided into two
parts diflFering from one another in contents and
tone, and in part inconsistent with one another,
the one part thanksgiving the other prayer, does
not accord with the circumstances of the case.
It is true the so-called second part (vers. 12-17)
is found with few alterations in an independent
form, as Ps. Ixx. But this does not prove that
two songs originally different have here been
subsequently united (Pareau instit. interpr. 830),
or that the unity can be maintained only by the
supposition that the poet speaks in the name of
PSALM XL.
271
the people of Israel (Isaki, Rosenm. II.), or the
pious members of the people (De Wette). Still
less can it be shown, that Ps. Ixx. was the ori-
ginal, and that it is here imitated and attached
as a prayer to a Psalm of thanksgiving (Hup-
feld). There are rather in Ps. Ixx. many signs
of its being a fragment. This portion of Ps. xl,
moreover, might very easily and properly, owing
to its character, have been separated for the
special use of the congregation, although hardly
by the author himself. The difference of tone in
the various groups of this Psalm is sufficiently
explained from the difference between narrative,
thanksgiving and prayer. Hence arise the un-
evenness of the strophes and the verses, and dis-
similarity in the length of the lines. These cha-
racteristics are not disclosed in any particular
part, but pervade the whole Psalm. It is diffi-
cult to decide respecting the author. It is not
necessary that we should be referred to the time
of the recovery of the book of the law (Ewald) ;
for it is particularly in the Psalms of David in the
time of the persecution by Saul, that many refer-
ences to the law are found ; besides, there are re-
semblances with Ps. xxii. 25; xxv. 21; xxxv. 18, 21,
25. But the most striking similarities are with Ps.
Ixix., and in that Psalm there is so much in favor
of its composition by Jeremiah (Hi( zig), that even
Delitzsch wavers in his judgment. Since both
Psalras at any rate, have the same author, and
Ps. Ixix. contains many important evidences,
the decision is to be drawn from a consideration
of that Psalm. Here however, we may anticipate
the result with the statement that there are
weighty reasons in favor of David as the author,
only not in the time of his flight before Absalom
(Rudinger, Venema, Muntinghe). Hence we
hold fast to it, since no decisive reasons have
thus far been adduced against it. — ^The words
of vers. 6-8, are put in the mouth of Christ by
the author of the epistle to the Hebrews x. 5-7.
Most of the earlier interpreters have, therefore,
supposed, that Christ here speaks by the mouth
of David prophetically of his bringing the offer-
ing of his life in his state of humiliation, and
therefore they have treated the Psalm either
partly or entirely as directly Messianic, so recent-
ly Boh I. Hengstenberg has very properly given
up this view, which he advocated in the first
edition of his Christology. Even the typical in-
terpretation can be maintained only in the freer
sense (Calvin, Ruding., Grotius, Cler., et al.)
and not in the stricter sense (Stier). The epis-
tle to the Hebrews, really makes a free use of the
words in question and one deviating in many re-
spects from the original text ( Vid. Moll's Epist.
to the Hebrews x. 5-7, in Lange's Commentary),
yet this is on the basis of the recognized typical
relation of the Old Covenant to the New Cove-
nant and particularly of the person and history
of David. "The words of David, the anointed,
yet only after he was on the way to the throne,
are so formed by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of
prophecy, that they at the same time sound as
the words of another David passing through suf-
ferings to glory, whose offering of himself is the
end of the animal offerings and whose person and
work are the kernel and star of the roll of the
law." (Delitzsch).
Str. I. Ver. 1. Waiting I waited.— The He-
brew infin. abs. does not so much strengthen the
verbal idea, with which view the firmness, pa-
tience, endurance and power of the trust would
be expressed (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich., De-
litzsch, et al.), but rather emphasizes it, whether
with a parenetic view (Hengst.), or as an ante-
cedent and in contrast to the consequences
mentioned in the second member (Hupfeld). —
He inclined unto me. — It is doubtful whether
ri£3J (incline, bow), without an object, is here
to be regarded as intransitive (Aben Ezra, J. H.
Mich., De Wette, Hengst., Hitzig), the passages
cited in favor of this. Gen. xxxviii. 16; Judges
xvi. 30, not being entirely parallel, or whether
we are to supply " ears " (Hupfeld, Delitzsch),
since this combination frequently occurs, yet
only with the Hiphil.
Ver. 2. Pit of destruction — dirt of the
mire — rock — made my footsteps firm. —
Hitzig derives from the mention of pit, his ex-
planation of the Psalm from the history ot Jere-
miah, but since even he does not take the rock,
which is the usual figure of security (Pss. xviii.
2; xxvii. 6), in a literal sense, his grounds are
weak ; and the pit with its mire, in which the foot
slides and can gain no firm foothold is figurative
of danger, as the waters elsewhere (Ps. xviii. 15
and frequently). But it does not follow from
this or the circumstance that jINty is likewise
used of the rushing and roaring of water (Ps.
Ixv. 7 ; Jer. xvii. 12 sq.), that we must think
here of a rushing depth of water (Hengst.) or a
roaring pit (Eimchi, Calvin, Venema, Rosenm.)
=pit of roaring water. The meaning: destruc-
tion=:ruin, is assured from Jer. xxv. 81 ; xlvi.
17 ; Ps. xxxv. 8.
Ver. 3. [A new^ song.-^Perowne: "One
celebrating with all the power of a recent grati-
tude anew and signal act of deliverance." Vid.
Ps. xxxiii. 3. — C. A. B.]. — The same alliteration
which is found here [ ^N1"1-^X1"' "I, occurs like-
wise in Ps. lii. 6, where it is followed by a clause
like ver. 4.
Str. II. Ver. 4. His trust — Related with this
clause are Pss. xxxiv. 8 ; lii. 6 ; Ixv. 5 ; Ixxi.
5; xci. 9; Job xxxi. 24; Isa. xx, 5; Jer. xvii.
7 ; so much more are the latter passages to be
regarded as re-echoes of this the original pas-
sage.— Blusterers and lying apostates —
Most interpreters since Aben Jizra and Kimchi
take D'JHT as a plural of an adjective which is
not found elsewhere; others after the Sept.y
Syriac, Jerome, as the plural instead of the
usual singular Dm=raging, daring, violent,
particularly as a surname of Egypt, with the idea
of an external, noisy, boastful bragging of their
own power, whereby they mislead others to put
their trust in them, which was then shamefully
deceived (Hupf.). The 30 ''IDW are not those
" who incline them8elves==turn to lies," whether
we think of real lies (Stier) or idols and magic
(Isaki, Kimchi, Hengst.). The verb a)t=r]au
expresses a stronger idea than that of inclining
oneself and is not an intransitive. We must,
therefore, translate: apostates of lies=lying,
faithless apostates (Hupfeld, Delitzsch). A si-
milar form of expression is found in Ps. lix.
Hitzig, through the Arabic, refers to those who
" shriek lies," which is more natural than to
272
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
make the reading iDiy and think of the tongue
as a whip (Job v. 21 ; Sir. xxvi. 6), because,
likewise flexible ; because it gossips and because
it can likewise smite a person. (Jer. xviii. 18).
Str. III. Ver. 6. There is no comparison
•with Thee, (else) -would I declare and
speak. — Comp. Ps. Ixxxix. 8; Is. xl. 18; Job
xxviii. 17, 19. Thus most recent interpreters
after Sept., Isaki, Luther. The translation:
there is no reckoning of them before thee (Sym-
mach., Chald., Jerome, Kimchi, Calvin, Ruding.,
Piscator, Geier, Cleric, Rosenm., Stier, Hupf,,
[A. V.])r=they are "unspeakable, innumerable,"
is especially opposed by the circumstance that
such a reckoning is not usual before God, but
before men. It is better to take the following
words, in accordance with the accents, either as
a parenthesis as Ps. li. 16 ; Iv. 12, or as a hypo-
thetical consequent to the immediately preceding
statement. If we should neglect the accents, it
might be an expression of a hypothetical ante-
cedent to the assurance of the impossibility of
numbering expressed in the following line (Sym-
mach., Jerome, Isaki, Kimchi, Calvin, Geier).
It is inadmissible to take it as a real future
(Stier, Hengst.,); for then the statement would
be of a real resolution in opposition to the preced-
ing aa well as the following statement.
Sir. IV. Ver. 6. Ears hast Thoti dug for
me, that is created for me instruments for hear-
ing. It is accordingly the business of man to
use them in accordance with the Divine wiU.
This may be partly by observing God's word,
^si.Tt\y hy following God's commands=:obedience
to the will of God expressed in His word. Both
references often lead to one another, and the
latter is certainly brought about by the former
(Deut. xxix. 3; Is. vi. 9sq.; Jer. vii. 24). That
the position of the clause, if it is taken as a
parenthesis, would make a change here and em-
phasize the ears as the organ of a ^Aeorefica^ know-
ledge (Hupf.), is so much the less to be conceded,
as, according to Hupfeld's own view, parentheses
occur frequently in this Psalm. Still less is the re-
ference to the boring through or boring out the
ears, parallel with the usual formula ; open the ear
(Is. xlviii. 8 ; 1. 5), and uncover the ear (1 Sam.
ix. 16; XX. 2, 12 sq. ; xxii. 8, 17; Job xxxiii.
16; xxxvi. 10, 15), or; open the eyes (Gen. iii.
7; xxi. 9), and uncovar the eyes (Num. xxii. 31 ;
xxiv. 4; 16; Ps. cxix. 18), of the impartation
or of the impression of knowledge by Divine
revelation (Isaki, Calvin, Geier, Venema,
Rosenm., De Wette, Stier). For, although the
Hebrew verb with the meaning of " dig, bore "
may under some circumstances pass over into
that of perfodere (Ps. xxii. 16), yet we would be
obliged to expect, in accordance with the paral-
lels adduced, the singular instead of the plural,
'ears." But now, furthermore, the -clause is
not really parenthetical, but rather the three
verbs are entirely parallel in the three lines,
and the passage sounds very much like the re-echo
of the words of Samuel, 1 Sam. xv. 22. This is
partly in favor of its composition by David,
partly in favor of a reference to ofierfience (Geier.
Hengst., Von Hofm., Delitzsch). The expres-
sion, however, is not a symbolical designation
of the obedience of the servant, whose ear was
nailed to the door posts of the Lord, by which
he obligated himself to remain forever, Ex. xxl.
6; Deut. xv. 17, (after Geier et al. Hengst. pre-
viously, Stier, in part, now Bohl) ; for there was
a special technical expression for this, and more-
over only one ear was thus treated (J. D. Mich.,
Rosenm.). The ancient interpreters explained
the plural arbitrarily by reference to the double
obedience of Christ, his active and passive obe-
dience, but so, that the congregation, for whom
he ofiFered himself, was composed of two parts,
Jews and Gentiles. Bohl grants herein a free use
of the symbol in question, and appeals moreover
to Hos. iii. 2, for this meaning of n"'3 =mak3
T T
oneself a bond slave by means of boring (after
Hengst. Christology, 2 Edit. i. 219), whilst he
at the same time disputes the fixedness of a term,
techn. Yet he wavers as much in this, as in the
explanation of the symbol itself. For if boring,
which occurs as a symbol of obedience like-
wise among the Mesopotamians, Arabs, Lydians,
and Carthagenians, means nothing more than
that the man who has been bored has open, hear-
ing ears, and thus is to be attentive and obedient
(Knobel upon Ex. xxi. 6), it cannot be, at the
same time, regarded as a symbol of continued,
everlasting servitude (Saalchutz, das mos. Recht,
S. 699). At any rate the emphasis in the con-
text of the present passage is not upon the latter
but the former point, and therefore the refe-
rence to that symbol must be abandoned. The
expression originates from the form of the bodily
ear. This view renders the use of this passage
in Heb. x. 5 much easier to understand, in ac-
cordance with the enlarged and explanatory
translation of the Sept., unless perhaps it is an
ancient mistake in copying. The Vulgate has
aures, the Itala as likewise the Psalter. Roman.,
hovyever, corpus. — Burnt offering and sin of-
fering.— The so called spiritual interpretation
of the offerings is found not first in Jer, vii. 21 •
(comp. vi. 20); or Isa. Ixvi. 3; but already in
Isa. i. 11; and besides Hos. vi. 6; Am. v. 21
sq. ; Mich. vi. 6sq. ; Prov. xv. 8; xxi. 3; like-
wise Pss. L 8; li. 17. 1 Sam. xv. 22, may how-
ever be regarded as the original passage in ac-
cordance with the idea, which was already ex-
pressed in the difference between the offerings of
Cain and Abel, and which pervades the entire
Mosaic legislation. So much the less are we to
think here of a revelation of a new truth, but of
an observation of the revealed will of God, which
requires not an offering divorced from the heart,
but obedience and consecration of the entire per-
son, of which the offerings are the figurative ex-
pression. " The offerings are named in a two-
fold respect; a, according to their material,
npi animal offering and Hn^D meal offering (in-
cluding the ^pj wine offering, which is the in-
separable accompaniment of the Mincha); b,
according to their purpose, either as essentially
^^l'^^ in order to procure Divine favor, or as
essentially nxcan (here nxcon), in order to turn
away the Divine displeasure". That mr and
n7"i;r precede is due to the fact that H^T denotes
partially the shelamim offering, and the thank-
offering proper, namely, the tdda-shelamim offer-
ing belongs to this class, and that Th')^ as the
offering of worship, trpoaevx^, whicli is ever
PSALM XL.
273
likewise general thanksgiving, evxapiaria, is in
natural connection with the shelamim to the
thankful." (Delitzsch).
Ver. 7. Lo, I am come = here I am, as an
expression of the obedient servant ready for the
service of his Lord, and standing in this willing-
ness before the Lord, (Num. xxii. 38 ; 1 Sam.
iii. 4, 8; 2 Sam. xix. 21; Isa. vi. 8; Matth. viii.
9). It is not necessary to supply : before Thy
face (Hupfeld). The translation : I have con-
sented, namely, to the requirement, ver. 6 (Bott-
oher), is unsuitable. — "With the roll of the
book, written concerning me. — These words
would have to be taken as a parenthesis, if the
purpose of the coming were stated. But since
this is not stated expressly, this supposition
loses its support, so likewise the pretension to
erase this line (Olsh.) It is admissible, how-
ever, to take ver. 7 6 as an independent clause=
in the roll of the book it is prescribed to me
(Hengst., Hupfeld, in a diflFerent combination
from Kosenm. and G'esenius, from Umbreit and
Maurer), It is particularly iq connection with
the recovery of the Pentateuch (2 Kings xxii. 13)
that the construction of 3^3 with /^ occurs in
this signification. But really this so-called mean-
ing is only a paraphrase, uged in order to sim-
plify it to the understanding. Taken literally,
even there the persons are adduced with 7j^, re-
specting whom it is written, namely, the word of
God, obligating them, and binding upon them ;
they are the ones to whom that which is written
refers, Jobxiii. 26. The ancient translation
wspl kfiov, upon which Heb. x. 7 is based, is ac-
cordingly altogether unobjectionable. This clause
may now be connected, likewise in language with
the preceding clause, so that the preposition D
expresses the accompaniment, as Ps. Ixvi. 16
(Umbreit, Ewald, Maurer, et al.) But the book
roll with which the Psalmist comes is not the
roll of the written leaf, which Jeremiah carried
with him C?^ = with me) and upon which he
had written the prophecy of future redemption,
in order to read it to the people, as he himself
had "eaten" its contents, Jer. xv. 16 (Hitzig),
but the roll of the law written on skins, Jer.
xxxvi. 2, 4; Ezek. ii. 9 (Hupf.), particularly the
law respecting the king, Deut. xvii. 14 sq. (Von
Hofm., Delitzsch), which the king of Israel was
to keep constantly with him. This view explains
the transfer of these words about David, who
was already anointed king of Israel, but had not
yet come into possession of the throne, to Christ,
Heb. X., as one, for whom it is not necessary to
suppose that the idea of the book-roll should be
transferred unhistorically to the entire Old Tes-
tament and its prophecies. The following ex-
planations: written upon me (Sachs), which
means, that the poet is himself the narrative of
the wonders of God which have happened to him ;
or written in me, that is, in my heart (Be Wette),
are inadmissible. It is first said in ver. 8 that
David carried the law not only with him, but in
himself. For this is a characteristic of the right-
eous (Ps. xxxvii. 31, after Deut. vi. 6; comp.
Prov. iii, 3;-^vii. 3). But this Divine purpose is
not fulfilled in the entire people (Isa. li. 7) until
the time of the Messiah (Jer. xxxi. 33). Heng-
stenberg (Beitriige II. 489sq.) has proved that
the mention of the roll of the law as written upon
skins does not lead to a later period of composi-
tion. Still less is it necessary to think of a man,
who, after the discovery of the law by Hezekiah,
went with the roll into the temple (Ewald).
Str. V. Vers. 9, 10. I proclaimed, cic— The
perfects, vers. 9, 10, do not express continued
action (De Wette), but past, yet they refer not to
the contents of the new revelation written upon
the leaf (Hitzig), but narrate parallel with ver.
7, that the Psalmist not only took his position as
an obedient servant of Jehovah, and as a perso-
nal thank-offering at the disposal of God, but
that he has expressed his thanks by proclaiming
the praise of Jehovah in the congregation (comp.
Ps. 1. 24 sq.) Thie proclamation is designated by
the verb "^^^2 as glad tidings. [Perowne:
" Words are heaped upon words to express the
eager forwardness of a heart burning to show
forth its gratitude. No elaborate description
could so well have given us the likeness of one
whose • life was a thanksgiving.' " — C. A. B.]
Str. VI. Ver. 11. Thou, Jehovah, wilt not
shut up Thy mercies, etc. — This verse refers
to ver. 9 in the use of shut up, and to ver. 10 in
the use of " grace and truth." But it does not
follow from this, that the so-called first part con-
cludes with ver. 11 (Hupfeld); this is opposed by
the connection with ver. 12 by means of " for,"
which it is entirely arbitrary to regard as merely
an external and loose connection. But rather
the importunity of the prayer for deliverance
from present and recent trouble, rising on the
basis of thanksgiving ioT previous deliverances, and
basing itself on the assurance of Divine recom-
pense, is grounded on the fact that the trans-
gressions of the Psalmist, which followed him in
vengeance, as the wrath of God (Ps. Ixix. 25),
and the curse (Deut. xxviii. 15), have overtaken
him, and that there is accordingly no other help
than through Jehovah. In the Messianic inter-
pretation these transgressions are explained of
those voluntarily taken upon himself by the
suffering Messiah, and for the most part made
parallel with innumerable evils as the punish-
ment of sins. Both of these ideas are against the
text which says that the transgressions of the Psalm-
ist are his own, who feels that he has been seized
upon by the innumerable evils which surround him
and he has no prospect. This general explanation
of the clause, I cannot see, corresponds closely
as well with the context as with the wording of
the clause. The explanation : I cannot see over
them on account of their innumerableness (Hit-
zig, Hupfeld), corresponds with the former; the
interpretation of it from weakened sight, owing
to great woe (Luther, Hengst.), corresponds with
the latter. This physical inability (1 Sam. iii.
2; iv. 14; 1 Kings xiv. 4; Job xvi. 16; Pss.
xiii. 3 ; xxxviii. 10), may be a sign that a man's
strength (Ps. xxxviii. 10), or his heart (Ps. xl. 13)
= courage, composure, joyfulness, have forsaken
him, yet however is not to be placed alongside
of the latter, and to be explained of the obscuration
of consciousness = inconsiderateness (Chald.,
Stier, Ewald). Least of all are we to think of
invisible approach, whereby they overtake him
unexpectedly (Hupf. alternately).
Str.Yll. Vers. 13-15. Be pleased.— Although
274
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
Jllfl in this meaning and in construction with a
following 7 and an infinitive, occurs only here (for
in the parallel passage in Ps. Ixx. this word is
missing), yet it is indisputable, and xefers to ver.
8, where the will of God is designated by the
noun of the same root. This again is in favor of
the connection of both parts of this Psalm and-
of its antiquity. The cry for help is like Pss.
xxii. 19 ; xxxviii. 22 ; the wish against his deadly
enemies, like Pb. xxxv. 4, 26 ; the description of
their behaviour, like Ps. xxxv. 21, 25, only that
"speak" is followed by " of me," (properly:
with reference to me), which again is missing in
Ps. Ixx., where likewise the usual ^^W"* (let
them retire) is used instead of ^12^" (let them
become numb, paralyzed with fright). The rea-
son and ground of their numbness is stated in
the following verse with 7J?, that shame is their
reward (Hitzig, Delitzsch), which is not like the
accusative (Hupfeld), which would merely say:
on account of their shame (De Wette, Hengsten-
berg). [For the expression Aha, aha, vid. Ps.
xxxv. 21, 25.— C. A. B.]
Str. VIII. Ver. 17. The Lord will care for
me. — It is not necessary to adopt the reading
"•^-ntyin from Pss. Ixx. 6; cxli. 1, instead of
"■/"Dtyn^, as being the only reading consistent
with usage (Venema, Ewald, Hupfeld), and to
translate accordingly : Lord, haste to me. The
word 3iyn has indeed very different meanings,
and here an unusual construction ; yet the re-
ference at once to the thoughts of God, ver. 5,
mentioned by a noun of the same root, which
favors the unity of the Psalm, does not leave it
■doubtful that the reference is neither to regard
= value (Rabbins), nor to imputation, namely,
of sins (Cocc, Gesen.), but to tlie thoughts of God
in His providential care over those who turn to
Him in prayer (the ancient translators and most
interpreters).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Sometimes a deliverance from great danger,
gives us the first knowledge of how many enemies
■and how great dangers there are surrounding us
iere below. But this knowledge should not
weaken our thankfulness; and although the song
lOf thanksgiving to t\iQ praise of God must be fol-
lowed immediately by a new petition, the ardor
of prayer is the more impressive, and the con-
fidence oi he.\ng heard is more assured andjoy-
'Ous, the more vital and fresh the experience of
i\\Q gracious turning of God to the necessity and
prayer of him who waits in faith for the help of
Ihe Lord.
2. A man who has been delivered by the help
of God, is stimulated to a new song by the new
•experience of grace; but when he on his part is
personally confirmed anew in the old covenant of
grace, he does not thus acquire any exclusive re-
lation to God yfiilx peculiar rights and privileges.
He is and remains a member of the congregation, in
which God from of old has glorified Himself by
innumerable tokens of His favor. Therefore all
the people are to be benefited by that which
iiappens to the individual, and they are to let
their new song resound to the God of all in
united praise, and to the general edification. These
benefits are better fitted for this, the more they
bear and maintain the character of a gift of
God.
3. The thanksgiving which is well-pleasing to
God is not in the legal fulfilment of the external
offerings and similar performances, rites, and ce-
remonies, but in obedience to the will of Oodhy the
whole person and life. This obedience is de-
clared in particular actions and performances, ii
represented and illustrated by offerings, symbo-
lized by rites and ceremonies ; but all these ex-
pressions, representations, and symbols, cannot
compensate for the absence of obedience. This sym-
bolical and representative character of all the of-
ferings of the Old Covenant is evidently declared
in the roll of the law, which contains the directions
for the actions of the people of God. There is
no inconsistency therefore in the fact that it is
said respecting the offerings expressly ordained
by Divine command, that God hai not required
or desired them. There is no value ascribed to
them in the Mosaic law independent of obedience.
God's requirement is directed rather immediately
and unconditionally to entire obedience to the
Divine will. It is not necessary therefore to
suppose a new revelaiion for the explanation of
the thoughts expressed in the text. The will of
God has been revealed in the words o/God, and
God has given men ears to understand them.
Whatever is missing is concretely expressed by
the inclination and ability of unconditional obe-
dience to completely fulfil the law: in the perfect
servant of Jehovah, righteous in disposition and
ability to justify many (Isa. liii. 11). When,
now, David, under definite historical circum-
stances, and with special reference to his royal
calling, expresses his joy in the fulfilment of the
Divine will, and his readiness to commit his
person to the disposal of God, he not only says
that obedience is the true offering, and that it
has to do with the entire person, but he thus en-
ters historically into the typically prophetical re-
lation to Christ, in which, by the Spirit, his words
acquire a meaning which allows, yes, calls forth,
a deeper and more comprehensive interpretation
within the Old Covenant.
4. The fulfilment of the Divine law is rendered .
subjectively possible to man, and accomplished, by
his taking it up into his soul, and agreeing with his
heart to this law which comes to him at first from
without and by the ear. Thus the externality
and the strangeness of the law are destroyed.
Man, then, desires what God desires. He offers
his own will in the obedience of faith. But
this offering is fulfilled only on the basis of a de-
liverance which has taken place. The offering
has thus essentially the meaning of a thank-offer-
ing, and it is not at all propitiatory or justifying,
although well-pleasing to God. This relation is
expressed likewise in the typical reference of the
Psalm.
6, He who is in this relation and has a vital
experience of the power and truth of it in his
own person, should testify of it by word and dee<f
and help others to hear of it (Rom. x. 17), and
should particularly proclaim the glad tidings of
the righteousness, grace and truth of God, in the
congregation. This may likewise be regarded aa
PSALM XL.
275
an offering, and indeed of thanks, yet not merely
in the sense of the preseiitation of words, but, at
the same time, with the more particular meaning
of sacrifice and personal consecration, which can-
not be fulfilled without self-conquest. For, in ad-
dition to the natural slothfulness, forget fulness,
unthankfulness, fearfulness, we are to regard
not only quietistic inclinations, the disposition
to contemplation, the luxury of feeling, but
likewise a kind of timidity, dread and shyness
of appearing in public, which occur even in men
who are spiritually inclined and are decided
servants of God. But he who overcomes in this
conflict, and ventures to appeal to the testimony
of God respecting his readiness to take part in
this work, can rely with comforted spirit upon
the fact that God will confess those who make
Him known before men (Matth. x. 32).
6. A true and courageous confessor may, ac-
cordingly, rely upon being recognized by God ;
but the ground on which he bases his confidence
is not his personal worth or the deserts of his
actions, but the mercy and faithfulness of God.
He has the more reason to bold fast to this, as
he, with all his piety and devotion to God, and
in the calling given him by God, is still not the
perfectly righteous one, the sinless servant of
God, but rather, in the innumerable sufferings
which surround him, he recognizes the deserved
punishments of his innumerable transgressions,
and, in consequence of this, feels that every
natural source of comfort, courage and strength
in himself is sealed up. All things depend upon
the help of the Lord. He recognizes more tho-
roughly the indispensableness of this, and experi-
ences the more deeply its urgency, the stronger
his feeling of his own misery and entire helpless-
ness, under the painful impressions of the arro-
gance of his enemies, who are intoxicated with
victory. But the deeper the faith in the special
providence of God for the individual, is impressed
upon the heart of the suff'erer, and the firmer the
soul is established in confidence in the final vic-
tory and the everlasting triumph of the congre-
gation over all its enemies, through the power
of God and to the praise of God, and the more
this confidence is applied to the personal relation
of the oppressed servant of God, the more urgent
and sure of being heard is the prayer for the
speedy coming of the Lord.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God not only sends sufferings ; but He likewise
sends help; He works likewise thankfulness. —
Eymns and songs belong to the gifts of God : by
these we express our thanks, proclaim God's
glory, edify the congregation. — Our life may be
a long history of sufferings and yet constitute an
edifying sermon respecting God's righteousness,
grace and truth. — That which comeB from the Lord
should lead to the Lord. — The kindnesses of God
are just as numerous as our sufferings and our
transgressions. — We should take to heart what God
has done to us and to our people, but not shut it up
in our hearts, but let our thanks sound forth not
only in words, even though they be expressed in
new songs and hymns, but likewise in acts well
pleasing to God, — What God does to us. is not an
exception, but a confirmation of His special as well
as general Providence. — The new songs of the
pious contain only the old confession of the con-
gregation of God. — The best thank-offering is the
consecration of the entire person to the service of
God in the obedience of faith. — God desires ener-
getical thanks for actual help. — By one and the same
act God accomplishes our deliverance, the shame
of the enemy, the edification of the congregation. —
God's words are not only to come to our ears, but
to enter our hearts. — God has given us ears to hear
His word ; a mouth to confess it ; a heart to love
it ; whence comes the strength to keep it, but from
Him ? and who is the righteous one, whom he sends
\o fulfil it? — God shows Himself to be the faithful
God to those who trust in Him, confesses those who
confess Him ; will He neglect you, when you do
not neglect Uim? — If we would gain God's help,
we must seek God Himself. — Con-tecraiion and
confession should agree with one another, but both
be in accordance with God's loord. — lie who can-
not zt>ai< for the help of God, will never gram it;
but he must pray for it and may urge his circum-
stances, in prayer.
Starke : The cross conveys many advantages
in itself; for it urges the sufferer to pray, his
prayer is heard, he rejoices, praises God, seeks
to excite others to praise Him. — Take care that
the new song, the gospel, be not sung and
preached for your mere amusement, but that it
produce in you true fear of God; else it were
better that you should never have heard it.—
You must not doubt of your sonship and the love
of God on account of the postponement of help.
He only tries your patience. Christ was a
servant in obedience, yet a child of His
Father in hearty readiness to do His will. Learn
from Him to properly unite both together. —
When the word of God comes unto a man in its
true power, it cannot long remain concealed,
the change of heart soon expresses itself in words
and works. — God never lacks the power to help;
we need only pray that He will show this power
in accordance with His gracious will.
Selnekker: Even the law cannot be under-
stood apart from Christ, for no one knows, what
it requires and how to fulfil it. — Dauderstadt:
We must draw near to God with humility. David
calls himself not a king and prophet, but a poor
miserable sinner. — Frisch : See to it, dear soul,
that the new song is not sung to thee in vain. —
The dear gospel does nothing but good to men
and yet it has its enemies. — It is impossible that
we should endure the cross and live under it
without the consolation of God. — A. Bengel: I
come! or I am here! was the symbolum of the
Lord Jesus (Matth. v. 17; x. 34; xv. 24; xviii.
11; Mark i. 38; Luke v. 32; ix. 60; xii. 49;
xix. 10; John vi. 38 sq.; ix. 89; x. 10; xii. 46;
xviii. 37). 0 Soul, let thy Saviour accomplish
His design in thee. — Say: Why art thou in the
world? Dost thou fulfil the will of God ? How
long since ? How ? — Umbreit : The mind of the
converted is shown in deep humility and
strong confidence. — The will of God is recorded
in the roll of the book, but it is the desire of the
pious to do it. — Without sincere confession of
one's own misery and internal poverty there is
no faith in Divine Providence. — Tholuck:
Thanksgiving should be an act, but he who
strongly feels it, his words may be a hindrance
276
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
to him. — Taube: The greatest and truest skill
of the Christiaa is to be able to wait; to learu
to wait is the exercise of his entire life. — Poverty
and misery, these are our names; yet this dust
nature is in God's gracious thoughts. — There are
typical heroes of faith and those who have fol-
lowed Christ; the Lord Himself is in the midst
with His heroic sufferings and sustains both
classes with the strength and grace of His all-
sufficient blessings of redemption. — Deichert:
The offerings of a reasonable service well pleas-
ing to God; 1) The incense of prayer before
God; 2) the burnt- offering of an entire conse-
cration of the heart to God ; 3) the meat-offering
of the life and its works in the service of God.
[Matth. Henry: There is power enough in
God to help the weakest, and grace enough in
God to help the unworthiest of all His people
that trust in Him. — There is an order in all God's
works, but they are so many that present them-
selves to our view at once, that we know not
where to begin nor which to name next; the
order of them, and their natural references and
dependences, and how the links of the golden
chain are joined is a mystery to us, and what we
shall not be able to account for till the veil be
rent and the mystery of God finished. — The sight
of our sins in their own colors would drive us to
distraction if we had not at the same time some
sight of a Saviour. — Barnes : All sorrow can be
borne when we feel that God has not forgotten
us; we may be calm when all the world forsakes
us, if we can feel assured that the great and
blessed God "thinks "on us, and will never
cease to remember us, — Spurgeon : Note the way
of salvation, a sight, a fear, a trust ! Do you
know what these mean by possessing and prac-
tising them in your own soul ? — God's thoughts
of you are many, let not yours be few in return.
— No maze to lose oneself in like the labyrinth
of love. How sweet to be outdone, overcome
and overwhelmed by the astonishing grace of
the Lord our God. — Our Lord's life was a sermon
eloquent beyond compare, and it is heard each
day by myriads. — Lord Jesus, grant in all our
adversities we may possess like precious faith,
and be found like thee, more than conquerors.—
C. A. B.].
PSALM XLL
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David,
1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor :
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive ;
And he shall be blessed upon the earth :
And thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing :
Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, Lord, be merciful unto me :
Heal my soul ; for I have sinned against thee,
5 Mine enemies speak evil of me,
When shall he die, and his name perish ?
6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity :
His heart gathereth iniquity to itself;
When he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
7 All that hate me whisper together against me :
Against me do they devise my hurt.
8 An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him f
And now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
Which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me,
10 But thou, 0 Lord, be mercifiil unto me, and raise me up,
That I may requite them.
PSALM XLI.
277
11 By this I know that thou favourest me,
Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity,
And settest me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed he the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting, and to everlasting.
Amen, and Amen.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The last
verse does not belong to this Psalm, but forms
the doxology which concludes the entire first
book, comp. Introduct. Twelve verses remain,
three of which form the introduction, three the
conclusion, and between them the substance of
the Psalm is contained in twice as many verses.
The substance of this Psalm consists of a de-
tcripiion how the Psalmist prayed for Divine
grace and help in his suflferings, which he re-
garded as a punishment for his sins (ver, 4),
whilst his enemies reckoned upon his death
(ver. 6), and false friends, in visiting him, abused
the opportunity in gathering and spreading
wicked, false and exaggerated accounts of his
hopeless and languishing condition (vers. 6-8). One
among them is conspicuous, who, as a previous
friend and table- comp anion (ver. 9), deceived the
trust bestowed upon him in the grossest manner.
From this description a new and double petition
arises (ver. 10) for grace and for help, because
the Psalmist recognizes in the fact that his ene-
mies do not triumph, the favor (ver. 11) with
which God holds fast to his person in the integ-
rity of his heart, so that his person will remain
a continual mark for the eyes of His providence
(ver. 12). Whence the Psalmist has derived this
confidence of faith, which is finally expressed in
pruphetical perfects, is disclosed in the opening
strophe, in which the man is pronounced blessed,
who conducts himself properly towards the un-
fortunate (ver. 1), because God will act in the
same way towards him, as a recompense in his
time of trouble (vers. 2-3). Since there is ex-
pressly named here, protection against the rage
of enemies, and assistance upon the bed of sick-
ness; and the form of the prayer (ver. 2 c) is al-
ready broken through by the statement of the
prosperity of such a man, the particular groups
unite closely with one another, and serve mu-
tually to explain one another. Only we must
not suppose that it is a didactic Psalm, in which
there is first expressed a general clause of expe-
rience, and then an application of it to particu-
lar relations (Olsh.), or ip which David speaks
from the ideal person of the righteous and their
Buflfering3underthe7?^Mreof a sickness (Hengst.);
or that it is a Psalm of lamentation, which speaks
likewise figuratively of the sufferings of the bet-
ter part of the people under the wickedness of
domestic Enemies (De Wette); or that it is pro-
perly a Psalm of thanksgiving (Ewald), in which
all is to be l*eferred to a deliverance from a dan-
gerous sickness (Maurer, Hitzig) which has al-
ready transpired, and in which there is a report
respecting what then took place in a narrative
and commendatory form; but that it is & song
of faith, in which a man lying upon a painful and
dangerous bed of sickness, with open enemies
lurking about him, and vexed by false and trea-
cherous friends, prays and confesses himself a
guilty sinner before God ; but, since he stands in
an internal relation of sincere piety to God, he
feels that he is therein supported by God, and
with so much the greater confidence of being
heard, implores the grace and help of God, as
his own behaviour towards the suffering gives
him a claim for recompense on the part of God,
since, on the one side, men, his friends as well as
eaemies, treat him badly, and, on the other side,
. his relation to God and the good pleasure of God
in him could not be made known, should the hopes
of his adversaries be fulfilled. These are the
pure and genuine features of the heart, faith,
and life of David, yet not merely in the time of
the rebellion of Absalom and the treachery prac-
ticed by Ahithophel (Hofm. Weiss, und Erf. II.
122; Delitzsch). It is more in accordance with
the advanced age of David, 1 Kings i. 1-4, the
insurrection of Adonijah and the behaviour of
Joab (Bohl). Since now David's history has a
typical meaning-, we can thus understand the ex-
planation of Jesus, John xiii. 18, that the action
of Judas Iscariot was in fulfilment of Scripture,
under which circumstances ver. 9 of this Psalm
is cited (yet not after the Sept., and even with
an essential abbreviation of the Hebrew text), as
then, John xvii. 12; Acts i. 16, likewise presup-
pose in general that the act and fate of the
traitor were prophesied in the Old Testament
Scriptures. It is well, however, to limit the
typical meaning to this verse, or, at most, to the
description of this relation stated here (accord-
ing to the scantiness of the citation in John),
and not extend it to the whole Psalm (Calvin,
Stier), or, indeed, regard it as directly Messianic
(most of the older interpreters, particularly
Luther, more recently Bdhl). But this is incon-
sistent with the confession of personal sin (ver.
4) and with the reference to the fulfilment of
the recompense (ver. 10). For the reference is
not to the desire of revenge (Hupf.), but yet not to
the recompense with good and in love, as Christ
suffers and prays on account of the sins of others
(Cocc.), or in the sense in which Joseph acted
towards his brethren (Burk, v. Meyer, Stier),
but to that recompense to which David was obli-
278
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
gated as the lawful king. This is more in ac-
cordance with 1 Kings ii. 5sq. (Bohl), than with
his overcoming the rebellion of Absalom (De-
litzsch). We cannot refer to the recompensing of
Christ as the Judge of the world, because with the
Messianic interpretation all else is referred only
to the suffering Messiah in the slate of humi-
liation, which, when extended farther, must ex-
plain likewise the sickness, the bed, and the
rising of the recovered, with reference to the
death, the grave, and the resurrection, as indeed
some do with a false application of Typology.
Ver. ^is most decisive, as eveo Reinke admits.
For it is exegetically entirely inadaiissible to put
the last words in the mouth of the Messiah as the
r'epresentative of sinful humanity, as many do,
particularly after Theodoret, who explains the
historical reference to king David or Hezekiah
as rash and fool-hardy. This Psalm is related in
contents with Ps. xxviii., and as a Jehovah-psalm
belongs closely together with the Elohim-psalm
Iv. in like manner as Ps. xxxix. with Ps. Ixii.
The style is lively and expressive.
Sir. I. Ver. 1. Attentive to an afflicted
one. — This ia either observing the needy with
attention, in the sense of loving sympathy
(Sept., Aquila, Theod., the Rabbins, Cocc, J.
H. Mich., De Wette, etal.), as Neh. viii. 13 with
vN as here, with 7J7 Prov. xvi. 20, with / Prov.
xxi. 11, 12, with 2 Ps. ci. 2; Dan. ix. 13; or
as a wise man considering that which is appro-
priate (Symm., Luther, Calvin, Ruding., Venema,
Hengst. ); perhaps the two may be combined
(Geier, Slier). In connection with the Messianic
interpretation of ll (tenuis ; hence in a physi-
cal sense, lean, thin, in a civil sense, insignifi-
cant; as a general designation of the poor, Ex.
XXX. 15, of the sick and weak Gen. xli. 19;
2 Sam. iii. 1, of sick in mind, 2 Sam. xiii. 4),
reference is made to the believing consideration
of his suffering, especially of his life in the state
of humiliation, sometimes with the view of the
summons to follow Him. — Since DV is masculine,
nj^l DV2 can only mean; in the day of adver-
sity, (Symmach.), not in the evil day (Sept.).
Ver. 2. He shall be blessed.— ")^k; is to
be taken as an echo of '^t^X ver. 1, as Prov.
iii. 18; not declarative as Is. ix. 15; at any rate
not after another derivation Prov. ix. 6,=be
conducted in the right, straight way, that is, in
the way of salvation (J. H. Mich.). — [And do
not give him up. — A sudden transition from
the future to the optative (Hupfeld) in an ap-
peal to God in prayer. This is to be explained
Irom the personal interest of the poet in the per-
son of the h'3V;n (Riehm).— C. A. B.]
Ver. 3. Support him on the sick bed. —
This is not the supporting of the head, Song Sol.
ii. 6, in accordance with which ver. 8 b. is un-
derstood of changing the bed of the couch (Men-
dels.), but designates the contrast to the sinking
down in death and the turning of a couch of
sickness into one of health by virtue of his re-
covery.
[Sir. II. Ver. 4. I said— Perowne : "The
pronoun is emphatic and marks both the transi
tion from the previous eulogy of the compassion
ate man to the poet's personal feelings and
desires, and also the opposition to the 'enemies'
in the next verse." — Fori have sinned, elc. —
David constantly refers to sin as the inward
cause of his sufferings. Vid. Pss. xxxi. 10 ; xxxii.
6; xxxviii. 3, 4, 18; xl. 12. — These words pre-
vent an application of the whole Psalm to Christ,
Ver. 5. Speak evil for me — Hupfeld: "'S
with IDH elsewhere=^o me, as Ps. iii. 2; xi. 1,
might here — since we are . not to suppose an
address to him and a consequent change to the
third person as Ps. iii. 2, — simply mean about me,
of me (as Gen. xx. 13), as all interpreters admit:
but it is perhaps to be connected rather with
J.n : evil for me [dat incommodi), or with ' speak
^devise, wish me,' as ver. 7."
Ver. 6. And if he come to see me. — This
is not impersonal, but the Psalmist has a certain
individual in mind, probably Joab, who visited
him in his sickness, comp. 2 Sam. xiii. 5 sq.;
2 Kings viii. 29, gathered all the evil of his con-
dition and prospects, and went forth abroad and
published it to the conspirators.
Ver. 7. "Whisper together. — Comp. Ps. xii.
19. It refers here to deceitful plotting, conspi-
racy as Ps. ii. 2, and is parallel with devise evil.
— C. A. B.]
Ver. 8. Some frightful thing is poured
out upon him. — '^tl^~'^^'^ 's properly a word
or thing of worthlessness either in the moral
sense as Ps. ci. 3, comp. Deut. xv. 9, (the an-
cient versions and most ancient interpreters), or
in the physical sense (Aben Ezra, Kimchi and
most recent interpreters) as Ps. xviii. 4, of ruin-
ous fate, frightful evil, at times as the curse of
crime. The following expression is difficult.
The literal translation "is poured upon him. "
Ezek. xxiv. 3, seems to point to a kind of Divine,
irresistible influence. This would force us to
give up the reference to worthless disposition
and act; for tbat such a worthless nature is
poured upon him from on high, or that the devil
has inspired him to evil as the Spirit of God
elsewhere to good (comp. Is. xliv. 3), is itself in
the mouth of enemies a charge which could be
accepted only from convincing reasons. The
context is likewise against this explanation,
since the enemies can only have to do with the
consequences, the curse of transgression and not
with the source of it (Hupfeld). It is possible
to explain it thus: ruin is poured out over him,
namely, by the wrath of God (De Wette, Koster,
Olsh.) ; but the usage of the language does not
accord with it, still less does it accord with the
explanation that he is poured full of itr=:entirely
filled and pervaded by it (Rosenm., Gesenius).
It is best to think of something which was poured
upon him like metals on a mould holding him
fast so that he cannot escape (Job xli. 15). This
is not to be understood of a hateful designation
of the resolution of David to prefer the young
Solomon for his successor instead of the older
Adonijah (Bohl), nor the villany with which his
enemies designed to give the final blow to the
languishing man (Luther, Hengst.), but the
miserable condition itself, which they regard as
an evidence that he has been marked and judged
by God. The prayer, ver. 11, is the contrast to
this.
PSALM XLI.
279
Ver. 9. Even the man of my friendship,
etc. — We are here to notice the sacredness of the
rights of hospitality, the meaning of companion-
ship at the table and the friendship of the guest
among the ancients, especially in the Orient. It
was a particular honor to eat at the king's table
(2 Sam. ix. 10 sq.; 1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings
XXV. 29). There is no occasion to give up the
very natural historical references and explain
the expression typically of intimate intercourse
(De Wette) or indeed of maintenance (Hupf.)
and benefits in general. The conjecture of
Bottcher (iVeue exeffet. krit ^hrenlese iVr. 1102)
is more appropriate : that 3pJ^ (^heel) is here
a general, already exclusively figurative 3p^ =:
deceit, as the masculine of H^Pi^ 2 Kings x. 19.
IStr. III. Ver. 10. But Thou Jehovah-
cause me to arise. — The pronoun is emphatic
distinguishing Jehovah from the enemies and
false friends previously mentioned. He desires
that Jehovah will enable him to rise up from his
bed of sickness, and disappoint them of their
hopes.— And I "wrill requite them. — Words-
worth: "David as king of Israel, and God's vice-
gerent, was bound to execute judgment on the
wicked. This is the reason of his directions to
Solomon concerning Shimei and Joab."
Ver. 11. That mine enemy doth not
shout over me. — Barnes: "He felt assured
now that all the machinations of his foes would
be defeated; that all the hopes which they cher-
ished that he was soon to die would be disap-
pointed; that he himself would be recovered
from his sickness, contrary to their malicious
anticipations and desires. This he regarded as
an evidence that God was his friend."
Ver. 12. And hast placed me before Thy
face forever. — Alexander: "This seems here
to mean making one the object of attention,
keeping constantly in view. The reciprocal act
of man towards God is spoken of in Ps. ivi. 8. As
man sets God before him as an object of trust, so
God sets man before Him as an object of protec-
tion."—C. A. B.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Sympathetic, compassionate regard for the
situation, feelings and afflictions of a suffering
and troubled man, which at the same time ob-
serves the leadings of God, does not secure us
from personal injury, or protect us from rough
and unjust treatment on the part of hostile and
violent men, but it is well pleasing to God and
will not remain unrewarded on the part of God.
In this there is no more reference to external
reward than the merit of good works, but to the
blessed consequences corresponding with their
relationship to the Divine way of thinking and
acting. Accordingly the heart which has tender
feelings and is observant will be the quickest
to obtain the comfort of the nearness of God and
the helping strength of communion with God. But
those who do not renounce the image of God expe-
rience an especial gracious turning of QoA. towards
tbem. We may here recall the two promises
Matth. V. 1: Blessed are the merciful, for they
will obtain mercy, and Matth. xxv. 40: What
you have done unto one among the least of these
my brethren ye have done it unto me.
2, The experience of the gracious turning of
God's face towards us is accompanied even in
the most miserable situation with the assurance
of a change of fortune. Thus the severest cross
is rendered lighter and. the most bitter pain
sweetened. The sick man begins to hope for
recovery and the vexed man is filled with iresh
courage. The arrows of hate and wicked slan-
der lose their deadly bite, envy its poison, per-
secution its purpose. God changes the cross
and heals in body and soul those, who are re-
garded by the woi*ld as lost and feel themselves
stricken even unto death. But the necessary
condition of such a gracious change of a severe
lot in life into blessing and health is the
turning of the heart to the living God in penitence
and desire for salvation.
3. Even a sincerely pious man has to confess
h.\msQ\t guilty of many sins before God, and to
endure his sufferings, often very severe, as punish-
ments which are well deserved. But this gives
his enemies no right to suspect his piety, or doubt
his gracious state, or calumniate his name. It only
discloses their own wickedness and badness of
heart when they treat the man, whom God's hand
has stricken, as a wicked villain, appointed to
ruin, when they increase the sufferings of the af-
flicted by scorn, reproach and mortifications of all
kinds, and think to trample entirely in the dust
the man whom God has prostrated. And when
those who in prosperity acted as friends and sat
down with him at a well spread table, basely
turn away from him when fallen, and instead of
-the expected comfort, advice and assistance bring
new and shameful weapons of attack, then the suf-
ferings of the afflicted are greatly increased in the
experience of such treachery, but the sufferings like-
wise thereby approach their end, and from their
greatest intensity there is afforded a prospect of
a prosperous/M^wre of victorious recovery, just re-
compense and abiding health before God's/ace and
through God's grace. For although perfection is
not reached here below, and therefore the heart
of the pious man in times of suffering is pervaded
with a feeling of ill desert, yet the upright man
feels in the purity of his piety that even in the
time of trouble he is taken hold of and
supported by God, and is delivered from total
ruin by an indestructible bond of communion
with God, and is secure from entire destruc-
tion by being placed and established before God's
face.
4. There is a desire and hope of requital which
has nothing in common with a spirit of revenge,
but is an evidence that one knows himself to be
so closely united in person, cause and honor with
the revelation of the righteous government of God,
that every unrepented and unreconciled mortifi-
cation, violation, oppression of the former would
be likewise a clouding and restricting the latter.
There are, therefore, not only official relations,
but likewise positions in life, with respect to
which the personal inclination to pardon must
yield to the duty of judicial decision and action,
yes, in the desire for personal relief may be
changed into the execution of Divine judgments.
This likewise belongs to the history of the life of
the servant of God, and is not opposed to Ps. vii.
4; Prov. XX. 22. But every one, who traces the
inclination to such a desire in his heart should
280
THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
take care that he has the good pleasure of God,
and not merely desire to assert his position in
the world, but to strengthen his position before the
face of God. Such a position cannot be shaken
by anything that originates from the world, but
forms a bridge between time and eternity.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
We should not be vexed with human misery or
he provoked with human vileness, but should learn
from both, and overcome the one as well as the
other by the grace of God. — Many learn only on
the bed of sickness who their enemies are and who
are their friends, but they likewise learn only
then truly to know themselves and God. — There is
a severe struggle, when torment of body and ne-
cessity of soul are associated with the reproach of
enemits and the treachery of friends ; but the se-
verer the trial, the more brilliant the victory. —
Many have been left in the lurch by their own
strength and human faithfulness, but never yet has
the Lord forsaken those who trust in him with
sincerity of heart. — God does not leave good un-
rewarded or evil unpunished; but he uses for both
purposes human instruments. — To be raised from
oar prostrations is an evidence of the good pleasure
of God. — He who is not separated from God by
the cross, but driven to God, needs not to doubt of
his recovery, however severe the prostration may
be. — We may have a bad situation in the world
a.ud yet ti good place before God's face. — There
are many changes on earth, in good as well as in
evil, but only one sure place, namely before God's
face through the hand of God ; and this reaches
from time into eternity. — We can fulfil the pur-
pose of our life only when we in good as well as
in evil times hold on to God. — It is well for him
who not only ends his day's work and crowns
every labor with the praise of God, but likewise
glorifies his time of suffering and finishes his course
in life in this way. — He who would remain before
God's face eternally, must in time diligently pZace
himself before God's face, and be strengthened in
this place by the hand and grace of God.
Starke : Since believers have good will to-
wards all men, God causes them to experience
His gracious and good will towards them as a
reward, and prevents the will of theirenemies. —
The sick bed usually makes all refreshments and
cordials bitter ; well for those whose longing
hearts can find comfort and strength in Jesus. —
Our hurts are not incurable when we turn to
the true physician and pray: Lord, heal me !
— The race of Judas has not yet perished, his
kiss is daily renewed. Well then! we must be-
come accustomed to do good and receive evil for
it. — The wickedness of men should not weaken
our trust in Divine grace, but rather awaken it
the more. — God gives with the cross sure tokens
of His grace and good pleasure, He lets none
perish therein.
Selnekker: God preserves His children and
brings their enemies to shame. — Daudeestadt:
God is the best physician in all sicknesses. —
Pious men discern in all their sufferings a pun-
ishment of sin and seek therefore above all their
forgiveness. — Renschel: God does not promise
that we shall be entirely without the cross and
trouble, but he promises, that he will redeem us
from them. — Frisch: If your fellow-man fall
into sin and misfortune, do not rejoice on account
of this, do not press him closer to the earth ;
rather help him up again.— The poverty of
Christ regard as thy noblest riches, His shame
as thy highest honor, His cross and His death as
pure glory. — Arndt: Seek and hunt for mercy
and thou wilt find it; if thou sowest unmerciful-
ness thou wilt surely reap it. — Tholuck : Since
God's judgment of us is milder the stronger our
judgment of ourselves, the suflFering singer in-
troduces his prayer with a confession of his
guilt. — GuENTHER I Lord, Lord, we suflFer, teach
us Thy patience ; we are hated, pour Thy love
into our heart; we trust in Thee; let us not be
put to shame. — Taube : Communion with the
Lord does not exclude but includes the constant
confession of sin, — First the prayer for grace
then for help. — Thym : The disciple of the Lord
on his sick-bed. 1) He knows that God sends
the suflFerings for his good ; 2) therefore be feels
refreshed under his woe, 3) and waits patiently
for his everlasting deliverance.
[Matth. Henry: The good will of a God that
loves us is sufficient to secure us from the ill
will of all that hale us, men or devils. — The soul
shall by His grace be made to dwell at ease,
when the body lies in pain, — Sin is the sickness
of the soul ; pardoning mercy heals it, renewing
grace heals it ; and this spiritual healing we
should be more earnest for than for bodily health.
When we can discern the favor of God to us in
any mercy personal or public, that doubles it
and sweetens it. — SpTiRaEON: Much blessedness
they miss who stint their alms. The joy
of doing good, the sweet reaction of another's
happiness, the appr>)ving smile of heaven upon
the heart, if not upon the estate; all these the
niggardly soul knows nothing of. — Oh, it is
blessed fainting when one falls upon the Lord's
own bosom, and is upborne .thereby ! — No phy-
sician like the Lord, no tonic like His promise,
no wine* like His love. — Out of the sweetest
flowers chemists can distil poison, and from the
purest words and deeds malice can gather
groundwork for calumnious report. — To stand
before an earthly monarch is considered to be a
singular honor, but what must it be to be a per-
petual courtier in the palace of the King Eternal,
Immortal, Invisible ?— C. A. B.]
THE PSALTER.
SECOND BOOK.
PSALMS XLIL— LXXII.
PSALM XLII.
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.
1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God ?
3 My tears have been my meat day and night.
While they continually say unto me. Where is thy God ?
4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me:
For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
5 Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me ?
Hope thou in God : for I shall yet praise him
For the help of his countenance.
6 0 my God, my soul is cast down within me : therefore will I remember thee
From the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts :
All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
8 Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime.
And in the night his song shall be with me,
And my prayer unto the God of my life.
9 I will say unto God my rock. Why hast thou forgotten me ?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy ?
10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me :
While they say daily unto me. Where is thy God ?
11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God : for I shall yet praise him,
Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
PSALM XLIIL
Judge me, 0 God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation :
0 deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
For thou art the God of my strength : why dost thou cast me off?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
0 send out thy light and thy truth : let them lead me ;
Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
281
282
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
Then will I go unto the altar of God,
Unto God my exceeding joy :
Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope in God : for I shall yet praise him, .
Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — In regard to
the Title, see Introductioa, g 8, and § 2. The
division of the matter into two distinct Psalms
is very ancient, since we find it in all the ver-
Bious. But it does not follow from this that
such was their original relation, and that we
have here (Hengstenberg) a nearly connected
pair of Psalms. Not only are the contents,
the tone, the structure of the strophes, and
particular turns of expression similar in both,
but the progress of thought is such that the two
strophes of Ps. xlii, taken by themselves might
have been worked by P. Gerhardt into a regular
Church hymn; and yet they by no means have
such a complete rounding off, that Ps. xliii. can
certainly be regarded as simply a later addition
fCocceius, Rudinger, Venema), nor need we
(with Hofmann) insist upon its being wholly in-
dependent of the former. On the contrary we
find in Ps. xliii. the prayer which is necessary
to link together the complaint and the hopeful
submission of Ps. xlii ; and hence in a certain
relation it might be used independently as a
Church prayer on Judica Sunday.* But if it be
regarded as a third strophe organically connect-
ed with the two preceding ones, it explains the
very marked contrast of the second strophe.
Hence most modern interpreters favor the view
of their original unity, which is also supported
by many MSS. The subsequent separation of
the Psalms is by no means inconceivable (Heng-
sten.), though the occasion of it is unknown.
The third strophe, which has none of the local
references of the second, might very easily have
been used as an independent Church song
(Clauss). For the fundamental thought in it is
an eager desire to share in the services of the
Temple with the great annual assemblies of wor-
shippers,— a desire which was quickened by the
lively remembrance of former festivals, and
which was still more intensified by the sense of
present deprivation, and by a forced residence
in a strange country and amidst heathen ene-
mies. With this sentiment, the elegiac tone of
the Psarlra and its rythmic structure exactly
agree. Thus in the three closing groups we find
the most charming and touching thoughts united
in a manner corresponding to the threefold as-
pect in which the fundamental sentiment is pre-
sented. There is first the desire, then the
complaint, and finally the prayer with its so
strongly expressed confidence in God. Very
fiimilar to it is Ps. Ixxxiv. in which the Psalmist
prays for the Messiah. This may be accounted
for by the fact that here the poet expresses not
David's mind (Rosen., Hengsten., Tholuck), but
speaks in his own name. Perhaps he was with
* The Fifth Sunday in Lent.— [J. F.]
David during his exile to the region east of Jor-
dan, by reason of Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam.
xvii. 24) ; for it closely resembles the Davidic
Psalms of that period, (Del.) and in Ps. xlii. 7,
express mention is made of the Psalmist's resi-
dence in that country. We need not suppose
that this expressed longing for the temple came
from a priest (Paul, De Wette, Rosen., Maur) ;
nor from the people of Israel while in captivity
(the Rabbins, Koster) ; nor does the supposed
connection of Ps. xlii. 8, with Jonah ii. 4, and of
Ps. xlii. 9, with Sirach xviii. 4, oblige us to re-
fer it to a later age. These remarkable expres-
sions originated with the Psalm and illustrate
its thoroughly independent character. Nor is
there any historical ground obliging us to sup-
pose that they were uttered either by King
Jechoniah (Ewald) ; or by one of the nobles who
accompanied him to Babylon ; (Cleric) ; or by
Priests (Reuss) ; or by a Levite banished by
Athaliah (Vaihinger) ; or by the High-priest
Onias III. who in the second century before
Christ, after the conquest of Jerusalem by the
Egyptian general Skopas, is said to have been
carried by him as a hostage, to the sources of
the Jordan (Hitzig) ; or to AntiochusEpiphanes,
(Rud., Olshaus.). It is remarkable that the
name Jehovah is used xlii. 9, while in other
places Elohim is apparently employed for a special
purpose, as for example in xliii. 4, we have Elohim
Elohai instead of Jehovah Elohai. [Wokds-
woeth: "These two Psalms are used together
in the Hebrew Synagogues at the Great Festival
of Tabernacles, Ps. xliii. is appointed in the Gre-
gorian use for Good-Friday, and in the present
Latin Church for Easter eve." — J. F.]
Ver. 1. Pantetb. — The radical idea of
X^i! is to direct oneself, to turn, to incline.
(Hupfeld). [To ascend, i. e., the Arabic
t^
Tregelles. — J. F.] This inclination may be both
downwards and upwards; and hence its twofold
construction with 1^ and /N, the latter in Joel
i. 20. From this latter passage translated by
Sept. Vulg., Chald., "look up " Gesenius and
most of the moderns, after the Sept., Chald., Je-
rome, derive the sense of longing and desire.
The word, however, does not mean a simply
quiet longing and inward desire, but an audible
panting produced by the agony of thirst. The
rendering of it by the word "to cry" (Syr.,
Rabbins, Luth., Calvin, and most of the older
expositors) is, however, too strong. Its appli-
cation to the relation of the soul of man to God
xlii. 2, and to the beasts of the field, Joel i. 20, is
explained by the fact that the Living God is often
set forth as a spring of living water for the re-
freshment of the Miirsly, Ps. xxxvi. 10; Ixxxiv.
3; Jer. ii. 13; xvii. 13. — [Alexander: "The
PSALMS XLII. AND XLIII.
283
essential idea is that of intense desire and an over-
whelming sense of want." — J. F.] Names of ani-
mals are often used for either sex, or for both
Bfexes. Here the word for hart, must be taken in
a feminine sense [Germ, ffindin^, as it is an
image of the soul, the term for which in Hebrew
is feminine, and is associated with feminine pre-
dicates. The particle of comparison refers, as the
accent indicates, not to the whole sentence, but to
the principal word in it, fEwald, Gram., g 360),
hence the verb must be taKen as relative to it.
Ver 2 refers, as is obvious from Exod. xxxiii.
20, to the festive appearances of the people "be-
fore the Lord," Exod. xxiii. 17; xxxiv. 23, yet
not in the sense of beholding the face of the
Lord (Luther following some ancient expositors),
though we find here the accusative but with-
out the preposition which should stand before it.
In this place the accusative is local and not ob-
jective. Hence it is not to be supposed that the
reading HX^N designed by the Poet (Bottch.,
Olshaus.), was afterwards changed, by a sort of
religious fear into riN'lN, a reading which, by
the way, is found in some MSS. and is favored
by Dathe, Knapp, and others. The Septuagint
has the right reading, but it translates the former
line " my soul thirsteth for the living God " or
"after God the mighty the living," because when
Elohim and El come together, the latter word is
usually rendered fcr;j;wp(5f. [Alexander: "Of the
two divine names here used, one (Elohim) de-
scribes God as an object of religious worship, the
other (El) as a Being of infinite power." — J. F.J
Ver. 3. Tears become bread, not in the sense
of nourishment, precious as bread (Calvin) ; nor
of being a necessity like bread (De Wette) ; but
of a substitute for bread. Job iii. 24. Some
take the meaning here to be the same as in 1
Sam. i. 7, i. e., forgetting to take food through
sorrow (Hengst,, Schegg), but the phrase is sim-
ply a picture of one's daily life (Stier, Hupfeld,
Delitz.) as in Ps Ixxx. 6; oiii. 10, 1 Kings xxii.
29; la. XXX. 20. [Perowne: «' My tears have been
my daily portion." — J. F.]
Ver. 4. When I remember, (or think of).
Many refer this to the scorn of enemies, and regard
the statement as a hypothetical one, (Luther,
Stier, Ges., Ewald,) the pilgrimage or the "going
with the multitude " being the object of thought,
t. e., of desire and hope. (So most ancient trans-
lators, Luth., Flam., Geier, Cleric, Stier, Kos-
ter). The description of the pilgrimage presents
it, however, rather as an object of memory than
desire. (Hup., Del., Hitzig). The imperfect
form of the verb must not be taken in the sense
of an optative future (that I might go), but as a
preterite. [Barnes: "Though the future tense
is used as denoting what the state of his mind
would be, the immediate reference is to the
past." Perowne : " Let me remember, fain would
I remember." — J. F ] As he recalls those festive
processions in which he had taken part, and
contrasts them with his present condition, the
soul of the Psalmist melts within him, like water,
1 Sam. vii. 6; Job xxx. 16. He now pours out
his heart in tears (Lam. ii. 19,) as at other times
he has poured it out in lamentation and prayer,
1 Sam. i. 25 ; Ps. Ixii. 9 ; cii. 1 ; cxlii. 3. —
*' Multitude," lit. a mass of boughs, a thicket.
["The word !|D occurs no where else in Scrip-
ture."— J. F.] A similar figure is used in Is. x.
17, in reference to the Assyrian army. — "The
multitude that kept holy day," (2 Sam. vi. 19;
comp. Is. xxx. 29), is in apposition with the
personal sufifix of the verb, which in the Hithpael
signifies to go slowly. Is. xxxviii, 15. But as the
Hithpael can have no transitive meaning, this
suffix does not stand for an accusative of the ob-
ject, but must be taken in the sense of, "in
respect to it" (Hitzig). This suits very well the
place in the procession, which the Psalmist may
have held as a Levite. If, on the other hand,
it be taken as in apposition to the whole sen-
tence, (Hupfeld) the suffix is out of place.
Either this must be removed from the text as in
Isa. xxxviii. 15, (Cleric, Olsh.), or by a change
of the vowel points the verb must be put into the
Piel form (= that I might lead or guide them, as
Aquil., Ewald, Vaihinger, and others). [Barnes:
"This does not refer to what had been in the past,
but to what he confidently expected would be in
the future."— J. F.]
Ver. 5. In the soul's address to itself its unrest
is very strongly expressed, as in Ps. Iv. 18; Ixxvii.
4, by a word which elsewhere signifies to rave.
[Perowne: "The word is used elsewhere of the
raging and roaring of the sea. His soul is tossed
and agitated like an angry sea." — J. F.] The
expression, "for I shall yet praise Him," proba-
bly refers to such grateful praise as lives in one's
memory (Stier). God will do again, as He has
formerly done (Hupfeld). According to the com-
mon text the first strophe ends with the words
"the help of His countenance," and the follow-
ing one, omits the "and," beginning with the vo-
cative, "O my God." Most modern expositors,
like the Sept., Vulgate, Syriac, have so arranged
the conclusion that it is expressed in the re-
maining final words. The defence (by Hengst.,
Hofm.) of the textus receptus is weak. As a mat-
ter of course slight variations occur in this re-
frain as elsewhere, e.g., Ps. xlix. 13, 21 ; Ivi. 5, 11,
and in this very Psalm they are found in several
other single strophes; the phrase T\\}}W] VJ3
also gives a good sense, and frequently occurs,
e. g., Ps. xliv. 4; Lsa. Ixiv. 9. The only objection
is their position. For being dependent upon the
verb " praise," and placed parallel to the pre-
ceding " Him," i. e., God, if the connecting
"and" be omitted, there arises a hard construc-
tion which requires a mental repetition of the
verb, or the opposition is changed into a cold
substitution. But to assert that the vocative ad-
dress in the strophe " 0 ray God " is absolutely
indispensable (Hengst.), or that the poet should
commence his strophe as he closes it, because at
the end of the first one he must appeal to God as,
his God (Hofm.) is as gratuitous as it is untena-
ble. By changing the text in the way proposed,
we get not only a uniformity in the turn of the
verse, but a suitable sense in an unobjectionable
form, and a proper rhythmical cadence at the
close. — The " countenance " is neither a simple
nor a poetical designation of a person, but a cha-
racteristic manifestation of him in his moral and
intellectual relations. It is often used not only
in reference to God, Exod. xxxiii. 14, but also
to man, Isa. iii. 16. The plural "helps" ex-
284
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
presses not merely manifold manifestations' of
help, but also the essential idea, the very sub-
stance of help itself. Now while one may point
to Elohim as the substance and idea of that help,
which he should seek for and acknowledge, yet
in a prayer he would hardly stop to explain Elo-
him in this way, nor would he put on the same
level, and as the objects of his praise, the mani-
festations of Divine help and the person of God
Himself. [Alexandee: ^^Salvation, frequent or
complete deliverance. Sis face, his propitious
countenance or aspect, with allusion to the
benediction in Num. vi. 25, 26."— J. F.]
Ver. 6. My soul is cast dow^n •writhin me.
In this beginning of the second strophe, we have a
renewed account of the Psalmist's state of mind,
which shows that in spite of the self-admonition
and hope already expressed, his dejection and
unrest were not yet overcome ; the stream of
his comfortable thoughts and feelings, the result
of his hope in God, did not always flow onward
without obstruction, but had its ebb as well as
its flood-tide. But as before ver. 5 the mourner
recalled to mind with a mixture of sadness and
joy his former festive journeys to the temple, so
now again, though an exile in a heathen land,
and banished from the sanctuary, he maintains
communion with God. Calvin's explanation of
|3"7j^ in the sense of "therefore, because," in
•which he is followed by many commentators, is
ungrammatical, and makes the remembrance of
God the cause of the sadness of the poet, while
seemingly forsaken of the Lord. The text, on
the contrary, makes that mental depression
which arises out of liis own helplessness and his
conscious need of aid the cause of his remem-
brance of the living God. Comp. Jonah ii. 8.
The beginning and end of the line " me " and
"thee " are antithetic.
From the land of Jordan.— The locality
is indicated as Transjordanic (unclean, Josh,
xxii. 19 ; because heathen) by the phrase " and of
the Hermonites." Hermon was as characteristic a
feature of the Transjordanic region as Tabor was
of the Cisjordanic, Ps. Ixxxix. 13, i. e.,the land
of Canaan in the strict sense of the words, or the
land of Lebanon, Jos. xxii. 11 The plural Her
monim is not used in allusion to the two sum-
mits of Hermon,* because there is no reason why
we should limit the locality to the northern side
of the mountain, and the sources of the Jordan,
but it is employed here in a sense analogous to
that of Oiy^, Lev. xvii. 7 (rendered in E. V
devils) and Baalim, 1 Kings xviii. 18, either as
having a representative meaning, (Hengst.), or
as a plural of amplification (Diedrich), since
Hermon with its mighty cone far exceeds in
•height all the other peaks of the South-Eastern
portion of Anti-Lebanon. The precise residence
of the Psalmist is indicated by the words IHO
''^V'3, (lit,, hill of littleness) not the Zoar men-
tioned. Gen. xix. 20 (Yen.) but some mountain
whose name is now unknown. The phrase can-
not be taken as in apposition with Hermon, not
* P' The gigantic Jebelesh Sheikh, or Hermon, lay before us.
We had a view of two of its conspicuous sumniits on actount
of which it is probably spoken of in Scripture as the hill of
the Hermonites." Lands of the Bible, by Dr. J. Wilson,
IX. 161,— J. SA
only because the words are in the singular, but
because they could be applied to the lofty Her-
mon only in an ironical sense (Rosenm., Hengst.,
Hofm.), or as contrasting it contemptuously
(mountain of contempt, Hupfeld) with Zion, and
there is no evidence that the poet had any such
idea in his mind. Yet many have thought that
Zion, which while physically humble, in its moral
relations far surpassed all other mountains, is
meant. So Olshausen and Hitzig explain the
phrase, but each of them in a very different way.
For while the use of the preposition "jD, and its
connection with *^JT, very well agree with the
assumption that an Israelite exiled from Pales-
tine and the " little mountain " Zion (Olsh.),
should have remembered Jehovah, yet the de-
scription of Palestine as the land of Jordan and
the Hermonites is inadmissible. The translation
'•while I remember thee, 0 thou little hill"
(Mitzig) requires an arbitrary change in the text,
by striking out the preposition before "^Pl, and
giving to the word rendered " therefore " the
sense of " because." The choice of this phrase
as a name of Zion, according to this interpreta-
tion, must be for the purpose of presenting
strongly the contrast between Zion and Hermon,
wliich according to its Arabic etymology means
a lofty mountain. All the geographical and his-
torical relations of these two places are utterly
perverted, if we suppose that Hermonim (the
lofty mountain) is applied in a hyperbolic sense to
the hills on which Jerusalem stands, by some one
who had been banished or had fled to (Bottcher)
the low, ridgy region beyond Jordan, and who
there expresses his longing desire for the house
of God and his native hills, in the words " thefe-
fore I think of thee, from the land of Jordan, and
of the high mountain from the hill of little-
ness."
Ver. 7 Deep oalleth unto deep. — Dinn in
all other places denotes not a single billow, but
the confused noise of deep waters in motion. The
force of the phrase here, lies in this, that the
fact of one deep being heard by another is de-
pendent on, or is connected with, (according to
the sense assigned to ^) the great waterfalls
which God makes. The image, therefore, is not
that of waves rushing after each other in rapid
succession, but that of a man in an abyss of
water whose roaring joined with the voice of
unseen and unmeasured cataracts impresses hiia
with a sense of great and imminent danger. The
rush and roar at once excite and siupify him.
There is no proof in 2 Sara. v. 8, that by water-
falls is meant heavy showers of rain, such as
might remind one of the deluge (Vatab , Grot.,
Geier, Hengst.) That verse is very obscure and
variously explained, but the Hebrew word (there
rendered " gutter") which is found only in these
two passages, probably means a waterfall or cata-
ract (Ewald, Kiel). [Alexandek: "Thesenseof
waterfalls or cataracts, although supported by
ancient versions has no foundation in etymology
or usage." Barnes: "There are two forms in
which waterspouts occur in the East, One of
them is described by Dr. Thomson, The Land
and Book, I. 498. — The Arabs call it sale, we, a
waterspout or bursting of a cloud. In the neigh-
borhood of Hermon I have witnessed it repeat-
PSALMS XLII. AND XLIII.
286
edly, and was caught in one last year, which in
five minutes flooded the whole mountain side, and
carried off whatever the tumultuous torrents en-
countered, as they leaped madly down in noisy
cascades." — J. F.] We need not, however,
suppose that the waterfalls are those of the
main source of the Jordan near Paneas (Baugas)
on the south side of Hermon (Robinson, Bib." Re-
searches, III, 309), nor the cataracts of the Lake
Muzerib, which are from 60 to 80 feet high (Wet-
Qtelu in appendix to Delitzsch on Job, 624) and
are said to be the only ones in Syria. For the
design of the Psalmist is to give us not a geo-
graphic but a symbolical description of his si-
tuation, and of his feelings at the time.
Ver. 8. Yet the Lord Tj^ill command. —
Most expositors sihce Kimchi, tbink that in these
words, the Psalmist, as in ver. 5, recalls his ear-
lier gracious experiences, and contrasts them
with his present destitution, the painful sense of
which is expressed in his complaint, ver. 10.
But such a contrast of Then and Now, in this
connection, as Calvin, Isaaki, and others admit,
would have required, at least in ver. 9, the per-
fect. To take the imperfect of ver. 9 as the pre-
sent in ver.' 10, is wholly arbitrary, and there is
no need for it here, inasmuch as there is no evi-
dence of any antithesis. Again, neither the
connection nor the grammatical expression war-
rants the exposition of Delitzsch, that, a confi-
dently expected and not distant day of Divine
grace would be followed by a night of thanks-
giving, a night rendered so joyful with Psalms
and hymns of praise, that the exulting Psalmist
would be unable to sleep. " Day " and '* night "
are not to be taken here as symbols of times of
prosperity and of adversity, but as a poetical pa-
raphrase for that which is continuous, constant
(Hengst., Hupf.) The assignment of the gifts
of God's grace and the prayers and songs which
they call forth, to different times, has little
ground to stand on. The whole sentence is an
expression of the Psalmist's present state of
mind, which, as Hupfeld j ustly says, was a mixed
one. This view is preferable because schiroh de-
notes a song of which God is the author, (Heng.,
Hupf., Job XXXV. 19) rather than one of which
God is the object (Hitzig, Del.); and tefillah in
apposition with schir need not be taken in the
limited sense of a petition (Hengst.), nor in the
larger sense of a prayer and thanksgiving, since
in the verses that follow we have not the
prayer itself, (Vaihinger), but a specimen of
it (Hengst.) — a specimen proving that in the
midst of his troubles, and though God seemed
to have forsaken him, the pious singer had
received grace as a messenger from God, and
prayer as a gift of God, so that he knew how to
cleave to God as the God of his life, and to rest
upon Him with a firm faith, as upon a rock, while
amid the tossing and roaring waves. The Syriac
text and that of some other MSS. " to the living
God," is probably only a modification of ver. 3.
In some copies, v. 11 — perhaps as an explanatory
correction — begins with 3 Beth (Beth essential)
instead of 2 Caph. It is not said here that re-
proach should be added to oppression, but that
the one should in some way be an effect of the
Other. " Oppression " does not necessarily (Heng-
stenb.) mean "murder" (Symm., Aquil.); it is
to be taken in its original sense, as in the Arabic,
and in Pss. Ixii. 4; Ixix. 21; Isa. xlviii. 13;
Ezek. xxi. 27. [Alexandee: "The strong ex-
pression in the first clause, ver. 11, is intended
to denote excruciating pain." — J. F.]
Ps. XLIIL 2. Why hast thou forsaken
me. — The original here used is much stronger in
meaning than that in Ps. xlii. 10, expressing
much more than "forsaking" or "casting off."
Its primary meaning is "to stink," " to become
rancid," and it here conveys the idea of turning
away as from something loathsome. In the Ger-
man language there is no word exactly corres-
ponding to it, for veratossen and verschmdhen con-
vey a different idea, and do not suit the phrase
" God of my strength," which is parallel to the
earlier used phrase "God of my rock." — The
"deceitful man," or "man of deceit," must not be
tak€vn as an ideal person, but a^ an individualized
foe, probably with reference to some one specially
prominent enemy. Viewed in connection with
the previous verses, the locality indicates that
this opposer was a heathen. This heathenish
character, however, would be inferred neither
from the word ]U, nor from the adjective
TDn~K7, "ungodly," for the first word denotes a
mass of people, Isa. i. 4, and the adjective does not
of necessity deny their piety towards God, but
only their gracious, kind, and merciful conduct
towards men. — The light is that of Divine grace,
which illumines and cheers the night of misery,
Ps. xxxvi. 10; and it is sent with the Truth as a
pledge that the promises of the faithful God shall
be performed, Ps. Ivii. 4, and that the Lord's
people shall be at last brought to His own dwell-
ing-place, Exod. XV. 13. [Perowne: "Light and
Truth — instead of the more usual Loving-kind-
ness and Truth — these shall be to him, so he
hopes, as angels of God, who shall lead him by
the hand till they bring him to the holy moun-
tain. Possibly there may be an allusion to the
Urim and Thummim."- — J. F.J
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Living God alone can be the object of
desire of the human heart. This yearning after
the Living God comprehends the deepest aspira-
tions of the pious soul. During our life on
earth, this desire finds its satisfaction by means
of the acts of divine worship. If deprived of
these means of grace by any external force, this
spiritual longing only becomes the more intense,
and, in a way not to be mistaken, it will mani-
fest its liveliness, fervor, depth, and power.
Communion in the public worship of God is not
necessarily communion with God Himself, but it
is both an expression and sign of it, and a
means and help to it. It is the channel of the
brook, through which the water smoothly flows,
without the supply of which, the soul becomes
like a "land of drought," Ps. Ixii. 2; and, like
the beasts of the field under such circumstances,
it perishes of thirst, Joel i. 20.
2. Whenever the pious man finds himself in a
condition, in which he is hindered from going
to the house of God, which keeps him away
from the congregation of the Lord, and from
286
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
using the appointed means of grace, he feels
and recognizes not only the power of the ene-
mies, or of the outward misfortunes that have
occasioned this loss, but also the chastening
hand of God. His sorrows are intensified partly
by the unjustifiable scorn of his enemies, on
account of his having been deserted by God,
richly as he may have merited such dealing at
God's hands, and partly by the sad yet sweet
remembrance of the spiritual enjoyments of
other days in the house of the Lord and the
fellowship of His people.
3. The bread of tears, Ps. Ixxx. 6, though
very distasteful, is yet wholesome food, since it
awakens and maintains hunger and thirst for
the Living God, and the means of communion
with Him. But though the pious man, under
Buch circumstances, is, as it were, divided into
two parts, is driven now in this direction, now
in that by mixed jind even antagonistic feelings,
yet he finally struggles through and above all
the impulses of the flesh, subdues the unrest
and impatience of his soul, and learns to lean
upon and trust in God alone. The remedy for
weakness is hope in God ; and the ground of
hope is the assured faith of the Psalmist, that
God, who is still his God, will in due time re-
deem him, and give him cause for singing joyful
songs of deliverance. (Heng.)
4. Temptations caused by times of trouble,
and the growing insolence and number of ene-
mies are specially grievous, when old doubts and
anxious questions force themselves afresh upon
the soul, when the feeling that God has forsaken
us gains in strength, until it even reaches the
point of apprehending that we may be cast off.
But so long as the tempted man is able both to
weep and to pray, so long as he can interweave
his questionings and complaints with expressions
of faith in God's grace and truth, there is good
ground for confidence in his final deliverance
and salvation. Even in the midst of troubles,
the' believer lays hold of God's grace, as a Light,
pent by Him as a testimony of His mercy, to
confirm His faithfulness and truth, and tp be a
guide to those who seek Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The soul's longing for its home. — a. How it is
awakened, b. Whither it is directed, c. By
what it is quieted. — The bread of tears is bitter,
but is ofteu wholesome. — Happy the man who
feels himself to be a stranger only in the world,
but not in the house of God. — God never leaves
those who sigh for Him without comfort, nor
those who seek Him without guidance. — He alone
who has first conversed earnestly with God, can
speak comfortably to his own soul. — So great is
the blessing connected with the service of God,
that the mere memory of it can keep a tempted
eoul from despair. — The ordinances of divine
worship are the open channels, the ordained
methods, the appointed ways through which God
in his mercy sends to us needy ones the water
of life, the light of truth, the power of grace. —
Suffering is painful ; scorn is still more so ; but
most of all is guilt. — While each day has its
prayer, and each night its song, the sources of
divine help and comfort are open to the bouL —
In a time of sorrow, he who begins with prayer,
and continues to exhort his soul to be patient
and trust in God, may confidently hope that he
will end with a hymn of praise. — We may enjoy
communion with God even when exiled from the
house of God; but there is an essential differ-
ence between voluntary and compulsory exile. —
The good man may fall into trouble, but he is
not, disheartened ; he may come out of one tri-
bulation only to go into another, but he is never
destroyed. — The true longing of the soul is for
communion with God Himself; but whoever de-
sires to feel it, must not despise the means of
grace in the ways of divine worship. — There is
such a thing as yearning for the house, the word,
the face of God. — Faith has a struggle with
temptation in times of trouble, and with the
weakness of the flesh.
Luther: Where God's word is, there is God'a
house; and His countenance is His presence,
where He manifests Himself, and through His
word reveals His grace.
Calvin : David presents himself to us here
as if he had been divided into two parts. So
far as he by faith rests on the promises of God,
he is armed with a spirit of invincible courage,
rises superior to fleshly feelings, and, at the
same time, chides himself fou his weakness.
Without the grace of God, we can never over-
come those evil thoughts, which are constantly
rising within us.
Starke : Earthly things can never satisfy the
soul, since they are transient and liable to
change. The soul of man is immortal, and there-
fore needs an immortal source of consolation,
— one that has in itself eternal life. — We now
see the face of God in His word and sacraments,
but as the soul is created for eternity, it is
ever longing to behold the Lord face to face.
The highest enjoyment is to feel that God is our
God ; and never is the soul so sorely troubled
as when, instead of being certain of this, it
imagines the contrary. — Sometimes the more
lonesome a man is, the more trustingly he can
tell God of his needs, and the Heavenly Father,
who sees in secret, will hear and answer his
complaint. — Even in our greatest temptations,
nothing is better than prayer and confidence
in God. — When God sends a cross, it is always
in such a way that we should thank Him for
it, as a costly and wholesome medicine. — In
our greatest tribulations, if we have faith, we
shall also have hope and patience. — When God's
waves break upon us, it is not to destroy but
to do us good; they are under His control, and
by a word He can assuage and still them. — Let
us not be tender saints, but let us learn how to
bear the cross. — When things go well with thee,
gather up a treasure of divine promises, they
will be useful to thee in times of trouble. — If
thou neglectest to do so, how wilt thou sustain
thyself? — A believer ia not so much troubled by
a personal injury as by dishonor done to the
name of God, — he will willingly suffer any thing,
even death itself, if only God is thereby praised.
How easy is it for God to change complaint into
joy, and the song of sadness into the hymn of
praise.— We can have no better guide than God
and His word ; but under whose conduct art
thou? O soul! — What greater blessedness can
PSALMS XLII. AND XLIII.
287
one have than to be able to call God his delight
and joy? — The calmness which God imparts is
the true Christian's greatest treasure. — From
God's gracious countenance comes the fulness
of the believer's help and comfort, and for it he
is ever and most heartily thankful. — Our hearts
are full of darkness; — if we would have them full
of light, the bright morning star must shine
into them. — Osiander: If justice is denied us
here on earth, we must commit our cause to
God. — To know God as onr gracious God is a
real and perpetual joy. — Selnekker: When
there is no cross one becomes more easily secure,
as well as lazy and negligent in prayer, and then
the displeasure of God is near at hand. — He who
trusts in God endures ; he who does not falls
and perishes. — Franke: We must carefully note
the necessity of a genuine penitential struggle,
and observe how it has fared with other chil-
dren of God in this respect. — The moment one
becomes a follower of Christ, he is liable to have
a cross laid upon him. — Arndt: He whose
strength is in God will not be utterly cast down,
nor will he always go sorrowfully. — Frisch : It
is a peculiar trait of God's children that they
rejoice in the exercises of His true worship, and
nothing pains them more than the being pre-
vented in joining in them. — The remembrance
of God is the best medicine for our sadness. —
Listen to the voice of thy God, so that thy heart
may by faith share in the joy and consolation
which He gives in His word; but do thou also
open thy mouth in praise of God, and laud Him
with thy tongue, which He has given thee in
order that thou mayest proclaim his glory in
time and in eternity. — Oetinger: The Christian
overtaken by sorrow and oppressed by enemies
prays to God to undertake his cause, and to
open the way for his return to the assembly of
the saints; he will guard against sorrow, but if
it comes upon him in a new form, he will turn
afresh to God and get strength from Him. — Roos*
How shall we get out of sorrow and unrest?
By waiting, in confidence, for God. What we
have not, we must hope for ; what is not now,
we must expect, relying upon God's goodness,
faithfulness, omnipotence, and the truth of those
promises, which are yea and amen in Christ
Jesus. — Whenever David approached the altar
of God, he went to God his delight and joy. —
God Himself did not call the Temple precisely a
house of sacrifice, but the house of prayer for
all nations. Is. Ivi, 7 ; Luke xix. 46 — Rieger •
As faith grows in power we learn to apply to
God the most tender names ; as we get nearer
and nearer beneath His wings we find a retreat
and refuge in His house, at His altar, in Himself
— As the light of His face illumines our dark-
ness, it also diflFuses the light of peace and joy
over our countenanoe. — Rbnschel: We should
take comfort from certain pasisages of Scripture
when we find that the holiest people have been
led into the same school. — Burk : Exspecta Deum ;
erit guum confitebor ei; trit Deus meua. (Wait for
God ; He will be when I confess to Him, my God).
— Gunther: When do men think least of their
God ? When they are in misery ? or in the days
of prosperity? — Tholuck: Wiien the heart is
sad, even the fairest scenes of nature assume a
sombre garment. He whose past life has been
eventful stands upon an eminence from whence
he can cast joyful looks into the future —
Umbreit: There is a melancholy joy in the
remembrance of a devout and blessed life at
home — Most torilliantly does the light of God's
help shine in the faithfulness with which He
always attends the pious. — Schaubach: (15th
Sunday after Trinity). No man can serve two
masters. But the distinctive feature of our time
is not unqualified devotion to the kingdom of
God, but rather indecision and lukewarmness. —
The sharpest sting of pain in all personal trials,
is the scornful question, *' Where is now thy
God ?" — Diedrich: If I can only see God beside
me, one look to Him consoles me for a whole
world of suffering. — Even to the timid God makes
eternal salvation certain when they look to Him
with tearful eyes. — Taube: The soul of a child
of God, that in the depth of want and temptation
thirsts for and cries to God, through victorious
faith comes before God and finds its rest in God.
— Soul-thirst, soul-need, soul-struggles.— Against
men of deceit and injustice, you can do nothing
but complain to God and leave the case with
Him. — Deichert : If Ood be for us, who can be
against us ? — Schaubach : (Judica Sunday) God
has judged and conducted the cause of His Son
against the unholy people.
[Henry : 1. Those that come to the taberna-
cles, should come to the altar ; those who come
to ordinances, should qualify themselves to come,
and then come to special ordinances, to those
that are most affecting and most binding. 2
Those that come to the altar of God, must see
to it that therein they come unto God, and draw
near to Him with the heart. 3. Those that
come unto God, must come to Him as their
exceeding joy, not only as their future bliss,
but their present joy. When we come to God
as our'exceeding joy, our comforts in Him must
be the matter of our praises in Him as God and
our God. — Robertson: The Living God. What
we want is not infinitude, but a boundless One ;
not to feel that love is the law of this universe,
but to feel One whose name is Love. — It is a
dark moment when the sense of that person-
ality is lost; more terrible than the doubt of
immortality. — No thought is more hideous than
that of an eternity without Him. — Distinguish
between the feelings of faith that Go:: i^ present,
and the hope of faith that He will be. — What
God is in Himself, not what we may chance to
feel Him in this or that moment to be, that is
our hope. — Barnes: He who has an eternity
of blessedness before him, — who is to commence
a career of glory which is never to terminate
and never to change, should not be cast down-
should not be overwhelmed with sorrow. — J. F.]
288 THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XLIV.
7b the chief Musician for the sons of Korahf Masehil.
1 We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them",
How thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword.
Neither did their own arm save them :
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy conntenance,
Because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God :
Command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies :
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow.
Neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies,
And hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long,
And praise thy name forever. Selah.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame ;
And goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy :
And they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat ;
And hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought.
And dost not increase thy wealth by their price,
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to them that are round about U3.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen,
A shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion ia continually before me.
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth;
By reason of the en«my and avenger.
17 All this is come upon us ; yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way ;
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a strange god ;
21 Shall not God search this out ?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long ;
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
PSALM XLIV.
289
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord ?
Arise, cast its not off forever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust :
Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help.
And redeem us for thy mercies' sake.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The title is the
same as that of Ps. xlii. The hosts of Israel
have been worsted in battle by hostile neighbors.
The whole nation has been thereby not only in-
volved in great misery and oppression, but is in
danger of losing its nationality by being carried
away and dispersed among other people. Under
this great calamity there comes into the con-
sciousness of the nation a very sharp contrast,
which also finds expression in the song. God
had helped their fathers in the conquest of the
land. The story had come down to the present
generation, vers. 2-4, and had awakened and
maintained in it, the faith that the same God as
the Kinff of his people, would and must give the vic-
tory over its oppressors, for his own praise in the
future as well as in view of former glories, vers.
5-8. These records of the past, and the hopes of
faith founded on them, stand in strong contrast
with the overwhelming defeat which God's chosen
race had experienced. It seemed as if God had
forsaken their armies, and deeming them of no
account had given up His people to the assaults
and the scorn of their enemies, leading them to
fear that they might perish in shame and con-
tempt, ver. 10. This contrast is strengthened by
the fact that the people can appeal to the om-
niscient God, vers. 21, 22, as a witness to their
earnest and sincere faithfulness to the covenant,
vers. 18-20. The way is thus opened for the
explanation of this contrast. The present op-
pression of God's people grows out of their
historico-religious character, ver. 23. During all
past ages, they have experienced just such
treatment at the hands of a world estranged
from God ; and hence Paul (Rom. viii. 36) finds
in the suflferings of the church of Jesus Christ an
exact historical verification of this Psalm, v. 23.
The destruction of God's people may at times
seem imminent, but that danger will disappear
when by earnest prayer they seek the efiFectual
interference of God, relying not upon their own
merits, but in the simple consciousness of their
ueed of His help and grace, — that grace which
is the source of their covenant relation as their
God and His people, vers. 24-27. This exposi-
tion renders it unnecessary for us to refute those
who find here a superficial sense of sin and
consciousness of guilt, at the same time it ex-
plains how this Psalm has been thought (Calvin)
to have a prophetic reference to the times of the
Maccabees. The explanation which supposes
an historical reference to those times (Ven.,
Rosen., Olsh., Hitzig), is opposed by the history
of the canon, and is objectionable on other
grounds. The Psalm speaks of the i^hole nation
19
and not merely of the pious part of it. Then, too,
it appears from 1 Maccab. i. 11, 2 Maccab. iv. 7,
that, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, ther«i
was a large and organized body of apostates op-
posed to the party of the Chasedim (the Pious);
and, again, while the Maccabees were victorious
in all their battles, with the single exception
mentioned in 1 Maccab. v. 65, when their defeat
was perhaps a punishment upon them for enga-
ging in an imprudent enterprise, no armies were
at that period sent out by the Jews. The solemn
assertion of the people's covenant faithfulness
is quite inexplicable, if we refer the Psalm
to the time of the Babylonian captivity (Cler.
Koster), or to the last days of the Persian
dynasty (Ewald), or to the Removal under
Jehoiachin (Tholuck), or to the events which
preceded the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Chaldeans (Baur). To the assertion of Hup-
feld, that the language and form of the Psalm
show that it belongs to a late age, we may reply
that conclusions founded on such grounds are
very uncertain, and that the remark does not
in the least apply to the expressions of prayer
here used. (Compare Ps. iii. 8 ; vii. 7 ; xxxv.
23; lix. 6); which are very similar to those
found in Psalms xlii. xliii. Ixxx. Ixxxv. Ixxxix.
while the whole Psalm closely resembles Psalm
Ix. The older view maintained by Heng. Del.
is preferable. This refers the Psalm to the same
period as that of Psalm Ix. — the period of
the Syro-Ammonite war, in which the Edomites
took part (2 Sam. viii. 13). The latter carried
on a commercial intercourse with the captured
Israelites (Amos i. 6), but were afterwards
terribly punished for it by Joab, 1 Kings xi. 15.
Ver. 1. We have heard with our
ears. — This expression does not exclude the ex-
istence of written documents; it only brings out
more strongly the contrast between those events
of the past, in which they had a personal interest,
but of which they had simply heard, and those
which they had themselves witnessed. Every
Israelite was bound to repeat the story of the
Lord's marvellous works, Exod. x. 2; xii. 26;
xiii. 8, 14; Deut. vi. 20; Jud. vi. 13; compare
Ps. xxii. 31; Ixxviii. 3. — The phrase "done a
deed " is not a collective one, but refers specially
to God's work, as appears from verse 3, and in
Ps. xc. 16. The emphasis of God's " hand," as
the second subject besides "Thou," (Is. xlv. 12)
refers the work to God not only in a general
way, but makes it appear as the immediate pro-
duct of His activity, and of His personally or-
dering the events of history, Ps. Ixxiv. 11 ;
Ixxxix. 14 ; Is. li. 9. — The grant of fixed abodes,
figuratively set forth as a planting (Exod. xv.
17; 2 Sara, vii, 10; Ps. Ixxx. 9) is carefully
contrasted with the uprooting (Amos ix. 15 j
290
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
Jer. i. 10; xxiv. 6); the enlargement of the
people is represented as a sending forth of roots
and branches, Ps. Ixxx. 12; Jer. xvii. 8; Ezech.
xvii. 6. — la German we cannot translate O by
the same word, in each of the three places in
which it occurs in verse 3. — [Barnes : '■'■Afflict the
■people; i. e., the people of the land of Canaan;
the nations that dwelt there. The word means
to bring evil or calamity upon any one." — Pk-
rowne: ''Give them the victory." Such seems
here, and generally in this Paalm, to be the force
of the word usually rendered " save," " help ;"
not very unlike is the use of acjTTjpia sometimes
in the New Testament."— J. F.]
Ver. 4. Thou art He (or even Thou Thy-
self art), my King. The word N^H is not here
as in Ps. cii. 28, the predicate=thou art the same
(Luther), but strengthens the subject, as in Is.
xliii. 25; Jer. xlix. 12; Neh. ix. 6; Ezra v. 11.
It is not accurately rendered by the German
"selbst," but contains an explicit reference to
what has just been said. The transition to the
present, coupled with confession and prayer, and
likewise the change of person and tense, vers.
6-9, show that these verses do not refer to the
past (Rosen.), but express i\iQ preserit confidence
of faith, which lives in the midst and in spile of
all oppression. The imperfect tense is used to
Bet forth this confidence, while the displays of
divine help on which it is founded are expressed
by the perfect tense, ver. 8. This change of the
perfect and imperfect distinguishes that which
has been hitherto done day by day, from that
which has been promised for all future time (J.
H. Mich). [Alexander: "The form of expres-
sion in the first clause is highly idiomatic, and
somewhat obscure ; it may mean 'thou who hast
done all this art still my King ;' or, ' thou art He
who is my King.' — The personal name of the pa-
triarch (Jacob) is poetically substituted for his
ofl&cial title, as the father of the chosen people."
Perowne : "My King apparently with a personal
application to himself, the Poet individually claim-
ing his own place in the covenant between God
and His people. The singular fluctuates wi(h
the plural in the Psalms, see verses 6, 15." — J. F.]
Ver. 12. For nought ("without riches").
This expression may also mean " gratuitously."
(Hupfeld). But there is nothing to indicate a
contrast between the dealings of men in their
worldly concerns, for the sake of gain or some
external advantage, and the designs of Divine
Providence, which have higher pedagogical rea-
sons, and the Redemption which is effected with-
out money and without price. (Is. xliii. 13; lii,
3; Jer. xv. 4). Strictly speaking, the figure
here used has the sense of " for nought," and
conveys the idea of unworthiness and insignifi-
cance. Besides, the whole passage must be taken
figuratively, and can have no reference, histori-
cally, to the supposed fact that the multitude of
captives was so great as to lower the price of
slaves. Hupfeld defends the more ancient
(^Chald., Theod., Kim.) translation of the follow-
ing line, "thou didst not increase {viz., thy
wealth) by their purchase money." Prov. xxii.
16, is not a parallel example, because the defini-
tive words "for thee" are wanting ; and the
sense of "to gain by usury," derived from the
Aramaic, goes far beyond the meaning of the
phrase "thou hast gained nothing." Most
modern expositors, therefore, take the verb "to
increase " in an absolute sense, and the prepo-
sition 3 as specifying its extent. [Alexander;
"They seemed to be gratuitously given up, i. e.,
without necessity or profit." — Perowne: "For
nought, i. e., for that which is the very opposite
of riches, a mere nothing." — J. F.]
Ver. 19. The place of (dragons) jackals
denotes a desert region in general (Is. xxxiv. 13;
Jer. ix. 10 ; x. 22 ; xlix. 38 ; li. 37). It does not
refer specially to the district of Jamnia, on the
border of Philistia and Dan, where Samson found
three hundred foxes (Jud. xv. 4), and where the
unfortunate battle mentioned in 1 Mac. v. 56, was
fought, a locality in which Hasselquist, Seetzen,
and other travellers tell us that these animals
are found in great numbers (Hitzig). The older
translation " dragons " originated in the sup-
position that O'^B is a contraction for CD"'J''3A
through a misapprehension of Ezek. xxix. 3.
The original meaning of the word is 'howling,"
This cry of the animal of the desert, more mi-
nutely described in Lamentations iv. 3 ; Is. xii.
22 ; XXXV. 7 ; xliii. 20, is compared to the sounds
of wailings uttered by human beings, Job xxx.
29; Mic. i. 8.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The living announcement of the help and
deliverance which God has vouchsafed to our
fathers in past ages is a means of confirming
our faith in His constant providential care under
present tribulations. It quickens the hope that
He will speedily interfere on our behalf, and
stimulates prayer for His instant aid under the
pressing necessities of the present, and in the
prospect of threatening dangers. Comp. Hab.
iii. 2, and 2 Chron. xx. 7.
2. In the narratives of events of past ages it
is necessary both for the proper study of his-
tory, and the edification of contemporaries that
attention be specially fixed on those events which
most plainly exhibit a personal Providence. In
tracing these events the thoughts should be turned
away from all human activity, wisdom, and
might; from all temporal and earthly instru-
mentalities; they should be fixed on the Divine
power as their only and eternal cause. The free
grace of God, and the good pleasure of His love,
should be viewed as the final and decisive
ground of these divine acts.
3. A people which, by faith, renews the con-
fession of God as its King, gains thereby a firm
foundation for its historical position in the
world; it becomes confident that the same God,
to whom, as it gratefully remembers, it owes its
origin as a people, will preserve it and deliver
it from dangers which may threaten its desola-
tion and destruction. All that is needful to
beget this hope is the consideration of the royal
sovereignty of Almighty God.
4. The religious means of obtaining such a
display of divine sovereignty, in any given case,
is Prayer, which appeals not to human worthi-
ness, but to the needs which men so plainly and
frequently experience. Hence, Prayer addressea
not the justice but the grace of God, — that grace
which has been already manifested in establish-
PSALM XLIV.
291
ing the covenant relation, though it may plead
this relation, and beg for its preservation.
6. In this appeal there is no affirmation of
innocence ; no assertion that the moral and
religious condition of the people is in accordance
with all the demands of the covenant law, for
this would be both foolish and untrue. It simply
declares the attachment of the people to their
covenant God, and that they have preserved the
historico-religious position which He has gra-
ciously granted to them. While many indivi-
duals may have proved faithless, the people, as
such, have maintained their allegiance to God as
their God. On this ground alone, they ask and
expect from their heavenly King deliverance
from the worst possible afflictions.
6. In such a case, there is a diflFerence to be
made between merited and unmerited sufferings,
and while the latter are not to be viewed as
judgments, nor as strokes of fate, they should be
patiently endured for God's sake. There is thus
a progress in religious knowledge and historico-
religious experience, even though it is fully
comprehended, that for God's people, as well as
the servant of Jehovah, these sufferings are ne-
cessary in carrying out God's plan of salvation,
and that they are as essentially connected with
their theocratic destination or mission as they
are inseparable from their divine election and call.
7. The endurance of such afflictions implies,
on the part of the sufferer, no such feelings as
would lead him to complain of God, or to glorify
himself. His appeal to God will never take the
form of an accusation, but of a prayer, and a
vow of thanksgiving for that gracious help of
the Almighty which is indispensable. Hence,
if in his lamentation the question is asked "why
sleepest Thou, 0 Lord?" and his prayer sounds
like a cry to awake, he can use the language of
John Hyrcanus (Sota48, according to Del.) who,
in the time of the Maccabees, quieted the anxie-
ties of the Levites, who came daily to him with
ttiis same question, by saying, " Does the God-
head sleep ?'• — Have not the Scriptures declared :
*' Behold, he who keeps Israel slumbereth not?"
It was only in a time when Israel was in trouble,
and the people of the world in the enjoyment of
rest and prosperity, that the words were used,
"Awake, why sleepest Thou, 0 Lord?" In
these, and similar figurative expressions, the
prominent idea is, that these sufferings are not
to be regarded as evils, positively inflicted by
God, but rather as permitted by Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The best histories are those which rehearse
the doings of God. The benefits resulting from
the study of them are : 1. It helps us to under-
stand God's providential government on earth.
2. It awakens gratitude for His favors 3. It
stimulates confidence in God's gracious help.
God is our King! (1) Whence do we know this?
(2) In what does He help us? (3) How do we
testify this ? — As long as we are in covenant
with God, the most powerful foes cannot destroy
us. What follows from this in regard to our
conduct and duty ? — God is not only the migh-
tiest, but the surest, yea the only reliable ally.
—As we are indebted to God for all good things
so we must ask Him for all needful things.—
Nothing without faith, but every thing through
gracp. — If we know the name of God, we will
properly use it for His honor, for our salvation,
and for the good of others. — He who belongs to
God's people, must be prepared to suffer for His
sake, and be careful that he brings no dishonor
upon His name. — He who really suffers for God's
sake will find that such suffering never separates
him from God. — The tribulations of the times
always bind the people of God more closely to
His name, hand and grace, as the light of His
countenance.
Stabke : It is the business of parents to im-
plant in the hearts of their children the know-
ledge and honor of God. — Children and young
people should lay to heart what they have heard
concerning the works of God, from their parents,
in order to confirm their faith and to improve
their lives. — The change of government in a land
should not be regarded as a mere accident, but
as an event with which the will and the hand of
God are concerned. — Although God employs in-
struments when He helps us, we should not as-
cribe to them the aid we get, nor give to Lhem
the honor and glory which are due to God
alone. — No enemy can gain any honor from a
conflict with the children of God ; all his malice
brings upon himself only shame and injiiry,
but glory and praise to the Lord. — It will soon
be manifest on what the heart of any man trusts,
for whatever it be he will constantly think and
speak of it. — Reason left to itself regards the
righteous judgments and the paternal chastise-
ments of God as very strange. — God has often
allowed Christians to be brought like lambs to
the slaughter, in order that by their death they
may praise Him, and become martyrs for Christ.
— Let temporal things take whatever turn God
pleases, if only the eternal inheritance is sure. —
To a suffering believer, the greatest stumbling-
block is God's patience and forbearance towards
the very worst of men. — The persecution of the
Church for her " good confession " is a sharp
trial of her faith, constancy, and patience. —
Contempt of the true worship of God will sooner
or later end in the adoration of an idol, either
in a grosser a refined way. — Sufferings however
intense involve no merit : we must look only to
the goodness and grace of God.— Bugenhagen :
The pious man does what God has command-
ed, and waits for what God's will has deter-
mined respecting him. — Selnekker: The be-
liever undertakes nothing that is contrary to
God's word. He will never tempt God, but uses
such means as God has appointed. His trust is in
God alone, who can and will help him. — Osian-
der: Warlike preparation is not always the
cause of victory.— Frisch : He who would exer-
cise true faith, and by such faith would conquer,
must possess these three qualities, 1. He must
lay aside all trust in earthly power. 2. His
heart's entire trust must be in God. 3. His
heart must give all the glory to God.— Franke :
Christ's kingdom must ever manifest itself as a
kingdom of the Cross, becausg it is through suf-
fering that we enter into glory.— Berlin Bible :
The events that happened in the primitive
Church will be repeated in the Church of the
latter day, under the great Anti-Christ.— Ejb-
292
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
OEr: Oh! how mjsterious is God! Never ima-
giae that you can lead Him as you wish, even
by faith. In ways that to us seem circuitous
and contrary, He accomplishes His purposes.
What He Himself hath built up, He can break
down ; what He Himself hath planted, He can
root out again. Yet His kingdom loses nothing
thereby. What the Church of God may seem to
lose by oppression, is more than made up by the
victory of the righteous, by the approved piety
of those who hold fast their integrity, and their
salutary experience gained by suffering. Paul's
song of victory (Rom. viii. 38) " for I am per-
suaded " could be uttered only after the compo-
sition of such Psalms as the XLIVth, in which
the cross and the sufferings of the believer are
delineated. — Vaihinger. A look full of faith
towards the works of God in ages past ! — Tho-
LUCK : Israel celebrates in song only the works
of God. But the hymns of other nations relate
to the great deeds of their ancestors. — Guen-
thee: God's army has a war-song to strengthen
its hope, to describe its wants, and to cry migh-
tily for help. — Diedrich: In every new tribula-
tion God gives us to experience and acknowledge,
that if we are grounded upon His word, we can
only stand by His power. — Taubb: There are
instructions how the church of God should act,
when she has to bear the cross. Israel's strength
and salvation is also Israel's Psalm. The flesh
timid and faint-hearted, sees in times of affliction,
a sleeping God, yet the Keeper of Israel never
slumbers, — a repudiating God, and yet God does
not repudiate eternally, — a concealed God, and yet
He is always mindful of us, — '2k forgetful Qo^ and
yet a mother would sooner forget her child than
God His people. But He tarries that we may cry !
[Henry : The many operations of providence
are here spoken of as one work, for there is a
wonderful harmony and uniformity in all that
God does, and the many wheels make but one
wheel, many works make but one work. — He
that by His power and goodness planted a church
for Himself in the world, will certainly support it
by the same power and goodness, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it, — When the
heart turns back, the steps will soon decline. —
We may the better bear our troubles, how press-
ing soever, if in them we still hold fast our in-
tegrity. While our troubles do not drive us from
our duty to God, we should not suffer them to
drive us from our comfort in God, for He will not
leave us, if we do not leave Him. — Bp. Patrick:
Certainly we have deserved "all" these calami-
ties, though this comfort is still remaining, that
we are not so wicked as to be moved by all this
to desert Thee, and violate that covenant by which
we are engaged to worship Thee alone.
Scott : The formalist commonly escapes per-
secution by turning with the stream, and pur-
chasing security with sinful compliances, or open
apostacy ; but the true Church of God cannot be
prevailed on by menaces, sufferings, or promises
to forget God or deal falsely in His covenant. —
The Church of God is one incorporated body,
from the beginning to the end of the world; and
the benefits conferred on it in every age, will
be acknowledged with gratitude by believers
through all generations, and even to eternity. —
We have reason to be thankful, considering our
frailty, for exemption from the more violent spe-
cies of persecution ; but let us be careful that
prosperity and ease do not render us careless
and lukewarm. — J. F.J.
PSALM XLV.
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A song of lovet,
1 My heart is inditing a good matter:
I speak of the things which I have made touching the King :
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men :
Grace is poured into thy lips :
Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O moat Mighty,
With thy glory and thy majesty.
4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously,
Because of truth and meekness and righteousness :
And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
5 Thine arrows are sharp
In the heart of the King's enemies ;
Whereby the people fall under thee.
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever :
The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
PSALM XLV.
293
7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness :
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia,
Out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
9 Kings' daughters were among thy honorable women :
Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ;
Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house ;
11 So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty :
For he is thy Lord ; and worship thou him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift ;
Even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour.
13 The King's daughter is all glorious within :
Her clothing -is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework:
The virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
15 "With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought :
They shall enter into the King's palace.
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
Whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations :
Therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. In regard to
the Title, see Introductioa § 12, 13 ; § 8, 3; g 2.
After a preface vs. 2, 3 ia which are expressed
both the elevated feelings of the poet, and the
dedication to the king, of his song, so remarka-
ble for its contents and structure, he begins, in
a direct address to him, the praises of the king,
his beauty, his grace, and the permanent bless-
ing of God resulting therefrom. He then (vers.
4-6) calls upon Him to arise in his royal majesty
and might, which in the struggle for truth and
righteousness, must ever be victorious. This
promise of victory, in which the call to contest
is implied, is in (vera. 7, 8), connected with the
theocratic position of the king, and in conse-
quence of this, there is vouchsafed to him a
divine blessing, a greater fulness of joy than
falls to the lot of other rulers. The description
of his royal possessions and joys, naturally comes
in here (vers. 9, 10), and prominent among these
is the Bride standing on his right hand. This
consort of the king (vers. 11-13), is exhorted, in
a paternal manner, to forget her home, to devote
herself to the king as her Spouse and Lord, and
to think of the advantages, she will thereby
secure. In the midst of the description that im-
mediately follows, of the queen as attended by
her maidens and introduced to the king, there is
a direct address to the king himself, and the
promise is given that he shall have worthy de-
scendants and everlasting glory (vers. 17, 18).
As in the preface, so in the song itself, the king
in his glory and happiness is the special object
of praise. But his relation to his consort intro-
duced to him as his Bride is not here treated as
simply one of the many happy circumstances of
his life, as if the Psalm was only an ode to the
king (De Wette) ; or as if it were merely a
eulogy of the royal glory of Solomon (Hofmann).
The references to a marriage come out, indeed,
very prominently, yet it would limit it too much
to regard it. as merely a bridal song (Most com-
ment, from Calvin to Hupfeld); yet the occasion
of the ode must have .been the nuptials of a king
(Heng., Hitzig). Neither the marriage of the
Syrian King Alexander to the daughter of the
Egyptian queen Cleopatra, in Ptolemais, record-
ed 1 Mac. X. 57, nor that of a Persian monarch
(Rosen., De Wette) can be the one alluded to on
account of the theocratic references in the
Psalm. For the same reason we should not — as
often happens in historical exposition — treat that
Messianic idea of it which prevailed both in the
Synagogue and in the Christian church, merely
as an allegorical paraphrase made by a later age, '
whereby a song originally belonging to profane
literature, obtained a place in the sacred canon,
and was used in congregational worship. Such
an allegorical paraphrase is necessary only
when this Messianic conception is a direct one,
(Chald., Kim,, Geier, and most older Commen-
tators, more recently Heng., and Bohl), — a para-
phrase which regards this Psalm as having
reference to the spiritual nuptials of the Messiah
with the Jewish people, and such Gentile nations
as were united with them. But this view of it
is self-contradictory, and is consistent neither
with the text nor with history (Kurtz). It,
however, makes little difference whether we re-
gard this poetico-prophetic description of the
Messianic condition of things under the figure
of nuptial relations, as an independent concep-
tion, or seek for its historic ground in the mar-
riage of some Israeli tish monarch. In either
case, the main point is this, that the Bride ia a
294
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
Gentile princess. But how could she, in the Old
Testament, represent God's people Israel ? And,
how could her maiden companions who are
brought with her before the king, symbolize
those Gentile nations that are united with Israel
and converted to the heavenly King, even if we
understand this introduction to the king as
meaning his marriage with all these virgins?
Or perhaps these metaphors may be a prediction
that the "fulness of the Gentiles shall enter the
kingdom of God." If so, there would be no
allusion to the full conversion of Israel, since
according to Rom. xi. 27, this is to follow the
conversion of the Gentiles. We must, therefore,
regard the covenant people among the queens
who are already in the king's palace, when she
who is to be the first consort makes her entrance.
Who then is meant by this Bride? And how
can we reconcile what is here said of her, with
other prophetic and historic accounts of Israel's
relation to Jehovah, and to the Gentile nations ?
The New Testament images of the marriage of
the King's son, and of the Lamb cast no light
upon this point; for this last named marriage
is the conclusion of the entire historical develop-
ment of the union thus symbolized, and which
reaches into eternity. But the text refers us to
a history which was still in progress. We may
add that a free use of the other parables and
symbols bearing upon this subject is equally in-
admissible. Such a use of them would be allowa-
ble if we occupied the standpoint of the completed
relation of the New Testament on this head,
because it refers not only to Jehovah's marriage
with His covenant people, but to Christ's rela-
tion to His Church which is composed of Gentiles
and Jews. In the Old Testament, however, the
future union of Jehovah with the Gentiles, and
the union of Messiah with them and with Israel,
is never set forth under the figure of a marriage
contract. And the New Testament when it em-
ploys this figure, never uses the expressions of
this Psalm. The Psalm is quoted in the New
Testament as a Messianic one, — a view of it
which the Sept. and Chald. show had long ob-
tained,— but it is quoted Heb. i. not in connec-
tion with any marriage of Messiah, but to
exhibit His theocratic position and purposes.
Now all this is overlooked by those who consider
this marriage of the King as a type of Christ's
union with His Church (Calvin, Clericus, Ven.
Stier, and in part Del.). . Most of these exposi-
tors pass from the typical to the directly Messi-
anic view, by assuming, that Messiah is spoken
o{ sub figura Salomonis. But we maintain that
this Psalm speaks of an actual historical event,
because it makes that event the occasion of its
praising the king, and because it purposely uses
expressions which show that he is not only a
member of the royal house of David, but that he
is also to carry out a definite Messianic predic-
tion, and to be the instrument of its historic
fulfilment. In this view of it we can understand
how this person would, in the history of Redemp-
tion, hold the place of a type for the later
Church, — a type having a prophetico-messianic
sense, which is really in the original text, and
which a proper translation would bring out (see
the" Exposition.) — Hence we cannot suppose
that the marriage of Ahab and Jezebel of Sidon
(Hitzig), northat of Joram the son of Jehosaphat
and Athalijah (Del.) was the historical origin of
this Psalm. The best view is that which con-
nects it with the marriage of Solomon, not to an
unknown Tyrian princess (Hupfeld), but to the
daughter of the king of Egypt, 1 Kings iii. 1 ;
ix. 24 (Calvin, Grotius, and most others). Since
the historical references in the Psalm ilself are
by no means decisive, as the exegesis will show,
the internal grounds appear to be all the more
weighty. These, however, do not oblige ua to
regard David as the author of the Psalm (Bb'hl),
who is supposed to have given it to the Korahites
for use in public worship. There is no ground
for referring it to the eai'ly days of Jeroboam
IL (Ewald).
Ver. 1. My heart is inditing. — The Heb.
word (IS'n"') occurs only here, and signifies to
"boil up or over." It denotes either the ebullition
of the full heart in a way analogous to the motion
of boiling water (Symm., Calvin, J. H. Mich., and
many others, on account of the noun, Ex. ii. 7;
vii. 9), or the outflow of speech like that of a
stream from a tountain, (Sept., Syr., Jerome).
The translation "to " instead of " of" seems to
point to the latter sense. In the Hebrew we
have the accusative, which in the latter case
must be taken as the productive accusative, while
in the former, in the way usual with redundant
verbs, Pss. cxix., cxxi. The "good word," (or
good matter) is so not simply in form, i. e., a fine
(speech, nor is it exactly a Messianic word. Is. Iii.
7; Jer. xxxiii. 14; Zech. i. 13, but one "most
excellent," both in structure and contents, con-
veying the idea of one who is congratulating an-
other, Jer. xxix. 10. — All the older translators
take the first and second verses as one sentence,
but the authors of the Heb. accents divide them
into two. The participle is placed first, because
the emphasis is on the "speaking;" but the
person speaking is also emphasized, because of
the sublime consciousness that his poem is in-
tended for a king. If we take l^^JL^n as a plu-
ral, denoting heart and tongue, "works" (Heng-
stenberg) are not to be included, as if the Psalm-
ist had vowed to devote all that he did to the
service of the king; nor are the later poems of
David so designated, — those which the aged king
connects with Solomon, and the Messiah as re-
presented by him, (Bohl) ; but they are rather to
be viewed as poetical productions of the speaker
(Del.), with no special reference in the thoughts
or the verses (De Wette). Still, as the song
in question is the Psalm before us, it seems to
be proper to adopt the singular form of the word
as in Job xxxv. 10; Numb. xx. 19, whether we
translate it "my doing," 1 Sam. xix. 4 (Hitzig^
or "my poem" (Hupfeld), like the Jlo'njiia of
Symm. We prefer the more general term
" work," thus also preserving the substantive
form of the word. The translation to " a king "
is in sense and structure more exactly according
to the text than the equally possible one of to
"the king." In the latter case the word with
the article may be treated like a proper name.
The version, "I speak (or sing) my song to the
king" (Hupf.), follows the older translations.
But there is no reason for connecting these words
with the previous line, " my heart boils over, I
PSALM XLV.
296
am speaking a good word" (Bottcher). As the
tongue utters that of which the heart is full, and
as the heart is here represented as being in a
state of great excitement, as it were, boiling
over, the meaning of ver. 2 rather is, the unob-
structed gliding along of a pen in the hand of a
ready writer (Sept., Cal., Geier, Heng., Hup.,
Del.), than the beautiful display of the skilful
writer (Hitzig and others), although the sense
of "expert," "skilful," is not only sustained by
the cognate dialects, but by Ezra vii. 6, and per-
haps by Is. xvi. 5 ; Prov. xxii. 29. [Alexander:
Although particular expressions in this verse
may be obscure, its general import is entirely
unambiguous, as an animated declaration of the
writer's purpose, and a preface to his praise of
the Messiah."— J. F.]
Ver. 2. Thou art fairer, etc. — The passive form
of the Hebrew word is unusual, and is variously
explained. It is certainly intended to present a
pictorial climax of the idea of that beauty with
which the king is so pre-eminently endowed.
Elsewhere prominence is given to the physical
beauty of individuals, e.ff., Saul, David, Absa-
lom (1 Sara. ix. 2; x. 23; xvi. 12; 2 Sam. xiv.
25), and "grace playing around the lips" is
quite as significant as the expression of the
eye. But can such traits in themselves (comp.
Prov. XXX. 31) be the ground of a Divine bless
ing, or, as in this place, the ground of a blessing
of eternal duration? Expositors deny that they
can be. But how can they help themselves ?
Some (Calvin, Stier and others) take "there-
fore "in the sense of "because," thus making
these features the consequence of the blessing ;
but the usus loquendi will not admit of this.
Others (Heng., Kurz) say that the "fairness" is
a symbol and reflection of spiritual perfection,
a manifestation of mental and moral beauty.
But the text neither speaks of this last, nor of
that absolute moral conduct, which is necessary
to make this expression of inward beauty the
ground of a blessing. For even if we take ver.
3 in the sense of gracious speech (see Is. 1. 4;
Luke iv. 22), we must not overlook the fact that
the text presents this graciousness as a Divine
gift, perhaps as an unction, and that the idea of
absoluteness or independence is still wanting,
even if we render it " because thy lips overflow
with gracious, loving words" (Bohl), therefore,
etc. As little does it satisfy us to be told that
one gift draws after it the other — that we must
not press the nexus causalia (Hupfeld) — or
assume that "therefore" indicates the founda-
tion, not of the blessing itself, but of the con-
sciousness of it (Del.). — I therefore emphasize
" beauty," as meaning not only that it is given
by God, but also that it is of a superhuman
kind. Such an endowment betokens a grand
and peculiar destiny, — it intimates that God not
only will bless such a king (De Wette), but that
he has already blessed him in this way, viz., that
on account of this endowment He has appointed
him to be the mediator who is to convey and
give eff"ect to that blessing of Abraham and David
which is eternal in its duration and strength, and
which makes those blessed, who with him and
like him are blessing others. Thus the difficulty
is removed — the connection of the passage with
ver. 7 and its Messianic meaning become the
clearer. [Perowne : Therefore, i e., beholding
this beauty and this grace, do I conclude that
God hath blessed thee forever. — Alexander:
The first word in Hebrew is a reduplicated form,
expressing the idea with intensity and emphasis.
G-race, in Hebrew as in English, denotes both
a cause and an eflFect ; in this case, grace or
beauty of expression, produced by Divine grace
or favor, and tending reciprocally to increase it.
On any hypothesis, except the Messianio one,
this verse is unintelligible. — J. F.]
Vers. 8, 4. Gird thy sword. — This verse can
be used to show that there is here no reference to
Solomon, only by forgetting that both Gideon and
David (Judges vi. 12 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 18) were styled
Gibbor (Mighty One), before they had accom-
plished any warlike deeds ; or by supposing that
in this passage the king is simply called upon to
prepare for a war, in which victory is promised
him (De Wette) ; or by denying that there is
here, in a poetic form, a description of the king's
readiness for war, and the certainty of his vic-
torious career (Cal., Rosen., Hup.). This de-
scription is not simply a suitable close to that
of the beauty of the roynl bridegroom, in an ode
to him (Hup., Hitzig), and which in no way de-
pends upon the question whether he has alieady
manifested or ever shall manifest these martial
qualities, but it strikingly brings before us the
circumstances which surround the king, who haa
received from God a theocratic position and task,
which he is to maintain and execute in the
world. He must be equipped for conflict, and
certain of victory. The terms "majesty and'
glory" are only weakened by the tianslation
"ornament and adornment" (De Wette), as if
they were epithets of the sword. They are ra-
ther descriptive of that radiant splendor of ma-
jesty, that Doxa, which (calling for praise and
revealing His glory) beams around the heavenly
(Ps. xcvi. 6 ; civ. 1 ; cxi. 3 ; Job xi. 10) and the
theocratic king (Ps xxi. 6 ; viii. 6). These
words, therefore, are not in apposition to the
"sword," as the symbol of majesty (Heng., Hup-
feld), but they indicate with what the king
should gird himself, beside the sword. A similar
image is used in Ps. xxx. 12 ; cxxxii. 9 ; Eph.
vi. 14; 1 Pet. i. 13.— The word thitt follows
'"I'lim, which is the echo of what precedes, and
is linked to it like the notes in a musical scale
(Maurer, Bohl), cannot possibly be taken as
simply strengthening it, as if the sense was —
"yes, thy ornament is really thy ornament"
(De Wette) ; nor can it be grammatically ren-
dered "in thy ornament," as most expositors do.
Or, if we regard it as a nominative absolute
(Hengsten.), or as the accusative to define more
plainly the succeeding verb (Del.), the otherwise
rapid movement of the Peajm would be checked
and crippled (Hiizig). It is therefore, on criti-
cal grounds, suspicious. But as the word is
found in all the older versions, its absence from
Codd. 39, 73, Kennicott, proves nothing, and
it is a mere assumption to say that it has been
interpolated into the text by the repetition of the
previous word (Olsh., Hup., Bott., Del.). By a
change of the Hebrew points, Hitzig makes the
word ■]■}^^^, which he renders "steps forth."
This is ingenious, but the Septuagint and Vol-
296
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
gate, while following this reading, have trans-
lated the word "bend," i.e., the bow. We
should find here following the verb an accusative
of the object, if the sense was <' to take aim "
(Ewald). Other later commentators maintain
that the fundamental idea is "breakthrough,"
which, when applied to plants, has the sense of
prosperare, and being by ancient expositors er-
roneously applied to men, occasioned the inad-
missible translation, "be happy." — "Riding"
refers to the use of the war-chariot, or of the
battle-horse. The older critics (Kim., Calvin,
Ven.) connect the following words closely with
"upon the word of truth." Others (Chald.,
Geier, Rosen.) understand al-debar as in Ps.
Ixxix. 9; 2 Sam. xviii. 5, as indicating the ob-
ject of the combat, i. e., for the sake of the
truth. Others (Luther, Mendelsohn, Hengsten-
berg) explain it, needlessly, as a metonomy for
the representative of truth, i. e., "the truthful and
the meek," or " (he oppressed and the righteous."
The same may be said of the explanation, "in
matters, or in favor of truth and oppressed right-
eousness " (Bohl), or "oppression" (Del.); also,
"for the sake of faithfulness (which maintained
peace), and pious innocence" (Hitzig). It is,
perhaps, more in accordance with the context and
the use of language to interpret the passage as
indicating the reason of the victorious riding forth
of the theocratic king, which, however, is not his
moral qualifications of fidelity, justice and meek-
ness (Hupf., Camp.), on account of which he
merits the victory, but God's truth, meekness, and
righteousness, by which this theocratic servant
and Messianic representative is sent into the
world-historic struggle, and is led to final tri-
umph. The compound noun (an intermediate
form between the construct and the absolute state)
must not be resolved into two distinct ideas,
placed side by side"(De Wette), the original po-
sition of which may have been the reverse of
what it now is (Olsh.), — a reading which is
found in some codices. It is that "righteous-
ness" whose germ is gentleness (Heng.), or,
more precisely, "condescension," as in Ps. xviii.
36, where God's gentleness is spoken of; com-
pare also Is. xi. 4; Ps. Ixxii. 4 ; Jer. ii. 3. The
"hand," the ordinary instrument of action, is
here represented as a " teacher," because by the
performance of terrible deeds it reveals a power
hitherto concealed, of which its possessor had
not been conscious. [Alexander : The two
words (honor — majesty) are constantly employed
to denote the Divine majesty (Ps. xcvi. 6; civ.
1 ; cxi. 3), as distinguished from that of mor-
tals (Job xl. 10), or as bestowed upon them by
special Divine favor. The first of the two is se-
parately used to signify specifically royal dignity
(1 Chron. xxix. 26; Dan. xi. 21). — Perowne:
"Thy glory and thy majesty," a second accu-
sative not in apposition with "thy sword," but
dependent on the verb "gird on" in the first
clause. — "Ride on prosperously,'' lit., "make thy
way, ride on," the first verb being used ad-
verbially, to add force to the other (Ges. g 142,
Ob. I). — Alexander: " Thy right hand " as the
seat of martial strength and aggressive action.
"Shall girdle'^ or point the way, the proper
meaning of the Hebrew vei'b, which, like other
verbs expressing or implying motion, may be
followed directly by a noun, where our idiom
would require an intervening preposition. — The
insensible transition from the imperative to the
future shows that the former was really pro-
phetic, and that the prayer of this and the pre-
ceding verse is only a disguised prediction of
Messiah's triumph, as one going forth conquering
and to conquer. — J, F.]
Vers. 6, 7. Thy throne.— "Thy God-throne."
This construction, which the slat, construct.,
through the suffix, separates from its genitive,
is supported by Lev. vi. 3; xxvi. 42; 2 Sam xxii.
23 ; Hab. iii. 8; Jer. xxxiii. 20; Ezek. xvi. 27; Ps.
XXXV. 19. And that the idea as thus expressed
is in accordance with grammatical rule, is proved
by 1 Chron. xxix. 23, where the throne of the
Davidic dynasty is plainly called "the throne
of the Lord" (Jehovah). And it is based upon
the theory that the king of Israel is designed to
be the visible representative of the invisible
Ruler to the covenant people (Hupf., Kurz).
Jehovah sits upon His throne forever. His
throne is from generation to generation, Lam. v,
19. We cannot simply transfer this predicate
to the personal dominion (Heng.) of the theo-
cratic king, and so give the passage an imme-
diate Messianic reference. But it might pro-
perly be transferred to his throne, after the pro-
phecy in 2 Sam. vii. 13 had been promulged ;
compare Ps. Ixxxii. 6. (Hupfeld erroneously
adds Ps. xxi. 5; Ixxii. 5). If it be objected on
grammatical grounds that olam-va-ed is no-
where else used as a predicate, we may still ren-
der the clause "thy throne is a throne of God
forever and ever" (Aben Ezra, Hitzig, Ewald).
This is better than the rendering " thy throne is
Elohim " (Dbederlein). It is also hazardous to
supply a possibly lost verb, and make Elohim the
subject of the sentence — "Elohim has founded
thy throne " (Olshausen). The old view of Elo-
him as a vocative (Stier, Heng., Del., Bohl) rests
upon strong grammatical grounds, and wan-ants
the direct Messianic exposition. But in the
Korahitic Psalms, as also in the Chald., Targ.,
Elohim stands for Jehovah. This might induce
u^ to regard the address as made to God Him-
self. But whether Elohim Mohicha is taken as
Elohim in a vocative sense, or as corresponding
to the usual Jehovah, the following verse proves
that the address is to the king, and other state-
ments show that not the Messianic but the theo-
cratic king is meant. He, however, cannot be
addressed as Elohim — Jehovah. Such an ad-
dress would involve a sense very different from
that in which Elohim is applied to kings as the
representatives of God on earth (Ps. Ixxxii. 1, 6) ;
compare John x. 35, especially in their judicial
character (Exod. xxi. 6 ; xxii. 7 : Ps. cxxxviii.
1). Hence Heb. i. 8, where the Greek text has
the vocative, may properly be quoted in proof
of the divinity of the person addressed. Nor is
there in this any difficulty in regard to the
Messiah. According to Is. ix. 5, He shall be
called El Gibbor (the Mighty One) — a name often
applied in the Old Testament to Jehovah ; and
in Jer. xxiii. 6 he is styled Jehovah Zidkenu
(the Lord our righteousness). This designation,
the dogmatic importance of which is unjustly
denied by Hupfeld, is historically vindicated by
the fact that, in connection with it, mention is
PSALM XLV.
297
always made of a descendant of David, — so that
finally David's house shall be as Elohim, as Ma-
leach Jehovah — " the angel of Jehovah, or the
angel Jehovah " (Zech. xii. 8). The contents of
this Psalm, however, show that Messiah is not
directly addressed. Nor has the anointing men-
tioned in this place any relation to his name.
The question here is not about the consecration
of the king, as he enters upon the functions of
his government, nor of his being replenished
with the Holy Spirit, of which the anointing with
oil was the symbol ; but this last is here used as
the symbol of joy, Is. Ixi. 3; Ps. xxiii. 5; civ.
15. It does not precede his righteous adniinis
tration as its source, but follows it, as its final,
abundant, and Divine reward, Is. Ixi. 8 ; Ps. v.
6. It is uncertain whether the phrase " thy fel-
lows," as in 2 Chron. i. 12, is to be understood
of other kings (as most expositors take it), or of
the friends and companions of the bridegroom
(Stier, Hupfeld). — [Perowne: "Thy throne, O
God!" This rendering seems, at first sight, to
be at variance with the first and historical appli-
cation of the Psalm. I conclude, therefore, that
in the use of such language the Psalmist was
carried beyond himself, and that he was led to
employ it by a twofold conviction in his mind —
the conviction that God was the King of Israel,
combined with the conviction that the Messiah,
the true King, who was to be in reality what
others were but in figure, was the son of David.
—Alexander: To avoid the obvious ascription
of divinity contained in the first clause, two very
forced constructions have been proposed : 1.
Thy throne (is the throne of) God forever and
ever. 2. Thy God throne (or Divine throne) is
forever. But even admitting, what is very
doubtful, that a few examples of this syntax oc-
cur elsewhere, the sense thus obtained is unsa-
tisfactory and obscure, — and this is still more
true of that aff'orded by the only obvious or natu-
ral construction besides the one first given,
thy throne is God forever and ever. — Barnes:
Thou lovest righteousness. The word "God" is
rendered in the margin "0 God, thy God hath
anointed thee." According to this construction,
the thought would be carried on which is sug-
gested in ver. 6, of a direct address to the Mes-
siah as God. This construction is not necessary,
but it is the most obvious one. — J. P.]
Vers. 8-11. All thy garments smell of
myrrh. — In the third word the vav is omitted as
is often done in the enumeration of things of the
same kind. (Deut. xxix 22). The nuptial gar-
ments areas thoroughly perfumed by these spices,
as if they had been made of them. (Heng., Hup.,
Hitz.). Their costliness is increased by their
having been brought from distant lands. Myrrh,
a balm: — Cassia, a bark similar to cinnamon,
from Southern Arabia ; Aloes, for the purpose
of fumigation, from India. The mention of ivory
palaces might remind us of these countries, if
we could refer the doubtful word Minni to the
Mynaeans in South Arabia, who according to
Diod Siculus iii. 47, had houses ornamented with
ivory, or to the Armenians who were early cele-
brated for their commerce, Jer. 11. 27. (Chald.) ;
but we must then translate the following verse —
"out of Armenia's ivory palaces, king's daugh-
ters make tb-^e glad." (J. D. Mich., Knapp,
Muntinghe) ; or (according to more Ancient critics,
Rosenmiiller) "art made glad with presents."
In this case we must suppose a Persian king to
be alluded to, (De Wette) because, according to
Herodotus iii. 93, to such kings, the Armenians
were tributary. We might naturally think that
these costly articles were obtained through the
agency of traders, and we need not change the
translation "palaces" into that of "chests "
(Bdhl) since Hekal is generally taken in the
sense of a capacious vessel (Sept., Kimchi, Va-
tablus, and others), just as Bottim is in Ex. xxv.
27 ; xxxvi. 29 ; Is. iii. 20. But all this is far
fetched. We are prepared to find here some-
thing notable in regard to the marriage of the
king, and not a mere enumeration of his costly
possessions. The latter idea would be possible
only if the version were "m" ivory palaces. We
might then consider Minni as only a shortened
form of Minnim i. e., strings, or stringed instru-
ments Ps. cl. 4. For though examples of such a
defective plural are wanting, nearly all commen-
tators since Sebastian Schmidt consider such a
plural form as possible, and as in fact here used.
But as the rendering " out of" cannot be avoided,
it is also generally conceded that the allusion is
not to the beauties of the royal palace into which
the bride is led (Hup.), but to the palace of her
father out of which a procession issues to greet
the royal bridegroom (Maccab. ix. 37 , Prov. ii.
17, with the music usual on such occasions. In
this view, it is useless to inquire whether Solo-
mon had only a throne adorned with ivory (1
Kings X. 18) ; or also a tower of this sort (Song
vii. 5) ; or even a palace, since it is plain from
Amos iii. 15, that there were several such houses
in the kingdom of Israel, as well as the ivory
beds mentioned Amos vi. 4 (Hup.). It is equally
needless to ask whether, because such a palace
is not mentioned as having been the residence
of Solomon, while Ahab is said to have had one
(1 Kings xxii. 29), the reference is to this latter
king (Hitzig), or to his daughter (Delitzsch).
The plural does not indicate the various resi-
dences of the many brides here called "queens,"
afterwards "companions," and who are the types
of the Gentiles (Heng.). It is simply intended
to set forth in poetic form, the splendor of the pa-
lace into which the king, (who already has in his
harem kings' daughters, perhaps the daughters
of neighbors (Kurtz) who though neither van-
quished nor tributary princes (De Wette), were
inferior to him,) now brings the principal con-
sort, who takes the place of honor at bis right
hand (1 Kings ii. 19j resplendent with gold of
Ophir, the most precious kind of gold known in
Jerusalem in David's lime. (1 Chron. xxix. 4).
Hence we do not favor the interpretation that
once prevailed, based on the older versions,
which regarded Minni as a preposition with the
Yod paragogic, in the sense of "out of them,"
or to give emphasis to it, " out of it thou art
made glad." (Heng). The rendering "more
than ivory palaces, yea more than they, art thou
made glad by them" (Hofmann) gives an undue
importance to the palaces as well as the garments.
The same is true of the translation "a number
of them i. e. more than one make thee glad."
(Bott.). — The title of the principal consort She-
gal is used in Neh. ii. 6, of a Persian, and in
298
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
Dan. V. 2 of a Chaldean queen. But this is no
certain proof that the Psalm belongs to a later
period, for in Jer. xii. 18; xxix. 24; 2 Chron.
XV. 16, we find the usual and more comprehen-
sive word Gebirah, "mistress" (applied also to the
king's mother) still in use, 1 Kings xi. 19 ; xv.
13. Nor can we admit the foreign origin of the
word, for in its sense of " concubine " it is found
in 1 Kings v. 30, and as a verb in Deut, xxviii.
30. The opinion of Bohl that the king's daugh-
ters belonged to her retinue, and were clothed
with ornaments presented by the king, founded
upon the translation " Kings' daughters go
about in thy ornaments," (Sept., Luth., many
Ancient critics, Hofmann) is not confirmed by
the text. The retinue of virgins (ver. 14) holds
a different position from that of the king's
daughters (v. 11). These already form part of
the king's "treasures." (Bott., Hup.). They
belong to his "dear ones," i. e. his appreciated
women, (the Rabbins, Calvin, and others, Del.),
or his " little favorites and treasures" (Hitzig).
We might also call thera his " magnificent ones."
only that we must understand it in the sense of
those who are "magnificently arrayed."
[Perowne: King's' daughters. As polygamy
had only the permission, not the sanction of God,
it may seem strange that this should be men-
tioned as a feature in the splendor of the mon-
arch. But polygamy was practiced by the best
of kings ; and the Psalmist is describing the
magnificence of an Oriental court such as it
actually existed before his eyes, not drawing a
picture of what ought to be in a perfect state of
things. — Alexander: Daughters of kings [are)
among thy precious ones; stationed is the queen at
thy right hand, in gold of Ophir. Precious, dear,
not in the sense of beloved, which the Hebrew
word never has, but in that of costly, valuable,
which it always has. Stationed, not simply stands
but placed there, as the post of honor. — Ophir,
one of the places to which Solomon's ships traded
with the Phenicians (1 King ix. 28; x.,11 ; 2
Chron. viii. 18; ix. 10). Its situation is dis-
puted, and is of no exegetical importance. — J.F.].
Ver. 12. And the daughter of Tyre. — Most
interpreters with the older versions explain this
to mean the inhabitants of Tyre. In Is. xxiii.
12, Tyre is personified as a daughter (the daugh-
ter of Zidou). Here the plural form of the verb
which follows, brings out the idea of numbers,
who are described as the richest among the people,
while some suppose that they are ih.B poor among
the people mentioned in Is. xxix. 19. There is
no mention of homage or tribute paid by the
Tyrians to Israel, as there is no historic ground
for supposing that such homage was ever ren-
dered by them. It is simply declared that as a
recompense for the Bride's devotion to the king
of Israel, he promised, that to gain her favor, the
richest men, the neighboring Tyrians should
bring her presents. A few critics (Jerome,
Hitzig, Hupfeld) notwithstanding the "and"
take the words in a vocative sense — " 0 daugh-
ter of Tyre ! " But this would make the bride
the daughter of a Tyrian king, to whom the rich
men of the Israelitish nation should do homage
by bringing presents to her. It is possible but
by no means certain that this might become the
basis for the historical interpretation. But even
the common exposition involves so many gram-
matical difficulties, and such too is the structure
of the verse, that a defect in the text is quite
probable. (Camp.).
[Barnjes; The daughter of Tyre. In the time
of the Psalmist it was probably the most wealthy
and luxurious commercial town then existing :
and it is referred to here as meaning that per-
sons of highest rank, and of the greatest riches,
and those surrounded most by affluence and
luxury, would* come to honor the king. Even
the daughter of the magnificent prince of Tyre
would deem it an honor to be present with a gift
becoming her exalted station. Even the rich, etc.
The sense here is. the richest of the nations shall
make court to thee with gifts. — J. F.].
Vers. 13-15. Within (ver. 14,) i. e. the inte-
rior of the palace, — not that of her consort, seated
upon tlie throne (Gesen.), but the palace of her
father, from whence, after the conclusion of the
marriage and the exhortations and promises made
to her, the festive procession goes to the residence
of her spouse. The explanation of the term as
denoting the internal disposition of the bride
(Luth., J. H. Mich., Stier), with a reference to
1 Pet. iii. 3, has led to many typical and edify-
ing applications. Certainly this sense suggests
a more striking contrast with the splendor of
her garments, than the supposed allusion to her
personal beauty (Grot.). Hitzig translates v.
15, " upon cushions of many colors." — The virgin
companions who enter the palace at the same
time with the newly married couple, with festive
songs and dances are not bride's maids, but be-
longed to the household of the young queen,
and according to oriental custom, were upon her
marriage transferred to the possession of the
king. Of royal virgins, who are to be married
to the king (J. H. Mich., Rosen, Heng.) there is
no mention in the text. The benediction of their
descendants, who should not only occupy the
palace of their fathers, but resemble them in
virtue, (Hupf.) maybe rendered "princes in the
whole land." There is perhaps a reference to
the fact that Solomon divided his kingdom into
twelve governments. 1 Kings iv. 7. David, be-
fore him had made his sons princely governors
(1 Kings xxii. 26 ; Zeph. i. 8), (Sarim); and at
a latter period, probably for a like reason Reho-
boam placed his sons in charge of fortified cities
(2 Ch. xi. 23). The larger view and application
of these words, as a prediction of the future
spread of the Theocracy over all the earth ia
warranted by the promise that the name of this
king shall be kept in the living remembrance of
the Church through all generations, by her songs,
and that through them, all people would come to
know and forever praise him. (Ps. Ixxii. 17).
This is not hypei'bolical flattery (De Wette) but
a promise due to the Theocratic king.
[Perowne: Gladness. Lit., "Joys," theplural
denoting fulness and manifoldness. — Vers. 16
and those immediately preceding are, to my
mind, evidence sufficient that this Psalm cannot
as a whole, be regarded as prophetical of the
Messiah. It seems far wiser to me to acknow-
ledge at once the mixed character of such Psalms
as this. It does speak, no doubt, of One who is
higher than the kings of the earth, but it does
so under earthly images. — The sacred poet sees
PSALM XLV.
299
the earthly king and the human marriage before
his eyes, but whilst he strikes his harp to cele-
brate these a vision of a higher glory streams
in upon him. Thus the earthly and the heaven-
ly mingle. Alexander: / will make thy name
to be remembered. The Psalmist speaks as one in
a long series of inspired heralds, and in behalf
of all. The form of the festival implies fixed
determination and involves a pledge. — J. F.],
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who has a good message to deliver may
well feel his heart swell with loving sympathy
and grateful joy because God has chosen, called,
and prepared him for such an errand. The depth
of the sentiment will be proportioned to the
dignity of the person to whom he is sent, and
the importance of the message he has to deliver.
But whoever may be the one addressed, if the
message is important, its form of expression is
not a matter of indifference ; — the good word
should have a good place.
2. If a man has superior endowments, he
should consider them as a gift of God, and re-
ceive them as an ornament from the hand of God,
bestowed upon him not that he may boast of
them, or glorify himself, but that he may direct
his life to the attainment of those ends for which
God has chosen him, fitted him specially, and
sent him into the world. The richer and more
varied these gifts, and the higher the position
in which God has placed him, the greater is his
responsibility, and his obligation to regard him-
self as the servant of the Most High, and to
use these advantages and blessings as the means
of fitting himself to seek, that God's will may be
done on earth as it is in heaven, and that the
kingdom of God through His abiding blessing,
may overcome all the enemies it encounters in
this world.
3. When princes adorn their persons with
ornaments suited to their high rank, especially
on festive occasions, they should do so not for
the sake of vain glory, but, on the one hand, to
command respect and admiration for the majesty
of their oifice, and on the other, to lead the
thoughts of men up to the eternal throne of God,
from whom all blessings come, both to princes
and their people. Of this throne, princely dig-
nity and rank are an earthly image. By the
effectual power and grace of God, all kingdoms
are founded, princely dynasties become durable,
and governments are stable. And the kingdom
of God has been brought into this world, is kept
in it, and extended over it, for the purpose of
bringing high and low into its service.
4. Marriage as a divine ordinance is fraught
with honor and joy, and even with a cross is bless-
ed. As it introduces new relations, so it involves
various new tasks and duties ; and to these it is
proper that the Christian pastor should call at-
tention, in the way of exhortation and comfort,
especially as it has been chosen to be a symbol
and type of the mysterious union of God and His
people, of Christ and the Church. But in deal-
ing with it in this aspect we should not go be-
yond the example of the Scriptures.
6. Mutual conjugal devotion, involves, no
doubt, many pains and sacrifices, but the love
and obedience which are its essence, according
to God's promise, secure great blessings. Among
these blessings are, the influence upon contem-
poraries, the preservation of the race by means
of well trained children, and the leaving behind
us a good name which may excite others to emu-
late us. But we must not forget that as the
glory of the King in the kingdom of God infinite-
ly surpasses all human glory, so no human name
can be put upon a par with His. The Church
is called upon to make a proper acknowledg-
ment of His divine nature, dignity, and honor,
to preserve the remembrance of His name through
all generations, and by proclaiming it to the
Gentiles to excite them to join in the same
praises. Ps. cii. 14; cxxxv. 31.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Out of the heart the mouth speaketh. See to
it therefore what thy heart receives, and by
what it is moved. — Remember from whom thou
hast obtained thy beauty, for what purpose thy
rank has been given thee, and for what end thy
power i& employed. — The highest point that any
man can reach, is to become the recipient, the
bearer and the producer of the divine blessing. —
God's love in the heart, God's praises on the lipa
procure more than one happy hour. — If you
would get a permanent blessing, you must follow
the directions of God's word, and seek His king-
dom.— Pious and just kings deem it an honor to
be called the servants of that God who has
clothed them with majesty. Hail to the king
who acknowledges that God is the giver of his
crown, the strength of his throne, and the type
of his government. — The ornament, calling, and
aim of pious married people. — The honor, order
and blessing of the matrimonial state. — Whoever
in love, makes sacrifices, which he is bound in
obedience to his calling to make, may hope for
an abundant reward, according to the divine
promise. More precious than gold is a happy
marriage, and a family of well trained children.
There are many names, renowned, blessed, and
justly honored by the children of men ; but there
is only One name by which we can be saved. Its
praises shall be sung in the church from genera-
tion to generation, and the knowledge of it shall
extend unto the heathen, in order that it may be
praised for ever and ever. — Ascending the throne
by a king is, so to speak, solemnizing his mar-
riage with his people. — The certainty of the glo-
rious results accomplished by a king after God's
own heart, in his struggles for truth and righ-
teousness.— He who proclaims the name of the
Lord, prepares the way for his being praised by
all the people.
Ltjther: Honored by thy bridegroom, thon
art really honored before all the world. — This
song can be truly comprehended only by faith;
for it is God's word, which unless taken hold of
through faith, can be understood by no human
being. — Mark this, whatever Christ has, He com-
municates to those who believe in Him. — The
Lord Himself has adorned and endowed all who
are betrothed to Him, and has given them that
by which they are acceptable to Him. — Every-
thing should be done in the service and for the
honor of this King. — There may be a great dif-
ference among His people as regards gifts, but
300
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
they are of one mind respecting the highest arti-
cle of faith, viz., that they can be saved only
through faith in Christ, and by no other way, or
means.
Stabke: Let heart and tongue have nothing
to do with evil things, but rather with that word
which God has revealed from heaven, and which
is able to build up our souls unto salvation. —
Personal beauty is a gift of God not to be de-
spised, but the beauty of the soul, which consists
of piety and other Christian virtues, is a far
higher treasure. — To His own people, Christ
is both a gracious Ruler and a mighty Defender
against their enemies. -Wealth without fellowship
with Christ is more injurious than useful to men.
— The best adoration of Jesus consists in this,
that we recognize Him as our only Lord and our-
selves as His peculiar property, — that we love
and serve supremely none but Him. — How can
the Church perish, since Christ's name and
praise shall never be forgotten ? — Oh I that the
gladness of the marriage feast were always
sanctified by the remembrance of the joyful
home-bringing of the spouse to her Bridegroom
in heaven. Osiander,: Happy are the princes
and rulers who surpass their subjects in wisdom
and virtue, as well as in other gifts. — Selnek-
KER : If we speak of this King, of His name and
His office, we shall at once experience joy and
pleasure in heart, soul, and body. — Franke :
Christ will come to the terror of the wicked, to
the joy and gladness of the pious who believe in
Him. — Renschel : Christ is our Bridegroom,
His beauty is our ornament. His gracious lips
our comfort. His arrows our protection. His
sceptre our guide. His oil of joy our unction — •
Fbisch: Believing soul! be thou stimulated by
this heavenly bridal song to deny the love of the
world, and to love with a pure aflFection the
bridegroom of thy soul. — Burk: See in how
many points the bride may be compared to the
bridegroom. — Rieger: A bridal song of the
Holy Spirit for the marriage feast which the
king makes for His Son. — Oetimger: The King
of God's kingdom deserves that men should pro-
claim His praise. — Tholuck: Truth and goodness
joined to righteousness are the prize for which
the Messiah struggles. — Vaihinger: Out of
every contest with His enemies this king comes
forth a complete conqueror, and in every new
war His throne is proved to be immovably firm.
— Diedrich: a song of praise to the greatest of
kings, whose word has the greatest loveliness,
and whose power is omnipotent. The mystery
of divine love towards humanity. — Taube : The
beautiful song 1. Of the king; a, Of His beauty.
b, Of His heroic power and victory, c, Of His
anointment. — 2. Of the king's bride, a, Of the
wedding garments in which she appears, b, Of
the marriage sermon pronounced by the Holy
Spirit, c. Of the treasures the bride receives.
Earthly matrimony is not the prototype, but the
imnge and copy of that higher relation. — F. W.
Krummachbr; The advent prayer of the Church
of Christ. We consider]. The Address, "Thou
hero." 2. The six petitions. 3. The Amen.
[Henry: "I will speak of the things whicb I
have made." 1. With all possible clearness, as
one that did himself understand, and was affect-
ed with the things he spake of. Note, what God
has wrought in our souls, as well as what He has
wrought /or them we must declare to others. 2.
With all possible cheerfulness, freedom, and
fluency. '* My tongue is as the pen of a ready
writer." The tongue of the most subtle dis-
putant, and the most eloquent orator is but the
pen with which God writes what He pleases. —
They that have an admiration and affection for
Christ, love to go to Him and tell Him so. — The
glorious cause in which He is engaged, "because
of the truth," etc., which were, in a manner sunk
and lost among men, and which Christ came to
retrieve and rescue. 1. The Gospel itself is
truth, meekness and righteousness ; it commands
by the power of truth and righteousness, for
Christianity has these, incontestably, on its side,
and yet it is to be promoted by meekness and
gentleness, 1 Cor. iv, 12, 13. 2. Christ appears
in it in His truth, meekness and righteousness, and
these are His glory and majesty, and because of
these He shall prosper. Men are brought to
believe on Him because He is true, to learn of
Him because He is meek. Matt. xi. 29; the gen-
tleness of Christ is of mighty force. 2 Cor. x. 1.
Men are brought to submit to Him because He
is righteous and rules with equity. 3. The
Gospel so far as it prevails with men, sets up in
their hearts, truth, meekness and righteousness,
rectifies their mistakes by the light of truth,
controls their passions by the power of meekness,
and governs their hearts and lives by the laws
of righteousness. — All true children are born
from above: they are the believers of the King
of kings; these attend the throne of the Lord
Jesus daily with their prayers and praises,
which is really their honor, and He is pleased
to reckon it His.^ — The conversation of Christians
in which they appear in the world, must be en-
riched with good \Vork8, not gay and gaudy ones,
like paint and flourish, but substantially good,
like gold ; and it must be accurate and exact,
like wrought gold, which is w^orked with a great
deal of care and caution. — They that help to
support the honor of Christ on earth, shall in
heaven see His glory, and share in it, and be
forever praising Him.
Scott : In the Redeemer, the enlightened soul
perceives unutterable goodness and beauty, which
eclipses all the dim excellency that it was wont to
admire in the children of men. The gracious
words which He speaks to sinners, are replete
with Divine harmony, and excite ineffable com-
fort in the broken heart. — In proportion as we
are conformed to His holy image, we may expect
the gladdening influence of the Comforter, which
is communicated from His fulness, and while Hia
name is to us "as ointment poured forth," the
fragrancy of heavenly affections will recommend
our conversation to the spiritually-minded, and
make us meet for His palace above. — The true
believer's privileges, as well as the most esti-
mable parts of his character are internal, and
undiscerned by an ungodly world ; yet the holi-
ness of his conversation proves the inward
adorning of his soul, and that he is arrayed with
the robe of righteousness and salvation. — J. F.]
PSALM XLVI.
301
PSALM XLVI.
• •.v
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.
GOD is our refuge and strength, ^ \\
A very present help in trouble.
2 , Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed.
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ;
3 Though'ihQ waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,
The \io\j place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved ;
God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved :
He uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us ;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
What desolations he hath, made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth ;
He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder ;
He burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God :
I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us ;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. In regard to
the Title, see Introd. g 12, 9. This Psalm, re-
echoed in Luther's choral [Ein feste Burg ist
unser Gott. — A stronghold ia our God), is not
simply a general expression of trust in Jehovah,
under all possible dangers. (Rosen.). The per-
fect tenses (v. 7) following the many imperfects
and the references (v. 9), to a particular deed of
Jehovah point to a special motive for this heroic
Bong, which is so full of gratitude and victorious
confidence, of joyful faith and hope of peace.
But this conviction of permanent protection found-
ed on the experience of Divine aid to God's peo-
ple, manifests itself in expressions of a feeling
of security in general, based on the strength of
this relation to God. Not only does the song be-
gin with such expressions, but they are repeated
in the refrain with which each strophe ends.
Only the first strophe, in our present text (per-
haps by mistake simply) has no such ending.
(Ols., Ewald, Hup., Del.). For with the change
of the infinitives into imperfects, verse 4 is neither
in apposition to " remove " and ♦* carried into,"
(J. H. Michaelis, Heng.), nor is it to be taken in
a concessive sense (Rosen, and others), but is a
proposition, the concluding sentence of which
must be supplied not by disturbing the strophi-
cal structure in ver. 5, (Calvin) but must be com-
pleted in the way indicated above. The occasion
of this Psalm, however was not the desolation
produced by war among other nations, while
Israel enjoyed peace (De Wette), but a mighty
deed of Jehovah, by which Jerusalem beleaguered
by enemies was delivered from them without a
battle. It may refer to the sudden disappearance
of the Syrians allied with Israel, on their ap-
proach to Jerusalem in the time of Ahaz, see Is.
vii. (Hitzig) ; or better still to the defeat of the
Assyrians under Sennacherib, Is. xxxvi. 29,
(Heng., Ewald, Hup.); or to events under Je-
hoshaphat, recorded in 2 Chron. xx. (Del.). There
are in this Psalm, (and in the two wifich follow
and are closely related to it) many points of re-
semblance to Isaiah, particularly the term Im-
manu, but this will not warrant our ascribing its
composition to this prophet (Ven , Hitz.). It is
worthy of remark that in this Elohim Psalm,
God is called Jehovah in respect to His influence
in the history of the world, v. 9, and in the jubi-
lant refrain He bears the name of Jehovah of
Hosts, a title characteristic of the period of the
kings, and which was first pronounced by the
mouth of Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 11.
Vers. 1, 2. A very present help, ahelp often
found, i. e. frequently tried and proved. God is
ever present in tribulations. He is ever found of
302
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
those who are ia trouble (2 Ch. xv. 4). Luther's
translation (from Sept. and Vulg.): "in the
great troubles which have befallen us," is gram-
matically untenable. The "midst" or "heart"
of the sea signifies the innermost part. It is used
also with reference to the oak (2 Sam. xvii. 34),
and Heaven (Deut. iv. 11). The allusion is to
the destruction of the world as now organized
(Del.). The mountains being removed from
their places, fall back into the waters, out of
which they were raised on the third day of
creation, (Sept., Vulg., Calvin, Geier, Hupf.).
Others (De Wette, Hitzig) understand by the
words : the tottering of the foundations of the
mountains which are beneath the waters, and
propose the rendering: "in the heart" (the
dative). Grammatically it is admissible. But
the allegorical interpretation (Hengst.) which
regards the " sea" as the symbol of the world,
and the "mountains in its heart" as its
mightiest empires, is not warranted by any
thing in the text. For if the rising of the sea
is here expressed by a word sometimes applied
to human pride, this is neither its only nor its
original meaning. In the last sense the word
occurs in Job xli. 7, and refers to the "being
lifted up by the shield of Leviathan;" while in
Deut. xxxiii. 26; Ps. Ixviii, 35 it is applied to
the sovereignty of God. But it does not follow
that in this place, on account of the singular
suffix, the reference is to that sovereign power
of God by which the mountains are made to
quake, (Chald., Sept., 01s., Ewald). The singu-
lar suffix can be made here easily to refer to
D'Q2' (^3 ^^ necessarily does in the preceding
line), because "his waters" in this connection
designate not those " of God," but those " of
the sea," like the "his heavens" in Ps. viii. 4.
For it is not God Himself, but His "grace"
symbolized by a "stream," which is opposed to
this "sea" (ver. 4.). The idea of the sea is,
however, expressed by a plural but not in .a
numerical sense, as in Ps. cvii. 25.
[Pebowne: Though the mountains, etc., the
strongest figure that could be used, the moun-
tains being regarded as the great pillars of the
earth, Pss. xviii. 7 ; Ixxv. 3; Ixxii. 5 ; Job ix. 6.
Alexander: Let its waters roar, etc., ver. 4.
The singular pronoun refers to the sea, which is
only poetically plural in the preceding verse.
The verbs in this verse may also be explained as
proper futures. Its waters shall roar, etc., but
the people of God shall still be safe, as promised
in the next verse. Barnes : The word rendered
present (a very present help), ^^9^ nimtza,
means rather is found or has been found, i. e., he
has proved himself to be a help in trouble.
The word present, as if he were near to us, or
close by us, does not accurately express the
idea.— J. F.]
Vers. 4-11. There is a Btream, etc, — The
expression is in contrast with that describing
the stormy and destructive sea, and hence the
use of the nominative absolute. There is no
reference to the softly flowing waters of Siloah,
as in Is. vii. 6 (Aben Ezra, Ewald), but it is
simply an image drawn from this brook as de-
scribed in Isaiah, with a possible allusion to the
river of Paradise, Ps. xxxvi. 9 (DeL). It is not,
however, an image of peace (De Wette), but of
the blessings and gracious manifestations of
God (Jonah iv. 18; Ezek. xlvii ; Zech. xiv. 8;
Rev. xiv. 1) ; for His " streams " i. e. arms, make
glad the city of God, fructifying and refreshing
it, as they flow around and through it. In Isaiah
xlviii. 18 ; Ixvi. 12, the point of comparison is
quite diflFerent, viz. : its fulness and wide exten-
sion. There is no need of supplementing the
text by a word=-" his grace," (01s.). Nor is
the combination of the two lines of the verse
into one — " a river, the stream of which — is
the holy one of the dwellings ot the Most High,"
(Hitzig), and the reference to verse 5 as the
closing sentence, warranted by Is. xxxiii. 21.
For here God is compared to a rivfer which sur-
rounds and defends the city. This figure, so
simple and plain as used by the prophet, would
here render the sense unclear and confused, es-
pecially in the following verse, where God is
said to " dwell in the midst " of the city, not
only being its security, but producing- that se-
curity. Both the " blessing " mentioned in verse
4 and the "deliverances" inverse 5, proceed
from Him, not morning by morning (Hitz. De
Wette), but as the day breaks after an anxious
night, (Hengst. Del.). The expression is: of
course, figurative, but we must not reduce its
meaning to a simple "soon," (Rosen. Gesen.)
nor to the morning of deliverance in contrast
with the night of misery, but rather suppose an
allusion to a definite historical fact, as Exodus
xiv, 27 ; Is. xvii. 14 ; xxxvii. 86. — The "melting
of the earth " verse 6, not " trembling " (De
Wette, Hupf), nor " growing dumb " (Tboluck)
denotes the dissolving eff'ect of divine judg-
ments, Ps. Ixxv. 6; Amos ix. 6, (Heng.), which
are elsewhere said to produce terror and con-
sternation, Ps. Ixxvi. 9; Exod. xv. 14.^1n2
Sam. ii. 10; vii. 10; xii. 10; Ps. Ixviii. 34; Jer.
xii. 8, thunder is used as a symbol of Divine
judgment. There is no need of understanding
verse 10 as an authoritative command given in a
voice of thunder (Hitzig). In verse 7 many
codices (32 Kenn. 46 De Ross.) have Elohim in-
stead of Jehovah, a reading followed by the
Syriac and Chaldean version, and many Rab-
binical expositors. But it is possible that this
various reading may have come from Ps. Ixvi. 5.
Instead of "devastations" or "desolations" in
verse 9 (Chald, Jerome, Rab. Calvin, Geier, etc.),
the Sept. Syr. J. 'H. Mich., Ewald, and Hitz.,
render the word " astonishing and terrific
things," a sense which its etymology allows.
[Perowne : ver. 6. The absence of any
copula in the verse adds much to the force of
the description. The preterites are not hypo-
thetical as Delitzsch explains. Each act of the
drama is, so to speak, before the eyes of the
Poet. — Alexander : Se has uttered His voice, the
earth will melt. As in many other instances, (he
Psalmist takes his stand between the inception
and the consummation of the event which he
descri'bes. Hence the transition from the past
tense to the future. — Verse 8. Come see, etc. The
first word properly means ^o, but it is constantly
used in summoning and inviting others. Ver.
9. Silencing wars, etc. — The participle followed
by the future, shows that the process ia not fin-
ished, but is still going on. — J. F.]
PSALM XLVI.
803
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Church of God can confidently appeal
to Him for help, and rest assured that He who
is supreme over all things, has not only prom-
ised, but will also grant her, His protection.
She will enjoy peace in the midst of the storms
of war, and the tumults of the world, as she
also will when the world itself shall come to
ruin. For the world is in a constant state of
unrest and excitement, and will be until its
final change. This is owing partly to its
natural qualities and its external form, and
partly to the historic life of its nations. But
the Church is God's habitation in this world.
Not only is the sanctuary of God in the midst
of her, but the living, almighty, gracious God
Himself. Hence her feeling of perfect rest and
blessed contentment.
If Christ proteotg His Church,
Then hell itself may rage.
2. So Tong as the Church is in the world, it
must be, in its temporal aspect and earthly form,
always in contact with the world's movements.
There is for it no external rest and security, but it
is in constant danger of attacks and tribulations.
But 80 long as its watchword is Immanuel, i. e.,
God with us, it will have internal peace, for God
is within it, and external invincibility, for God
is its defence. Even here, God gives, from time
to time, seasons of rest and refreshment, for He
breaks the weapons of the enemies, and sends
desolation among them.
3. As God quickens the Church in which He
dwells, by the outpouring of His gracious and
manifold gifts, and as this stream from the sanc-
tuary cannot be cut off, because of the relation
already mentioned, it is the special duty and
care of the Church to draw from this stream
fresh courage and vigor, so that with perpetual
joy, she may confess by word and deed, what
God has revealed to her in His word, and how
He has manifested Himself to her by His works
in the present day, as well as in ages past.
" That our faith may rest firmly in God, we
must consider these two things jointly, viz.: the
infinite power by which He prepared to subjugate
the whole world, and His paternal love revealed
in His word." (Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God with us ! the watchword of the pious.
1. Who has given it? 2. What is meant by it ?
3. Who may use it ? — Among all thrones, there
is only one that is firm ; among all kingdoms,
only one is changeless ; among all nations, only
one has a King without an equal. — Is the Lord
of Hosts your friend ? then are you sure of vic-
tory over all your foes. — We need fear no strug-
gle, when God is our refuge and strength. —
Dwelling in the city of God implies going to the
house of God, hearing His word, and observing
His works. — He who would not fall when the
foundations of the earth are shaken, must cling
firmly to God. Thus will he be saved and en-
abled to praise the Most High. — God shows here
on earth that He is above all things ; and He also
testifies that He dwells not only in heaven, but
also in the midst of His people. — While God
dwells among us, we can want nothing. — The pro-
per flight is to the divine refuge. — The security
of God's kingdom, surrounded by streams that
disturb the world.
Starke : As we seek God, so shall we also
find Him. — If we steadily trust in Him as our
Strength, we shall certainly find in our experi-
ence that He is so in fact. — God does not protect
His Church by keeping danger at a distance
from her, but by averting its destructive results,
— Faith becomes especially victorious, when,
according to all human appearance, there is no
room for hope. — If God is your friend, you can
stand firm in every trouble. — Faith apprehends
God, both as the Lord of Hosts, and as a gra-
cious Helper, abundant in mercy. — It is just as
easy for God to destroy a mighty army, as to
defend a little company of believers. — Oh ! how
blessed the time when God shall make wars to
cease to the ends of the earth. — Osiander : The
city of God shall never perish, even though all
creatures should make war against it. — Aundt:
Kingdoms are overturned on account of the sins
of their people, but Christ has maintained His
word and kingdom. — If God is our protector,
what can man, with all his power, do against
us? — Tholuck: Let the people rage as fiercely
as they please, when the voice of Jacob's God is
heard, they must grow dumb. — Richter Family
Bible: The kingdom of darkness has no power
of its own over nature. It could not even
drown swine without Christ's permission. —
Vaihinger: He who has the God v/ho protected
Israel as his shield, need not be afraid of greater
dangers even than those which Israel experi-
enced.— DiEDRiCH : God's kingdom remains, be-
cause He is true to His word of promise, and
defends those who believe it against all their
enemies. — God is our eternal refuge. — Taube :
The perfect repose and holy security of the
Church of God. 1. Her faith's comfort. 2.
Her faith's foundation. 3. Her faith's victory,
— Each fresh perception of God, derived from
the experience of His ways, imparts new bless-
ings, and establishes the heart more firmly in
the faith.— Schaubach: (10th Sunday after
Trinity). The Christian Church as typified by
the city of God on earth. — Rose : Come and see
the mighty works of the Lord, His wonderful
counsels, and the unchangeable faithfulness of
His covenant.
H ENRY : God is our refuge and strength ; we have
found Him so, He has engaged to be so, and He
ever will be so. Are we pursued ? God is our re-
fuge to whom we may flee, and in whom we may
be safe, and think ourselves so; secure upon good
ground, Prov. xvii. 10. Are we oppressed by
troubles? Have we work to do, and enemies to
grapple with ? God is our St^rength, to bear us up
under our burdens, to fit us for all our services
and sufferings; whowillby His grace put strength
into us, and on whom we may stay ourselves.
Are we in distress ? He is a Help, to do all that
for us which we need ; a present Help, a Help
found, so the word is, one whom we have found
to be so ; a Help on which we may write Proba-
tum est, or, a Help at hand, one that we shall
never have to seek for, but that is always near.
Or, a Help sufficient ; a Help accommodated to
304
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
every case and exigence ; whatever it is, He is a
very present Help ; we cannot desire a better
Help, nor shall ever find the like in any crea-
ture.— Here is (1) Joy to the Church, even in
the most melancholy and sorrowful times. Ver.
4. There is a river, the streams whereof shall
make it glad, even then when the waters of the
sea roar and threaten it. Note. — The spiritual
comforts which are conveyed to the saints by
soft and silent whispers, and which come not
with observation, are sufficient to balance the
most loud and noisy threatenings of an angry
and malicious world. (2.) Establishment to the
Church; though heaven and earth are shaken,
yet God is in the midst of her, she shall not be
moved, ver. 5. (1.) Not destroyed; nor re-
moved as the eartn maybe. (2,) Not disturbed, [
not much moved with fears of the issue. (3.)
Deliverance to the Church, though her dangers
be great ; God shall help her, and who then can
hurt her ? He shall help her under her troubles,
that she shall not sink ; nay, that the more she
is afflicted, the more she shall multiply. God
shall help her out of her troubles, and that right
early — very speedily, and very seasonably. —
Scott : If our faith were as strong as our se-
curity is good, we need fear no combination of
enemies, no revolutions in kingdoms, and no
convulsions in nature, but in the most tremen-
dous dangers might triumph in the fullest as-
surance of security and victory — Happy they
who are enrolled citizens of the holy city of our
God, in which He dwells as a Father, Defender,
and Comforter of His people. — J. F.J
PSALM XLVIL
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah,
O clap your hands, all ye people ;
Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
2 For the Lord most high is terrible;
jETe is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us,
And the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us,
The excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selalu
5 God is gone up with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises :
Sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth :
Sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the heathen :
God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together,
Even the people of the God of Abraham :
For the shields of the earth belong unto God :
He is greatly exalted.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. With the glad
notes of a solemn triumphal song, this Psalm
celebrates a victory over foreign nations, gained
by the immediate interposition of God. The
possession of the promised land was thus se-
cured, and an occasion was given to call upon
all people to do homage to God, who, by this dis-
play of His power, has proved Himself to be
King over all the earth. They, no less than the
Israelites, are urged to praise this God, before
whose majesty all the princes of the people, even
the people of the God of Abraham bow in sub-
mission. The Psalm evidently had its origin in
an historical event, and it embodies the Messia-
nic idea of the extension of the Theocracy over
all nations. It is not a simple expansion of the
closing idea of the preceding Psalm, that God is
exalted over all people, t. e. is Governor of the
world. (Hupfeld). Nor is it a prediction of the
universal reign of the Messiah, (Rabbins) ; nor
of the Ascension of Christ (the Older critics).
This latter view may have been derived from the
typical entrance of the Ark (Clans, Stier) men-
tioned in 2 Sam. vi. and, as most expositors
suppose, celebrated in Ps. xxiv. It is rather to
be considered as a call to do homage to the God-
king, by the people associated with Israel
PSALM XLVII.
305
(Rosen), The special reference, however, is not
to the subjugation and circumcision of the Idu-
niseans, under John Hyrcanus, (01s.); nor to
the entrance into the Second Temple after the
return from Babylon (Ewald) ; nor to the smiting
of the Philistines by Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii, 8,
(Hitzig); but to the victory of Jehosaphat (2
Chron, xx), over the combined Moabites, Ammo-
nites, Edomites, and Arabians- (Ven., Heng.,
Del.).
Vers. 2-5. O clap your hands, all ye peo-
ple.— Clapping of hands, though sometimes an
expression of maliciotis pleasure (Nah. iii. 19),
is usually a sign of approval and joy. (Ps. xcviii.
8: Is. iv. 12), like the loud shouts {teruiah) of
festive occasions, especially those on which
homage was formally rendered Num. xxiii. 21 ;
2 Kings xi. 12; 1 Sam. x. 24,— Inver. 2 Eljon
may be understood as an attribute of Jehovah
as in Ps. Ixxviii. 56, but it suits the context bet-
ter here to take it as a predicate. By the " ex-
cellency (or the pride) of Jacob" ver. 4 is meant,
not the temple as in Ez^k. xxiv. 21 ; nor the sin
of pride as in Amos vi. 8: viii. 7: nor the future
excellency of Israel as in Nah. ii. 3; but the
Holy land, " the glorious land " of Dan. viii. 9,
which God had chosen as a possession or inheri-
tance (Num. iii. 8; xv. 4; Is. Iviii. 14), for the
people whom he loved (here called Jacob) Mai.
i. 2. This sovereign choice by Almighty God
(Ex. xix. 15 ; Deut. xxxii. 8), as an undoubted
fact, and proof of His love is often referred to in
the Psalms (e. y , xxxiii. 12; Ixv. 5; cxxxv. 3).
Hence most modern expositors, like the older
versions, understand the imperfects in vers. 3
and 4, as stating historic facts, a view which
accords with ver. 8, and the triumphant tone of
the song. The statement, however, has not a
historic form, but is rather a praising generali-
zation. The contents of ver. 4 come after those
of ver. 3, probably, because the possession of
the land having been in peril, was secured by
God's interposition. The older commentators
(also Glaus, Stier) take the imperfects in a future
or optative sense, and explain ver. 3 as, a Mes-
sianic prophecy of the future glory of God's
people, expressed also in ver. 4, in the form of a
wish, or as a promise that God would choose the
heathen as an inheritance of this people. But as
the form of expression is different in Ps. ii. 8,
and the "choosing" in this connection is
objectionable, Hupfeld proposes to read in"}2
instead of iriT i. e. may He enlarge for us our
inheritance with the subjugated people of Ca-
naan.
[Perowne : Vers. 3, 4. There is considerable
difficulty in satisfactorily explaining these verses.
They seem, at first sight, to refer to the past —
to the destruction of the Canaanites and the es-
tablishment of Israel in the promised inheritance.
So the LXX, Jerome, Vulg., Calvin. Luther
makes the first verb future. Our Version ren-
ders both a,s future. Hupfeld translates both as
optatives, and in the case of the first verb this
seems required by the form (but see Is. 1. 9). —
According to this view " the inheritance " cannot
refer to the Holy Land immediately, but to the
nations who are to be gathered into it. — There
Is, however, a difl&culty still, even with this ex-
20
planation. The word " choose " is not the word
we should expect. It seems awkward to say
" May he choose," etc., instead of " May he make
the nations our inheritance." Hence Hupfeld
proposes to read (see above), but there is no
support for such a conjecture either in Mss., or
Versions. I am inclined therefore with Ewald,
Heng., Bunsen to take both verbs as presents
(which the previous context seems to require)
either as referring to a recent act of God, or to
a continued act. — J. F.]
Vers. 5-9. God is gone up "with a shout.
The display of God's power on earth in special
judgments and deliverances are described as a
" descending from His throne : " so when his de-
signs have been accomplished, He is said to " re-
turn " to it (Gen. xvii. 22 ; Jud. xiii. 20 ; Pss. vii.
8; Ixviii. 19). This throne "high and lifted up,"
(Is. vi. 1), is a symbol of His universal govern-
ment (Is. Ixvi. 1 ; Ps, ciii. 19), and as it is God's
throne, it properly takes the predicate "holy,"
like the temple in Pss. v. 8 ; xi. 4. This ascen-
sion, or "going up" is attended by the joyful
voices of the delivered people, and the music of
trumpets and cornets (Amos ii. 2; Ps. xcviii. 6;
1 Chron. xv. 28.) The celebration of this victory
begun (2 Chron. xx. 26), in the valley of Bera-
chah (valley of Praise) shall continue without
ceasing. It is designed to awaken in the Church
a spiritual frame of mind by means of instructive
and devotional songs (Maskil is erroneously taken
as an adverb by Sept., Vulg., and some critics),
and to produce the same effect on those Gentiles
who having been admitted to the blessing of
Abraham, have been, with the Israelites, consoli-
dated into the one people of God. — The word
" Princes" ver, 9, is to be taken not in a moral
but a political sense. These "princes " are also
designated as "shields," i.e. protectors (Hos.
iv. 18; Ps. Ixxxiv. 10). Here they are assem-
bled to do homage in the name of their people, —
not however as oonquered princes, not simply
to take part in the triumphant festivities (De
Wette, 01s.), nor simply to ratify the election of
a king as in 2 Sam. vi. 1, 2, (Rosen.), but to make
their joint submission to the government of God,
and to confess their fellowship with His people.
Neither here nor in ver. 2, is there any reference
to the headsof the Jewish tribes as the "shields"
of the land (Cler., Gesen). There is no need of
inserting D^' before D^ i. e. with the people,
(Hitz., 01s.); nor of the reading D^ =with the
God of Abraham (Older Versions except Chald.,
Syr., Kimchi, Flamin, Ewald). We may not
translate "to the people" (Calv., and others),
whether we supply h or 7K, (Geier, Rosen.),
or take it as an accusative (Heng.). The safest
way and most accordant with gramatical rules,
is to regard it as in apposition (Symm., Jer., J.
H. Mich., Stier, De Wette, Hupf.).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. All people are called upon humbly to adore
and joyfully to praise God. God is the governor
of the whole world, and of all its dominions,
His omnipotent acts prove that He rules in all
lands, that with a mighty hand and in a right-
eous way, punishes and protects, casts down and
306
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
lifts up. As God's chosen people are the special
recipients of the blessings of His government,
they arc bound first of all to raise the sound of
triumph, and to invite and instruct other nations
to join in their songs of praise, and to serve the
Lord,
2. Each blessing and revelation of God given
to His Church is an occasion for a hymn of
praise, and a grateful confession of His glory.
Never can she, never dare she forget or conceal
th6 fact that His love is the ground of her elec-
tion, and the cause of her salvation. But she is
especially urged to give thanks with heart, hand
and voice, when God not only gives her victory
over her enemies, but also protects and confirms
her in the promised inheritance. For thereby
God makes an actual revelation of His majesty,
and shows that while graciously condescending
to His people. He still governs the world, on His
heavenly throne.
3. There is a distinction to be made between
God's general government of the world, and that
special one — the theocracy — which He estab-
lished on earth, in and through the seed of
Abraham. Even in the imperfect and typical
form which it assumes in Old Testament history
this is described as His descending to the earth,
and His ascending to heaven. This theocracy,
insignificant as was its origin in Israel has a
world-embracing destination. It shall gather
into itself all nations, who, as one people of God
shall serve and adore one and the same heavenly
King; and their princes shall accomplish those
purposes which God has ordained for them, viz.,
to be tlie leaders of their people to salvation, and
their protectors in the service of God.
HOMTLETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
How should the Church express her gratitude
for the triumphant ascension of the Lord? — Not
until the Lord has effected tiie design of ,His
coming down to the earth, will He ascend again
to His heavenly throne. — Although God is the
Lord of the whole world, yet in condescension to
human wants, He allows His kingdom on earth to
begin in the form of servitude. Though small
and feeble in its beginning, the kingdom of God
will victoriously spread itself over the whole
world. — The God of Abraham has His throne in
heaven ; yet He visits His people from thence,
and rules the whole world. The praises of God
should be not only loud and cheerful, but ren-
dered in such a way also as to instruct and edify,
— Oh ! that all men would join in the praise of
God, — that all princes would bind themselves to
the service of God ; and that all people would
come together as the people of God. — Nations
should not forget that God has ordained rulers
over them ; but rulers should remember that
they have a Lord in heaven, and a duty to per-
form on earth, and that they can discharge the
latter properly, only by serving the former. —
The people of God may well render grateful
praise to their heavenly king, for His love is the
ground of their election, and His protection the
pledge of their security. — Luther : A prophecy
concerning Christ, that He should ascend on
high, and become a king of the whole world, not
by means of the sword, but only through glad-
some songs, and the sound of trumpets, i. e., the
joyful preaching of the Gospel.
Stakke: Though only a small part of mankind
adores Jesus as the King of grace. He is never-
theless Lord of the universe, and will be here-
after fully revealed as such. — The kingdom of
this world has its pleasures, as well as the king-
dom of Christ, but those of the latter are by far the
noblest and most precious, since they come from
God, and shall endure throughout eternity. — The
inheritance which God gives to His faithful ones
is the glorious blessing of Jacob, or all the pro-
mises of the kingdom of grace and glory. — There
is no greater purpose to which man can apply
his reason and wisdom, than to constant medita-
tion, how he may live in honor before his Divine
Lord. — Wherever we may be we are still under
the supreme rule of God. — The Gospel does not
abolish the order of nobility that bears shields
and helmets, but those belonging to it should be
all the more intent to become and remain faith-
ful subjects of the kingdom of Christ. — Great
lords claim to be such, " by the grace of God ; "
for this reason, they should humble themselves
under His mighty hand, should love and honor
Him and His word, and should be as nursing
fathers to His Church. Is. xlix. 23. — Osiandek:
By meditation upon the glory of the Lord,
We should indeed humbly and obediently sub-
mit to Him, and under all circumstances seek
His aid. — Selnecker : A thanksgiving for
Christ's kingdom, and its eternal spiritual bless- •
ings. — Franke: The shadows of the Old Testa-
ment point to the realities of the New. — Ren-
schel: 0 ! King of the world, grant that all the
nations of the earth may be converted unto Thee,
that we may render thanks to Thy name. —
Frisch: The designation of princes as "shields
of the earth," should remind rulers as well as
subjects of their respective duties. — Richter:
( Family Bible). All nations shall finally surround
Israel, as an ornament. — Tholuck : The earth
belongs unto the Lord, though its inhabitants
have hitherto neglected to do Him homage. —
Guenther: God's dominion over the whole
world is presented as the ground of joy ; the
occasion that calls it out is the victory of God's
people over the heathen ; and the result of this
victory and grateful joy, is the increased cer-
tainty of their election. — Diedricii: The object
that awakens our deepest and eternal joy is at
once the Supreme Majesty, and a consuming fire
to all His obstinate foes. — Taube : A call upon
all people for a song of joy to Israel's God, who
by His victory and ascension on high has proved
Himself to be King over all the earth, and over
the heathen.
[Henry : Here is a needful rule. Ver. 7. Sing
ye praises with understanding. 1. Intelligently;
as those that do yourselves understand why
and for what reasons you praise God, and
what is the meaning of the service. This is the
Gospel rule (1 Cor. xiv. 15). To sing with the
spirit and the understanding also. It is only with
the heart that we make melody unto the Lord
Eph. V. 19. It is not an acceptable service, if it
be not a reasonable service. 2. Instructively ;
as those that desire to make others understand
God's glorious perfections, and to teach them to
praise Him. — Soott: The universal and absolutt
PSALM XLV[IL
807
sovereignty of our holy God would be most terri-
ble to every sinner, were it not administered by
His incarnate Son from a mercy-seat; but now,
it is terrible to the obstinate workers of iniquity
alone. — If we are the chosen people of God,
and His love and grace have made us more ex-
cellent than our unbelieving neighbors, we may
be sure He has chosen for us a more honorable
and excellent inheritance than all the kingdoms
of the world, and that He will prepare our souls
for that inheritance, by every dispensation here
on earth. — J. F.]
PSALM XLVIIL
A Song and Psalm for the sons of Kordh.
Great ia the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, in the mountain of his holinesfc
2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is mount Zion, on the sides of the north.
The city of the great King.
3 God is known
In her palaces for a reftige.
4 For, lo, the kings were assembled,
They passed by together.
5 They saw it, and so they marvelled ;
They were troubled, and hasted away.
6 Fear took hold upon them there,
And pain, as of a woman in travail.
7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish
With an east wind.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God :
God will establish it for ever. Selah.
9 "We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God,
la the midst of thy temple.
10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise
Unto the ends of the earth :
Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let mount Zion rejoice,
Let the daughters of Judah be glad,
Because of thy judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her:
Tell the towers thereof !
13 Mark ye well her bulwarks,
Consider her palaces ;
That ye may tell it to the generation following.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever :
He wUl be our guide even unto death.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
_ Contents and Composition. — The introduc-
tion, in which the great God and His glorious
city are praised (vers. 1, 2), is followed (vers.
3-8) by a description of the deliverances of the
city from threatened danger, eflfected by Jeho-
vah, who disperses its terrified enemies. Vers.
9, 10 contain the expressions of gratitude for
this interposition, while in vers. 11-14 the peo-
ple are exhorted to guard all parts of the city,
so that its safety may be manifest to all, and
'thus the glory of God be revealed to coming
generations, to confirm their faith in His
guidance. There are many points of resem-
blance between these verses and Is. xxii. 29-33,
but they do not warrant our supposing the Psalm
to have been written by that Prophet. Still less
can we imagine that the author belonged to the
608
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
party in opposition (i. e. to the delivered city),
and that the occasion of it waa the siege of Jeru-
salem by the allied forces of Israel and Syria,
which was frustrated by Tiglath Pileser, (Cred-
ner, G. Baur). We are uncertain whether the
occasion of it was the siege by Sennacherib, in
the tinoe of Hezekiah, (Calvin, De Wette, Hitzig,
Ewald, Hupf.), or the victory gained by Jehosa-
phat over the allied kings named in 2 Chron.
XX., (Rosen., Hengst., Del.). The older Chris-
tian expositors apply the Psalm to the eternal
glory of the spiritual 2ion» while the Eabbins
take it to be descriptive of Jerusalem in the
Messianic times, after the victory over Gog and
Magog.
Vers. 2, 3. Beautiful for situation (in ele-
vation.) The terras "perfection of beauty," "the
joy of the whole earth," are taken as a single cu-
mulritive one in Lam. ii. 15, perhaps with refer-
enc3 to this passage, and Ps. 1. 2 ; Is. Ix. 15 ;
Ezek. xvi. 14; xxiv. 25. The word ^U was mis-
understood by the ancients, and is wrongly ren-
dered by Luther, (after the Chald. and Jerome),
" Zweiglein"=little branch. That it has the
sense of " elevation " is established by a com-
parison with the Arabic. That a geographical
elevation is not meant is obvious from Ps. Ixviii.
17, where th^i high hills of Bashan are. said to
envy the hill of Zion on account of its superior
loftiness. (Comp. also Is. ii. 2; Ezek. xl. 2;
Rev. xxi. 10). So too " the sides of the north,"
translated by Hitzig " the corner of the north,"
and by Hengstenberg and Hupfeld " the extreme
north," must be understood not in a topographic
but a religious sense ; as in Is. xiv. 13, where
the mountain of God lies on the sides of the
north. This mythologic idea in the last named
passage comes from the lips of the Chaldean
king, and cannot be at once transferred to the
Biblical writers. Nor does Ezek. v. 6 accord
with it, for here Jerusalem is placed in the
midst of the nations and countries round about
her. So in Ezek. xxxviii. 6, 15 ; xxxix. 2 the
extreme north is the residence of Gog and
Migog. Now Mount Zion is not here compared
to the supposed mountain homes of the gods of
the Asiatic nations in the far north, nor is it
presented as realizing that of which ttie heathen
dreamed, (Hengst., Ewald, Hitzig and others).
Both the phrase and the context suggest a defi-
nite locality. It cannot, however, be the "north
side of the city," (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Calvin,
etc. ), since Mount Zion is its most southerly hill ;
nor can the meaning be " on the north side lies
the city," (Luther, Rosen., etc.), for this does not
agree with the order of the words. These are
in opposition, not with "joy," as if Zion were
the joy of the remote north, i. e. the most dis-
tant nations (Gesen., De Wette), but with
"Zion." The temple hill is thus designated as
being the northeastern corner, or northern angle
(Delitzsch, Schegg,) of Mount Zion, and so giv-
ing a reason for the name of the city itself. This
explanation is plainer than that of " in the ex-
treme north the city of the Great King," (Hup-
feld). Since Zion is thus contrasted with an-
other mountain in the south, on Which God ap-
peared, viz., Sinai, to strike out the words
that are obscure, as Olshausen proposes, is not
admissible.
[Stanley: Beautiful in elevation. To the
traveller approaching Jerusalem from the west
or east, it must have always presented the ap-
pearance, beyond any other capital of the then
known world — we may add, beyond any impor-
tant city that has ever existed on the earth — of
a mountain city; breathing, as compared with
the sultry plains of the Jordan or of the
coast, a mountain air ; enthroned, as compared
with Jericho, or Damascus, Gaza or Tyre, on a
mountain fastness. — Peeowne : The sides of the
north. The question is to what particular part
of it the words refer. (1.) Now Jerusalem it-
self did not lie on the north, but on the south
side of the elevated table land. But the Temple
did lie north, i. e., northeast of the city; and as
the Temple was, in a peculiar sense, the dwell-
ing-place of God, the Psalmist may have desig-
nated this when he spoke of the " sides of the
north," the expression being sufficiently accu-
rate for the purpose of poetry. Hence we have
the Holy City regarded from three diiferent
points of view, viz.: "the Mount Zion." (the
city of David), " the sides of the north," (Mount
Moriah and the Temple), "the city of the Great
King," (Jerusalem proper). Compare Matt. v.
35. (2.) If, however, Zion be the peak now
leveled on the north of the Temple mount, as
Furguson and Thrupp suppose, " the Mount
Zion (on) the sides of the north " may be the
true rendering here. And this, too, might pecu-
liarly be called "beautiful for situation," as it
was the highest point of the whole plateau, and
that which would most readily strike the eye.
(8.) Another reason may be suggested why the
north should be especially mentioned, because an
enemy approaching like the Assyrians, would
obtain their first view of the city on that
side.— J. F.]
Vers. 4-8. They passed by together. — The
enemies, designated by the article as the well-
known kings who had assembled according to
agreement at a certain place (comp. Josh. xi. 5;
Ps. Ixxxiii. 4) passed by all at once, over the
boundary. Judges xi. 29; 2 Kings viii. 21; Is.
viii. 9, (Ancient Versions, Rabbins, Kb'ster,
Ewald, Hitzig, Del.). It is grammatically admis-
sible to take *13^ in the sense of disappear,
(Calvin, Rosen., De Wette, Hengst., Hupf.), but
tliis rendering presents, instead of a fitting pic-
ture, immediately the result of an unsuccessful
enterprise, the details of which are then given.
If the reference be to the attack in the time of
Jehosaphat, we must suppose that the allies were
encamped about three miles from Jerusalem, in
the desert of Tekoah, whence they had a view of
the holy city, and where God caused a great
terror to fall upon them (1 Sam. xiv. 15). The
annihilation in ver. 8 is not alarm (Rosen.), nor
flight (De Wette), but the figure expressing it
must have been suggested by the remembrance
of the foundering of the commercial fleet sent
out by Jehosaphat in union with Abaz, (1 Kings
xxii. 49; 2 Chron. xx. 36). But it is by no
means necessary to adopt this view, for ships
are elsewhere used as symbols of worldly
powers. The ships of Tarshish, as the largest
and strongest of their class, are figures of
mighty powers, Is. xxxiii. 21, 23. The east
wind (Job xxvii. 21) illustrates the power ot
PSALM XLVIII.
309
God iu overthrowing His enemies (Jer. xviii. 17),
because it so frequently scattered the strongest
ships, (Is. xxvii. 8 ; Ezek. xxvii. 26; Amos iv.
9; Jonah iv. 5). Hence there seems to be no
special reason for supposing tha^ there is an al-
lusion to the destruction of an actual hostile
fleet (Koster, Hitzig), but only that there is here
a well-known illustration of the omnipotence of
God. As the sentence is not joined to the pre-
ceding one by a particle of comparison, we need
not take the verb as a third person feminine=:
"like as by an east wind which destroys,"
(Kimchi, Rosen., De Wette). It is better to re-
gard it as a second person masculine, making
God the subject of it, (the Ancient Versions, Cal-
vin, Geier, and most others). In this case it
would be proper to place here the beginning of
a strophe, which, comprising all that has been
thus far said, would make, in contents and
structure, a good transition to the section in
which God is directly addressed.
[Pekowne: As we have heard, ver. 8. — This
tnarvellous deliverance is but a fresh proof, in
our own experience, of that wonder-working
Love, which in the days of old had so often
manifested itself in Israel. The things which
our fathers have told us, we have now witnessed
wiih our own eyes, (compare Ps. xliv. 1). And
therefore, also, the present is regarded as a
pledge of the future. — J, F.]
Vers. 9-14. We have thought. — The idea
here is that of contemplation, reflecting, and
comparing, rather than that of hopeful expecta-
tion, (Sept., Syr., Syra., Jerome). The Rabbins
are divided on this point. The Temple is named
as being the place in which God had revealed
His grace (Calvin, Hupfeld), or rather, as the
plac^ in which ihe Church commemorated that
grace, by songs of praise (Hengst. Ewald), or
by the solemn services which preceded the
marching forth to battle, mentioned in 2 Chron.
XX. The "daughters of Judah " are not virgins
who take part in the festive dance (De Wette,
Ols.), but other outlying cities and villages, (Ps.
Ixix. 30; Josh. xv. 45 ; Is. xl. 9). The exhorta-
tion carefully to consider and look about the
city, which has remained inviolate, is not ad-
dressed ironically to the enemies (Geier, Sachs.,
Hitz.), but seriously to the inhabitants. The
reading nVny (on the bulwarks), found in many
old editions, ancient versions, and in 18 Codd,
of De Rossi, also occurs in Zech. ix. 4. If
Mappik be omitted, we must insert a softened
sufl&x, (Ewald, Gram. § 247). There is no proof
that jpa has the sense of '• to elevate," (Luther,
following Jewish tradition) ; nor is it quite cer-
tain that its meaning is " to regai'd a thing part
by part, to consider attentively," (De Wette,
Hengst., Ewald, Hitz.). The sense "to walk
through," derived from that of "to intersect,"
{viz.: a vineyard in which there is no way), is
based on a passage in the Talmud. The demon-
strative pronoun is occasionally though rarely
placed before the noun, (Ewald, Gram. § 293). It
is not necessary, therefore, to translate ver. 14
" that here is God " (Hupf ) ; nor " for this is
God," (De Wette, Ols., Bott., Ewald, Hitz.). In
this case " this" must be taken in the sense of
"such," since the allusion was not to God, but
to the city (Camp.). The concluding phrase,
nW~7j^T, might be rendered " the point of death"
(Ges., Hengst.); or "until death" (Hupfeld,
Kimchi, and most others). But the latter ex-
pression would be unusual, and is liable to mis-
conception, whilst the former would be more ap-
propriate. For the reference is not to persons,
but a community, and the allusion is not to
dying, but the deliverance of the city, and the
joy caused by it to the whole earth, as well as
the renewed trust in the Divine guidance. We
should look for something to indicate the dura-
tion of that guidance, which forever secured ihe
stability of the people. The rendering, there-
fore, should not be " beyond death," (Syriac,
Mendelssohn, Stier), which would give the idea
of personal immortality — adavaaia (Aquila), but,
away past death, i. e. destruction (Campb.). It
cannot be denied, however, that the idea which
Hengstenberg finds here, viz.: that God delivers
from the danger of death (Hab. i. 12; Pss. xlix.
16; Ixviii. 21 ; Ixxxv. 7), and saves His people
from destruction, would be unusual and obscure.
The same may be said of the rendering " in the
eternities," (Sept., Chald., Symra., Aben Ezra,
J. H. Mich., Ewald). This sense would suit,
but it supposes the reading to be PiniJl, (found
in 1 Cod. Kenn. ), which occurs only in later and
non-biblical Hebrew. It is, however, not impos-
sible that thisformof the word may stand in place
of D'oViy. But Luther's version, derived from
■ T •
the Chald., " like the youth," or " like the vir-
gins," or " in youthfulness," is objectionable,
partly because it is foreign to the context, and
partly because it would require the particle D or
2 to be supplied. The reading fllD/J.', found in
many ancient Codd. and early editions, must be
very old, because moat of the earliest versions, iu
the main, express the same idea. Under these
circumstances we may suppose that these words,
like those in Ps. ix. are a mark (Hitzig) to indi-
cate the kind of music to be used, here as in
Hab. iii. 19 placed exceptionally at the end in-
stead of the beginning of the hymn (Del.) ; or
as indicating the sort of verse (Bottcher). The
rythm implies that nothing (Hitzig), rather than
that something (Del.) has been omitted.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God protects not only His people, but the
city in which they dwell. He guards the very
house in which they call upon Him. But He
means that they should recognise this, should
trust His watchfulness and power, should be
grateful for His help and goodness to them, and
by proclaiming what He has done, induce others,
especially their descendants, to exercise a like
faith. For God is the same, yesterday, to-day,
and forever. This God is our God.
2. The glory of the hill of Zion where God
revealed Himself, and the beauty of Jerusalem,
as God's city, symbolized the glory of the
Church. God's promise of protection to Jeru-
salem, the display of His power and goodness in
regard to her and the whole land, and the
solemn commemorative festivals of which she was
the theatre, may all be regarded as types. In
310
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
the physical elevation, the Psalmist sees an
image of the spiritual, and so far only has it any
significance to him. Only when Jerusalem is
contemplated with the spiritual eye, does she
appear so lovely that she ought to be a joy to
the whole earth, Ezek. xvi. 14. What the hea-
then dreamed about a mountain of gods, is only
true of the hill of Zion. Its roots are on the
earth, but its summit is in heaven (Hengst.).
3. From the beginning, God's workg have
made known His name and His praise ove» all
the earth, but Zion is the place where His glory
has been specially manifested. This is the cen-
tral point of His historical revelations. And
from this spot the triumphal proclamation of
His name shall go forth throughout the world ;
so that not only in the Promised Land but to the
ends of the earth, the latest generation shall
praise that God who hears prayer, who exercises
justice to the joy of His people, who is their
guide, helper, and protector.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Where God's name is known, His help will be
experienced and His praise proclaimed. — What
does God do for His people, and what gratitude
does He receive ? — Zion's beauty is a symbol and
a type. — The contemplation of God's doings
should lead us and others to proclaim His glory,
and should strengthen our faith. — What we have
heard of God we may ourselves experience, for
He remains ever the same. — Protected by God,
we can resist all attacks ; guided by Him, we
can never perish. — How, and by what means
does God eternally preserve His city ? — Is the
joy produced by God's help as great as the fear
of His chastisement? — The gradual development
of the praises of God from generation to genera-
lion. — The protection and eternal maintenance
of the city of God though His powQj, and watch-
fulness, and grace.
Calvin : There is no nook so hidden that the
wisdom, justice, and goodness of God are not
displayed in it. — But as He means to make His
perfections specially visible to Hia Church, the
Psalmist holds up before our eyes the mirror in
which His image is seen.
Starke: We should magnify and praise the
Great God by a proper confession of His grace,
and reverence for His holy name. — The greatest
ornament to any place, and the source of its
purest joy, is to have a church and to maintain
divine service. — How many earthly palaces are
to-day the holy places of the Most High? — How
many lords recognize Him as their Supreme
Lord ? — When the promises of God's word are
fulfilled in our experience, then our faith in that
word is gloriously confirmed. — The Christian's
best thoughts are those arising from the view of
God's goodness, for then his heart becomes a
holy temple of the Lord. — Why should not be-
lievers rejoice over God's judgments ? — Are they
not all designed to glorify God, to comfort His
people, to weaken and destroy His enemies? —
Osiandbe: Though faith is founded on God's
word, and not on our experience, yet this faith
is strengthened when our experience actually
agrees with the promises of that word, — •
Fkanke : The predictions of the Old Testament
concerning Zion and Jerusalem are fulfilled in
you who believe in Him who is established the
true King on Mount Zion. — Renschel: God is
the shield of His Church. — Frisch : In the
Church of God we are safe, not only because He
is her protector, but because her members pos-
sess the most excellent gifts. — Burk : As Thy
name is so is Thy praise. — Vaihingeb : The
great deliverance should be made known to pos-
terity, as a testimony to the everlasting covenant.
— Tholdck : When God's grace mightily inter-
poses in our temporal affairs, our faith will be-
come all the stronger in a blessed eternity. —
Goenthek; God leads us not into, but through
and beyond death. — Dxedrich : We are His peo-
ple only because we accept Him as our protector ;
whoever looks for another protector, has already
separated himself from His people. — Our true
courage consists in allowing ourselves truly to
be helped by God, and in genuine trust in Him,
who alone can do that by which His kingdom
on earth is organized and preserved. — Taube:
The city of God under the guardianship of her
protector 1 a joy of the whole earth! a terror
for her enemies I an everlasting remembrance to
His people ! Come and see 1 this is the way —
through experience to knowledge.
[Henry: The clearer discoveries are made to
us of God and His greatness, the more it is ex-
pected we should abound in His praises. — God
can dispirit the stoutest of His Church's enemies,
and soon put them in pain who live at ease. —
God's latter appearances for His people, against
His and their enemies, are consonant to His
former appearances, and should put us in mind
of them. — In the great things that God has done,
and is doing, for His Church, it is good to take
notice of the fulfilling of the Scriptures, and this
would help us the better to understand both the
providence itself, and the Scripture that is ful-
filled in it. — All the streams of mercy that flow
down to us must be run up to the fountain of
God's loving-kindness. — 1. If God be our God,
He is ours forever, not only through all the agea
of time, but to eternity ; for it is the everlasting
blessedness of glorified saints that God Himself
will be with them, and will be their God. — 2. If He
be our God, He will be our Guide, our faithful,
constant Guide, to show us our way, and to lead
us in it; He will be so even unto death, which
will be the period of our way, and will bring us
to our rest. He will be our Guide above death,
so some. He will so guide us as to be above the
reach of death, so that it shall not be able to
do us any real hurt. He will be our Guide be-
yond death, so others. He will conduct us safe
to a happiness on the other side of death, to a
life in which there shall be no more death. If
we take the Lord for our God, He will conduct
and convey us safe to death, through death, and
beyond death ; down to death, and up again to
glory. — J. F.]
PSALM XLIX.
311
• •
PSALM XLIX.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
Hear this, all ye people ;
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world :
2 Both low and high,
Rich and poor, together.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom ;
And the meditation of my heart shall he of understanding.
4 I will incline mine ear to a parable :
I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about ?
6 They that trust in their wealth,
And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother.
Nor give to God a ransom for him ;
8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious.
And it ceaseth for ever :)
9 That he should still live for ever,
And not see corruption.
10 For he seeth that wise men die,
Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever,
And their dwelling-places to all generations ;
They call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not :
He is like the beasts that perish.
13 This their way is their folly :
Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave ; death shall feed on them ;
And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning ;
And their beauty shall consume
In the grave from their dwelling
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave:
For he shall receive me. . Selah.
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich,
When the glory of his house is increased ;
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away :
His glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul,
(And men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself,)
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers ;
They shall never see light.
20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not.
Is like the beasts that perish.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Exposition. The Psalmist
in a solemn preface (vers. 1-4), addresses all
persons without distinction of residence, race,
or position in life. He calls upon them to attend
to his voice — which is accompanied by his harp
— because he means to teach them an important
truth, salutary to all, — a truth, which he him-
312
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
self, a disciple of wisdom, has learned by reve-
lation, and has received into his heart. This
Maschal discusses the problem of temporal happi-
ness, and the prosperity of the ungodly, and is
therefore related to Ps. xxvii. and Ixxiii. The
fundamental idea is, that the pious have no
ground to fear under such circumstances in this
transitory world, because the rich man cannot
with all his gold purchase exemption from death,
but by his vanity and folly becomes more and
more like mere brutes that perish, while the just
man by God's grace is delivered from the power
of the grave. This thought is expressed in two
strophes, each of which terminates with a verse
in almost the same words. In these strophes
the relations of the thought and the parts of the
verses are so artistically interwoven that in the
first strophe the Psalmist testifies to his own
fearlessness, and in the middle of the second
exhorts others to be equally courageous, while
in each of the two places there is a sort of con-
clusion marked by Selah. His language is
terse, pithy, and sometimes rough. The phrases
are pointed, now and then bold, and in some
places obscure, while the structure of the sen-
tences is peculiar, having here and there a kind
of artistic intricacy. There are great difficulties
in some passages of the present text, which are
nearly unintelligible, owing probably, to mis-
takes of transcribers. If so, however, they must
be very ancient, since the oldest translators
were evidently perplexed by them, and propose
very senseless explanations.
Vers. 1-4. Hear this. — A like solemn call oc-
curs Deut. xxxii. 1 ; 1 Kings xxii. 28 ; Mic. i. 2 ; Job
xxxiv. 2. The "world" — Cheled — (seePs. xvii.
1-4), is not heaven and earth or the world of
space, but an existence — a something — which
has its course in time. In ver. 3, the gradation
of the ideas of wisdom and understanding is ex-
pressed in the plural form, as is often done in
the Proverbs of Solomon. — " I will open," ver. 4,
refers not to the solution but the statement of
the problem, since heart and mouth are opened.
Ps. cix. 80; Amos viii 5; Prov. xxvi. Such a
combination of problem and maxim we also find
in Ps. Ixxviii. 2; Prov. 1. 6. — Playing on the
harp harmonizes with the soul's vibrations, and
the latter are both expressed and excited by it.
2 Kings iii. 16.
[Perowne: The world; the term here used is
that which indicates its temporary, fleeting
character. — Alexandek : The word translated
world means primarily duration or continued ex-
istence; then more specifically, human life,i)iQ
present state of things ; and by a natural transi-
tion, the world as the place where it is spent. —
Perowne. Wisdom, — tinderstanding . In the Heb.
these words are plural, but apparently not so
used with any intensification of meaning. — In
the second clause of the verse, I have supplied
*lhe copula "is," for notwithstanding Hupfeld's
remark to the contrary, I cannot think it a natu-
ral construction, to repeat the verb from the first
clause: " The meditation of my heart shall speak
of understanding." — J, F.].
Ver. 5. The iniquity of my heels (or my sup-
planters, or of those who have trodden on me).
This explanation of the phrase (Syriac and most
others) suggests the meaning of "evil days — days
of adversity," i. e. not adverse times simply, but
those in which bad men abuse their power and
wealth (Geier and others). This explanation
agrees best with the " fear" mentioned in vers.
5, and 16. The rendering (Sept., Chald., Symm.,
Jer., Rabb., and others), "guilt or sin of my
heels," is not only obscure (for what sin is meant),
but ambiguous, for we would naturally think of
his own sin, which does not accord with the mean-
ing of the passage. At any rate " heels " cannot
be taken for "steps "^missteps. Ifthe"heels"
be regarded as the object of the persecution and
the waylaying (Calv., Hup., Ortenberg), the
image used is unnatural, and many transposi-
tions are necessary to bring out the sense, —
when the iniquity upon my heels, i. e. on all
sides, compass me about.
[Alexanuee: The iniqtiity of my oppressors [or
supplanters) . The word translated oppressors
commonly means heels; but as this yields no
good sense here, it may be taken as a verbal
noun, meaning either traders, tramplers, oppres-
sors or supplanters, traitors, in a seuse akin to
which the verbal root is used Gen. xxvii. 36;
Hos. xii. 4. In either case, it is clearly a de-
scription of his enemies as practising fraud, or
violence against him. — Perowne: When iniquity
compasseth etc. Perhaps iniquity is supposed to
be lying, like a serpent in his path, ready to
fasten on the heel, as the most exposed and vul-
nerable part. — Barnes: The true idea is, when
I am exposed to the crafts, the tricks of those
who lie in wait for me; I am liable to be at-
tacked suddenly, or to be taken at unawares;
but what have I to fear? — J. F.].
Vers. 7-10. His brother. Instead of VHX
(his brother) which is generally used when re-
lated to Isch, we have simply nx as an accusa-
tive before the emphatic negative, which also
precedes the infinitive absolute. The stress
laid upon the impossibility of redeeming a
brother (?. e. a fellow-man) from death, instead
of himself, becomes the more remarkable, be-
cause we might expect his own redemption to be
mentioned. This, however can hardly be de-
duced from the suffix at the close of the following
]ine=his redemption (Hengsten. ) ; or redemption
for himself (Hitzig), although in the following
verse we have the comprehensive plural "their
souls." It is not necessary to adopt the reading
in some editions ^N, (Ewald, Olsh., Biittcher,)
and by changing the points in the verb that fol-
lows, to make it reflective, ^surely no one can
redeem himself. Nor can HN be taken as a
nominative, and subject of the sentence. (Luther
and others). The true idea here is, not simply
the solidarity of all men Godward (Hupfeld), but
rather the impossibility of redemption of any
one by the mutual assistance, or the united
efi^orts of men ; and thus we are prepared for the
subsequent declaration that God is the Redeem-
er.— Most critics take ver. 8, as a parenthesis,
but as this construction is harsh, it is better,
not to strike it from the text, as a gloss, (Orten-
berg), but to make ver. 9, dependent on it
(Kimchi, Flamin., Hengsten., Hupfeld), though
the connection between them is somewhat loose.
(Baur). The translation "because so precious
is the ransom price of the soul, that it is want-
PSALM XLIX.
818
ing forevermore " (Ewald, Koster, Maurer), is
admissible, (but needless), since the perfect
vin has this sense Ps. xxxvi, 4, "he has de-
sisted, ceased, removed himself." — The idea that
ver. 9, is a premise "though he still continue
to live forever" (Luther, Geier, Hitz.), and ver.
10, a conclusion from it "he shall see," cannot
be reconciled with the strong expression of living
forever. — Most interpreters take '3 (ver. 10), in
a causative sense, as explaining why he ceaseth,
i. e. because he sees that wise men die, (Isaki,
Luther, J. H. Michaelis). Others take this verse
as an antecedent (although he sees, eic.) to ver:
11, (it is still their delusion to dream of an eter-
nal home). But in direct discourse this particle
renders the contrast more emphatic. (Flamin.
De Wette, and most critics). It would be both
violent and unnecessary to strike out the words
"forheseeth" (Olshausen). There is nothing
to indicate that they aire the remains of a muti-
lated verse. They only stand in the woy of the
transposition of ver. 9, before ver. 8, and to the
exposition "and he (man) ceases (to be) forever."
[Alexandee: Ver. 8. And cosily is the ransom
of their soul, etc. This obscure verse admits of
several constructions. Their soul refers most
probably to the rich man and his brother. The
soul or life of b vth requires so much to ransom
it, that neither can redeem the other. The verb
in the last clause may mean ceases to live, perishes,
and agrees with either or with each of the sub-
jects previously mentioned. The ransom of
their life is so costly, that neither can be saved.
Or the verb may agree with ransom, as in the
Eng. Bible ; it is too costly to be paid, and
therefore ceases, or remains unpaid, forever.
The same sense substantially may be obtained
by making cease mean cease (or fail) to pay, and
construing it with one of the preceding nouns.
The ransom is so costly that he fails to pay it,
or ceases to attempt it forever. Upon any of
these various suppositions, the essential idea is
that the ransom of their life is too expensive to
be paid. — Pbrowne : Soul, i. e. as is evident from
the whole scope of the context here, "life." It
is much to be regretted that superficial readers
of the Psalm so often give a totally false meaning
to this and the preceding verse. The passage
has been alleged to prove that our Lord, as the
Redeemer of man, must be God as well as man.
The doctrine is most true, but it is not in the
Psalm, nor is there the remotest allusion to it.
All that is here taught is, that no wealth can
save a man from death, because the life of men
is not in their own hands, or in that of their
fellows, but only in the hand of God, who cannot
be bribed. There is a kind of solemn irony in
the idea of the richest man oflFering all his riches
to God, to escape death. — J. F.]
Vers. II, 12. Their inward thought, etc.
The expression is obscure if the ideabe that their
hearts are deluded by the belief that their houses
and descendants shall continue forever (Jerome,
Isaki, Luth., Calv,, and others). Still less can
the meaning be that the " houses " themselves
totally absorb their thoughts, as if the expres-
sion was parallel to that in Ps, xlv. 9, " all her
garments are myrrh" (Hupfeld), for this could
not be reconciled with the word "forever." But
as the heart is within us, and as the two phrases
" the heart " and " the inward thought"— 31p
— are synonymous (Ps. Ixiv. 7 ; 1 Kings iii. 28 :
Ex. xxxvi. 2), and as the word rendered "in-
ward thought," denotes both the organ and the
seat of thought (Ps. v. 10, Ixii. 6), it may here
express not the product of mental activity, i. e.
the delusion, but the essential activity of the
organ as such by which their inward thougbt is
filled. This activity here may be, not the
thought, but the wish, (Hengsten., Del., Hifzig),
— Nearly all the older versions give an entirely
different sense, for they read l!2p instead of
3^P . — The meaning "their graves are their
houses forever," or ironically, and better still
"their _graves are their perpetual houses"
(Ewald, Uls., Riehm), may be commended, since
the grave is proverbially called " the perpetual
house" Prov. xii. 5. [This is an error. There is
no such expression in the place named. The re-
ference must be to Eccles. xii. 5, " the long home
(or house)." — J. F.]. But the conjectural reading
on which this exposition is based, is not sustained
by a single MSS. Nor docs the closing sentence
read "they who were highly praised every-
where " (Ewald) ; nor " their names are cele-
brated in their lands," (Rosen., De Wette, Hit-
zig), but "they proclaim their names throughout
the lands " i. e. they call them after their nanies.
(The Old Trans., Rabbins, Sachs, Bottcher, Hup-
feld, Kurtz, Del.). For HDIX signifies the
cultivated earth, arable land, and the subject
must not be needlessly changed, while the for-
mula "to proclaim or call the name " may be
employed in various relations. — In ver. 12, | w"*
should not be changed to Vy as in ver. 20,
(Sept., Syr., Cappel, Ewald), nor should it be
substituted lor the latter word in ver. 20, (Ols.).
Parallel verses are n^t always perfectly asso-
nant ; and here the change in a single consonant
causes an ingenious play of words, [ohne Bestand,
ohne Verstand), — without continuance, without
intelligence. The special meaning "to continue
for a night" (Abeu Ezra, Stier, Hengsten.), may
be proper in Ps. xxx. 6, but not here, where |' 7
is equivalent to " abide " as in Prov. xix. 23.
[Alexander : Their inward thought, etc. The
plural form at the end of the sentence occurs no-
where else, but corresponds to our word grounds,
when applied to cultivated lands. — A possible
though not a probable construction makes the
last two mean upon earth, the form of the Hebrew
noun being assimilated to that of this particle
before it.— J. F.]
Ver. 13, This their way, etc. There is
no reason for transposing vers. 13 and 12 as
Hupfeld suggests. We must not translate it
" this their sentiment is their hope " (De Wette).
" Way " here does not signify moral conduct,
but the "way of faring" in the world, and this
not in the sense of " faring well," but of " faring
ill." Hence we must not render the verse " this
their doing is their foUy " (Aquil. Symm , Luth.,
Calv., and others ; nor " becomes to them a
folly," i. e. a foolish security (Chald., Stier).
The sense of " folly " has been derived from that
of " assurance " (Eccles. vii. 25); but here the
814
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
original meaning must be adhered to, which is
"a stubborn disposition" (Bottcher), manifest-
ing itself by "boasting" (Hitzig), and turning
out to be "folly." — There is no contrast in the
following verse, •' and, notwithstanding they fol-
low them " (Hengsten.) ; it is better to take it as
Bimply a continuation of the attributive seutence
(Del.) — In the more precise statement, it is not
said what will happen to them after death
(Ewald) ; nor to their descendants (Older Com-
ment.); but what may happen to those who imi-
tate them.
[Perowne : This their way. Both the meaning
and construction of this clause are doubtful. It
may mean (1) This their way [i.e. manner of
life, course of conduct) is their folly : or (2)
This their prosperous condition is (or becomes)
their infatuation (blind confidence) ; for kesel
may mean "a stupid security," or "pre-
sumptuous confidence," as well as "folly." As
regards the construction, it may be as above, or
the clause may consist of two independent sen-
tences. "This is their way; they have confi-
dence; " or finally, the latter part of it may be
a relative sentence: " This is the way of those
who are foolish." — J. F.].
Vers. 14-17. Like sheep, etc. This com-
parison indicates, on the one hand their want
of will and incapacity to resist, and on the other
hand, it suggests the idea that those who during
their life-time have fed in rich pastures, are now
driven into Sheol, like sheep into their fold at
night, and have Death, the king of terrors (Job
xviii. 14), as their Shepherd, i. e. their keeper
and master. (Geier, Isaki). The meaning is not
that death gnaws them (Vulg., Luther and
others), nor that he devours them as food. Job
xviii. 13, (J. H. Michaelis, Geier). — In the pro-
mise that " the upright shall have dominion over
them in the n.o .ning," it is easy to discover a
reference to the morning bf the resurrection, and
the universal reign of the saints iu union with
Messiah, (Isaki, Kimchi, Geier, Mendelsohn) ;
but this is not presented as a positive dogma, nor
as an express prediction (Older Expos.), but as
the result of that indefinite presentiment of the
future that marked Old Testament times (Slier);
— as a parable (ver. 4), exhibiting not the last
great day (Delitzsch), but the certain triumph
of the righteous over the ungodly. This is,
however, expressed in terms not only which
are applicable to the last judgment so clearly
revealed in the New Testament, but the whole
passage has a typical significance. It is, as
Ewald says, a glimpse of the Messianic hope. —
By "morning," (the word in the original occurs
in a sentence connected by a vav consec), we
are to understand not the morning of the resur-
rection, which shall come to all men after the
night of death, but the morning that dawns upon
the upright after the destruction of the ungodly.
It is the morning of the future illuminated by
the light of God's gracious countenance (Kurtz)
and not limited in duration, during which they
shall live by the power of God, while the wicked
are put beneath their feet, and given over to
death. The rendering " to tread " (instead of
" have dominion ") i. e. upon their proud graves
or corpses, needlessly weakens the statement,
which, though figurative, conveys more than the
simple contrast between the night of adversity
and the morning of deliverance, especially if
"morning" be taken to mean that which will
" very soon " occur, and the expression be con
nected with the following verse (Ewald, Hitzig),
which would give a better sense, though not in
conformity with the accents. According to the
present textual structure of the verse, only a
tolerable meaning can be got out of it, by a forced
and artificial exposition." Literally it would be,
" for their form (beauty) is to be devoured by
Sheol, out of the dwelling which is theirs," i e.,
they shall have no more a dwelling. If this ob-
scure passage be understood to mean that the form
of the deceased is devoured by Sheol, thus making
an end of its bodily beauty and earthly glory
with their former dwelling, (the Older Trans,
and Commen., and more recently Claus, Stier,
Del.), not only may it be asked why so simple
an idea should be expressed in a way so odd and
obscure, but the doubt might arise from this sin-
gle text of Scripture, whether the decomposition
of the human body that takes place in the grave,
is not transferred to Sheol. This doubt becomes
the stronger, since the explanation that there is
here a confusion of ideas about the grave, de-
composition, and the shadow life in Sheol (De
Wette, Hup.) cannot be admitted on the stand-
point of these expositors. Strictly speaking the
idea would better accord with the sense of the
first half of the sentence, that the form of the
dead, elsewhere represented as shadowy, will at
last be delivered over in Sheol to complete con-
sumption, i. e. annihilation (Hupfeld). But with
this, the second part of the sentence does not
agree, and the admission would hardly be satis-
factory, if a strange and illogical construction
(Kurz), — the assurance that in Sheol the well
known receptacle of the dead, the form of the
deceased is consumed — is followed by another
statement that in consequence of this consump-
tion the form had no longer a dwelling, while,
on the contrary, Sheol holds no longer any oc-
cupants. But if we hold that there is here a
contrast between the time when they fancied
they were building houses to last forever, and
that future period when they shall exist without
property, without bodies, and therefore in empty
space, the first half of the sentence must be un-
derstood to refer not to a consumption by, but
of Sheol, i. e. its destruction. (Isaki, Hofmann).
This passage however, is too weak a ground for
such an idea, which is nowhere else found in
the Old Testament. Equally pointless are the
attempts to explain the passage, by giving to 11J?
(Keri), the sense of "help" (Sept., Vulg.);
"defiance" (LiSther), or "rock." By referring
the word in its last named sense to Christ as the
"rock" of the righteous, who will destroy
the reign of Death by depriving him of his
place of abode (De Dieu and others), they
endeavor to get out of it a comforting eschato-
logic idea. If we make a slight change in the
points and accents (and on the whole this seems
to be the best solution) we get a simple and na-
tural meaning, viz. that their form is wasting
away, and that Sheol is their abode. (Ewald,
Hitzig). For Tjt; Is. xlv. 16, or "Hj;=m^i;
Ezek. xliii. 11, means "that which is made,"
" the structure," and DvS denotes the gradual
PSALM XLIX.
31^
but sure wasting of the body, Job xiii. 23. In-
stead of /??'3, some Codices omit the Dagescb,
and therefore lean to the explanation hy the
preposition jD — . There is no allusion in yer.
15, to God's protection against an early death
(De Wette, Kurtz) ; nor to his delivery from
some great danger that imperilled life. (Hengs.,
Hitzig), although it is proper to regard the
statement as contrasting the condition of the
godly and the ungodly, and as affirming that re-
demption by man is impossible (ver. 7). The
Certainty of redemption by God, from the hand
or the power of Sheol means deliverance from
that dominion of Sheol to which all men are lia-
ble. (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich., Clauss, Stier,
Hoffman). But it is not presented here as a
truth of which they were then conscious, but
rather as a glimpse and hope obtained by a bold
flight of faith. Nor is there any definite indi-
cation of the ransom price, nor of the way t^nd
manner of this deliverance. Still there is an
allusion to the " taking up" of Enoch, Gen. v.
24, and of Elijah, 2 Kings ii. 3, in the use of the
word np7 which, generally denotes, not *'to
take under one's protection," but "to take," i. e.
"takeaway" (AbenEzra, Kimchi), "take along,"
ver. 18, "take to oneself" (Isaki) Ps. Ixxiii.
24 ; Ixxix. 49 ; Hos. xiii. 14. As this word
in the imperf. follows a fut. imperf. it cannot
be regarded as a Preterite=" for he has taken
me." (Luther). It must be taken in an absolute
sense in a line which is all the more comprehen-
sive because of its brevity (Bottcher). For these
reasons we cannot approve the otherwise possi-
ble rendering "if" (Hitzig) or better still
" when" (Ewald) "it {viz. the hand of Sheol)
takes hold on me."
[Perownb : Vers. 14-15. We have in this pas-
sage the strong hope of eternal life with God, if
not the hope of a resurrection. In the very
midst of the gloomy picture which he draws of
the end of the ungodly, there breaks forth one
morning ray of light, the bright anticipation of
the final triumph of the good over the eviL This
is the inextinguishable hope which animates the
Church of the Old Testament, as well as that of
the New. Righteousness shall eventually, must
in its very nature, reign on earth. The wicked
shall find their end in Sheol (Ps. ix. 17, 18), and
the righteous shall trample on their graves.
This, and not more than this, seems to have been
the meaning originally of the Psalmist, in the
words, " And the righteous shall have dominion
over them in the morning." But now that he
comes to speak of himself, and his own personal
relation to God, he rises into a higher strain.
He who knows and loves God has the life of God,
and can never perish. That life must survive
the shock of death." " God," says the Psalmist,
"shall redeem my soul from the hand of Hades,
for He shall take me," as He took Enoch, and as
He took Elijah to Himself. We are not, of course,
to suppose that the Sacred Poet himself expected
to be taken up alive to heaven ; but those great
facts of former ages were God's witnesses to man
of his immortality, and of the reality of a life
with Him beyond this world. It is a hope based
OQ facts like these which here shines forth. It
is a hope, not a revealed certainty. It rests on
no distinct promise ; it has not assumed the
definite form of a doctrine. But it was enough
to raise, to cheer, to encourage those who saw
ungodliness prospering in the world. The end
of the wicked was, after all, a thick darkness
which had never been penetrated ; the ead of
the righteous, life with God. — J. F.].
Vers. 18-20. Though (or, it may be that) he
blessed his soul, etc. Many interpreters take
O in the sense of "because" (Syr.,Flamin.,Calv.,
Heng., Hup.) as indicating the reason why such
a termination must take place, still though the
sense of "yea when" or "even though" Is. i. 15,
(Del. and others), as granting something (Ewald,
Gram. 362), yet we prefer to understand it in a
hypothetic sense (as in ver. 16), as presenting a
possible case=" it may be that," 2 Sam. xvi. 10.
.(Hitzig) — To "bless his soul "is hardly =to
" bless him§elf in his heart " Deut. xxix. 19 " to
take his ease," (Syr., Flamin., and most others),
with the positive enjoyments, of eating and
drinking, (Hitzig). — In ver. 19, *in must be
understood, not as in the Arabic, in the rare
sense of " habitations," i. e. Sheol, Is. xxxviii.
12, (De Wette), but in the usual one of "gene-
rations," because it is more natural to make
" the soul" the subject of this sentence (Aben
Ezra, Kimchi, J. H. Mich., Sachs, Olshaus., Hoff-
man, Kurtz, Ewald, Del.,) than to suppose a di-
rect address to the rich, (Geier, Rosen., De
Wette, Hengsten., Hitzig) ; or to change KUn
into Nil; (Old Trans., Hupfeld).— To "see the
light " is a common expression for " to live "
Ps. Iviii. 9; Job iii. 16; Eccles. vi. 5, but the
"light" is not necessarily that of the sun,
(Hupfeld), unless it be the sun of eternal life. —
The common saying that men must perish like
the beasts, is changed into the more elevated
one, that only those who have not a right under-
standing of life shall perish like the beasts.
(Hofmann). There is no reason for giving the
conditional clause "if he understand not," a
positive sense as in Ps. xciv. 7, "and he regards
it not." (Hitzig).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is one of the mysteries of the Divine
government, that worldly men, often and for a
long time, enjoy so great prosperity that they
never think of the end, and are intent only to
increase their wealth, careless of God and His
will. This mystery may disturb even a gracious
soul, may fill it witJi fear and doubt, and lead it
astray, especially when it sees the godly suffer
in days of adversity, from the malice of the
worldly-minded, to such an extent that they
hardly know what to do. In such cases we want
an explanation that will satisfy all men ; and it
is a thought full of comfort that God has fur-
nished such a solution of the mystery, by the
mouth of those who have formerly inclined to
Him their ear.
2, To the godly — and to them alone — the con-
tents of this revelation are more comforting
than the form of it. For death puts an end to
the worldly man himself, and to all the things of
which he boasts, — an end from which all the
816
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS,
wealth of earth cannot ransom him ; — an end
full of shame, because he has made himself like
the irrational brutes, and he has no other pros-
pect before him than that of going down to
Sheol. The godly man shares, indeed, the uni-
versal lot of mortals, but in his personal life, he
is intimately united to God, and has a treasure
far more precious than perishable and deceitful
riches. If redemption from the power of Sheol
be possible, God only can eflFect it. And well
may the pious man rejoice that it is not merely
death that lays hands upon him, but God Him-
self, who will guide him in such a way that
through the night he shall come to the light, and
the morning of triumph.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
If we are led by God's word and held by His
hand, we need fear neither the worjd, nor sin,
nor death. — God conducts His own people into
the light, through the night of suffering, doubt,
and death. — Riches without God are not only an
uncertain but a deceitful good. — The world's
folly, and the wisdom from God. — The false
security of the children of this world, and the
needless fear of the godly. — The vanity of
wealth acquired and enjoyed without God. —
Poverty cannot disgrace, and misfortune cannot
harm, if we find and hold fast to God. — The
vanity of the worldly-minded man in his pur-
poses and life. — He will not listen to God, will
learn nothing salutary either in the world or
from the world.
Starke : Many wise sayings have been ut-
tered ; Oh, that the many would diligently
hear and act according to them ! — A Christian
needs heavenly wisdom to guide him in seeking
his salvation ; he needs an illuminated under-
standing in oi'der'that he may flee from all that
can injure his soul. — The proper use of music is
to further devotion and the honor of God. —
How great must be the Lord, who can gather all
nations before Him! in whose presence the
meanest beggar is of as much account as the
richest man on earth ! — The fear of man is the
first step towards apostacy from the known truth
of God; for this reason, a Christian, especially
a teacher, should not allow himself to be seduced
by it, but should contend against it with faith
and prayer. — Ungodly men are called oppressors,
because they act in an oppressive way, but here-
after they shall be so dealt with themselves. —
The ungodly rich men are foolish in supposing
that they are the sole owners of their posses-
sions: no, they are God's, and He can take them
away at any moment, even if they are many
kingdoms. ^-Great wealth easily begets pride
and forgetfulness of God ; hence, those to whom
God gives riches should keep their hearts with
all diligence. — The longest life on earth is noth-
ing, compared with eternity, yet our future state
depends upon our conduct in this life. If we
would be eternally happy, we must walk in con-
stant readiness for eternity. — A sinner cannot
redeem himself from death, much less from hell,
by his earthly possessions, nor by his own power.
— How different the judgments of God from
those of men ! How many bow down before the
rich and mighty, praise and pronounce them
happy, though their doings are in God's eyes,
simply folly and end only in misery! — Those
who in the day of grace are accepted by grace,
shall never be cast off. — Riches, sensual pleasure,
and worldly glory are the devil's dangerous
baits. Ah! beware of this poisonous sugar! —
The treasures which we cannot take with us
when we die are not the true ones; blessed,
therefore, is he who gathers spiritual treasures,
and aims to become rich in God. — Far better ia
it to be poor and pious, and retain God's grace
forever, than to be rich and ungodly, and bring
down upon ourselves God's eternal wrath. — In
the day of grace labor diligently to become a
child of light, and to walk as such, then you
shall, hereafter, see the light of God's counte-
nance forever. — Man's greatest dignity and
honor, is to have the Divine image renewed in
his soul by the Holy Ghost. But if forgetting
his Creator, he gives himself to vain things and
his own sensual appetites, he will sink almost
below the level of the brute. Saladin ordered a
long spear with a white flag attached to it to be
carried through his camp, having on it this in-
scription : <'The mighty King Saladin, the con-
queror of all Asia and of Egypt, takes with him
when he dies none of his possessions but this
linen flag for a shroud." The emperor Severus
exclaimed upon his death-bed: " Omnia fui, et
nihil mihi prodest." — Oscandbk : It is the duty of
all men to listen attentively to the word of God,
and to follow its precepts ; those who despise
that word shall perish. — Selnekker : All the
riches of the world are nothing compared with
that genuine treasure which believers possess
in their knowledge of a gracious God. — Menzel :
The preacher should ever see one Lord, and two
souls. The Lord is in heaven, and has called
him to his office. Him he must keep before his
eyes, regardless of men who trust in riches
which they cannot retain forever. The two
souls are described in Ezek. xxxiii. : one is the
sinner's, the other is the preacher's. He is re-
sponsible for the first, and must suffer for it, if
through his fault it be given over to condemna-
tion.— Franks : The proclamation of the word
of life should also produce life. — Renschel :
The service of mammon yields but a poor re-
ward. Be not deceived. — Frisch : Whatever a
child of the world most highly esteems, is noth-
ing but folly. — A man possessed of earthly
honors and happiness, if he be not wise in
Divine things — as few are in the hour of pros-
perity— will find his happiness quickly at an
end, and his future state very miserable. — Tho-
LUCK: Blessed is he who, when he departs, has
no treasures which he is forced to leave to
others. — A rich man who wishes to deceive him-
self, will find many to help him. — The kingdom
of God, though for a time not victorious, will
conquer forever. — Umbrbit : We can be deliv-
ered from the bondage of fear, only by bumble,
quiet submission to God's will. — The pious man
who though scorned by the world, never fears
nor trembles, is God's hero. — The more a man's
heart cleaves to the perishing things of this lite,
the less he enjoys them. — You may bargain for
and prize all earthly things, but the soul has a
priceless value, for it belongs to God. — Stier:
Prosperous as the ungodly may be, there is
PSA.LM L.
317
comfort ia the certainty that death makes a sure
decision, when the proud children of the world
shall perish, while the pious shall be redeemed
and accepted by God. — Guenthbe. : The worst-
kind of folly and self-deception is that of men
who will not deem themselves to be higher than
the brutes, nor truly learn to know themselves,
nor work out their salvation with fear and
trembling. — Diedrich : To live rightly is the
highest wisdom, art, and courage, — If God be
our daily aim, we need fear nothing from the
world. — Taube : An appeal to every one con-
cerning the folly of the worldly-minded, who
can neither be feared nor called happy by the
children of God. — The awful nothing out of
which the All in this life is made.
[Henry: The children of God, though ever so
poor, are truly happy in this, above the most
prosperous of' the children of this world, that
they are well guarded against the terrors of
death, and the judgment to come, — The way of
worldliness is a very foolish way ; they that lay
up their treasures on earth, and set their afiFec-
tions on things below, act contrary both to right
reason, and their own interest. — The love of
the world ia a disease that runs in the blood ;
men have it by kind, till the grace of God cures
it. — The believing hopes of the soul's redemp-.
tion from the grave and reception to glory, are
the great support and joy of the children of God
in a dying hour. — They that are rich in the
graces and comforts of the Spirit, have some-
thing which, when they die, they shall carry
away with them, something which death cannot
strip them of. Bishop Hornb : At the call of
Folly, what multitudes are always ready to as-
semble I But Wisdom, eternal and essential
Wisdom crieth without, she lifteth up her voice
in the streets, and who is at leisure to attend her
heavenly lectures ? — Soott : What good will it
do any man to have his name perpetuated on
earth, when he has no name in the registers of
heaven?— J. F.]
PSALM L.
A Psalm of Asaph.
The miglity God, even the Lord, hath spoken,
And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God hath shined.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence :
A fire shall devour before him,
And it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me ;
Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness :
For God is judge himself. Selah.
^>ti> ■.'■■■■
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; /. .)•■
0 Israel, and I will testify against thee: <'ir'r!
1 am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices
Or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house,
Nor he goats out of thy folds :
10 For every beast of the forest ia mine^
And the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains :
And the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee :
For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls.
Or drink the blood of goats ?
318
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving ;
And pay thy vows unto the Most High :
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble :
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth ?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction,
And castest my words behind thee.
18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,
And hast been partaker with adulterers.
19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
And thy tongue frameth deceit.
20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother ;
Thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence ;
Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:
But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me :
And to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — Out of Zion
a sublime and terrible manifestation of God is
made, like that on Mount Sinai, vers. 1-3,
Heaven and earth are summoned as witnesses,
while He sits in judgment, and pronounces sen-
tence on His covenant people, vers. 4-6. He ex-
plains to them the first table of the Law, vers.
7-15; rebukes them for their misconception and
abuse of the ordinances of sacrifice, and at the
same time encourages them to the true service of
Himself, with the promise of His help. He next
describes and threatens to punish the hypocrites
who have His covenant on their lips, but break
it in their lives, vers. 16-20, warning them to
take good heed to this Divine reproof, vers. 21,
22, and concludes with a general and prophetic
announcement of the fundamental idea of the
whole address, ver. 23. This idea, expressed
after the manner of the prophets, corresponds
with Pss. XV. ; xxiv. 3-6 ; and still more closely
with Pss. xl. 7-9 ; li. 8, 9 ; Ixix. 31. All these
passages have for their basis the truth uttered
by Samuel to Saul (1 Sam. xv. 22). Of course
the later prophets teach the same thing, but
there is nothing in the character of this Psalm to
oblige us to refer it, not to the times of David,
but to those of Josiah (Ewald), .or to those of
the so-called Deutero-Isaiah (Hitzig). Nor is
there any ground for objection to this, in the
fact that Asaph (concerning whom see Introduc-
tion, § 2), as a Levite, belonged to the tribe
whose duty it was to see that the sacrifices were
offered in accordance with the rules of Divine
service. For this is equally applicable to the
prophet Jeremiah, (comp. chap. vi. 22, and Lam.
ii. 16), and the opinion is certainly ill-founded,
that there is here a general repudiation of the
Mosaic sacrifices. In this view of it, many of
the ancient expositors referred the whole Psalm
to the abolition of the Mosaic law through
Christ, while later ones think that there is some
indication of hostility to it on the part of the
author.
Vers. 1-6. The mighty God, even the Lord
(ElElohim Jehovah). — These three names of God
are, by the accents, in apposition. Hupf. thinks,
without reason, that this accumulation of titles
is chilling. On the contrary, it awakens and in-
tensifies attention, as in Josh. xxii. 22, where
God is described as the Mighty One, the God de-
manding reverence, who had revealed Himself
in His Divine fulness in history. We do not
approve the suggestion that the first two words
should be combined=m^ens Deus (Bottcher), or
"the strong God" (Aquil., Symm.), or "the God
of gods " (Sept., Isaki, Calvin, Ewald, Hupfeld) ;
nor do we like the translation " God is Elohim
Jehovah" (Chald.), nor "God, a God is Jehovah"
(Hitzig). This last construction is connected
with the rendering of the following line : " He
speaks, the earth resounds." This is ingenious,
but doubtful, on account of the change in the
subjects of the two verbs standing in juxta-
position ; nor is it at all necessary. For in ver.
4 the same word is not used as a call to the heavens
and the earth (Ols., Hilz.), i. e. for the assem-
bling of the Israelites given literally in ver. 5,
as if heaven and earth were the judicial messen-
gers (Hupfeld), or the instruments and servants
of Divine justice (Stier). This does not agree
with the well-known idiom of Scripture, and
would convey a monstrous idea. On the con-
trary, it is quite common to call heaven and
earth as witnesses, Deut. iv. 26 ; xxxii. 1 ; Isa.
i. 2 ; Maccab. ii. 37. This also agrees well with
the universal historic significance of the judg-
ment seat before which God orders His people to
assemble, and on which He shines forth in ter-
rible mojesty, as when He appeared as lawgiver
PSALM L.
819
on Mount Sinai. We would most naturally take
the '* messengers " — who are not expressly
named — to be the angels who so often appeared
in visions, and in Matth. xxiv. 31 are described
as God's heavenly servants. Accordingly ver. 6
declares, not the execution of the order, or that
the heavens proclaimed the approaching judg-
ment of God, t, e., announced to the parties that
God would sit in judgment oil them (Hupfeld);
but that among the witnesses those celestial in-
habitants publicly proclaimed the justice of the
Divine sentence. We must therefore regard ver.
1 ns the call of God to the whole earth, its con-
tents being akin to, though not synonymous with,
the introductory formula of God's commands to
the prophet: "and the word of the Lord came,"
etc. (AquiL, Symm., Theodot., Hupfeld). God
does not yet call upon the earth to act as a wit-
ness, (most oommeiitators), for this would be to
anticipate the subsequent description, but He
demands its attention. For this first address
precedes the Theophany — a fact generally over-
looked. It is not a superscription, or summary
statement of what will afterwards be more fully
detailed, but it rehearses the first act of the en-
tire drama.-The accents show that by " the per-
fection of beauty," we are to understand not
God (Aquil., Older Comments., Luther, Bottcber),
but Zion, not, however, the city of Jerusalem,
but Mount Zion, as tfie residence of Jehovah.
— The comparison of God's appearance to the
sunrise occurs also Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; Pss. Ixxx. 1 ;
xciv. 1. — The negative 7N in ver. 3 would seem
to show that the Imperfect tenses which here
take the place of Perfects, are to be understood
in an optative sense, the rather as they are again
followed by Perfects, (01s.. Hengst., Hupfeld).
But as in this connection the wish simply means
the consent of the speaker, it would be perhaps
better to take the Imperfects as Futures, and the
negative Al, as in Pss. xxxiv. 6, xli. 8, as indi-
cating a personal interest in the ijiind of the
speaker. If, however, the sentence is part of a
narrative, and this narrative is an account, not
of a historic event, but of a prophetic vision,
the discourse has no reference to the future, and
the certainty that God cannot keep silence may
as well be expressed by the Present tense.
Maurer's rendering, neque est quod sileat, is good.
The phrase "not keep silence," can hardly be
understood to mean " not tarry ; " nor can it be
taken in the sense of " thunder," as if in keep-
ing with the "fire and tempest," (Hupfeld and
others); but it refers to reproof, or more exactly,
to the sinner's next judicial sentence. — The ob-
ject of the " covenant," mentioned in ver. 5, is
not the " sacrifices." It was not entered into
for the sake of them (Aben Ezra) ; they were
simply the ground of it, giving it legal validity
and religious sanctity, Exod. xxiv. 5 ; Num. x.
10; Ps. xcii. 4.
[Perowne : The God of gods, Jehovah. — This
is, there can be no doubt, the proper rendering
of the words El Elohim. — These three names of
God occur in the same way in Josh. xxii. 22,
where they are twice repeated, and are in like
manner separated by the accents. This is the
only use of the name Jehovah in the Psalm,
which is in accordance with the general Elohistic
character of the Second book, but the adjunct
" God of gods," is certainly remarkable. — Alex-
ANDHR : The Almighty, God, Jehovah. Almighty
is not an adjective agreeing with the next word
(the Mighty God), but a substantive in apposition
with it. The three names are put together in a
kind of climax, El, Elohim, Jehovfih. The first
represents God as almighty, the second, as the
only proper object of worship, and (by its plural
form] as perfect, the third, as self-existent and
eternal, and at the same time, as the peculiar
God of Israel. — Pekowne : Will not keep silence.
The optative seems to be required by the form of
the negative (l\<=fi7f), with the second verb.
Still, it must be confessed, that the abrupt intro-
duction of a wish here disturbs the flow of the
language, and this is not obviated even if, with
Hupfeld, we suppose this to be a common
formula, in which God is called upon to mani-
fest Himself.— J. F.]
Vers. 7-15. I am God, even Thy God, —
These words are designed, not simply to excite
attention (De Wette), for this has been already
aroused, as is indicated by the intensive N: but
they declare the rightful title to act as judge
(Hupf. Del.) Exod. vi. 2 ; xx. 2 and lawgiver, Ps.
Ixxxi. 11. — The Divine reprimand is given, not
because the sacrifices enjoined by the law had
been omitted. Israel had not neglected to ofi'er
them, and God was unmindful neither of them
nor of Israel's conduct in presenting them day
by day. But in these material sacrifices God
felt no interest, because, on the one hand, men
could offer to Him nothing which He did not al-
ready possess, since all creatures are His ; and
on the other hand, He had no need of them, as
food or as a means of enjoyment. It is not said
that Israel had fallen into this error, nor is there
any reproof in express terms. But the lawgiver
sitting as a judge, first presents and explaios to
His people standing before His tribunal, the law
of sacrificial service, and then leaves the appli-
cation of it with themselves. This can be the more
readily done, because by the change of the
negative into the positive form, the exhibition of
the law becomes a direct exhortation and pro-
mise. Now, out of the many sacrifices pre-
scribed by the law, some specially important
ones are named, though not confined to those
associated with thanksgiving and certain kinds
of vows. No ritualistic sacrifice in itself, even
if offered in a proper spirit, with confession of
sin (Kimchi), is what God requires. But, in
terms derived, no doubt, from the sacrificial
liturgy, as in Ps. li. 19 ^ Hos. xiv. 3, (Arnoldi
in Justin's Flowers of Ancient Hebrew Poetry,
183), He insists upon an ofi"ering of praise and
thanksgiving, instead of the symbol, the sincere
payment of vows, and a trustful call upon Him-
self, as a condition of such a hearing of prayer,
as should supply new causes of praise to God,
(compare Ps. Ixix. 31). "Pay thy vows,'* ver.
14, means fulfill all the commandments of God,
according to thy promise on entering into the
covenant, Exod. xix. 8. This is not to be limited
to the moral law, or the Ten Commandments,
Exod. XX. (Baur, De Wette), for this supposes a
distinction never made in the Old Testament.
Nor are the "vows" thank-ofi^erings (Lev. vii.
320
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
16 ; Prov, vii. 14), in a spiritual sense, i. e. songs
of thanksgiving (Hupfeld), for this would need-
lessly limit what is demanded. For ^orfaA means
not simply "praise" (Geier, J. H. Mich.), but
" praise and thanksgiving." Nor can this be
taken only in an individualizing sense, as a form
of inward heart devotion, in cqntrast with
merely outward worship (Hengst.), wthout the
rendering " offer praises to God, and thus pay,
i. e. thou shalt pay thy vowa, and then calling
upon me," etc. (Hengst.) ; — a rendering which
requires the unwarranted insertion of the words
" thus " and " then," and the violent change of
the Imperfect into a Future. — The prophetic
character of this Psalm, and the Divine utter-
ance in it, indicate a progress in revelation. This
is seen also in such passages as Isa. i. 1 1 ; Hos.
vi. 6; Mich. vi. 6; Prov. xxi. 3, anticipating, as
they do to some extent. New Testament views,
but the same thing is discoverable even in the
Pentateuch, in Deuteronomy," partly in promise,
partly fulfilled. The legal definitions are treated
as normal expressions of the Divine will in re-
gard to the whole moral and religious conduct
of mankind; and thus they are divested not
only of their merely ceremonial character, but
even of their externality.
[Barnes: To have been continually before me,
E. V. (ver, 8). The words "to have been" are
inserted by the translators, and weaken the
sense. The simple idea is that their offerings
were continually before Him, i. e. they were con-
stantly made. He had no charge in this respect
to bring against them. The insertioi^ of the
words " to have been," would seem to imply that
though they had neglected the external rite, it
was a matter of no consequence; whereas the
simple meaning is that they were not chargeable
with this neglect. It was on other grounds alto-
gether that a charge was brought against them.
—J. F.]
Ver. 10. But to the wicked, etc. The ad-
dress turns from the first to the second table of the
law, here, as in Exod. xxiv. 7 ; xxxiv. 28, desig-
nated as the "covenant;" and the sins against
the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments,
i. e. sins against one's neighbor are specially
mentioned. It does not follow from this nor
other like descriptions, e. g. Isa. i. 16 ; Ixvi. 8,
that the erring members of God's people, those
who were content with a merely external wor-
ship of Him, are always in Scripture identical
with the " wicked," and that they are here ad-
dressed as those alluded to in ver. 7 and the follow-
ing verse (Hengst.). This is correct only in so
far as ver. 7 addresses the whole people and not
a part of them, and as to this people those belong
who are specially censured as "forgetting God,"
ver. 22. There is no previous threat of punish-
meat, but only an exposition of the law of sac-
rifice, ending with an exhortation and a promise.
To this the contrast refers, and not to different
classes or grades of sinners (most commentators).
On this account ver 22 must be connected, not
with the concluding sentence, but with ver. 21.
Vers. 16-20. What hast thou to do to de-
Clare, etc. — This is not an inquiry indicating
surprise or disapproval, for the reason of an
aimless action, " what can it profit thee ?" (De
Wette). It is an express reprimand of an inso-
lent one, "How darest thou?" The construc-
tion 7 with the infinitive is changed into that of
the infinitive verb. — The translation of ver. 18 :
" thou goest with him," (Chald., Sept., Vulgate,
Luther), grows out of the derivation from the
word Vn. But in this case the vowels must be
placed thus: ]*'^i^j. The word in our present
text Vir\1 must come from H^fT as in Job xxxiv.
9, with DJ^, I. e. to have pleasure in the society
of some one. — " Thine own mother's son " de-
scribes the nearest blood relationship, and con-
tains an allusion to the polygamous relations
then common. Ordinarily HK designates a
"brother" in a wider sense. The "blow"
given to him is not a physical one (Hitzig),
nor something given to him, or laid in his way
by which he may receive a blow, like cKavSa-
lov (Sept.), or offendiculum (Vulgate, Gesen.,
Maurer), but one with the tongue, but not ne-
cessarily in the sense of calumny (Rab., Ewald,
Hengst.), though \T\l is often equivalent to
"give away." — The "keeping silence," ver. 21,
is a proof of Divine forbearance designed to
lead men to repentance (Rom. ii. 4), though
often misinterpreted by them. There is no ques-
tion asked here — "should I keep silence?"
(Hitzig), nor in the following line, where the
oratio obliqua is indicated by the infinitive con-
struct.— To translate the concluding verse,
"And this (more accurately "these") is the
way " (Sept., Syr., Luther), gives the general
meaning, but it is based on the erroneous read-
ing Diy, instead of the one handed down by the
Talmud Di^, which, according to Isa. xliii. 19,
compares with xlix. 11 ; Ezek. xxi. 25 would lead
to the sense of: to make, prepare, or to pave a
way (Bottcher). Taking the sentence as an in-
dependent one, it would read : " who prepares a
way" (Hengst.), or: "who directs the way"
(Hupfeld); qui ordinal vmwi (Vulgate, Geier);
qui disposuit viam (Calvin, Maurer.) But to get
this ethical sense, it must be paraphrased: "who
regulates his life according to fixed principles,"
or "who prepares himself to walk in the right
way," A simpler meaning perhaps would be :
" who prepares the way," i. e. "who equips him-
self for" the journey " (Hitzig). This, however,
would seem to refer the Psalm to the times of the
iilxile. The versions : " who has a care of his
walk" (De Wette), "who walks carefully"
(Ewald), are either elliptical or involve gram-
matical diflficulties. It is perhaps better, there-
fore, to regard the sentence not as an indepen-
dent one, but as a continuation of the preceding
(Del.).
Ver. 21. Imagined. — The Hebrew verb origi-
nally means to liken or compare, and another of
the same form, to be silent, so that it is pecu-
liarly appropriate in this place» where the men-
tion of God's silence immediately precedes, and
the imagining referred to was a false assimila-
tion of the Most High to the sinner himself.
[Alexander: 0 consider this, etc., ver. 22.
The Hebrew particle of entreaty (XJ) is not so
well expressed by the now of the English Bible,
as by the oh of the Prayer Book version. — Pb-
ROWNB : Sacrificeth thanksgiving, ver. 23. The
verb is designedly employed in order to mark
PSALM L.
321
the nature of the sacrifice which God will have ;
Blay nob victims, bring not animals, but bring
thanksgiving as sacrifices. The E. V. with its
rendering " offereth praise," loses slightly the dis-
tinct reference to the Mosaic sacrifices, which are
not indeed &,bsolutely suspended — the time had
not yet come for this — but are put in their true
place. The very great prominence again given
to thanksgiving, is worthy of our careful notice.
There is no duty so commonly forgotten. — J. F.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. We must carefully distinguish those actual
judgments of a world- historic significance, to
execute which God is often said to come down
from heaven, from that sitting in judgment on
His covenant people, which is in this Psalm set
forth as a prophetical vision, though connected
with certain great historic events. For this
latter purpose, God appears in supreme majesty ;
He shines forth from Zion, that He may reveal
in His word, neither a new law nor a new expo-
sition of it, but a Divine sanction of the deeper
conception of the law. And so by exhibiting
the real purport of the law, while reprimanding
'and exhorting His people, He would have it take
a firmer hold on their consciences, and aid them
in a new development of life.
2. Before God chastises His people. He makes
known to them by His word, how intensely He
hates sin, and how carefully He watches over
the covenant established by Him under the
sanction of sacrificial ordinances. The import-
ance of this word is enhanced by the certainty
of God's personal participation in them, and by
the assurance that while graciously dwelling in
the midst of His people, He is still sublime and
terrible in His majesty. At the same time His
levels manifest in this: that He makes known
to them the judicial earnestness of His royal
administration, by symbols, whose design and
meaning could not be misunderstood, (Exod. xx.
17; Deut. iv. 24; ix. 3; xxxii. 23; 1 Kings xix.
11; Heb. xii. 29) ; and that before punishing
them, He instructs, warns, exhorts them,
mingling both threats and promises with the ex-
position of His law. As in His first proclama-
tion, so now, He claims the authority of the
only true God, the Lord of heaven and earth ;
the God whom the people of Israel had
acknowledged and accepted as their God.
3. The real character of God and His holy
will was utterly misconceived, when the sacri-
fices of the law of Moses were viewed as gifts of
man that satisfied a want of the Divine nature,
or as performances by which a sinner fulfilled
his moral obligations, or could redeem himself
from the guilt and punishment of his transgres-
sions. If God had such a want, since He is
Lord of all things, He had no need of looking to
man for its supply. As the Omnipotent and
Omniscient One, He could refresh Himself when
and where He pleased. But His nature is
spiritual, and therefore subject to no such neces-
sities. What He desired was not the correct ob-
servance of legal rites, but a far higher thing,
ver. 12, the discharge of those moral and reli-
gious duties of which these rites were simply the
symbolic expression.
21
4. God's commands must be expounded in
order that they may be learned and understood,
but this is only as a means to an end, viz : their
actual fulfillment. When the law speaks of sins,
it does so, not to influence our evil passions, but
to make us see the hatefulness of sin, to warn
against the dangers that surround us, and to
awaken that holy fear which leads to repent-
ance, and guards against abusing God's pa-
tience, and goodness, and grace. For the wrath
of God is as terrible as His grace is lovely.
5. The first and most natural duty of those
who are received into the covenant of grace, is
gratitude. The expression of it in word and
work, is acceptable to God only when it em-
braces obedience both to the first and second
tables of the law. True gratitude is not bounded
by a legal command, or the letter of an appoint-
ment, but it passes over into the domain of love.
Thus it paves a wa^ for an ever-enlarging ex-
perience, and an ever-deepening conception of
the salvation of God — a way leading out of the
Old Testament into the New.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
One and the same God delivers the law to His
people, explains it to His church, and accom-
plishes it in those whom He graciously pardons.
— Grace not only deserves our gratitude, but
it works it in us and blesses it. — God's
commands must not only be learned and spoken
about, but must also be obeyed. — The wrath of
God is as terrible as His grace is lovely; and
yet in each of them the majesty of the Heavenly
King is alike revealed. — Think what God is,
consider what God does, observe what God wills.
— Gratitude is not only the best oflfering for
grace received, but also the foundation most ac-
ceptable to God, of new prayers for needed
help.
Luther : To call upon God in times of trouble,
and to thank Him for His aid, is the truest wor-
ship, the most acceptable sacrifice, and the pro-
per way to salvation.
Starke : God speaks ! who would not dili-
gently attend ? He who despises His words,
despises God Himself, and such an one shall be
despised himself. — The fairest ornament of a
land or a locality, is the confession of the doc-
trine of Christ and a godly walk. — As the sweet-
est wine may become the most acid vinegar, and
the most pleasant summer day may end in the
severest thunder-storm, so the wanton abuse and
contempt of God's grace is followed by the most
fearful punishment. — Remember, 0 man I how
many witnesses there are of thy conduct. —
Heaven and earth must testify before God that
His judgment of the despisers of His grace is
perfectly just. — Divine service withouc faith dis-
pleases God more than it honors Him. — Think
not that God needs thy service, or that He gets
any advantage thereby. — But to thyself, the true
service of God is the greatest blessing and bene-
fit,— The Christian's first vow is that made to
God in Baptism — to serve and believe in Him ;
his first and chiefest care should be to see that
this vow is not broken. — All those hate discipline
who, while they know and perhaps teach others
the word of God, are not themselves brought by
322
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
it to true repentance, faith, and holiness. —
Esteem no sin trifling because punishment does
not quickly follow it. — What is loaned for a long
time must not be regarded as a gift, — God looks
upon the wickedness of men, not because He has
pleasure in it, but to afford them time for repent-
ance, and to cut off all excuses for it. — When the
period of grace is passed, no hope of salvation
is left ; and he who has not found the true
Saviour, will never find another. — To see Jesus
here by faith, and hereafter face to face, is a suf-
ficient reward for those who are now diligent in
off"ering sacrifice to God. — Reichel : People are
reprehensible, not for going to the Holy Supper,
but because while going to it they continue to
live in all sorts of sins and abominations. —
Arndt: Gratitude includes many virtues, e. ^.
the knowledge of God, for it recognises Him as
the source of all good ; the fear of God, or the
filial fear, which, as a child, receives all benefits
from God as a father ; humility, or the conscious-
ness that we have nothing in ourselves, but get
everything from God. — Richter: From Sinai
Jehovah spake as a Lawgiver ; from Zion, as a
Saviour ; from His throne He speaks in both
characters, to the whole human race. — The more
heartily you give thanks, the richer and greater
cause for thanksgiving shall you receive. —
Stiee : God, before whose judgment-seat stand
only those holy ones who have entered into cove-
nant with Him by sacrifice, explains to His err-
ing and offending people that true way of sacri-
fice that leads to salvation. — Those offenders who
mean to sin and offer sacrifice at the same time
shall certainly be punished. — Umbreit : Heaven
and earth shall be witnesses, while God judges
His people. — The new commandment of the pure
and true worship of God. — Unbridled iniquity
leads men, step by step, from one abomination
to another. — Guenther: Are we really sincere
and honest in rendering our service to God? Is
there no concealed hypocrisy of any kind within
us? Listen attentively : none at all? Taubb :
The majestic appearance of the Lord when He
comes as a judge, and to testify to His people
concerning His true worship, and the hypo-
critical service of the ungodly. Judgment be-
gins at the house of God, but it also makes mani-
fest His faithful ones. — Deichert : Our God
shall come, and not keep silence. 1. How He
comes. 2. What He finds amongst us. 3. What
He has to say to us about it. — Ahlfeld : How
does the Christian enter the new year? 1. With
thanks. 2. With confession. 3. With prayer
(according to vers. 14-16). — Heubner: The pro-
per way of calling upon God. 1, Wherein it
consists. 2. What should induce us to do it,
3. How we are prepared to do it.
[Barnes : The general ideas in this Psalm are :
(1.) That there is to be a solemn judgment of
mankind; (2.) that the issues of that judgment
will not be determined by the observance of the
external forms of religion ; (3.) that God will
judge men impartially for their sins, though
they observe these forms of religion ; and (4.)
that no worship of God can be acceptable which
does not spring from the heart. — Henry : (1.)
It is not enough for us to offer praise, but we'
must withal order our conversation aright —
thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better.
(2.) Those that would have their conversation
aright, must take care and pains to order it ; to
dispose it according to rule ; to understand their
way and to direct it. (3.) Those that take care
of their conversation make sure their salvation;
them God will make to see His salvation; for it
is a salvation ready to be revealed ; He will
make them to see it and enjoy it, to see it, and
to see themselves happy in it forever. Note :
The right ordering of the conversation is the
only way, and it is a sure way to obtain the
great salyatioa.-i— F.]
PSALM LI.
To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in
to Bath-sheba.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness : "^
According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions :
And my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
And done this €vil in thy sight :
That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest^
And be clear when thou judgest.
PSALM LI.
323
5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity ;
And in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts :
And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean :
"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness ;
That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins.
And blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God ;
And renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence;
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ;
And uphold me with thy free Spirit.
13 Ihen will 1 teach transgressors thy ways ;
And sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation :
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 0 Lord, open thou my lips ;
And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice ; else would I give it :
Thou delightest not in burnt oflfering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit :
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not^ despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion :
Build thou the walls of Jierusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering
and whole burnt offering :
Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — A peniten-
tial Psalm of an almost evangelical spirit and
character, " which has been used by the Church
in song and prayer oftener than any other in
the Psalter" (Luther). For the pray erf or expia-
tion through the mercy of God (vers. 1-2) is
founded upon the penitent confession of his own
grievotca transgression (vers. 3-4) and the /is-
surance that he who has been conceived and born
in sin can obtain truth and wisdom only from God
(vers. 5, 6). On this foundation rises at first a
double prayer for forgiveness of sins (vers. 7-9)
and rencwai! through the Holy Spirit (vers. 10-12) ;
then follows the voto of thanksgiving, partly in the
instruction of sinners unto conversion, partly in the
personal praise of God (vers. 13-15), because the
will of God is not that external sacrifices should
be brought, but He desires spiritual contrition of
heart (vers. 17, 18) ; finally there is an interces-
sion in behalf of the bestowal of grace upon the
entire people, in order that they may be in the
right condition, with true disposition to offer
likewise the external ritual sacrifices at Jerusalem
prescribed in the law (vers. 18, 19). It is very
natural to suppose that the last two verses are a
later, perhaps liturgical addition (Venema,
Rosen., Maurer, Koster, Tholuck [Perowne, et
al.'j, yet this is not entirely necessary (vide vers.
18, 19). Still less are we compelled, in order to
maintain the authenticity of the composition of
this Psalm, to descend to the time of the exile at
Babylon (De Wette), and explain it as a prayer
of the nation (Paulus, Olsh.), or ascribe it to the
author of Is. xl. — IxvL, as a prayer of the pro-
phet, to support him in his calling (Hitzig). The
latter reference to the ^rop^ef'a calling is forced
by the most violent explanations. The undoubted
similarities with Isaiah are not limited to the
last chapters, so that it is more natural to sup-
pose a manifold use of this Psalm by the prophet
Isaiah (Delitzsch), and emphasize the thorough-
going reference to 2 Sam. xii. (Hengst.), and
indeed in these very expressions and turns of
thought, which are not as it were usual phrases
(Hupfeld), but relate to that very transgression
of David and its consequences, which is men-
tioned in the title. The fact that this title uses
the same word to designate the official coming of
Nathan to David, and the sexual coming of Da-
vid to Bathsheba (2 Sam. xi. 4, corap. Gen. vi.
4 ; xvi. 2), shows a carelessness of Hebrew style
(Delitzsch) rather than a significant antithesis
(Stier, Hengst.). At any rate "^KfKD is not to be
»24
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
regarded as=.?McA as, expressing the corres-
pondence of guilt and punishment; but it is to
be taken as a particle of time^when, which, con-
nected with the perfect (1 Sam. xii. 8; 2 Sam.
xii. 21), receives the meaning=a/)!cr that, and in-
dicates the pluperfect. Compared with Ps. vi.
and xxxviii. the feelings expressed here are in a
more advanced stage, whilst the situation is the
same. Ps. xxxii. carries out what is promised
here in ver. 13.
Scr. I. Ver. 1. According to the great-
ness of Thy compassion blot out my trans-
gressions.— Tiie plurality of his transgressions
is not to be explained historically but psycholo-
gically. He prays that they may be blotted out
or wiped away, either as letters, Ex. xxxii. 32 ;
Num. V. 23 ; comp. Pss. ix. 5 ; Ixix. 23, from the
book of guilt (J. H. Mich., Rosen., et al.), or as
clouds from the heavens by a wind, Is. xlii. 22
(Delitzsch). In this connection, however, we
are not to think of the figure of filth (Stier), but
of the idea of entire removal, 2 Kings xxi. 13
(Hupfeld).
Ver. 2. "Wash me thoroughly, or wash me
much. T\y^J2 id hardly the full form of the im-
per. hiphil, for which^'in is the shortened form
(Geier, Rosen., De Wette, Stier after Aben Ezra
and Kirachi), although, at times, the imperative
of the auxiliary verb and the imperative of the
principal verb, follow one another without the
conjunction 1, comp. 1 Sam. ii. 3 (Gesen. g 139,
3 6.); but it is the infin. absolute (Kimchi, J. H.
Mich, alternately, Hitzig, Hengst., Hupfeld),
used as an adverb (Ewald, ^ 240 e., 280 c, Gesen.
g 128, 2), and here placed before the verb with
emphasis, as in Ps. cxxxi. 7, before the noun.
The washing is expressed by a verb which
usually refers to cleansing the clothing by means
of kneading, and thus designates the iniquity as
filth deeply soiling him. — Make me clean
from my sin. — This verb is used at the same
time for declarative and actual purification, and
represents the sin as a leprosy. — It is unneces-
sary to inquire whether all these expressions re-
fer more to the objective greatness of the guilt,
in reference to which the greatness of Divine
cotnpassion is emphasized (Calvin, Geier, et al.),
or to the subjective strength of the feelings
(Hupfeld). For if the consciousness of his sin is
airectly mentioned as constantly before the Psalm-
ist, whether as a ground of longing and prayer
for forgiveness (Calvin, J. H. Mich., Stier, et
al.), or as a motive for the fulfilment of this pe-
tition, because his confession indicates the pre-
sence of the condition of forgiveness (Geier, Ro-
sen., Hengst. ) : he yet likewise afterwards not
only mentions blood-guiltiness, in ver. 14, but in
the immediate course of the thought, ver. 4, de-
signates sin as evil before the eyes of Ood (Is. Ixv,
12; Ixvi. 4), and ver. 5 brings it in connection
with the universal human sinfulness, and indeed
not as an excuse (Flamin. and Rosen, after some
Rabbins), but as a testimony to the depth of ruin
and the enormity of transgression.
Str. II. Ver. 3. For my transgressions I
know. — [Perowne : " There is no need to ren-
der with tlae A. V. 'I acknowledge.' though no
doubt the confession of sin is implied. That,
however, is not here prominent, but rather that
discernment of sin and of its true nature which
leads to a confession of it." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 4. Against Thee alone, etc.— This ex-
pression does not say that the sin in question is
to be regarded as idolatry, that is, as sin against
the one only true God (Paulus), or as a then (in
the exile or in the Maccabean time) unparalleled
guilt (Olsh.). It certainly is not against the refer-
ence to the transgression of David against Bath-
sbeba and Uriah. It does not mention this fact,
but emphasizes the sinfulness of it, and shows
that the speaker, in the sincerity and strength
of his penitence, which corresponds with the
depth of his knowledge of his sin, has in mind,
not the injuries done to men, but his relation to
God, which was thereby disturbed, to whom the
sin as such refers, that is to say, according to its
idea and nature, solely and alone. The word
alone is not superfluous (Flacius), since it is
rather indispensable to express the thought indi-
cated above. Yet we must not limit the em-
phasis and tone to this word, but at the same time
extend it to the word " sinned." For the con-
ception and designation of the nature of sin as
opposition to the holy will of God, who not only
alone recognizes the springs of sinful action in
the interior of man (Kimchi), but is the only su-
preme lawgiver and Judge, discloses a frame oj
mind (Hupfeld) in which the religious reference
to God alone ia felt (Flamin., Rosen., Maurer, De
Wette), and therefore likewise urges to the seek-
ing of purification and sanctification in God alone
(Isaki, et al.). But this conception and desig-
nation is neither brought about by an abstraction
from the appearances of sin, nor does it spring
from a merely subjective frame of mind and feel-
ing, but it originates from a knowledge of the es-
sential relation of sin, and hence the objective
truth of the clause is to be maintained.* For
since WDl—iva states not the consequences but
always the design or the aim, and moreover the
context as well as the character of David ex-
cludes the interpretation that the Psalmist con-
fesses, that he has sinned with the design or to
the end that the righteousness of God might be-
come manifest ; these words must not be referred
back to the thoughts contained in the prayer,
ver. 1, or in the confession, ver. 3, but must be
put in the closest connection with the words:
"against Thee alone" and "the evil in Thine
eyes." It is not necessary then to insert the
words: " this I confess " (Olsh., von Leng.). The
Psalmist has by the confession in ver. 4 already
renounced excuses and self-justification, and in-
deed every thought which might include an accu-
sation against God, at the same time, moreover,
by putting his act under the head of actions con-
* [Perowne: " All ein as sin, ia and must be against God.
All wrong done to our neighbor is wrong dona to one cre-
ated ia the imige of God ; all tempting of our neighbor to
evil is t'king the part of Satan Hgainst God, and so far as
in ue lies, defeating Qod'a good purpose of grace towards
him. All wounding of another, whether in body nr soul,
is a sin against the goodness of God." Vide 1 Cor. viii. 12 ;
Matt. XXV. 40, 45. Hengstenberg ; "How must David have
trembled, how must he have been seized with shame and
grief, when he referred everything to God, when in Uriah tie
saw only the image of God, the Holy One, who deeply re-
sented that injury, — the gracious and compassionate One, to
whom he owed such infinitely rich benefits, who had lifted
him up from tlie dust o"f humiliation, had so often delivered
him, and had also given him the promise of so glorious a fu-
ture ! "—0. A. B.]
PSALM LI.
826
demned by Ood, by condemning himself, he thus
fulfills the purpose that the righteousness and
purity of God should be presented and recog-
nized in fact. The appearance of doing away
with human freedom and of a Divine predestina-
tion of evil, which, moreover, Calvin did not
find here, originates mostly from the fact that
the speaking and judging of God is usually re-
ferred directly and immediately to the condemn-
ing oracle of Nathan, which it is admissible to
make use of here only in a general way. Of
course the reference is not to a judicial judg-
ment of God absolving an accused person, as if
the meaning were that no one's right is injured
when God Himself is the oti'endcd person, and
He bestows His grace tfpon the person who is
deficient (Hitzig) ; still less is it of the speaking
and internal judgment of God in the conscience
of man (De Wette, Hupfeld). The expression is
a general one, and is thus taken by the Apostle
Paul, Rom. iii. 4, and secured from misinterpre-
tation and misuse by a fuller explanation of the
facta of the case.* The sense is not essentially
altered, although he cites from the Septuagint,
which has the noun " in Thy words," instead of
the infinitive, and has taken the word HD? in ac-
cordance with the usage of the Syriac, in the
meaning of "conquer," "overcome," instead of
"be pure," and has taken the active "judge"
as passive, which then, with respect to this pas-
sage of the Psalm, the interpreters with this
conception, refer to the offence which the fall of
a man like David had given (Calvin). The un-
usual pointing of '1?.?'!J3, as the infinitive Kal,
appears to have been chosen for the sake of simi-
larity of sound with the parallel '1t3i)Kf3.
Str. IIL Ver. 5. Behold, in guilt was I
born, etc. — The Psalm does not refer to an adul-
terous action on the part of his mother, of a
sinful condition of birth and generation (Isaki),
although the word On' is generally used of the
lust of animals. Gen. xxx. 41 ; xxxi. 10, it
merely refers to descent from sinful parents (Job
xiv. 4), and inborn sinfulness, which with its guilt
and its ruin is transmitted from parents to chil-
dren, by means of natural propagation, so that
they are infected with sin from their mother's
womb and from their youth, Gen. vi. 6 ; viii. 21 ;
Pb. Iviii. 4.
Ver. 6 Behold, Thou delightest in truth
in the reins, etc. — Since God's good pleasure
and desire is directed to a truth present in the
reins as the seat of the tenderest feelings
(Chald., Jerome, Rabbins, Gesenius, Delitzsch),
* [Perowne : "The Biblical writers drew no sharp, accurate
line between events as the consequence of the Divine order,
and events as following from the nivine purpose. To them
all was ordained and designed of God. Even sin itself, in alt
its manifestationR, though the whole guilt of it rested with
man, did not flow uncontrolled but only in channels hewn
for it by God, and to subserve Ilis purposes. Hence, God is
said to have hardened Pharaoh's heart, to "have put a lying
spirit in the mouth of the prophets, to do evil as well as good
in the city, and the like. We must not expect therefore that
the Hebrew mind, profoundly impressed as it was with the
great phenomena of the universe, and beholding in each the
immediite finger of God, but altogether averse from philo-
sophical speculation, should have exactly defined for itself
the distinction between an action viewed as the consequence,
and the same action viewed as the end of another action.
The mind which holds the simple fundamental truth that all
is of God, may also bold, almost as a matter uf course, that
ftll is designed of God."— C. A. B.]
or, according to another derivation of the word:
in the hiding-place, that is to say, in the most se-
cret depths of the heart (Sept., Syriac, Jerome,
Aben Ezra, Luther, Calvin, and most interpre-
ters) ; he must pray that God will make known
wisdom in the hidden parts. It does not mean
secret wisdom, an understanding of the typical
sense of the Old Testament ceremonies, or a
deeper insight into the guidance of God, and into
the secret of the atonement (most of the older
interpreters, recently Stier), but according to
the accents and the context, the correlative of
truth, the practical wisdom of life, which God is
to make known in the hidden parts, that is to
say, internally in the heart. Job xxxviii. 36
(Rosen., Hengstenberg, recent interpreters). It
is too narrow to regard truth as truthfulness, or
sincerity in the knowledge and confession of sin
(J. H. Mich., Tholuck, et al.) ; too wide to ex-
plain it as the essence of all good (De Wette), It
is the sincere nature corresponding with its
ideal, whose character and reliability may be
trusted, or the righteousness in accordance with
the will and requirements of God, the true
righteousness in contrast with lies, appearance,
hypocrisy, Jos. xxiv. 14; Judges ix. 16; 1 Kings
ii. 4; iii. 6; 2 Kings xx. 3; Ps. cxlv. 18 (Cal-
vin, Hengst. et al.). The supposition that 2, in
r\^ni33, is not the preposition but the initial let-
ter, as Job xii. 6, and that it is therefore to be
translated : behold, faith Thou lovest, confidence
(Hitzig), is opposed by the fact that the word in
question is used in Job in the objective sense,
but here is applied in the subjective sense, just
as i^P,J<, which might indeed be translated :
"faithfulness," but is here taken by Hitzig as=
n^^DX, and this again explained as=7riffrif, in the
subjective sense ; and all this in the interest of
the hypothesis that a prophet speaks here, be-
fore whom there is an uncertain future, which he
nominally longs for (ver. 10 b. 12), but really
desires to be turned away (vers. 11, 14), and
now has become disquieted and faint-spirited,
because things have turned out different from his
expectations; yet now as a prophet, on account
of his ofl&cial duty, he has to look into the future,
and has not yet lost all hope ; hence the sense of
the passage is said to be: Thou requirest likewise
from me believing confidence, and this will I be-
come partaker of, if Thou revealest to me hidden
things.
Str. IV. Ver. 7. Purify me with hyssop,
^tc. — The Old Testament stand-point is disclosed
in the fact that the means of purification are still
6.QS\gna,i&^ figuratively and without a particle of
comparison, by that symbol, with which the
sprinkling of the men or things that had become
unclean by contact with a corpse. Num. xix. 6
sq. ; 18 sq., as well as the sprinkling of the
leper. Lev. xiv., was performed, comp. Bahr,
Symbolik des mos. Kultus II. 503. This stand-
point, however, is broken through by the fact, that
there is no mention here of the priestly mediation,
which was ordained as well for this act of sprink-
ling as for the washing of the clothing and bath-
ing of the body, likewise mentioned here, but
rather purification is implored directly from God,
and the washing desired not for the clothing but
for the person. Is. i. 18 makes use of ver. 7 6.,
826
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
where the redness of sin is brought in contrast
with the whiteness of snow, which is occasioned
by the mention of hands stained with blood, Is.
i. 15.
Ver. 8. Joy and gladness. — These expres-
sions frequently combined are always used of
loud and festive manifestations of joy (Hupfeld).
They accordingly designate, not the effect of a mes-
sage of peace within the heart, as by the preach-
ing of grace in the word of God (Luther, Calvin,
Stier), or else a message which gives joy (Hit-
zig), but the expression of joy, which is h.e:TQ pub-
lished by the speaker himself, and thereby
brought to a hearing, and actually accomplished
by tbe fact that the declaration of pardon made
to David through Nathan, which had taken place
historically long before the composition of this
Psalm, and therefore cannot be meant here, has
penetrated finally, after long struggle and con-
flict, into the penitent soul, even to the point
where its internal appropriation and sdaling by
the Holy Spirit can be hoped for and implored.
— [Bones. — Perowne : " These are not merely as
Hupfeld says, instead of the heart, but as con-
stituting the strength and frame-work of the
body, the crushing of the bones being a very
strong figure, denoting the most complete pros-
tration, mental and bodily, see Ps. vi, 2." —
C. A. B.]
[Ver, 9. Hide Thy face. — This is the angry
face, the judicial look of God, vid. Ps. xxi. 9. —
C. A. B.]
Vers.lO, 11. A pure heart create for me,
O God, and a steadfast spirit renew
vvithin me. — The pure heart, the condition of
communion with God (Ps. Ixxiii. 1 ; Matt. v. 8),
is designated not only as a heart cZeansec? from sin
(Act^ XV. 9), but at the same time as a new heart,
by the fact that it is implored from a creative act
of God, from which likewise the renewal of the
spirit (Ezek. iv. 23) to a s^eacf/as/ one takes place,
that is to say to a spirit firmly grounded in God's
grace, and thereby not only fearless and confi-
dent (Pss. Ivii. 7 ; exii. 7), but firm (Ps. Ixxviii.
37). What is implored here does not go beyond
that which is required in Ps. xxiv. 4; moreover
it is promised by the prophets as a gift of God
(Jer. xxiv. 7 ; Ezek. xi. 19: xxxvi. 26), and in-
cludes a change of disposition (1 Sam. x. 9),
which presupposes and is conditioned on peni-
tence, and at the same time a believing turning unto
the Divine grace, asitismadeknowninthe^rayer,
not to be cast away from the presence of God,
that is to say, utterly rejected (2 Kings xiii. 23 ;
xvii. 20; xxiv. 20: Jer. vii. 15), not to be de-
prived of the Holy Spirit (Is. Ixiii. 11), with
which David had been anointed (1 Sam. xvi. 13).
The context is opposed to the insertion of "for
ever " ^Kimchi), not less than the explanation
that this is the prayer of one already converted
(Calvin).*
* [Perowne : " The petition expresses rather the holy fear
of the man who has his eyes open to the depth and iniquity
of sin, lest at any moment he should be left without the suc-
cor of that Divine Spirit, who was the only source in him
of every good thought, of every earnest desire, of every con-
stant resolution. It is the cry of one who knows, as he
never knew before, the weakness of his own nature, and the
strength of temptation, and the need of Divine help ; and to
whom therefore nothing seems so dreadful as that God should
withdraw 'lis Spirit."— It is better, however, to fix our mind
upon the Holy Spirit which David possessed as the anointed
Ver. 12. With a willing spirit nphold
me. — The reference is not to a princely or guid-
ing spirit (Sept., Vulgate, Isaki, et al.), or in-
deed to a mighty spirit (.Jerome). The use of
the Hebrew word in question for a person noble
by birth ('Job xxx. 15) or political rank, was
rendered possible only after a series of interme-
diate steps. The fundamental meaning leads to
the opposite of being legally necessary or exter-
nally forced, that is, to a being driven from within
outwards (Ex. xxv. 2), and accordingly io joyous
willingness (Is. xxxii. 8 ; Ps. liv. 8). Grammati-
cally this spirit of willingness can only be re-
garded as the subject nominative, and the fol-
lowing verb as the 3d per. fem. (Rabbins, Lu-
ther, Geier, J. H. Mich.,»ei al.). But it is more
in accordance with the context of the prayer to
adopt the explanation which is likewise admissi-
ble, that the verb is the 2d masc. with double
accusative, as Gen. xxvii. 37 (Sopt., Jerome,
Hengst., Hupfeld, Delitzsch). This part of the
prayer aflFords a suitable transition to the follow-
ing vow of true thank-oflfering, comp. Ps. xxxii. 8.
Sir. V. Ver. 13. I will teach, etc. — The op-
tative form includes at the same time the petition
that he may do it or be able to do it, presup-
poses accordingly the consequences of his prayer,
so that it is unnecessary to supply " then " (De
Wette, Hengst., [A. V.] ). The ways of God
are either those in which God Himself walks,
particularly His treatment of penitent sinners,
which is favored by vers. 14 and 16 (Stier), or
those ordained of God, upon which man is to
walk, the commandments of God (De Wette, Hup-
feld), which is favored by Ps. xxxii. 8 (Hengst.).
— [And sinners shall return unto Thee. —
Alexander : " The Hebrew verb is not a passive
{^shall be converted) but an active form, shall turn
or return to the Lord, perhaps witli an allusion to
the great apostasy, in which the whole race is
involved. See above, in Ps. xxii. 27. To this
verse there seems to be particular allusion in
our Saviour's words to Peter, Luke xxii. 32." —
C. A. B.]
Ver. 14. Blood-guiltiness, derived from the
bloody deed, presses as a burden upon the con-
science of David. Both ideas mingle with one
another frequently in the Hebrew word which
denotes primarily blood poured forth by vio-
lence, e. g. Pss. ix. 12 ; cvi. 38. The prayer for
deliverance seems to lead to the latter significa-
tion. Then we have to think of a hostile act di-
rected against the Psalmist, a murder of the pro-
phet which was to be feared (Hitzig) from men
of blood (Ps. lix. 2), or of a still further effu-
sion of blood which was expected by the people
(Olshausen). But this passive reference of the
word is unusual, so that the prayer for deliver-
ance from impending death (Ps. xxxiii. 19) af-
fords no parallel. The deliverance is rather
such an one which takes away the Psalmist (Ps.
of Jehovah, and whilst not confining our attention \Xo this,
yet let it be the central thought. This Holy Spirit had been
troubled and wounded by David's great sin, and he was in
danger of having the Holy Spirit taken from him, as it hud
been from Saul, and he himself rejected from the angry pre-
sence of Jehovah, and nnother anointed in hissteid. He re-
alizes his official as well as his private sin, and its guilt and
evil consequences, and whilst imploring a pui'e heart and
steadfast spirit, he prays that he may remain in the presence
and favor uf God, and retain and enjoy the Holy Spirit, and
the grace with which be had been anointed by Samual.-*
0. A. B.J '
PSALM LI.
327
xxxix. 2) from the blood that he has shed. Since
now the act cannot be undone, aud can least of
all be forgotten by the penitent himself, the ex-
pression manifestly refers to the expiation and
forgiveness of guilty which is referred to gene-
rally in this Psalm. The mingling of the idea of
punishment (even by Hengst. and Hupfeld) can
only work confusion, although fear of it, and
remembrance of threatenings, as 2 Sam. xii. 9
sq. ; Gen. iv. 10; ix. 6 sq., might awaken and
sharpen the consciousness of guilt. — The right-
eousness of God is not that tempered by grace
and changed into mercy (Calvin, Geier, et al.),
or that bestowed upon the sinner by grace (J.
H. Mich., Stier), but that attribute of God, by
virtue of which He gives every one his dues,
comp. 1 John i. 9 (Hengstenberg), the general
principle of the Divine government (Hupfeld).
Ver. 15. The opening of the lips is not
merely as a consequence of the forgiveness of
sins in contrast with the silence of the anxiety
of sin (Calvin, Geier, Hengstenberg, et al.), but
at the same time as an act of God, which not
only opens the mouth of His prophets and conse-
crates their lips (Is. 1. 4 sq. ; Ezek. iii. 27 ;
Amos iv. 13), but likewise works thankfulness,
and invokes the song of praise, Pss. xlii. 9 ; xlix.
6; Ixxi. 15 (Hupfeld). This is, according to
vers. 8 and 12, a rejoicing heart, and seems there-
fore to presuppose a fflad heart.
Vers. 16, 17. A broken heart is designated
as the essential thing in the oflFering well-plea-
sing to God, and indeed the "'n^J, that is to say
sacrifices, which word in accordance with usage
is neither offering in general, or sin offering in
particular, but constantly the peace offering
brought by those already expiated and justified^
the Wrhv^ and the thank-offering HHIi^. We
must entirely reject the explanation that penitence
has taken the place of the sin-offering, and indeed
in the present case, because such an intentional
transgression as that of David against Bath-
sheba and Uriah, allowed of no legal sin-offer-
ing (Rabbins, et al.), which cuts the nerveof the
entire passage. The inadmissibleness of this in-
terpretation is confirmed by the parallel mention
of burnt offering n*?!;^, by the offering of which
the renewed devotion to God and His service was
fulfilled. But it is not only said that the glad
thankfulness for the deliverance, favor, for-
giveness of sins, comes from a broken heart as
the condition of salvation (Hitzig, Delitzsch), or
remains constantly accompanied by a pain on ac-
count of sin (De Wette), which was at the same
time a measure of the thankfulness for the for-
giveness of sins (Hengstenberg). The heart it-
self is the essential thing in all the sacrifices of
thanksgiving. To bring this is not the only of-
fering which God demands after the abrogation
of the propitiatory sacrifice, because in it the man
denies himself, and abandoning any merit of his
own, implores his entire salvation from God's
grace alone through faith (Calvin) ; it is the sign
that grace has broken the heart, and that the fa-
vored one, in true humility, regards himself un-
worthy of what God has done to him, Gen. xxxii.
10; Luke v. 8. The statement of Joshua ben
Levi, imparted by Delitzsch from the Talmud
Sanhedrin 43 b., is related with this : at the
time when the temple was standing, he who
brought a burnt-offering received the reward of
such, and he who brought a meat-offering, the
reward of such, but the humble is to the Scrip-
tures as one who brought all the offerings at once.
However, the explanatory addition to ver. 17 in
Iren. IV. 17 and Clemens Alex, paedag. III. 12,
gives the present statement a somewhat different
turn: "A savor well-pleasing to God, is a heart
which praises Him who has smitten it." More-
over, it is not to be left out of consideration that
ver. 17 i. leads back, not to the means of forgive-
ness of sins, but rather to the subjective prerequi-
site and condition of it, which the Psalmist, still
imploring forgiveness, experiences in himself as a
personal condition of heart, and to this unites a
hope, which in Is. Ivii. 15 is sealed by the conso-
lation of the prophecy, that God will take up His
abode in such hearts as these.
Str. VI. Vers. 18, 19.— Do good, etc.— The
remark made in the previous verse enables us to
conceive of the use of this verse in the spiritual
and New Testament sens'e. But this does not al-
low us to explain this passage in the typical or
Messianic sense of the spiritual edification of the
congregation (Flam,), or of the spiritual offerings
of Zion built up again of broken and restored
hearts (Stier). Ver. 19 speaks of real Old Tes-
tament offerings, and indeed again of thank-offer-
ings, especially consisting of sacrifices of bul-
locks, which are designated directly as burnt-of-
ferings, and by the word T/S, not as perfect
(Maurer), but, in accordance with usage, whole
burnt-offerings, that is, as offerings which were to
be entirely consumed, and here apparently not
the whole vegetable offering, Lev. vi. 15, but that
identical with the burnt-offering, 1 Sam. vii. 9,
of which the offerer did not receive a part as
they did of the shelamim. These sacrifices, the
Psalmist foresees, would be brought upon the al-
tar after that God in His favor had done good to
Zion, and built the walls of Jerusalem ; and his
prayer is that God may do this. There is not a
syllable in the text to indicate that God's grace
was turned again to Zion, which would presup-
pose an apostasy of the people, or of a rebuilding
of the walls which had been destroyed, by which
either this concluding strophe or the whole
Psalm would be pressed into the time of the Ex-
ile. The author has spoken only of his own guilt ;
since, however, he has mentioned its connection
with universal human sinfulness, the transition in
the prayer to intercession has been sufiBciently
prepared. If now David is the petitioner, it in-
volves not only an extension of the view in the
direction of his royal glance in general, but in
view of the threatening, 2 Sam. xii. 10, he must
fear that evil would come from his sin upon the
whole nation (Hengstenberg), and therefore feel
himself impelled especially in his prayer for per-
sonal pardon, finally for constant exhibitions of the
Divine favor to Zion and Jerusalem. The build-
ing of the walls is in contr/ist with the tearing
down (Ps. Ixxxix. 40), and includes the idea of
duration and preservation, Ps. Ixxxix. 8 sq. Thus
the statement is explained without difl&culty and
without its being necessary to regard the build-
ing of the walls of Jerusalem round about by
Solomon, 1 Kings iii. 1, as the fulfilment of this
prayer of David. — There is no inconsistency with
328
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
ver. 16, as those suppose who regard the closing
verses as a later attempt to restore the offerings
rejected in ver. 16 (Koster, Maurer, Tholuck),
or who suppose that ver. 16 merely says that
God has no pleasure in the offerings which might
be brought during the exile in the heathen land,
since the only admissible place for the bringing
of the true and legal offerings was Jerusalem (Is.
xxxvi. 7), where then after the restoration of the
city they should be brought in the true and pro-
per manner (Paulus, De Wette, Hitzig). All
these suppositions are as untenable as they are
unnecessary. For it follows from ver. 17, where
the offerings well-pleasing to God are described,
that the reference in ver. 16 is not to accidental
deficiencies, external hindrances, ritual incom-
pleteness, but that the thought is entirely parallel
with that expressed in Pss. xl. 6 sq. ; 1. 8 sq. ;
and ver. 19 shows, not that moral actions are de-
scribed symbolically as offerings, but that the
thank-offerings, which were to be brought on the
altar at Jerusalem after the experience of the
favor of God, are not offerings of merely ritual
value, but offerings of righteousness (Ps. iv. 6),
that is to say, such as are brought with the dis-
position well-pleasing to God, demanded likewise
by the law, Deut. xxxiii. 19; comp. Numb. xxvi.
31, Finally it is commonly overlooked that the
Psalmist expresses as a prophet of God in vers,
16, 17 a doctrinal statement, and in it a truth of
universal application, while in ver. 19 he pro-
claims a fact, the historical occurrence of which
may be expected as the consequence of the hearing
of his intercession.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is very gracious in God not to leave the
believer, who has fallen into sin, to himself or
his sad condition, so likewise not to send the
judge, but the preacher to his house, and by the
proclamation of His word chastise him earnestly
it is true, yet likewise call him to repentance and
point out and lead him in the true way of gain-
ing/or^jueraeas of sins and spiritual renewal: and
it is a sure sign of the efficacy of this grace, when
the chastised sinner does not creep behind his
exalted position in the world, excuse himself with
the universal inborn sinfulness, comfort himself
with his previous state of grace, justify himself
with his services and offerings in the worship of
God, but unreservedly confesses his trespasses, ex-
periences sorrowfully his guilt and his ill-desert,
seeks expiation and improvement by faith in the
saving grace of God, and implores for both pur-
poses the efficacy of the ordinary means of grace
and the aid of the Holy Spirit.
2. It is true, we must distinguish between j9er-
sonal sin and original sin ; yet we must not over-
look or undervalue the close connection between
them. But we should not derive from this any
excuse to weaken, but rather aa occasion of in-
creasing our penitence, and the more uncondi-
tionally feel ourselves driven to seek our deliver-
ance in God alone, as all our sins and those of our
race in their deepest ground and according to
their innermost nature, are a manifestation of a
moral apostasy from God, occasioned by unbelief
and disobedience. Even on this account the par-
ticular sin which in its extreme form has terribly
and painfully torn asunder human relations
may yet not be experienced by the penitent as a
violation of human ordinances, or be designated
as a trespass committed against man, but may
awaken in him the feeling that he has to do, es-
sentially and properly, with God alone. In God's
eyes sin has always been evil, whilst human eyes
have often been blinded to it. But God's guid-
ances lead to this, not only that His judgment
should be actually exhibited, but likewise ex-
pressly recognized. Thus even the sin itself must
finally serve to glorify God, corap. Exeget. and
Grit. II. 4.
3. The human soul is so darkened and ruined \n
consequence of original sin, that the sinner is
unable to know or to love the truth in his soul's
experience, not to speak of gaining it again, with-
out the guidance of Divine wisdom. The sinner is
not at all in the position of moderating his
misery or changing his condition. He must turn
entirely to the mercy of God, and abide there in
order to gain expiation as well as a change of heart
and improvement in life, and he must use penitently
and believinyly the prescribed means of grace. Only
thus does the true and blessed co-operation of the
Divine and human spirits take place, but this is
not synergism.
4. It is true, the Old Testament knew of the
connection between expiatory offerings and
atonement, yet not of tJie complete and only suf-
ficient offering for the the sins of the whole world.
Hence the idea moves partly in insufficient fig-
ures and comparisons only approximating the true
sense, partly in types and symbols straining to ex-
press their meaning and exciting the expectation
and attention. But the idea of the offering it-
self is thus in particular turned by a purer in-
terpretation into the subjective and the moral,
which is indeed an advance compared with the
merely legal and ritual fulfilment of the offer-
ing, but yet is only a transition from the law to
the gospel. For the breaking of the heart and
spirit is indeed a worthier offering than the slay-
ing of animals; but it cannot take their place,
since it is not a means of atonement, but on the
one side a characteristic of true penitence, on the
other a condition of the efficacy of the Divine
grace in the penitent person, in order to the puri-
fication of the heart as well as to the renewal
and strengthening of the spirit. As long as the
objective and absolutely sufficient means of atone-
ment and salvation were missing, it was there-
fore necessary that there should be animal offer-
ings, with the required disposition as the true offer-
ings of righteousness, and that they should be de-
manded and performed with like satisfaction.
6. The conversion of the sinner is under all
circumstances a miracle and gracious work of God
on the ground of a moral and religious process,
for which the Lord is entitled to thanks from the
individual and the congregation. This thanksgiv-
ing will be the more lively the stronger the feel-
ing of delight which the delivered one has in con-
trast with the pain of his previous condition ;
the more instructive, the richer the experience of
the pardoned one in both of his situations; and
the more perfect, the more sincerely we offer our-
selves in it as the offering always and everywhere
well-pleasing to God, the bringing of which does
not cease even in the new covenant, but ia then
first made entirely possible, Rom. xii.
PSALM LI.
829
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Although sin may have become great, grace is
Btill greater ; but it is not easy for the sinner to
resign himself entirely and fully. — No man is
placed so hiffh, that he cannot fall deep into sin ;
but the deeply fallen may be lifted up again by
the mercy of God, if he repent. — God can chastise
more severely with His words than with the rod ;
but the same word of God has likewise balsam
for the wounds. — Men can bring no offerings
which expiate their sins, but such as express their
desire of atonement with God, and which testify
their thanks for the redemption that has taken
place. — True penitence has a hard beginning, a bit-
ter course, and a glad end. — Sin brings scarcely so
muchjoam, however great it is, as conversion to
God creates joy, if it is thorough and sincere. —
A converted man has not only joy in his heart,
but likewise pleasure in praising God, and in la-
boring for the conversion of other sinners. — We
please God best when we place ourselves at His
disposal as a thank-offering for His grace. — For-
giveness of sins is not effected by penitence, but is
neither sought nor gained without penitence. —
Without forgiveness of sins there is no pure
heart, without change of heart and renewal
there is no steadfast and willing spirit. — One may
fall into sin and yet may not have fallen away
from grace. — The earlier the penitence, the surer
the salvation. — There are many ways into sin, but
only one way out of sin. — The contrast oi what we
are by nature and birth, and what we become by
grace. — The misery of sin is very deep and full of
pain, but the ivell of grace is. deeper still and full
of joy.
Luther: Two things are necessary to true
penitence : (1.) that we recognize sin and then
likewise grace ; (2.) that we know and believe
that God desires to be gracious and merciful to
all who believe in Christ. — David speaks not
only with God, but with his Father God, whose
promise he knows, and whose grace and mercy
have been bestowed. — If we would speak and
teach properly respecting sin, we must consider
it and point it out more deeply in its roots, and
in the entire ungodly nature that it produces,
and not notice only the sins which have been
committed. — For from the error that sin is not
known nor understood, ariselS still another error,
that grace is neither known nor understood. — If
we have received the righteousness and grace of
God through faith in Christ, we can do no greater
work than speak and preach the truth about
Christ Jesus. — If, however, one would confess
Christ and His word, a glad spirit is necessary.
— Calvin ; We certainly cannot know our sins
thoroughly in any other way, than by charging
our entire nature with corruption. Yet every
individual sin should lead us to this general
knowledge, that only ruin rules in all parts of
our soul.
Stabkb : David has many followers in sin, but
sad to say, only few in true penitence, especially
among the great. — If a man after God's own
heart can fall into great sins, what watchfulness
and perseverance in prayer is necessary for those
who fall far short of this advantage ! — A peni-
tent man seeks earnestly with God as well the
grace of forgiveness as likewise the grace of im-
provement.— God alone can make the heart
contrite, so He alone can comfort it mightily. —
The restoration of the lost image of God de-
mands no less Omnipotence than the first crea-
tion.— As the goodness of a tree may be known
by its fruits, so likewise justification from dili-
gence in sanctification. — Let every converted
man see to it, that he likewise deliver the soul of
his neighbor from the rage of Satan by word and
conversation. — The stronger and more sure we
experience the forgiveness of sins in the heart,
the more fervently we can praise God for His
grace. — If Jerusalem is to be built, Babel must
perish.
Osiander: Where God's grace and mercy are
involved, our merit has no place. — In spiritual
things we can do nothing of ourselves, unless
the Holy Ghost helps us and impels us. — Sel-
nekker: No one should be proud of his gifts,
which he has received from God, but constantly
should stand in fear, and think more of that
which he lacks and needs, and how full he is of
sins and impurity, than of his own excellence. —
Frisch: The fall of the great saints should
make the little saints tremble (according to Au-
gustine's saying: casus majorum sit tremor mi-
norum). They stand not as examples of falling,
but of the rising up of those who have fallen. —
Arndt : It is a characteristic of true penitence
and conversion, that we should properly know
the grace of God from the word of God, and that
we should not make God's mercy less than our
sin, or our sin 'greater than God's mercy. — Sin
and trespass are constantly before the eyes of an
evil conscience ; it cannot be delivered from them
or forget them. — Faith does nothing by compul-
sion, but voluntarily, out of pure love and thank-
fulness.— Umbreit: Righteousness writes down
our transgressions, love wipes them out. — David
has transgressed greatly against men, but to his
God alone has he sinned. — Tholuck : The be-
ginning and end of all improvement must be in
God's power. — Guenther: When kings sin, the
guilt and punishment of their sins come upon
their people likewise; and when kings repent
before their people, the blessings of the gracious
condition now attained stream out likewise over
the whole people. — Tattbe: There are two princi-
pal fruits of every thorough conversion, that
they now work and live for the salvation of their
neighbors and theglory of God. — Theway of peni-
tence is at the same time a way of faith and fa-
vor.— Gerock: What are the oflFerings which
please God ? (1.) The Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world ; (2.) an anxious and
contrite heart ; (3.) the vow of thankful love
and new obedience.
[Matt. Henry : Though God may sufl^er His
people to fall into sin, and to lie a great while in
it, yet He will by some means or other recover
them to repentance, bring them to Himself, and
to their right mind again. — Those that truly re-
pent of their sins will not be ashamed to own
their repentance ; but, having lost the honor of
innocents, will rather covet the honor of peni-
tents.— The great thing to be aimed at in teach-
ing transgressors, is their conversion to God ;
that is a happy point gained, and happy they
that are instrumental to contribute towards it. — i
330
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS/
P. W. Robertson'3 Sermons : In our best estate
and in our purest moments, there is a something
of the devil in us which, if it could be known,
would make men shrink from us. The germs of
the worst crimes are in us all. — Personal religion
is the same in all ages. The deeps of oar hu-
manity remain unruflSed by the storms of ages
which change the surface. — From his first mo-
ments up till then, he saw sin — sin — sin ; no-
thing but sin. — It is not the trembling of a craven
spirit, in anticipation of torture, but the agonies
of a nobler one in the horror of being evil. —
Barnes : The only hope of a sinner when
crushed with the consciousness of sin is the
mercy of God ; and the plea for that mercy will
be urged in the most earnest and impassioned
language that the mind can employ. — Tlie only
way to enjoy religion is to do that which is right,
the only way to secure the favor of God is to
obey His commands ; the only way in which we
can have comforting evidence that we are Hia
children is by doing that which shall be pleasing
to him, 1 John ii. 29; iii. 7, 10. The path of sin
is a dark path, and in that path neither hope nor
comfort can be found, — Spcrgeon : None but a
child of God cares for the eye of God, but where
there is grace in the soul, it reflects a fearful
guilt upon every evil act, when we remember
that the God whom we oflFend was present when
the trespass was committed. — God's voice speak-
ing peace is the sweetest music an ear can hear.
— Never yet has God spurned a lowly, weeping
penitent, and never will He while God is love,
and while Jesus is called the man who receiveth
sinners. — A saved soul expects to see its prayers
answered in a revived Church, and then is as-
sured that God will be greatly glorified. — C.
A. B.]
PSALM LIL .
To the chief Musician, Maschil, a Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saulj and said
unto Mm, David ia come to the house of Ahimelech»
Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man ?
The goodness of God endureth continually.
2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs :
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou lovest evil more than good ;
And lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou lovest all devouring words,
0 thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever,
He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place.
And root thee oat of the land of the living. Selah.
6 The righteous also shall see, and fear,
And shall laugh at him :
7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength ;
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God :
1 trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it:
And I will wait on thy name ; for it ia good
Before thy saints.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — Respecting
maachity vid. Introduction.* The didactic charac-
[* This Psalm begins a series of eight Psalms usinp the
Divine name of Elohim, and all maskils of David (Ps. lii.-lv).
ter of this Psalm, which is brought into promi-
nence by the title, and its devotional aim, are es-
pecially noticeable from the fact that with re-
It is one of the eight Psalms which by this title are referred
to the time of the persecution by Saul (Pss. vii. Hi. !''•
xxxiv. Iii. Ivii. cxlii. liv). Augustine calla it Psalmus fuffi-
tivut. Vid. Delitzsch.— 0. A.B.]
PSALM LII.
831
spect to its form, the invocation of God which is
peculiar to prayers, lamentations and hymns, is
entirely absent, with respect to its contents, the
mighty man, who, according to ver. 7, is proud
of his riches, is upbraided for his impudence,
wickedness, and falseness (vers. 1-4), the pun-
ishment of God, which will destroy/ him, is pro-
claimed (ver. 5), the action of the righteous,
which will be called forth thereby, is contrasted
with it (vers. 6, 7), and the lo-t and conduct o( the
pious Psalmist, corresponding with his trust in
God's grace, is pronounced. These contents are
already summarily expressed in the first state-
ment ver. 1. The whole in tone and style re-
minds us of the prophetical castigatory discourses
(riupfeld\ as Is. xxii. 16 sq. (Ewald), Jer. xx.
8 sq. ; xxviii. 6 sq. (Hitzig, Maurer). But
this resemblance is only of a general character,
and not of special reference. The figure of the
olive tree (ver. 8) need not be regarded as having
been derived from Jer. xi. 16, and the corres-
pondences in language of vers. 1 and 9 with Is.
xliv. 23, and xlv, 19, are not strong enough in
connection with ver. 8 to refer the composition
of the Psalm to the time subsequent to the return
from the exile (Hitzig). The violence of the
language leads us to the conclusion of an excita-
bility of temper, which would hardly be explica-
ble, if the actions of the person accosted should
be described as merely general injuries, and the
relation of the poet thereto merely as one of the
righteous generally (Hupfeld). But the per-
sonal references of the two are not marked with
BufBcient definiteness to be able to draw any safe
conclusion as to historical relations. The refer-
ence to the high priest Alkimos, 1 Mace. vii.
(Olsh.), is entirely arbitrary. But the reference
of particular expressions to the relations of
David to Saul (Hengst.), are partly far fetched,
partly untenable. Accordingly it is more advis-
able to abide by the statements of the title, and
refer to the informing of Doeg, the overseer of
the royal asses (1 Sam. xxii. 9 sq.), in conse-
quence of which eighty-five priests were slaugh-
tered, whilst David retained his courage and ex-
pressed it to Abiathar, who escaped to David
from that blood-bath, the son of Ahimelech, that
priest of Nob who had thoughtlessly given David,
as the king's son-in-law, the shew-bread and the
"sword of Goliath, which was hung up behind the
ephod in the sanctuary, and this had excited the
suspicion and vengeance of Saul, who now made
Doeg, the informer of that act, likewise the exe-
cutioner of his bloody sentence.
Str. I, Ver. 1. Hero [mighty man, A. V.]. —
Bince the fundamental meaning of gibbdr is
strength, and the same meaning occurs in the
name of God used here, il, it is natural to sup-
pose that there is a mutual reference of these ex-
pressions to one another (Venema, et al.). But
it does not follow from this, either that the re-
ference can only be to Saul (Hengst., Schegg)
as a real hero, or that this rather is used in the
bad sense=violent man (De Wette, Hupfeld), Ps.
cxx. 4. It can only be sarcastic (Delitzsca, et
al.), since Doeg had not made the blood-bath by
the strength of his fist, but by the craft of his
tongue. The translation: Eecke [applied to the
giants of former days. — C. A. B. — ] is therefore
appropriate.— All the day long.— This desig-
nation of time (=always, continually) usually
supplies the predicate, Pss. xliv. 22; Ivi. 6.
Here it is absent. Yet it is unnecessary to
change the noun HDH into the corresponding
verb (Syr.), or to supply a verb with the
meaning : " endure " (most interpreters), or to
point it as HDn, Prov. xxv. 10, and take this
form as an adverbial infin.=abusing (Hitzig).
The translation : what boastest thou thyself in
wickedness, thou mighty one in evil doing? thou
deviseth always, etc. (Srpt., Vulg.), leads to an-
other recension of the text.
Ver. 2. "Working deceit.— This is not to be
regarded as the 2d person of the finite verb TWy
(Sept., Vulg., Syr., Flamin., et aZ.)=thou makest
aeceit, (that he worked as a razor), but the par-
ticiple, yet not as the adjective of razor, which
easily injures the one who uses it, after the ana-
logy of the deceitful bow, Ps. Ixxviii. 57 ; Hos.
vii. 16 (Isaaki, Kimchi, Clericus), or as that of
the tongue (Calvin), but as that of the man (Je-
rome, Hupfeld), and indeed, according to the
vowel points of T\\oy, as a vocative (Geier, and
most interpreters).
Ver. 3. Evil before {instead of) good —
falsehood before {instead of) speaking right-
eousness.— jD excludes its genitive, so that it
does not state degree, but th.Q preference including
an actual negation (AbenEzra, Geier, J. H. Mich.,
most recent interpreters). The accused not only
loves evil more than good, but he prefers evil to
good, so that he loves it instead of that which he
should love.
Ver. 4. [Devouring words. — Perowne :
" Literally, 'words of swallowing up,' which ac-
cords exactly with the figures employed in ver.
9, * their mouth is a yawning gulf,' etc., and so
the Sept. well }}T]iJ.aTa KaTaTrovTcafia. — C. A. B.] —
Tongue of deceit. — This is not an accusative
in apposition to " devouring words " (Olshausen,
Hupfeld, and most older interpreters), but a vo-
cative (Rosenm. and most recent interpreters), as
parallel to the preceding.
Sir. II. Ver. 6. Likewise introduces the cor-
responding behaviour of another (Gen. xx. 6), es-
pecially the proclamation of the Divine retaliation.
Is. Ixvi. 4 ; Ezek. xvi. 43 ; Mai. ii. 9 — Tear down
[A. v., destroy,'] is used generally of walls,
towers, houses, with the subordinate idea that
these are made level with the ground, and are not
to be rebuilt. — Seize [A. V., take away'] is gen-
erally used of the seizing of a coal with the
tongs or shpvel ; so much less then are we to
think in the subsequent words of tearing away
the tent, that is to say, the tent-pins from the
earth (Hupfeld), or of the bringing out from the
sacred tent, which the traitor had defiled (Kim-
chi, Geier, et al.), but of the dwelling, yet not
as a figure of existence (De Wette), but rather
with an allusion to the herdsman's tent of Doeg.
— [Land of the living. — Alexander : This
is a poetical description of life itself, or the pre-
sent state of existence, under the figure of a
country."— C. A. B,]
[Ver. 6. See — fear — laugh. — The righteous
shall live to see the ruin of the ungodly, and in
looking upon their ruin they will fear God, that
is, reverence Him, and stand in holy awe in the
332
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
presence of His severe judgments, and at the
same time laugk &i the absurd state of the un-
godly, in -view of their previous great preten-
sions.*
Ver. 7. Behold the man, etc. — Pe-
rowne : " The words in which the righteous ex-
press their triumph, pointing, as it were, to the
fallen oppressor, and the lesson to be learnt from
his overthrow. His trust was in riches, (comp.
Ps. xlix. 6; Prov. x. 15; xviii, 11), and his
strength in hig evil desire (vid. ver. 2), not in
God.— C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 8. But I am like a green
olive tree in the house of God. — [The pro-
noun is emphatic, the Psalmist contrasting him-
self with the fallen Doeg.— C. A. B.] The "olive
tree in the house of God," has hardly a local
meaning, comp. 2 Maco. xiv. 4 (Hitzig), yet is
still less a general figure of glad prosperity under
the protection and in the vicinity of God, but the
latter reference is brought about at any rate by
the thought of the central place of the meeting of
God with His people (Ps. xcii. 13 ; Is. Ix. 13;
Zech. i. 8), so that something higher is ex-
pressed, it is true (Hengstenberg), than the hope
of David of returning from his exile to the sanc-
tuary (the older interpreters), yet the latter is
not to be excluded (De Wette, Hupfeld), but in-
cluded in the idea.
Ver. 9. And w^ill wait on Thy name,
because it is good. — The connection of 31D
with the following words (even Ewald and Olgh.)
is opposed by the fact that not " in the eyes " is
used, but lJ3=:in the presence of, or before. It
is accordingly better to write it with the previ-
ous word : n\j:3^X1 . The conjecture of Hitzig to
read it as : njinxi=I will proclaim, is very ap-
propriate ; for praise, thanksgiving, preaching
before the congregation are frequently men-
tioned. But the " wait " of the text is likewise
intelligible (comp. Is. xxvi. 8), since the name
of God expresses His declaration of Himself and
David can represent himself to the congregation
(Pss. xxii. 22 sq. ; xl. 9 sq.) as an example
and model of one who waits upon Him. It is
entirely unsuitable, in opposition to the accents,
to refer 3"iC3 to God=because Thou art kind (De
Wette) : or to the action of the verb=because
He is good. As God Himself, Ps. c. 4, or His
grace, Ps. cix. 21, so likewise His name is 3l£3,
and this is neither to be explained as kind (Hup-
feld) nor as great (Maurer).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Confidence in God's everlasting grace allows
us to have no anxiety respecting the wickedness
and craft of even the mightiest enemies ; it in-
cludes the assurance of the nothingness of their
devices and the vanity of their boasting and de-
fiance, not less than their terrible and complete
[* BarnoB : "The idea hero is not exultation in the gujfer-
ivffs of others, or joy that calamity has come upon them, or
the gratification of selfish and revengeful feelines that an
emimy is deservedly punished ; it is that of approbation that
punishment has come upon those who deserve it, and joy
that wickedness is not allowed to triumph. It is not wrong
for us to feel a sense of approbation and joy that the laws
are maintained^ and that Justice is done, even though this
does involve suffering, for we know that the guilty deserve it,
ond it is better that they should suffer than that the right-
eous should suffer through them." — C. A, B.l
ruin, with the same certainty of knowledge as
that of our own continued salvation and increas-
ing prosperity. For the one as well as the other
rests upon faith in the retaliation of God's holy
government; and this grace does not deceive us.
God pushes the violent from their authority;
but He gives the humble His grace.
2. Every man is glad to boast of that in which
he finds his strength, and upon which he puts his
trust. The wicked therefore boast not merely as
it were of their riches, their power, their saga-
city, but directly of their wickedness. But this
pride comes directly before their fall. The pious,
on the contrary, boast of God and His grace.
Herein they put their confidence alone, and there-
fore find in God true strength. And whilst they
praise God. they strengthen themselves at the
same time in waiting upon God's revelation of
Himself, and by both give the congregation a
comforting example and a refreshing model.
3. The tongue is a little member, but it can be-
come a dangerous weapon, not only by its misuse
ruining other men, but plunging those likewise who
use it in wickedness, into sure destruction. For
it hands them over 'to the Divine judgment, eiudi
there even the lightest words weigh heavily, and
the winged word is conjured up. But he who
has spoken untruly, has not only made a breath,
and spoken in the air, he has violated the right-
eousness which he should have pursued (Deut.
xvi. 20), and transgressed God's commandment;
therefore the deserved jsurawATneni hastens to the
wicked, sometimes late, but is always sure to
come. By this the righteous at the same time
fear and rejoice.
4. As the righteous do not avenge themselves,
but may and mnst proclaim the punishments of God,
so they rejoice not over the misfortunes of their
enemies, 2 Sam. i. 19 ; Job xxxi. 29 ; Prov. xxiv.
17. It fills them with the trembling of fear and
amazement ; they rejoice in the exhibition of the
righteousness of God, in which the glory, truth,
and power of the Divine name which is invoked,
confessed, and praised by the congregation, are
again preserved. And if they then laugh, it is
yet not a laughing in the joy of injuring, in
scorn and reproaching, but the bringing into
view of the absurd inconsistency in which the un-
godly have become involved by their abandonment
of God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The courage of faith and the pride of the un-
godly, a, in their origin, b, in their behaviour, c, in
their consequences. — The same hand which oasts
down the wicked, lifts up the pious. — ^The use and
misuse of the tongue. — See well to it, in what
thou dost boast, in what thou dost trust, whom
thou dost obey.—Rovf the judgmerits of God excite
fear and joy in one and the same heart. — The
strength of wickedness finally is shown to be en-
tire weakness. — Tru^t in Divine grace is rewarded
by the exhibition of it, but he who leaves God, is
left by His salvation. — Think of the recompense,
not only for what thou doest, but for what thou
sayest. — God will not have His name proclaimed
in vain ; he who uses it aright, will experience
that it is good. — God requires trust in order to the
manifestations of His grace, and He expects
PSALM LIII.
883
thankfulness. — Be not in debt to your *God for
thanksgiving, but act so that the whole congrega-
tion shall have the blessing of it. — Wouldst thou
receive and enjoy the blessings of the house of Qod?
then thou must undertake the obligations of a
child and of a servant of God.
Staekb : Many have fallen by the sharpness
of the sword, but not near so many as by wicked
mouths. — A. wicked tongue has always at the bot-
tom a false heart. — The goodness of God is a
strong support, upon which we can safely rely,
no one is deprived of it, unless they wilfully cast
it away from them. — Selnekker : The pious
must have patience, although wicked villains do
much mischief. — ^Frankb : Most men are so con-
stituted that they of themselves hope and expect
the best. But it does not depend upon the hope,
which they make in their thoughts, but upon the
idea that they have of themselves. — Arndt: There
are two kinds of laughter: one when a wicked, re-
vengeful heart laughs over the misfortunes of its
enemies; the other laughing is from the considera-
tion of the wonderful judgments and righteous-
ness of God. — Tholuck : He who has not his
protection in God, seeks protection and shelter
in the things of this world. — He who has his
roots grounded in God, will likewise bloom in
the house of God ; and he who does not see it in
time, will experience it ia eternity. — The name
of the Lord is before the pious, although others
know nothing of it, as a horn of plenty full of
graces and gifts. — Guenther : In nothing is the
wicked world more inventive than in the justifi-
cation and extenuation of its sins and evil de-
sires.— Taubb : The ungodly flourish, it is true,
but like the grass. — Faith lives upon the glory
of the name of God ; therefore the heart's plea-
sure is in the recollection of His name. Is. xxvi. 8.
[Matt. Henry : They that glory in their sin
glory in their shame, and then it becomes yet
more shameful. — The enemies in vain boast in
their mischief, while we have God's mercy to
boast in. — It contributes very much to the
beauty of our profession, and to our fruitfulness
in every grace, to be much in praising God, and
it is certain we never want matter for praise. —
Barnes : Among the " saints" there is a com-
mon bond of union — a common interest in all
that pertains to each other ; and when special
mercy is shown to any one of the great brother-
hood, it is proper that all should join in the
thanksgiving, and render praise to God. — Spur-
GEON : Wealth and wickedness are dreadful com-
panions; when combined they make a monster.
— ^Eternal mercy is my present confidence. Da-
vid knew God's mercy to be eternal and per-
petual, and in that he trusted. What a rock to
build on I What a fortress to fly to 1 — C. A. B.]
PSALM LIIL
To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity:
There is none that doeth good.
2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there were any that did understand,
That did seek God.
3 Every one of them is gone back ; they are altogether become filthy.
There is none that doeth good,
No, not one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread :
They have not called upon God.
6 There were they in great fear, where no fear was :
For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee:
Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.
6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion I
When God bringeth back the captivity of his people,
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
334
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its relation to Ps. xiv. — The double addi-
tion to the title, which designates this Psalm as
an instructive Psalm, to be sung in a sorrowful
manner, (vid. Introduct.) shows that the com-
piler recognized this Psalm as having an inde-
pendent value along side of Ps. xiv. At the same
time its position among the Elohim-Psalms, and
between Pss. lii. and liv., which is analogous to
that of Ps. xiv., shows that the diflferences of the
two texts, which are entirely similar in most
strophes, were regarded as designed. It is ma-
nifest that the sevenfold use of the name of God
corresponding with the number of the strophes
was to have been marked by the fact that here
Elohim is constantly used, whilst in Ps. xiv.
Elohim is only used three times, and Jehovah
four times, and indeed with an accurate discri-
mination of the characteristic diflferences of these
two names. This is at once partly against the
supposition that Ps. liii. is the more ancient,
(Clericus, Ewald, Hitzig), partly against the
conjecture that David himself revised Ps. xiv.
(Hengst. and most of the older interpreters after
the Rabbins). The following circumstances favor
a remodelling of the Psalm (and not merely an-
other recension of the same text) ; thus : In ver.
1 b, the advance in thought is obscured by the
insertion of " and " between the two verbs, but
is then restored by placing instead of that noun,
which in Ps. xiv. 1 designates human actions
and doings in the good sense as well as in the
bad, a word which characterizes evil as unwil-
lingness. Furthermore instead of the "whole,"
Ps. xiv. 3, we have here ver. 3, •' every one of
them," which is followed directly by JD, which
is preferred to "^0 ; and in ver. 4 a the word
" all," which is so characteristic in Ps. xiv. 4,
is missing. In ver. 6 a, moreover, the expression
designating deliverance has been strengthened
by the plural. Finally and chiefly, instead of
the two distiches, Ps. xiv. 5, 6, there is here a
tristich, which renders the thought expressed
there in general terms more definite, by connect-
ing it with a historical event. That a historical
event is presupposed, particularly the catastro-
phe of Sennacherib, is accepted by Hitzig, Baur,
et al. Hitzig finds the original text here, whilst
he regards Ps. xiv. 6 as only a retouching of
faded features in the style, which has succeeded
badly, whilst Hupfeld recognizes in both texts
merely the ruins of an original identity. De-
litzsch, however, reminds us that such a depend-
ence upon the very letters of the original, and
such an alteration of the original by means of a
change of letters is found elsewhere likewise, es-
pecially in Jeremiah. He also refers to the re-
lation of 2 Peter to Jude, and conjectures that a
later poet composed it somewhere about the time
of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah.
Sir. V. Ver. 5. Where no terror "was. —
This does not mean blind alarm or unnecessary
fear^ but the sudden and unexpected breaking in
of judgment at a time, when the enemies of the
Israelites saw no reason to be terrified, and felt
themselves entirely secure, and were without fear
or care (Calvin, Venema, Hengst., Delitzsch).
Examples of euch ruin are: the confederates
under Jehoshaphat (2 Chnon. xx. 22 sq.), the host
of Sennacherib (Is. xxxvii. 36). Parallel cases
are: Job xv. 21; 1 Thes. t. 3. Some supply
after Aben Ezra "as this one," which would
express that it surpassed all others, was un-
heard of. — Scattered. — This is the consequence
of the overthrow. It was the greatest disgrace
that the bones which had not been gathered and
buried, should be scattered (Ps. cxli. 7; Ezek.
vi. 5), to become the prey of wild beasts, or ma-
nure of the field (Jer. viii. 3; ix. 21; xvi. 4;
XXV. 33). The enemy is here designated by the
collective in the singular, and as the besieger of
the people of Israel, which leads to ar^ external
enemy. It is otherwise with Ps. xiv. The par-
ticiple might in itself, connected with Elohim,
mean : who surrounds thee protecting, Ps. xxxiv.
7 ; Zech. ix. 8. But this reference is here pre-
vented partly by the position of the participle,
partly by the fact that it is not said then, whose
bones, etc. Another reading is followed by the
Sept., Vulg., Syr.: the bones "of those who
please men," by which Arab, and -^thiop under-
stand hypocrites. But Aquil., Symm., Jerome,
have our text. — Many interpreters, without any
reason, refer these words to a /uiwre judgment.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. "Those devour the people who derive only
their own profit from those over whom they are
placed, and do not use their ofl5.ce for the glory
of God and their salvation," (Augustine).
2. The prosperity of the ungodly is partly
only apparent, partly without duration. They
may sometimes gain external success, and even
for awhile oppress and afflict the people of God.
But although it may seem for a time as if God
did not trouble Himself for His people, or those
who devour them, yet both parties will soon ex-
perience the watchfulness and the activity of God.
Even in the days of their prosperity the ungodly
cannot escape the curse which God has imposed
upon evil doers, Lev. xxvi. 17, 36 ; Prov. xxviii.
1. God gives them a cowardly heart so that
they flee when no one pursues, and are fright-
ened with the noise of falling leaves ; whilst the
righteous are courageous as a lion. — His hand,
moreover, overtakes the secure, so that " terror
is in their ears, and the destroyer comes upon them
whilst at peace," Job xv. 21 ; 1 Thess. v. 3, and
the overthrow is the more complete, the more
unexpectedly it comes, and the more definitely it
has the character of a Divine Judgment.
3. Such experiences should warn and urge to
humiliation under the mighty hand of God. God
breaks the rod which He uses to chastise ; and
when He receives His chastened people into fa-
vor again, and raises them up from their fall,
they should not forget that the victory was given
them over their enemies, because Ood rejected
them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Ungodly people are proud, presumptuous and
defiant, but they are neither so wise as they
think, nor so brave as they regard themselves,
nor so strong as they make themselves to be. —
He who boasts that he fears neither God nor
PSALM LIV.
836
man, will soon enough be found out to be not
only a/ooZ and a transgressor, but likewise a liar,
— In misfortune think not that God has forgotten
thee, and in prosperity think not that thou hast
accomplished it without God. — Yomt failures at-
tribute to your guilt, your victories to God's fa-
vor.— Forget not what thou owest to Qod in bad
as well as in good tigies.
Starke : It is not enough to say with the
mouth that there is a God, but we must show by
our conversation that we are really convinced of
it in our hearts. — God is not an idle observer of
the world, but what He sees, and He sees all,
He records in His book. — The ungodly are like
the weather-cocks on the towers, very change-
able; now they are altogether courageous, soon
altogether despondent.
[Matt, Henry: 1). The fact of sin; 2) the
fault of sin; 3) the fountain of sin; 4) the folly
of sin ; 6) the filthiness of sin ; 6) the fruit of
sin ; 7) the fear and shame that attend sin ; 8)
the faith of the saints, and their hope and po\»er
touching the cure of this great evil. — C. A. B.J
PSALM LIV.
To the chief Mtisician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when the Ziphim came and said to iSlsu^,
Doth not David hide hiTnself with its 9
Save me, 0 God, by thy name,
And judge me by thy strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers are risen up against me,
And oppressors seek after my soul :
They have not set G^d before them. Selah.
4 Behold, God is mine helper :
The Lord is with them that uphold my souL
6 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies :
Cut them off in thy truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee :
1 will praise thy name, O Lord ; for it is good.
7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble :
And mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — This Psalm,
Which was to be accompanied by stringed in-
struments, and was designed for devotional con-
sideration (vid. Introduct., § 8 and ^ 12), is
plain and simple in form and contents. It ex-
presses at first a prayer to God for deliverance
in a just cause from dreaded ungodly enemies
(vers. 1-3). It then expresses, in a lively man-
ner, confidence in the divine help and the punish-
ment of his enemies (vers. 4, 5) ; finally it con-
cludes with the vow of thanksgiving for such acts
of God in confirmation of His name (verf. 6, 7).
That the title agrees in part literally with 1
Sam. XX. 19 and 26, is no sound reason for re-
jecting its authenticity (Paulus, De Wette), or
of preferring the title of the Syriac referring to
the war with Absalom (Rudinger). We may sup-
pose a commoii source in the Annals (Delitzsch).
No more is the reference of enemies (ver. 8) to
foreigners against the title [vid. ver. 3), nor is
there any occasion for the conjecture that
the people themselves are here introduced as
speaking.
Str. I., ver. 1. — By Thy name does not
mean for Thy name's sake (J. H. Mich.), but
designates that which in the divine nature has
been made known by His revelation of Himself,
and therefore here, ver. 6, as in Ps. lii. 9, it is
called 31D, good. This refers to the qualifications
of a person or thing, or that something is en-
tirely as it should be, and thus in accordance
with its idea and aim. The name is here still
less synonymous with power (Hengst.) or good-
ness (Delitzsch), as it is in close connection with
Elohim in ver. 1 and with Jehovah in ver, 6,
and is the subject of the clause of deliverance,
ver. 7. Comp. Is. xxx. 27.
Ver. 3. Strangers, — If this expression is
regarded as=foreigners, barbarians, then it is
336
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
inconsisteiit with the title, since the inhabitants
of Ziph, a town situated in the mountain wilder-
ness of Judah, a few miles south-east of Hebron,
were of the same race as David. The funda-
mental meaning of W'^1=alieni is used frequent-
ly by Isaiah and Ezekiel for foreign enemies ;
that is to say, those belonging to another nation ;
but it has usually the secondary meaning of
wicked, violent, cruel in disposition, and men
of this class, Is. i. 7 (Hupfeld), and it can thus
gain the general idea of enemies of this kind,
especially when parallel with D''^"'"^J^, as here
and Is. XXV. 5; xxix. 5; Ezek. vii. 21; xxxi. 12
(Calvin, Geier, et al.). It is unnecessary to
prefer the more convenient reading DHI, that
is to say, the proud (Luther, Muscul., Venema);
for it is only found in the Chald. paraphrase
and a few MSS. perhaps changed in accordance
with Ps. Ixxxvi. 14. The explanation that those
who were by origin and divine law friendly are
compared on account of their behaviour, not as
it were with barbarians, but are called at once
strangers, is favored by the comparison with Ps.
cxx. 6 (Ilengst. ), where the Psalmist, aflBicted
by his countrymen, complains that he dwells in
Mesech and Kedar among heathen nations. The
idea of stranger includes, Jer. ii. 21, that of de-
generation, changed into a foreign nature,
(Hupfeld); hence the explanation of many (in
Calvin) alieni^degeneres filii Abrahami.*
Str, II., ver. 4. Among the supporters
of my soul. — This does not mean that God is
one among many others who support his .soul;
the so-called beth essentise states the class, the
only representative of which is God, Ps. cxviii.
7; Judges xi. 35.
Ver. 6. Evil shall return to my oppres-
sors.— Since ^W'' is construed with 7 instead
T
of with 7j?, many editions and interpreters [so
A. v.] prefer with the ancient translation and
numerous MSS. the Keri 3''lJ'''=he will requite,
comp. Ps. xciv. 23. — In Thy truth. — The prep.
2 does not state that the truth of God (others:
His faithfulness) is the instrumental means of
their destruction, but the active cause of it (De-
litzsch).
Ver. 6. In ■willingness ■will I sacrifice
unto Thee. — The reference here is not to free-
will offerings, Ex. xxxv. 29; Lev. vii. 16, etc.
(Calvin, J. H. Mich., Rosenm,, Hengst., [Alex-
ander]), in contrast with those offered in the
fulfilment of vows; but it is said, that they are
to be brought voluntarily, that is to say, with
glad heart and willing mind, Deut. xxiii. 24;
Hos. xiv. 6 (the ancient versions, Kimchi and
most interpreters). Decisive for this interpre-
tation is the circumstance that n3I is construed
here not with an accusative, but with J, just as
Numb. XV. 3, where the same expression is used
as a motive of thank-offering (Hupfeld). The
offerings in question are not spiritual (many of
the older interpreters) in contrast to the ritual
* f Perowne suggests that " the word ' strangers ' may mean
only enemies, the idea of a foreigner, one of another coun-
try, passing over readily into the idea of an enemy, just as
In Latin hostes meant originally nothing more than hotpes."
-C. A. B.]
sacrifices (Ps. 1. 14), but the latter as external
representatives of the former.
Ver. 7. It hath delivered me, &c. — [This
is the translation of Moll, referring to the name
of God as the subject, although he does not ex-
plain his reasons here. So also Delitzsch, etal.,
in accordance with the biblical usage of the
name of God for God in accordance with Lev.
xxiv. 11; Is. XXX. 27. This is better than the
ordinary translation making God Himself the
subject of the clause. — C. A. B.] The preterites
indicate that the Psalmist feels himself in his
spirit and faith transported to the circumstances
from which and for which thanksgiving is to come.
— [On my enemie.«j my eye has looked. —
Wordsworth: "The words ^ his desire' are not
in the original, and would be better omitted. *
What David says is, that his eyes look calmly
on his enemies: he views them without alarm;
for he feels that the shield of God's power and
love is cast over him to protect him. The consum-
mation of this idea is seen in the serene move-
ment of Christ, passing through the midst of
His enemies and looking calmly upon them,
while they were taking up stones to cast at
Him (John viii. 69. Comp. Luke iv. 80, and
see the rendering in Sept., Vulg., Syriac, ^thi-
opic). Christ also lit up the gleams in the
dying martyr's face (Acts vi. 15; vii. 64-59). —
C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. A man may be forsaken by all earthly means
of help, and have unfaithful friends and dreaded
enemies; yet he is by no means lost. "The ex-
ample of David may and will teach us, that even
in the greatest danger we should not seek any
unlawful means, or despair, but call upon God's
name and commit all our affairs to Him as the
supreme Judge" (Berlenb. Bibel). Bui faith,
patience, and a good conscience Q.T& requisite for this.
2. The name of God is not a mere word, least
of all a word in the mouth of men and possessed
of human power, but an esssential and efficient
revelation of God Himself by which we not only
learn to know God, so that we can speak properly
to Him and about Him, but by which we still
more gain true consolation, real power and actual
salvation from God, and wherein we possess a
valuable means of communion with God.
3. Faith sees the invisible God, and bases itself
upon the truth of God. Therefore it gives assu-
rance of salvation in the wicked world and works
joy in suffering and hope where there is no
hope; for it fixes the attention upon the name
and the word of God, whereby the deliverance
of the pious, as well as the ruin of the ungodly,
is pledged. By this means also the heart and
eye are purified, so that without being glad in
the injury of others, or without a revengeful
feeling, or any other sinful excitement, we delight
ourselves in ihe tokens of divine righteousness,
and can see our pleasure in the fact that God
will not be mocked.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God^ s power not only helps our weakness; it
likewise breaks the power of all our enemies, —
When forsaken, we should not only trust God,
PSALM LV.
337
but likewise call upon Him. — God does not allow
those out of His sight who put Eim away from
their eyes; but He does not close His ears to
those whojoray to Him. — To be forsaken is not
to be lost. — Among all conceivable helpers, God
is the ordy true support of our soul; therefore
we may implore=recewe from heaven what the
earth refuses to us. — He who has not only ex-
pected the help of God, but has implored it, will
likewise be willing to render thanks, and will be
unwearied in praising the name of God. — God's
actions correspond with His name; how is it with
OUT faith and behaviour? — What thou hast pro-
mised, keep ; but see to it that thou doest the one
as well as the other with willing heart. — Faith
•sees what no eye can see ; therefore it gives us
comfort, courage and gladness. — He who calls
upon the name of God must likewise trust in the
truth of God and rejoice in the acts of God.
Stakke: The unfathfulness of men should
teach us to give more heed to the faithfulness
of God. — To put God's omnipresence away from
our eyes,
is the origin of all carnal security,
unrighteousness and a perversity of nature. —
The great ones of the earth, have great power ;
but if they do not use it to protect the right,
there is a greater and mightier one than they,
who will not always look upon injustice. — God
remains indebted to no one ; every one will
sooner or later receive the recompense for what
he has done. — Either sin must be destroyed in
man by the word of truth, or the man himself
who neglects this will be destroyed on account
of the truth of the divine threatenings. — Fkisch :
What we cannot accomplish against our enemies
by earthly power, God's word and truth will
perform. — J. Arndt: God's faithfulness and
truth are sure, and must finally cause them-
selves to be seen. — Rieger: As David's heart
believed, his eyes finally saw. — Tholuck: The
Lord Himself will be the helper of those who
are forsaken by all others. — Guentheb-* We
should not rise up from prayer until God has
answered our petitions. — Diedbich: If we abide
in God's word, the worse our enemies are, the
greater the preservation from God. — Taubb:
David's deliverance and the ruin of his enemies
were both the words of God and a comfortable
revelation of the name of God.
[Matt. Henry : Never let a good man expect
to be safe and easy till he comes to heaven. —
What bonds of nature or friendship or gratitude
or covenant will hold those that have broken
through the fear of God? — There is truth in
God's threatenings as well as in His promises,
and sinners that repent not will find it so to
their cost. — Babnes: We can be thankful for
the mercies which we enjoy without having any
malignant delight in those woes of others through
which our blessings may have come upon us. —
Spubgeon : A child may well complain to his
father when strangers come in to molest him. —
Saul, that persecuting tyrant, had stamped his
image on many more. — Rings generally coin
their own likeness. — What matter the number
or violence of our foes when He uplifts the
shield of His omnipotence to guard us, and the
sword of His power to aid us? — It is of great
use to our souls to be much in praise; we are
never so holy or so happy as when our adora-
tion of God abounds. — C. A. B.]
:,.;.. f.'-'
PSALM LV.
To the chief Musician on Neginoth^ Maschil, A Psalm of David,
Give ear to my prayer, 0 God ;
And hide not thyself from my supplication.
Attend unto me, and hear me:
I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise ;
Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked :
For they cast iniquity upon me.
And in wrath they hate me.
My heart is sore pained within me :
And the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
Fearftilness and trembling are come upon me,
And horror hath overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, 0 that I had wings like a dove I
For then would I fly away, and be at rest.
22
338
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off,
And remain in the wilderness. Selah.
8 I would hasten ray escape
From the windy storm and tempest.
9 Destroy, 0 Lord, and divide their tongues :
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof:
Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof :
Deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reprostched me ; then I could have borne it:
Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me ;
Then I would have hid myself from him :
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal,
My guide, and mine acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together,
And walked unto the house of God in company.
15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell :
For wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
16 As for me, I will call upon God ;
And the Lord shall save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud :
And he shall hear my voice.
18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me :
For there were many with me.
19 God shall hear, and afflict them.
Even he that abideth of old. Selah.
Because they have no changes.
Therefore they fear not God.
20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him :
He hath broken his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But war was in his heart :
His words were softer than oil.
Yet were they drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
And he shall sustain thee :
He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction :
Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days ;
But I will trust in thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The lan-
guage of the Psalm is pictorial and powerful, its
turns of thought bold, its expressions striking
and peculiar, the meanings of the words in part
obscure and disputed, the individual clauses ab-
rupt, the transition in topics and thoughts is
eudden and rapid ; all this is in accordance with
the excited feelings and the change in the expe-
riences of a man who takes refuge in prayer to
God, but in such great anxiety (vers. 1-6) that
he wishes that he had wings to fly into the wil-
derness for safety (vers. 6-8), away from the city,
which is full of violence, strife, and cunning
(vers. 9-11), where a. previously trusted friend has
taken sides with his enemies (vers. 12-14), whose
sudden and complete ruin the Psalmist desires, on
account of their wickedness (ver. 15). Whilst
he continually calls upon God, and in the assur-
ance of being heard, gains confidence in his deliv'
erance from the many enemies which fight against
him, they do not turn away from their wicked-
ness to God (vers. 16-19), but associate with
flattering, hypocritical, and unfaithful men (veri.
PSALM LV.
339
20, 21). With reference to all these afflictions
and pains the Psalmist keeps before his own soul
the exhortation to persevering devotion to Jeho-
vah, in the assurance of His assistance of the
righteous, and His punishment of the evil doers
(ver. 23). He concludes with a strong expres-
sion of his personal trust in God. All is so pithy,
lively and individual that there is no reason to
go back from the historical references to a typical
reference to Jesus, the Jews and Judas (Stier,
after older interpreters), or to let them pass out of
view in the devotional interpretation of the
Psalm as a model prayer of a pious man in af-
fliction through the ungodly, particularly
through unfaithful friends (Luther, Geier, J, H.
Mich., Hengstenberg). Thehistorical references,
however, lead neither to the Maccabean times,
with reference to the high-priest Alkimos (Olsh. ),
nor to the prophet Jeremiah and the anarchical
period of the invasion of the Scythians, in which
the prophet was at variance with the authorities
(Hitzig), nor to a prince in the period of the in-
ternal commotion during the last century before
the destruction of Jerusalem (Ewald). None of
these references have any such evidence that we
should abandon the Davidic composition. In re-
taining this reference to David, however, we are
not to think of Doeg, Ps. lii., or the Ziphites, Ps.
liv., or of David's being shut up in Keilah in
the time of Saul (1 Sam. xxiii.), but of Ahith-
ophel's unfaithfulness and the rebellion of Ab-
salom (Chald., the Rabbins, and most interpre-
ters), and indeed not after the outbreak of the
rebellion, but shortly before it. Its composition
accordingly was shortly after Psalm xli. (De-
litzsch).
Chanqes of Reading. — The supposition that
in many passages single verses have been taken
out of their original connection (Hupfeld), mis-
takes the character of the impassioned dis-
course; and the proposals to change many
words are sometimes ingenious, but unneces-
sary, since the present readings may like-
wise be explained, and the change is immaterial
to the sense.
Sir. I. [Ver. 2. I reel to and fro in my
complaint and must groan. — The reference
here is to the movement of the soul, the restless
reeling to and fro of thoughts and cares (Hupf,).
Perowne: " T^i<, from a verb, T'^ (the Kal, not
Hiphil,from^^'^), which occurs in three other pas-
sages. Gen. xxvii. 40 ; Jer. 11. 31 ; Hos. xli. 1. The
meaning assigned to it by the older versions and
the Rabbins is diflferent in different places. Here
the Ixx. have eAv7r;^iJ3?v, Chald. Dji^inX, mv/rmuro.
Later commentators follow Schultens and
Schroder in referring it to the Arab root=
vagariy discurrere. Properly, it signifies to
wander restlessly, especially as homeless,
without fixed abode, etc. This is probably the
meaning in Gen. xxvii. 40, ' when thou wander-
est,' i. e., becomest a free nomad people (not as
in the A. V., 'when thou shalt have the do-
minion'). Here it is used of the restless toss-
ing to and fro of the mind, filled with cares and
anxieties. The optative or the cohortative ex-
presses the internal necessity, as in Ps. Ixxxviii. 15.
Comp. Bottcher, Lehrb. 966, 5 ; Ewald, 3 228 a.
-0. A. B.J
Ver. 3. The burden of the wicked.— The
parallelism does not compel us to read : DDp^f =
cry (Olshausen, Hupfeld), since the reading:
np^, has been proved in Hebrew through the
Hlphil in Amos ii. 13, and a derivative, Ps. Ixvi.
11 ; and neither of these passages give the
meaning of oppression, need (most interpreters),
but that of burden, which is suitable here, so
that we need not think of the Aramaic word
which is used by the Chald. for m2f, Jer. xvi.
19; xix. 9, and which is added, Jer. xiii. 21, so
as to get the meaning of pressure (Hitzig) or
anxiety (Delitzsch). — [They roll mischief
upon me. — The idea is that their mischief was
rolled down upon the Psalmist as from a wall or
tower, the weight of which, its burden caused
bim to reel and groan.
Ver. 4. My heart writhes w^ithin me. —
The trouble is not merely an external one, it af-
fects his bowels, his vitals, his inmost soul. —
Terrors of death. =:those which threaten death
(Hupfeld).
Ver. 6. Horror hath overwhelmed me, —
Barnes : " That is, it had come upon him so as to
cover or envelop him entirely. The shades of
horror and despair spread all around and above
him, and all things were filled with gloom. The
word rendered horror occurs only in three other
places: Ezek. vii. 18, rendered (as here) horror;
Job xxi. 6, rendered trembling ; and Is. xxi.
4, rendered /eaj/M^ness." — C. A, B.]
Str. II. [Ver. 6. Wings like the dove. —
Hupfeld : *' This is a figure of rapid flight, as
elsewhere the clouds. Is. Ix. 8, and eagle's wings,
Ex. xix. 4 ; Deut. xxviii. 49 ; 2 Sam. i. 23 ; Rev.
xii. 14. A still stronger figure of far distant
flight are the wings of the morning, Ps. cxxxix.
9." — Fly away and abide. — So Hupfeld, De-
litzsch, Moll, ei al. This is more literal and more
in accordance with the parallelism than the
translation : " be at rest'' of the A. V. and many
ancient and modern interpreters.
Ver. 7. Flee far away, lodge in the
wilderness. — This is the usual refuge place of
the persecuted and the oppressed, whither Da-
vid had often fled and wandered and lodged,
comp. Jer. ix. 2. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 8. A place of refuge from the vio-
lent winds, from the tempest.— The pro-
posal to read Hfl^D (Hupfeld), instead of H^D^
would give an easy expression, but an unendu-
rable tautology, since the following word, IJ^D^
means precisely the same, namely, storm. In
order to avoid this tautology, they then suppose
a gloss (Clericus, Hupfeld), which is yet more
objectionable than to take the last expression in
the sense of an apposition, whereby the unusual
word of the text would be more closely defined,
whose meaning as " rushing, that is to say, vio-
lent " wind (Chald., and most ancient interpre-
ters), may be gained through the Arabic (most
recent interpreters after A. Schultens). nn
n;?D is then a figure of the angry breath of ene-
mies. Judges viii. 3 ; Is. xxv. 4 (Hitzig), of the
rude actions of those who surrounded David which
were directed to his ruin (Delitzsch), against
which the severely-visited king could oppose no
340
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
weapons, from which he would flee away to a
peaceful place of refuge, as the shy dove, un-
fitted for the battle, with its wings, which are
noiseless and hold out for a long time, 2 Sam. i.
23 ; Is. Ix. 8 ; Ps, cxxxix. 9. For this sense it
makes no difference whether we take the verb
as Kal after Ps. Ixxi. 12=1 would hasten my
escape (parallel with ver. 7, I would flee far
away), or whether we take it as Hiphil, after Is.
V. 19; Ix. 12=1 would hastily provide a place of
refuge for myself. In both interpretations it is
again possible to regard the \D as co7nparative=
quicker than the wind (many interpreters af-
ter Vatab. and Drusius, likewise Hengstenberg
and Hupfeld) ; but this is not advisable, be-
cause the haste of the flight has been already
otherwise expressed.
[Sir. [II. Ver, 9.* Destroy, Lord, divide
their tongues. — Alexander . " The first
word properly means swallow up. See above, Ps.
xxi. 9. The object to be supplied is not their
tongue, but themselves. Divide their tongue, i. e.,
coufound their speech, or make it unintelligible,
and as a necessary consequence, confound their
counsels. There is obvious reference to the con-
fusion of tongues at Babel (Gen. xi. 7-9), as a
great historical example of the way in which
God is accustomed and determined to defeat the
purposes of wicked men and execute His own."
Ver. 10. They go about it upon the
walls thereof. — Perowne: "Most probably
•the wicked,' mentioned ver. 8, who are the sub-
ject, and hardly * violence and strife ' (ver. 9)
personified, as the ancient versions render, and
as the Rabbinical commentators generally sup-
pose. The figure may perhaps be borrowed
from sentinels keeping their watch upon the
walls ; others think from besiegers watching
the walls in order to find some weak point. In
the former case we must render ' upon, in the
latter, ' round about ' the walls. But neither
figure need be pressed. The walls in this clause
of the verse are parallel to the interior of the
city in the next clause, so that the whole city
may be represented in all its parts to be full of
wickedness."
Ver. 11. Depart not from her (public)
places. — -These were the large open squares
or open spaces at the gates of the oriental cities,
where were the markets, the courts of justice,
and general places of public concourse. The
Hebrew word corresponds with the Greek agora,
the Latin forum, and is only imperfectly repre-
sented by the market-places and public squares
of modern times. — C. A. B.]
[Sir. IV. Ver. 12. For not an enemy is it,
etc. — Perowne: '■^ For gives a special reason for
the prayer in ver. 9, his eye falling upon one in
particular among the crowd of enemies and evil
doers. This is a sufficient explanation of the
use of the particle, which is often employed ra-
ther with reference to something in the mind of
the speaker, than in direct logical sequence." —
I should bear it. — Hupfeld : " I should know
* [Perowne : " The tone of sadness and melancholy now
gives way to one of hot and passionate indignation. He
would have escaped if he could from that city of sinners,
who vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their un-
godly deeds, but as he could not do this, he would gladly see
ftod'a judgments executed upon them."— C. A. B.]
how to bear it as an evil unavoidable among
men, to which one finally submits ; whilst such
an experience from friends is to be endured with
the utmost difficulty." — I could hide myself
from him, i.e., as David did from Saul when
he used his poiyer against him, but this he could
not do from a secret, treacherous foe.
Ver. 13. But thou, — a man of like estima-
tion with myself. — Literally, according to my
estimation, i.e., the estimation or worth which I
put upon him, the suffix being regarded as the
subject of the action. But this is not suitable
here. It is better therefore to regard the suffix
as objective=in accordance with the estimation
in which I am held=of like estimation with me.
— My companion and my intimate friend.
— '^^vN is here not guide, as Gen. xxxvi. 15 (the
Rabbins and the older interpreters, likewise A.
v.), but companion, associate, one joined in
intimate communion, Prov. ii. 17 ; xvi. 28 et al.
"•^T.CO is the Pual part, of >n% and means one
well-known — one with whom one is familiar as
an acquaintance and intimate as a friend.
Ver. 14. "We made sv^eet together our
intimacy. — The Hebrew word IID is the same
as that used in Ps. xxv. 14, of intimate com-
munion with God. By the mutual enjoyment of
this intimacy they made it sweet for one another.
This clause refers to private intimacy, the next
to association in public, at the great festivals
when in the throngs of the temple they went
side by side. — C. A. B.]
Ver, 16. Desolations upon them, let
them go dow^n to the world below alive.
— niD^i^"' is confirmed by the local name, Ezek.
xxv. 9 (Clericus, Gesenius, Hengstenberg, Hup-
feld)= JesoZaiiones, audit is unnecessary to read:
niD ^X'Wl, instead of it, although most MSS. by
a divisiotL into two words point to this reading,
which is followed by the ancient versions and
Rabbins, and is approved by most interpreters.
For the explanation is very difi^erent and uncer-
tain. It is explained after the derivation : death
brings upon them forgetfulness (AbenEzra), or:
mors debitum exigat s. exactorem agat (Kimchi,
Piscator, J. D. Mich.), or: death comes upon
them (Septuagint, Syriac), or surprises them
(Luther), falls upon them (Sym., Calvin, Geier,
Rosemm., et al.), ensnares them (Delitzsch),
bounces upon them (Bottcher). Still less neces-
sary is it to change the first word into D^IS'^^
let death be torpid on their account* (Hitzig).
For although the going down to Sheol alive is to
take place, and this is not used=in full powers
of life, Prov. i. 12 (Hupfeld), of sudden and un-
expected death in general (Calvin), but with a
living body with reference to the ruin of the
band of Korah, Num. xvi. 30 sq., there is no
inconsistency here with the preceding statement,
whatever sense is given to it. The allusion is
moreover to be accepted the more since there is
likewise a reference to ancient times in ver. 9, in
JvS, Gen. x. 26, which explains the choice of the
word J/73 (comp. Is. xix. 3), and reminds us of
destruction by division and confusion of tongue
* [That is, let them be years in dying, let them go dow»
alive into hell, as those buried alive.— C. A. B.J
PSALM LV.
341
=lauguage (f]^* Glen, xi.) ; so likewise in ver.
19, where God is called " the one sitting from
primeval times," with expressions which are
used of the judicial sitting of God upon His
throne, Deut. xxziii. 27 ; Ps. ix. 4, 7 ; Ixxiv. 12;
Hab. i. 12. Yet it does not follow from this that
the " desolations," ver. 15, allude to the ruin of
Sodom and Gomorrah (Hengstenberg). — For
wickedness is in their d-welling, ^within
them. — There is no reason to make D3^p3 here
t: )•:
the same as n3')p3, vers. 10 and 11, with the
view that we are to think here likewise of the
interior of the city, to regard it in connection
with the preceding words, which do not mean^
in their assembly (Aquila, Symm., Jerome), but
==in their dwelling (Septuagint, Chald.), as a
hendiadys=in the midst of their dwelling (Geier,
Rosenm., etal.), or to explain it=in their midst,
that is to say, among them (J. H. Mich.), which
would render it really superfluous, and there-
fore it might be omitted (Luther). Moreover it
is hardly a gloss (Hupfeld), but rather an ex-
planatory apposition designating the breast of
the enemy, as the true dwelling or more accu-
rately the storehouse, the barn (Haggaiii. 19) of
their wickedness. Yet it is easiest to regard it
as a climax, since we cannot see why such a
combination of dwelling and heart should be
unsuitable, as Olshausen and Hupfeld contend.
Str. V. [Ver. 17. Evening and morning
and at noon. — The three principal parts of
the day, usually observed as the special times
of prayer among the Orientals. Or it may per-
haps be a poetical expression for the whole day,
= at all times, without ceasing. — Complain
and groan. — The same words as in ver. 2.
Ver. 18. From the -war against me. — Some
take 3'lp as an infinitive, and translate: that
they may not draw nigh me (the ancient ver-
sions, Luther, Hitzig, Delitzsch, et al.) This
gives a good sense. But it is better to take it as
the Bubstantive=war. Some again translate
the v as the dative of reference (Perowne, Al-
exander, et al.), but it is better to consider it as
the prep, against and translate with Hupfeld,
Moll, et al.: war against me. — For "with many
are they against me. — The translation of ihe
A. V. '^wilh me" is literal, but conveys a wrong
meaning. The Heb. preposition like the English
with, has a double use, mutual action may be
co-operative or antagonistic. Thus we say :
fight miA = against, to be angry with = against.
The meaning here as determined by the context
is cleanly against. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 19. God will hear and answer them
—and indeed He that sitteth on the throne
of old, Selah ! — those who have no change
and who fear not God. — It is unnecessary to
suppose that a short clause has fallen off before
DJ]?2 somewhat as " the cry of the righteous,"
to which the answer of God might refer (Olsh.) ;
or to read ''3J^2 = He will answer me (Hupfeld).
For the supposition of a play upon words for the
sake of the explanation " He will humble them "
(the ancient versions, Kimchi, Geier, et al.) is
indeed scarcely tenable so far as the language is
concerned, yet the idea of an answer in a real
sense by judgments (Veuema, Hengst.), or with
allusion to the same in irony (Calv., Stier, De
Wette) is indeed admissible, especially if the
" hearing " is referred not to the complaining
prayer of the Psalmist, but to the raging of the
enemies (Hengstenberg, Delitzsch). Yet if
hearing and answering are taken in the usual
sense of prayer and its answer (for they certainly
are in mutual relation to one another), then we
are not forced to understand the close of the
verse of the ungodly who continue in wickedness,
but to change IXl"" into ^XT (Hitzig) in order
to be able to understand the clause as of the
pious " with whom there is no evil and who do
not weary God," Is. vii. 13 ; Jer. xv. 6. It is
objectionable and unnecessary to explain away
the first half of this clause after the Arabic, as
" with whom there is no respect for oaths "
(Ewald), although the reference to the ungodly
is to be retained. The word r\1i3'' /n means not
exactly change of mind (Chald.), but it may be
referred to this (Delitzsch) or rather, since the
word does not occur elsewhere in the moral
sense, but designates a change of condition (Job
xiv. 14) and is used elsewhere of changing the
clothing, of guards and laborers, it may refer to
the fact that they have received no dismission
from their posts upon the city walls (Hengst.), or
better, in general of a change of their conduct
and behaviour in every respect, to which likewise
the plural refers. To think of ragged people,
who have no clothing to change, and are un-
godly from barbarousness (Cleric.) is as far from
the context as the explanation that those who ex-
perience no change of fortune easily become
proud, and have no fear of God (Aben Ezra, Cal-
vin, J. D. Mich.) So likewise the following
clause does not allow us to think of the un-
changeableness of God, for which ID? is changed
into )h (Kimchi, Venema). The hSd here is
neither strange (Hupf ) nor to be changed into
n^p = auferet eos (Venema), more properly ab-
stulit, rejecit, Lam. i. 15 (Hupf), comp. Ps.
Ixviii. 32.
Str. VL [Ver. 20. The individual traitor again
becomes prominent as the profaner of the so-
lemn covenant of intimate friendship. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 21. Smooth are the words of butter
of his mouth. — T^i^DnD is a denominative of
nXDn (for its formation comp, Hupfeld) = made
orVo'nsisting of butter or cream (Hitzig, Delitz.)
The things of butter of the mouth are not the
lips (Ewald), but the words, and we have a very
usual metaphor (Hupf) instead of a comparison.
In order to gain a comparison here in strong
parallelism with the following clause of the verse
= smooth as butter (Chald., Symm., Jerome,
Luther, Calvin) the first syllable has sometimes
been changed into D after 2 codd. de Rossi (De
Wette, Maurer, Olsh.), or the usual reading has
been explained in this sense as a comparative
(Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Gesenius). But this gives
rise to difficulties of construction which call for
further alterations of the text, or inadmissible
and forced explanations.*
* [The metaphor of the butter that issues from the mouth
is to be compared with the honey that drops from the Btrange
woman's lips, Prov. v. 3. The comparison of the words witU
342
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
Sir. VII. Ver. 22, That which is laid upon
thee. — The interpretation of ^^n^ as a perfect
and an elliptical clause = what He has given
thee, that is to say, imparted to thee (Hupfeld),
hence: thy gift (Calvin), or thy lot (Kimchi, J.
H. Mich.) ; or as an imperfect=and He will en-
dow thee (Hitzig), is not so good as the inter-
pretation of it as an accusative of the object (De-
litzsch). But yet its derivation from I]n^=give,
impart, must be maintained (Bottcher), which
explains the Chald. translation of rij?p, Pss. xi.
6 ; xvi. 5, by a word from this root and the use
of it in the Talmud for a burden. To accept this
latter meaning here, (Jerome, Aben Ezra, Isaki,
Ewald) is an unnecessary limitation of the idea.
It is the same with the translation : care, trou-
ble (Sept., Syr,, Luther, et al.) which besides
seem to regard ^H'' as = DX' Ps. cxix. 131,
whose radical meaning is : desire. 1 Pet. v. 7
does not enable us to decide ; still less the fol-
lowing verb, which not only means sustentare, to
support with nourishment (Hengst.), but pro-
perly tenere, sustinere, and hence likewise " main-
tain," Ps. cxii. 5 (Hupf., Delitzsch), audit agrees
well with the ** to be moved" which is directly
mentioned.
Ver. 23. Depth of the pit.— This is not to
be translated : well or pit, or depth of destruc-
tion (most interpreters after the ancient versions
[so A. V.]), but: pit of the grave (Hitzig), or
since the reference is to Sheol (Cleric.) and not
to the grave, better : hole of sinking (Delitzsch)
Ezek. xxxvi. 3 ; Prov. viii. 31, or depth of the
grave. The connection of synonyms serves to
strengthen the idea. The meaning "well" is
derived from the idea that it is dug out.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. There are times of trouble, when terrible and
harassing appearances may put even a believer
in great uneasiness of heart, anxiety, and excite-
ment, so that he knows not how to advise or help
himself, and would rather flee away ; but at last
his soul is quieted and comforted by taking re-
fuge with God in prayer, and whilst he sinks back
in faith into the assurance of the love and
righteousness of God he regains courage for further
warfare, patience to persevere in suflFerings^ hope
in the delivering and judging interposition of
God, and confidence in the hearing of his prayer.
2. Among the phenomena of evil times, "under
the pressure of which even a David " is some-
what dejected, and thinks not as usual of spring-
ing over the walls [Berl. Bib.), belong particu-
larly on the one side the rapid increase and the
bold advance of ungodliness and unrighteousness
in all classes of society, on the other side, the no
less relentless than inconsiderate rupture of the
bands of previous communion whereby love is
changed into hate, friendship into hostility, trust
into treachery and hypocrisy.
8. Prayer has so great importance for the sanc-
tification of the life and strengthening in the
communion with God on the one hand, and the
oil is in Prov. v. 3 of her mouth. Comp. Sol. Song. iv. 11,
whore milk is united with honey. The strong contrast of
war in the heart and drawn swords here, may be compared
with the bitterness of wormwood and the sharp two^dged
Bword, Prov. v. 4. — 0. A. B.]
danger is so great on the other hand of being
distracted by the pressure of the world and the
pliability of human nature, that we can hardly
dispense with a daily exercise of prayer in con-
nection with a fixed order of prayer. And al-
though the three periods of prayer, evening,
morning, and noon, did not appear as legally pre-
scribed until later times (Dan. vi. 11 ; Acts x. 9),
yet they have been connected with the charac-
teristic changes of the day from the most ancient
times.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
So long as a man can pray, though anxious, he
does not despair. — The wickedness of men may
prepare much injury for us, but God's righteous-
ness does not endure the victory of evil. — When
new enemies join old foes, and former friends are
found among them, then we should search care-
fully for the causes of this hostility. — It is often
worse in the world than we imagined in quiet
times, but God can do infinitely more than all
that we ask and understand. — We cannot escape
that which our life brings with it in the world,
but we may in the severest conflict gain the victory
over the worst enemies through the assistance of
God. — He who does not stand on God's side can-
not hope in God. — We should not rely upon the
world, our friends, ourselves, but solely upon the
faithful God alone. — We must oppose God's right-
eousness, faithfulness, and truth, against the
wickedness, unfaithfulness, and hypocrisy of
men. — Strength of faith does not disclose itself as
insensibility to suffering, but as the power to be
comforted with God, to hope in God, overcome
through God.
Starke : God lets us feel our weakness, when
we fall into great fear and extreme anxiety, in
order that we may see what we are without Him
and what He is to us. — As long as the builders
of Babel are united, they would take heaven by
storm ; but as soon as God divides their tongues
all their prospects fail. Thus easily can God
put His enemies to shame. — How cautious a
Christian should be in the selection of friends. —
The best friendship and union of spirits is when
we are of one mind and heart before God. —
Would you overcome by faith, thtn your heart
njust not depend upon any creature, but upon
God alone, whose power is shown the most in
weakness.
Osiander: Those who persecute the pious
transgress the commandments of God in many
ways, and become involved, generally, in horrid
sins and blasphemies. — Fkanke : It is vain to
talk of Christ and His sufferings if you remain
far away from His mind and cross. — The true
saving knowledge of sin is gained only by con-
sidering rightly the sufferings and death of
Christ. — Arndt : God cannot hide Himself from
our prayers, prayer finds Him out and presses
through the clouds to Him. God's fatherly heart
does not admit of His hearing us crying and im-
ploring and not turning to us. — Tholuck; When
smitten by a friend we not only gain an enemy,
but likewise lose a friend. — David cannot grasp
the answer with his hands, but can with his
faith. — Taube : The persevering prayer of faith
finally gains the victorious assurance of a hear-
ing.
PSALM LVI.
343
[Matt. Henry : If we in our prayers sincerely
lay open ourselves, our case, our hearts to God,
we have reason to hope that He will not hide
Himself, His favors, His comforts from us. —
Gracious souls wish to retire from the hurry and
bustle of this world, where they may sweetly en-
joy God and themselves ; and if there be any
true peace on this side of heaven, it is they that
enjoy it in those retirements. — Baenes : How
often do we wish that we could get beyond the
reach of enemies ; of sorrows ; of afflictions !
How often do we sigh to be in a place where we
might be assured that we should be safe from all
annoyances \ from all trouble ! There is such a
place, but not on earth.
Spurqeon : If our enemies proudly boast over
US we nerve our souls for resistance, but when
those who pretend to love us leer at us with con-
tempt, whither shall we go? — If any bonds
ought to be held inviolable, religious connections
should be. — There is justice in the universe, love
itself demands it ; pity to rebels against God, as
such, is no virtue. — We pray for them as crea-
tures, we abhor them as enemies of God. — We
need in these days far more to guard against the
disguised iniquity which sympathizes with evil,
and counts punishment to be cruelty, than
against the harshness of a former age. — It is the
bell of the heart that rings loudest in heaven. —
A father's heart reads a child's heart. — The cri-
sis of life is usually the secret place of wrestling.
— He who is without trouble is often without
God.— 0. A. B.]
PSALM LTI.
To the chief Musician upon Jonath-elem-rechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines toolt
him in Gath.
1 Be merciful unto me, O God : for man would swallow me up ;
He fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up :
For they be many that fight against me, O thou Most High.
3 What time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word.
In God I have put my trust ; I will not fear
What flesh can do unto me.
6 Every day they wrest my words:
All their thoughts are against me for eviL
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my stejM,
When they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity ?
In thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings :
Put thou my tears into thy bottle :
Are they not in thy book ?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back:
This I know ; for God ia for me.
10 In God will I praise his word:
In the Lord will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust : I will not be afraid
What man can do unto me.
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God :
I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death :
WiU not thou deliver my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God in the light of the living?
344
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The title
(oomp. Introduct., ^ 12 and ^ 8) leads to the
time of the persecution by Saul, and indeed not
to the time of the second abode of David with
the Philistine king Achish, 1 Sam. xxix. (Ru-
ding., Rosenm.), but the earlier one, 1 Sam. xxi.
10 sq., which is referred to definitely in Ps.
xxxiv. This Psalm, which is simple and inter-
woven with recurring if not entirely similar
verses, bears many features of resemblance with
the Psalms of this period. Among these features
the chief one is his turning from the judgment
of his own enemies to the judgment of the na-
tions in general. From the mention of the latter
there is not the least evidence of its composition
in the time of the exile (De Wette). Moreover
the nations (ver. 7) are not the many particular
ones which make up the heathen nation with
which the author is said to remain in the time
after the exile (Hitzig). For the analysis of the
plural dmmim into its units cannot change the
idea " people." — There is prevalent in this
Psalm a tone of confidence in God's help, which
breaks forth in the refrain (ver. 4, somewhat en-
larged, vers. 10, 11), each time after a short de-
scription of the oppression of the poet who is in
flight, and of the character and behaviour of his
enemies (vers. 1, 2, and 5, 6). This in both
cases is prepared, first," by a short (ver. 3) then
a more extended (vers. 8, 9) attestation of faith
in God's assistance, which is again each time
preceded by a weaker (ver. 1) then a stronger
(ver. 7) expression of the certainty/ of the ruin of
his enemies, who were mortals, by the judgment
of the Almighty. The whole concludes with a
vow of thanksgiving (ver. 12) for the deliverance
of his life, which is considered as not doubtful
(ver. 13), as it began with a prayer for the help
of grace.
Str. I. Ver. 1. For mortal man snorts
against me. — On account of the following ex-
pressions, endsh is to be taken as a collective, as
Ps. Ixvi. 12; yet we are not to find in the word
the subordinate meaning of evil (De Wette), but
that of weak, fallible, in contrast to Elohim, Pss.
ix. 19; X. 18. [The Rabbins and older inter-
preters, so A. v., translated ^NE^ by absorbere,
devorare, swallow up; but it is more properly
either pant after as animals greedy of their
prey, or snort against as animals enraged. —
C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. For many are they that fight
against me in pride. — D1"1D is not a vocative
=Most High (Aquil., Chald,, Jerome, Isaki,
Calvin, [A. V.] et al.), as Ps. xcii. 8, instead of
the high God, Micah vi. 6; but it is an accusa-
tive as an adverb, and the height is taken figu-
ratively as pride (Symmach., Luther, Rudinger,
Geier, et al.).
Ver. 3. On the day that I have fear,
I — in Thee will I trust. — There is no suffi-
cient reason to read, instead of XTX, NTpN as
T • tI: V
ver. 9=rwhen I call (Hupf.); still less are we
to insert a negative=On the day will I not fear
(Syr., Arab.) ; but it may very well be conceived
that fear and trust should be in the same heart
at the same time (Calvin. Geier, et al.). There-
fore it is not advisable to accept a subjunctive
(Hitzig, Olsh.), because he would say: when I
would fear, or should have occasion to fear, yet
would not express the fear itself. "S^
Ver. 4. Through God vrill I praise His
■wrord. — This clause might be translated: "Of
God am I proud, His word" (most recent inter-
preters), the verb being regarded as intransitive
and the preposition repeated. Yet the accents
lead to the transitive interpretation : in (through,
with) God praise I His word (Hupfeld, Delitzsch,
and almost all ancient versions and interpreters
with the Rabbins), According to the context,
this " word" is hardly to be explained of ''His
works," His providences and guidances (older
interpreters with Flamin.), although "Ml some-
times=res, and it is easiest to take it thus in
ver. 5; still less is there occasion to change
'\')21 into n^'l, to which the translation tovc
T : -T :
Tioyovg fiov. (Sept.) might lead, and then be in-
terpreted: my affairs, or : "God will I praise"
are my words, Ps. xxii. 1 (Olsh.) ; or to correct
*131 (by adding 1 as copula to the following
clause. )=0f God I boast in matters, that is to
say, in the affairs in question (Hitzig). It is
true that dabar is used in ver. 10 without a suf-
fix and without an article. This, however, may
designate the word directly as the divine, as Ps.
ii. 12, *13, the son (Delitzsch). There is special
reference here to the divine word of promise
(Calvin, Geier), yet not directly as addressed
personally to David (Hengst.), or indeed to his
royal dignity (most interpreters). This word
of God will the Psalmist praise when he by God's
grace has experienced its fulfilment, accordingly
when he is a man saved in God. — [I trust in
God, I do not fear ; -what can flesh do
unto me ? — This is the beautiful and touching
refrain of the Psalm which loses its force by a
false punctuation in the A. V. Ver. 11 is pre-
cisely the same as these clauses, with the single
exception of the substitution of mx for 'W'Z. —
^ TT T T
C. A. B.]
Str. XL, ver. 6. All day long they vex
my affairs. — It is better to refer "121 here to
the affairs of the poet, among which his words
might be included, because the verb does not
mean: make abominable (Sept. ), curse (Vulg.),
wrest=slander (Flamin., Ruding., Rosenm.,
[A. v.] et al.), but vex.
Ver. 6. They w^ho w^atch my heels just
as they have w^aited for my souL — The
perfect in the last clause does not allow of the
supposition that the reason of the pursuit (most
interpreters)=because, or when they hope to
take my life, is stated and is incorrectly ren-
dered by the participle (Symmach., Jerome).
It expresses by a comparison of the former with
the present proceedings (Hupfeld, Delitzsch),
[* Calvin : " It seems, indeed, as if fear and hope were
feelings too contrary the one to the other to dwell in the
same heart ; but experience shows that Hope there in fact
really reigns where some portion of the heart is possessed by
Fear. For when the mind is calm and tranquil, Hope is not
exercised, yea rather is, as it were, hushed to sleep ; but
then, and not till then does she put forth all her strength,
when the mind has been cast down by cares and she lifts ii
up, when it has been saddened and disturbed and she calms
it, when it has been smitten with fear and she sustaiiis aad
props it."— C. A. B.]
PSALM LVL
845
that they have always acted as the same malig-
nant men. The translation "just as I have
hoped for my life" (Sept.^ is incorrect.
Ver. 7. With iniquity — deliverance to
them? In anger cast dow^n nations, O
God. — It is questionable and unnecessary to
read 0^3 (Hupf., Olsh.), instead of iohs, Ps.
xxzii. 7, or to regard them as the same (Ewald).
For the former word is usually with the accusa-
tive of the object in the meaning: to weigh
something, hence the interpretation: for iniqui-
ty recompense them (Hupf.), is violent. But
the interpretation: weigh to them iniquity still,
is unnecessary. For the text may be explained
as it is. It is tmie it does not say : on account
of iniquity deliver from them (Symm.), pour
them out (Chald.), lay hold of them (Geier) ; or :
in no wise, that is to say, vain, fruitless be their
flight (Mend.), but: with=in spite of iniquity
is deliverance to them. This interpretation of
it as a question (Kimchi, et al., Hitzig, Deiitzsch)
is to be preferred to that of regarding it as an
III! expression of a delusion of the transgressor
(Buoer, Calvin, et al., Hengst.) ; for the latter
thought is included in the former, but is not so
easily misunderstood.
Str. III., ver. 8. Thou hast counted my
wanderings, my tears are put in Thy bot-
tle— {are they) not in Thy calculation ? —
'"13 is not "my complaint (Hupfeld), or my in-
ternal disquiet" (Ewald), but my "fleeing, wan-
dering about," the days of which (Chald.), or
places of which (Isaki, Kimchi), or rather
which as often repeated (Ruding. counts 14
exilia of David), not only the fugitive closely ob-
served, but God, who counts all the steps of
men, so likewise the tears which are put in His
*lKJ*^bottle of skin, for careful preservation
in the memory, perhaps with an allusion to wine
squeezed out (Geier), or parallel with the bag
mentioned elsewhere, Job xiv. 17 ; 1 Sam. xxv.
29; comp. Is. viii. 16 (Olsh., Hupfeld). It
seems that the conformity of sound has here oc-
casioned the choice of words (Aben Ezra, Geier,
et al.), which the ancient versions either did not
understand and therefore changed ^^i^J^ into
nnppjD, or they have had this latter reading be-
• • • •
fore them; for they translate in conspectu tuo,
and likewise give this verse an entirely different
and, in other respects, .unintelligible sense.
Schegg, with respect to the Vulgate, brings out
the sense: My life I hold before Thee; Thou
settest my tears before thy face as in Thy de-
cree. It is questionable whether we are to re-
tain the proper and usual meaning: calculation,
or refer to the writing in a book (Syr., Vat. and
many recent interpreters [A. V.]), particularly
in the book of God, Ex. xxxii. 32; Ps. cxxxix.
16, the book of the living, Ps. Ixix. 28, the book
of remembrance, Mai. iii. 16. According to the
, present accents "put" is an imperative. But a
simple transfer of the accent to the last syllable
gives the more appropriate passive, Num. xxiv.
I* This is the akin bottle used in the East for keeping wine,
milk, water, etc. It takes the place of our barrel or cask, as
well as our bottle. They are generally made of goat skins
or kid, comp. Smith's Diet, of the Bible, art. Bottle.— 0.
■*" B.J
21; 1 Sam. ix. 24; 2 Sam. xiii. 32 (Ewald, Hup-
feld, Deiitzsch, Hitzig). The form of the question
here and in ver. 13 b aoes not express any doubt
or uncertainty, but actually gives a strong
assurance of certainty and enlivens the dis-
course.*
Ver. 9. This I know, that God is for me. —
This might be rendered likewise: that God is to
me==that I have God, or that He is my God
(Sept., Jerome, Hengst.); but the translation:
for me (Chald., and most interpreters) is recom-
mended by Ps. cxxiv. 1, 2, here as in Ps. cxviii.
esq.
[Vers. 10, 11. — We have here the same refrain
as in ver. 9, with the slight change of the repe-
tition of the first clause with emphasis, with the
use of Jehovah for Elohim and the substitution
of man for flesh in the last clause. — C. A. B.]
Str. IV., ver. 12. Thy vows {are) upon
me. — This does not refer to an obligation as of a
duty yet to be undertaken (De Wette, Hitzig),
but to an obligation already incurred in fulfilling
the thank-offerings vowed to God.
Ver. 18. To walk before the face of God
in the light of life. — This does not mean the
pious walk of life (the older interpreters), but
the Divine protection, as Ps. Ixii. 8 (De Wette,
Hengst., et al.). The light of life (comp. John
viii. 12), or the living (Pss. xxvii. 13; cxvi. 9)
means the light and its realm in contrast to the
realm of death, and is not to be limited to the
sunlight of this world (Hupfeld).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The distresses which befall a servant of
God from men may be easily bor7ie and surely
overcome if only faith is not shaken. For men,
how rnang so ever they may be that gather toge-
ther, devise crafty plans, hesitate not at cruel
deeds, they can accomplish nothing against the
man who has taken refuge with God, puts his
confidence in God's power and grace, and calmly
and firmly relies upon God's word. God will
deliver him, but destroy them. For their name
\a frailty a,nd flesh; they cannot accomplish what
they propose, cannot avert what they have drawn
upon them. But God keeps His word and carries
out what He has promised; therefore His pro-
mises are to believers the pledge of their salva-
tion.
2, Many boast of their understanding ; some
indeed of their wickedness (Ps. Iii. 1), and rely
upon their courage and their power, their riches
and their position, the world and their friends.
Thus they forget God and His word, and come in
conflict with those who confess God and His
word. Thus the latter have many fears, cares
and trials in the world. Yet since they live not
only in the world, but at the same time in God,
their faith overcomes fear and the world (1 John
V. 4), and they strike up, even in their sorrows,
songs ofre/oicing, with which they praise Godamd
boast of His word, which, as the pledge of their
[* Perowne : " He knows that each day of his wandering,
each nook in which he found shelter, each step that he had
taken, every artifice by which he has baflBed his foes, — all
have been numbered by his Heavenly Keeper. Yea, no tear
thai he has shed, when his eye has been raised to heaven in
prayer, has fallen to the ground. God he prays to gather
them all in His bottle, and trusts that He will note them in
Hie book."— 0. A. B.J
34G
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS,
salvation, is likewise the foundation of their con-
fidence and the source of their comfort.
3. The believer knows that God not only sees
him and his distresses, but likewise cares for the
minutix of his life and welfare, that He thus
counts his steps and days, collects his tears,
writes down his actions and his omissions. He
knows likewise that this divine sympathy is not
merely beholding or pitying, but shows itself
and attests itself by actual assistance, so that it
may be seen that God is with him. And thus
knowledge is not merely recognition, but a con-
viction full of life. It expresses itself as such in
the day of trouble as prayer for God's grace, as
confession of God and His word, as vows of thanks-
giving for the help pre-supposed as certain, and
is strengthened and enlivened by every divine ex-
hibition of grace to the hope of a walk in the
light of life.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
If God is /or us, who can be against us? — It is
better to fall into the hands of God than of men.
— He who depends on God will not fall; and He
who trusts in the word of God will have where-
with to boast. — Wouldst thou walk in the light
of life, then rely upon God and His word. — God
with us! This is the watchword of the pious. —
Fear not, only believe! You must either expe-
rience the grace or the wrath of God; what you
wish will be given you. — The higher the ungodly
are lifted, the deeper will be their fall; for God
is a righteous Rewarder. — How hope and fear
may be together in the same heart. — The courage
of faith is a very different thing from the defiance
of pride.
Stakke: The ways of God often appear to the
reason to be entirely against their purpose; but
yet they are holy and good as the issue shows. —
God's grace is a mighty protection and a power-
ful mitigation of every cross. — Hope is the gold-
en treasure and the noblest art against all fear.
— God's infallible word and a believing trust
therein are inseparably united together. — A
countenance moistened with tears is much more
beautiful and noble before God than a neck
covered with pearls and ears with the most pre-
cious jewels. — Since the goodness of God is ac-
tive, our thanksgiving must likewise be active.
Rieger; Fear is evil only when it destroys
the word of God for us. — Vaihingee: The mercy
of God is the well of salvation from which David
draws iu all his troubles. — Tholuck: David
thinks of songs of praise whilst he still sings la-
mentations, of vows of thanksgiving whilst yet
praying, — Guenthek: Every advance in sancti-
fication is an additional confirmation that God is
with us.
[Matt, Henrt: As we must not trust to an
arm of flesh when it is engaged for us, so we
must not be afraid of an arm of flesh when it is
stretched out against us. — God has a bottle and
a book for His people's tears, both those for
their sins and those for their afflictions, — God
will comfort His people according to the time
wherein He has afflicted them, and give to them
to reap in joy who sowed in tears. What was
sown a tear will come up a pearl. — When we
give credit to a man's bill, we honor him that
drew it. So when we do and suffer for God in
a dependence upon His promise, not staggering
at it, we give glory to God, we praise His word,
and so give praise to Him. — Barnes : Fear is
one of those things designed to make us feel that
we need a God and to lead us to Him when we
realize that we have no power to save ourselves
from impending dangers, — It is a good maxim
with which to go into a world of danger; a good
maxim to go to sea with ; a good maxim in a
storm; a good maxim in danger on the land; a
good maxim when we are sick; a good maxim
when we think of death and the judgment, —
" What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." —
Spurqeon : It is a blessed fear which drives us
to trust. — God inclines us to pray; we cry in
anguish of heart; He hears. He acts; the enemy
is turned back! What irresistible artillery is
this which wins the battle as soon as its report
is heard. — C. A. B.]
PSALM LVII.
To the chief Musician, Al-iaschit, Michiam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me :
For my soul trusteth in thee :
Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge,
UntU these calamities be overpast.
2 I will cry unto God most high ;
Unto God that performeth aU things for me.
PSALM LVIL
847
3 He shall send from heaven, and save me,
From the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah.
God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
4 My soul is among lions :
And I lie even among them that are set on fire,
Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows.
And their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens ;
Let thy glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps ;
My soul is bowed down :
They have digged a pit before me.
Into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah,
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed :
I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake up, my glory ; awake psaltery and harp :
I myself will awake early.
9 I will praise thee, 0 Lokd, among the people :
I will sing unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens,
And thy truth unto the clouds.
11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens :
Let thy glory be above all the earth. ' .
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — For the
title comp. Introduction, § 12 and § 8.* The re-
petition of the same verse, vers. 6 and 10, di-
vides the Psalm into two halves. In the first
half the hope of faith, in the near and sure help
of God, out of great peril of life occasioned by
violent men, which hope is based on experience,
declares itself in the prayer for new exhibitions
of Divine grace, whereby the truth and the trust-
worthiness of God may be actually proved. In
the last half of the Psalm, after a short descrip-
tion of the snares which turned out to the ruin
of the enemies themselves, the certainty of victory
expresses itself in an exhortation of his own soul
to praise God in the whole world on account of
God's revelation of Himself in His glory. The
resemblances with other Davidic Psalms are nu-
merous; withPs. vii., not only in the comparison
of enemies with lions, which likewise occurs in
Ps. X., xxii., Iviii., but at the same time in the de-
signation of the soul as glory in the figure of
the pit; with Ps. xxii., in the reference to the
proclamation of the acts of God among all na-
tions ; with Ps. xxxvi., in the hiding under the
wings of God and the comparison of grace and
truth with the height of heaven ; with Ps. Ivi.,
^in the opening words and the similar expressions
for persecutor ; with Ps. lii., in the poetical
word for fulness of ruin, and at the same time
"With Pss. Iv., lix. and Ixiv., in the figure of
the sword of the tongue, which in Ps. cxx. is
_ * [This Paalm begins a series of three Psalms, Ivii., Iviii.,
Jix., all of which have Al-taschith in their titles.— C. A.B.]
compared with arrows as here the teeth. Re-
specting its relation to Ps. cvii., see the explana-
tions there. The emphatic repetition of the
same word in vers. 1, 3, 7, 8, is peculiar to this
Psalm. We cannot decide whether the cave
mentioned in the title is the one mentioned in 1
Sam. xxii. as the cave of Adullam, or that
situated by the sheepcotes upon the Alpine
heights of Engedi. These caves are numerous
in the limestone and chalk mountains, and are
often of great extent and are still the hiding-
places of fugitives (Robinson's Bib. Researches,
vol. I. p. 600).
Sir. I. Ver. 1. Has sought refuge with
Thee. — The perfect, which is important for the
sense, in distinction from the imperfect of the
same word in the next line, is overlooked by
many interpreters [so A. V.], although ex-
pressed by the more ancient ones (Chald., Je-
rome, Flamin., Calvin), and expressly made pro-
minent by Venema. — [In the shadow of Thy
"Wings. — Perowne : " This exceedingly striking
image may have been suggested by Deuteronomy
xxxii. 11, see above on Ps. xvii. 8. Still more
tender is the N. T. figure, Matt, xxiii. 37."* De-
litzsch : " The shading of God's wings is the
protection of His soft, sweet love and the shadow
of His wings is the refreshing, trusting comfort
connected with this protection. In this shadow
* [Perowne : "Perhaps there is nothing more remarkable
in the Psalms, than this ever-recurring expression of a ten-
der personal affection on the part of the sacred poets to God.
There is no parallel to this in the whole range of heathen
literature. Monsters to be feared and propitiated were the
deities of Paganism, but what heathen ever loved his god ?
The apotheosis of man's lusts could only produce a worship
of servility and fear."— 0. A.B.]
348
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
the poet takes his refuge again as before, until
ni^n, that is to say, the ruinous danger which
threatens him passes by, prseteriverit (comp. Isa.
xxvi, 20, and for the enallage numeri x. 10, Ge-
senius, ^ 147 a.) Not as if he would not then
need the Divine protection any more, but now
he feels himself especially needy, and therefore
his first aim is the brave, victorious endurance
of the sufferings which hover over him." — C.
A. B.]
Sir. 11. Ver. 2. Who accompliaheth con
cerning me. — It is better to supply: His pur-
poses, than: His mercy (Kimchi), or: His pro-
mises (Calvin), or indeed : my wishes (Flamin.),
or: my undertakings (Rosenm., De Wette). For
since the object is not mentioned, we must not
supply an actual limitation of it, but only a
comprehensive general term. There is no rea-
son for the translation : who makes an end of
my sorrow (Luther), or to regard *1QJ as the
same with the related root, ?DJ=who is my
benefactor (Septuagint, Ewald, Hitzig, Hupfeld,
[Pert)wne]). Ps. cxxxviii. 8 aflfords a parallel
which explains this clause.
Ver. 3. He will send from heaven. — This
likewise does not need to have any specific ob-
ject supplied, neither : His arm (Deut. xxxiii.
27), nor: His hand (Ps. xviii. 16; cxliv, 7),
nor : His help (Ps. xx. 2) ; nor from the follow-
ing clause: His grace and truth. The singer is
satisfied at the beginning with the fact that : if
this is sure, he has good ways with the what
(Hengstenberg), The additional words : "from
heaven," give the idea of a wonderful, extraor-
dinary deliverance (Calvin). — He reproacheth
who snorts at me. — To regard this clause as
a simple continuation and therefore a statement
of an action of God=He gives my persecutor to
shame (the ancient versions, Kimchi, Flaminius,
Ewald), is as well against the parallel passage,
Pss. xlii. 10 ; xliv. 16; Iv. 12, 21 ; Ivi. 6 ; lix. 7,
as against the context, which leads, by the
change of word and the close description, ver.
4, to a TQ^Ton.ch. proceeding from the enemies. That
the object of the reproach cannot be here as
sometimes elsewhere, God (Cocc, De Wette), is
shown by the grammatical construction, which
does not allow of the acceptance of a relative
clause. The accents indeed point to a clause de-
pendent upon the preceding one ; but this can
only be a hypothesis, so that we have to supply a
particle (Aben Ezra, Geier, and most interpre-
ters). Since, however, in this case the imper-
fect would be expected, we must, in order to ex-
plain with grammatical accuracy, regard the
clause as a parenthesis, explaining the situation,
with a selah, as Ps. Iv. 20. Koster would re-
move it to the close of the verse. To connect it
with the following Ciause, thus making it a hy-
pothetical antecedent : supposing that he re-
proached (Delitzsch), requires not only that the
accents should be altered, but brings about a
too close connection with the consequent which
would then be, and this is not expressed. The
supposition that these words are in the wrong
place (Olsh., De Wette), is especially objection-
able from the fact that no other suitable place
for the clause can be shown. And the altera-
tion of the reading in order to get the sense :
" from the first of those who snort against me "
(Hitzig), is mere conjecture. The translation:
from the reproach of him that would swallow
me up (Luther, [A. V.]), is against the form of
the word and the meaning of the passage.
Str. IIL Ver. 4. I will lie down among
the lickerish. — The reference here is not to
flames (Ewald) but to lions, which then are de-
signated as (greedy) lickerish, yet, not as de-
vouring (Hupfeld, or as breathing out flames
(Chald., Rabbins, and most interpreters). But
we must not overlook the fact that D3^ does not
express the idea ot prostrate, jacere (most inter-
preters) but cubare, and that this verb is here in
the optative or cohortative. Accordingly it ex-
presses not a complaint of his dangerous situa-
tion, but the resolution of trust in God, with
which he will lie down to sleep in the midst of
dangerous circumstances. But it is not said
that he will lie down to sleep among the lions of
the wilderness, and that hostile men are worse
than these beasts of prey, Sir. xxv. 15 (Delitzsch),
but the enemies are called directly lions. Their
name of "lickerish," which expresses their
greed of murder, forms the transition to the di-
rect designation of the enemies as sons of men,
whose teeth and tongue are then directly men-
tioned as the instruments of their attack and
pursuit. If there was any reference to flames,
this certainly might, according to a figure used
in most language, be called as well licking as
flattering, but without such occasion we must
abide by the usual fundamental meaning of the
word, and there is no more reason to think of
fiery look and revenge (Delitzsch), than to pass
over from the figure of lions to a new compari-
son by the translation : " I lie upon fire-brands "
(Hengstenberg), or, omitting the accents, con-
nect the lying with the first member of the verse,
" with my soul I lie in the midst of the lions,"
and then add in apposition : fire-breathing
children of men (Hitz., similarly, Aquila, Symm.,
Jerome), or begin a new clause=men are flames
(Luther). — [Whose teeth are spears and
arrows, etc. — The enemies are lions, greedy of
their prey, but the teeth of these men-lions are
spears and arrows, and the tongues of these
men-lions are a sharp sword. As the lion uses
his teeth and tongue, these children of men use
their spears, arrows, and swords to destroy their
prey, having the same greedy, lickerish natures
as the wild beasts. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 6. Exalt Thyself above the
heavens, etc. — This prayer cannot be here
synonymous with the appeal for interference :
lift up Thyself, properly : stand up, as Is. xxi.
14; xxxiii. 10, but must either mean: be ex-
alted=praised (Ps. xviii. 46) by the inhabitants
of heaven and earth (Hengstenberg), or : show
Thyself in Thy sublimity (Aben Ezra, Kimchi,
and most interpreters), Ps. xlvi. 10.*
Str. IV. Ver. 6. Have bent dow^n my soul.
— This expression is striking, at the same time
incorrect and against the parallelism ; yet the
change of the reading in order to get the sense:
" his soul," that is to say, himself " is seized
upon " (Hitzig), is mere conjecture. [The An-
glican Prayer Book has : Me pressed down my
* [The eame refrain is found in ver. 11, at the close of the
Psalm.— 0. A. B.]
PSALM LVn.
349
soul. This is approved by Alexander, 'with the
idea that he was caught, held down by a trap
or snare. Perowne, whilst admitting that the
word occurs everywhere else in a transitive
meaning, assumes an indefinite subject: ** one
hath bowed down my soul "=" my soul is bowed
down" [so the A. V.]. But it is better with
Moll to regard the enemies as the subject in
parallelism with the preceding and following
clauses. — C. A. B.]
Str. V. Ver. 7. My heart is confident. —
The translation : my heart is ready (Septuagint,
Cbald., Calvin, Luther), though possible in it-
self, does not agree with the repetition so well
as the literal: steadfast (Hitzig, et al.), in the
sense which is likewise usual : confident, fear-
less (Symm., Hupfeld, Delitzsch).
Ver. 8. [My glory =:my soul, comp. Pss.
vii. 5 ; XVI. 9 ; xxx. 12.— C. A. B.]— I will
aTvake the dawn. — The intransitive interpre-
tation of the verb, Ps. xxxv. 23, which is here
parallel with the JECal, is highly objectionable,
the interpretation of *inK^, as an accusative of
time, unheard of, accordingly the translation :
I will awake at the time of the dawn (the an-
cient versions, most Rabbins and interpreters),
must be given up. The true interpretation, fol-
lowed by all recent exegetes, occurs moreover
already by itself. The legend of the Talmud is
very interesting (according to Delitzsch) : " A
cither hung over David's bed, and when midnight
came, the north wind blew upon the strings, so
that it sounded of itself; he arose at once and
occupied himself with the law until the pillars
of the dawn arose." Isaki remarks upon this:
the other kings are awakened by the dawn, but
I, said David, will awaken the dawn.
[Sir. VL Ver. 9. Delitzsch : " His song of
praise is not to sound in a narrow space where
it can scarcely be heard ; he will appear as an
evangelist of his deliverance and his deliverer,
among the nations of the world; his calling ex-
tends beyond Israel, the experiences of his per-
son are for the benefit of humanity. We see
here the self-consciousness of an all-comprehen-
sive mission, which has accompanied David
from the beginning to the end of his royal
course (Ps. xviii. 49). That which is said, ver.
10, is the motive and at the same tinje the theme
of the preaching among the nations : God's
grace and truth towering up to heaven, Ps.
xxxvi. 6. That they reach even to the heavens,
is only an earthly idea of the infinity of them
both (comp. Eph. iii. 18). In ver. 11, which
diflfers from ver. 5 only by one letter [article
before D."'DK?], the Psalm returns to prayer.
Heaven and earth have a comparative history,
and the blessed, glorious end of this is the sun-
rise of the Divine glory over both, which is here
implored."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. A fugitive is not so safe and hidden in the
gloom of the mountain cave as in the shadow of
Ood's wings. He who flees thither gains a
courageous spirit and a steadfast, confident heart,
so that he can lie down to sleep with calmness
amidst numerous and mighty enemies, greedy
for his life, and can commit himself and his
cause to the Almighty in heartfelt prayer, resign
his soul and rely upon Him for deliverance. If
he is able to appeal to previous experiences of Di-
vine help, \i\s trust in God gains a firm founda-
tion, and his prayer for grace a great confidence
and a joyous flight. For the pressure of wicked-
ness passes by; whilst grace and truth, which
God sends, remain with the pious, and with
every new sending from above, there follows, to-
gether with the confirmation of a Divine pro-
mise, a strengthening of the faith, and the de-
signs of the wicked will be frustrated, and their
attacks as well as their reproaches, slanders,
and threats, remain fruitless, whilst God accom-
plishes His purposes.
2. Grace and truth come down from heaven
and reach again up to heaven. These are as
immeasurable, inexhaustible, invincible as the
latter, but they unite both worlds together, and
manifest in both the glory of God. Therefore
the acts of God towards His anointed receive
through them a universal historical character and
a significance as well as to the praise of God.
The servant of God will not only late and early
praise God, awake cither and harp and antici-
pate the dawn, so that he is not called by it, but
the dawn by him; he will likewise encourage and
lead the nations throughout the earth by his
praise of God that they may praise Him like-
wise. 'Q.Qh.ak^B. missionary calling, and he knows
it.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Let him vfh.o flees from enemies see to it where
he remains and whither he turns. — We may hide
from men but not from God ; and we cannot hide
with men, but with God and in God. — Among
the good gifts that come down from above, grace
and truth Are ab valuable a.a they are indispensable
for us ; they unite heaven and earth. — If we
pray to God for what we want. He will give us
what we need. — Wickedness must not only t,ass
by the pious without injuring them, it likewise
ruins its own servants and instruments. — The ar-
rows of wickedness rebound harmless from the
armor of faith. — Much depends upon how we
close the evening and greet the morning. — It would
be a bad sign if you had only complaints and no
prayer and no thanksgiving. — Grace and truth
reach aafar as their origin is high, and should
he praised SiCCOTdingly. — The glory of the Lord
should be praised early and late, near and far, in
heaven and on earth, and yet there would be no
recompense for what God has done /or us by send-
iTig His grace and truth.
Stakkb : The higher and stronger our ene-
mies are, the more does faith depend on God,
who alone is exalted above all the majesty and
power of the creature. — Where all human help
fails, there God's help begins in earnest. — Bet-
ter that sleep should be broken off than prayer.
What we love we .speak of more than once. —
Osiander: God cannot and will not forsake
those who trust in Him with all their hearts. —
Sblnekker: God protects His own children in a
wonderful manner, and gives their enemies into
their hands when they rage the most. — Franke :
When it is clearly manifested to the heart of
350
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
man that God is the Most High, he fears nothing,
not even the devil and his hosts of hell, but is
confident and unterrified. — Renschel : The cross
is a storm ; it passes by ; in the meanwhile we
sit under the shadow of His wings. — Tholuck:
0 how sleepy man remains when the praise of
God for undeserved bounties is in question. —
Guenther: The delivered must yet inquire:
why and wherefore has God spread His wings
over you ? What would He with you, of you, for
you? — Taube : David's first cry of need is not a
call for help, but for grace. — Make not that nar-
row which God's love has made wide, wide as
the heavens.
[Matt. HENBr : To God as the God of grace
will I fly, and his promise shall be my refuge,
and a sure passport it will be through all these
dangers. — We need no more to make us happy,
but to have the benefit of the mercy and truth
of God. — When God is coming towards ua "with
His favors, we must go forth to meet Him with
our praises, — Baejjes : The welfare of the uni-
verse depends on God ; and that God should be
true, and just, and good, and worthy of confi-
dence and love, — that He should reign, — that
His law should be obeyed, — that His plans
should be accomplished, — is of more importance
to this universe than anything that merely per-
tains to us ; than the success of any of our own
plans ; than our health, our prosperity, or our
life. — Spurgeon: Urgent need suggests the repe-
tition of the cry, for thus intense urgency of
desire is expressed. If " he gives twice who
gives quickly," so he who would receive quickly
must ask twice. — Blessed be God, our calamities
are matters of time, but our safety is a matter
of eternity. — God's attributes, like angels on
the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of
His chosen. — C. A. B.]
PSALM LVIII.
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David,
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation ?
Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness ;
Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth,
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb :
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent :
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear ;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers.
Charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth :
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually :
When he bendeth his how to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melteth, let &very one oj them pass away :
Like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns.
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
PSALM LVIII.
351
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The posi-
tion of this Psalm is due not only to expressions
in the title, but to the figure of the lion and the
mention of teeth. There is no reason to put its
composition in a late period, and seek the unjust
judges among the heathen (Ewald, Hitzig). The
prophets afford sufficient analogies to this com-
plaint respecting domestic administrations of
justice (Hupfold), as it here gushes forth from
the indignant soul of the Psalmist in a threaten-
ing language which is almost obscure owing to
bold and mingled figures of speech. It is like a
torrent which plunges over every hindrance,
foaming and raging. A comparison with other
Psalms of David, e. g., Pss. Ixiv. and cxl. shows
that such language, especially in the expectation
of Divine judgment, is not strange in the mouth
of David. We may certainly credit this original
poet with a richness of figures and changes in
their use, as well as in the turns of language and
of thought, in accordance with particular cir-
cumstances and feeling. Yet we lack sufficient
evidence to show whether the composition oc-
curred in the time of Saul, who was at the same
time David's judge and persecutor, who endea-
vored to hide the persecution under the appear-
ance of a righteous judgment (Hengst.) ; or in
the time of Absalom, who made the administra-
tion of justice a means of stealing from David
the hearts of the people, whilst he pretended to
be impartial (Knapp, Delitzsch). The reproach-
ful question, which is ironical in form (ver. 1),
and its cutting answer (ver. 2), are followed by the
description of the entire corruption of the accused
(vers, 3-6), and then follows the proclamation of
their ruin by Divine judgment which has been im-
plored (vers. 6-9) ; and finally the statements of
its effects (vers. 10, 11 ).
Sir. I. Ver. 1. Do ye truly in silence
speak righteousness? — The word D7X oc-
curs only here and in the title of Ps. Ivi., and is
obscure and doubtful in both places. At any
rate it is artificial and without sufficient war-
rant, to gain the sense of pactum, that is to say,
publico jure sancitum by derivation from a word
= bind (Maurer), or a vocative with the mean-
ing congregatio to designate the companions of
Saul (Kimchi, Calvin [A. V.], ci al). The radi-
cal meaning is, " to grow dumb or speechless,"
and the juxtaposition of two nouns is not with-
out examples, Ps. xlv. 4. But which is the most
appropriate meaning ? The question " Do ye in
truth or truly " leads to the doubt whether the
addressed are earnest in doing that which is al-
leged of them and presupposed or is to be re-
quired of them, or whether they do it only ap-
parently or not at all ; and the parallel clause
shows that the question is with reference to the
righteous administration of justice and equitable
judgment. The form of this parallel clause,
however, prevents the question from being re-
garded as one of astonishment ; do you really
decree dumb justice? but seems to lead to the
question of doubt: do you really speak right-
eousness (previously) dumb, that is to say: re-
cognize and express ia the judicial sentence (the
older interpreters, with Geier, J H. Mich., De
Wette, Stier). But this is against the position
of the word, and already an explanation of the
too difficult oxymoron ; " do you really speak ;"
that is to sacy, give utterance to, or express in
words, dumbness of justice ? The parallel clause
ver. 4 b, likewise leads to the thought that those
addressed are dumb, when they should speak, as
they are deaf when they should hear. We might
therefore be tempted to translate: are you really
dumbness, that is to say, entirely dumb ? The
language would permit this; but what then
could be made of the subsequent words? The
translations J that you would not speak what is
just (Luther, Hengst.), or: Do you speak right-
eousness ? (Geier) are not only harsh but at the
same time against grammar and the parallel
clause. The same is true of the interpretation :
Is righteousness really silent? Then speak it 1
(Rosenm.) Therefore we are to take it as a
question of irony rather than one of direct re-
proach: Do you truly in silence speak righteous-
ness ? (Chald., Hupf.) This oir/TnoT-ora is at least
endurable, and the interpretation agrees with
the expected thoughts and the irony of weighing
out (ver. 2 6), better than the direct question
which the language admits : Is the righteousness
which you should speak, truly, dumb? (Isaki).
If the vowel points are to be altered it is better
to make it D/N = ye people (Hitzig) parallel
with the vocative " sons of men," than D7N, for
which rare word DJDX was originally placed
upon the margin as a gloss, then came into the
text, and is now again to be removed from it in
order to get the sense: do you truly speak jus-
tice ? (Gesenius) ; or D/K in the sense of a de-
fective orthography of OwX, as Ex. xv. 11, or
DTK, Numb. vii. 77 ; xxiii. 29, which then is a
designation of the judges addressed, but cannot
mean: strong (Tholuck with reference to Joab
and his brother) but only: gods (since Houbi-
gant many interpreteijs besides J. 1). Mich., like-
wise Ewald, Olsh., Delitzsch). It is then admis-
sible to take the sons of men of the following
clause as an accusative, and as intentionally used
here as Elohim is then used in the final clause as
plural. The irony would then be still further
strengthened by scornful allusion to the folly and
vanity of self-exaltation. But there are very se-
rious objections to regard this word as desig-
nating the unjust false judges as gods, for it is
without Mxj preparation in the Psalm, and still
more would be in a very unusual form of the
word.
[Ver. 2. Ye weigh out. — Perowne : This is
said sarcastically Ye pretend indeed to hold
the balance of justice, and nicely to weigh out to
each his just award, but violence is the weight
with which ye adjust the scales."^ — C. A. B.]
Str. II. [Ver. 3. From birth.— Delitzsch :
The Scriptures in such passages testify to the
fact of experience, that there are men in whom
evil has from childhood a truly devilish and self-
ish character, incapable of loving, for although
original sin and guilt are common to all men, yet
the former class has them in the most manifold
mixture and forms, as indeed the transmission
352
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
of sin and the influence of the power of evil and
the power of grace, ever working at the same
time upon the propagation of the human race,
demand ; this dualism of human nature is taught
especially by the gospel of John." — O. A. B.]
Ver. 4. Poison have they like the poi-
son of a serpent. — This is literally the poison
which they have ; for the stat. const, demands
that "^^X should be supplied. Among the ser-
pents the adder is mentioned as the best known
of the dangerous ones (Deut. xxxii. 33) of which
it is said in the Orient {yid. the passages in De
Wette, Com.) it is dumb, when it will not obey
the charmer. The intentional character of this
dumbness is mentioned as a stopping up of the
ear.*
Sir. Ill, [Ver. 6. Perowne : " There is an ab-
rupt change in the image employed. As these men
are incorrigible in their wickedness, as they can-
not be tamed, the Psalmist prays God to destroy
their power for mischief; but instead of conti-
nuing the figure of the serpent-charmer, who
robs the serpent of his poison, he suddenly re-
presents them as young lions, whose teeth he
would see broken that they may no longer de-
vour," comp. Ps. iii. 7. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 7. Let him [namely the enemy) fix his
arrows, — [let them be) as though cut off. — It
is best not to regard God as the subject, because
He has been immediately before directly ad-
dressed, and the explanations " until the enemies
have become weak," (Sept.), or donee conterantur
(Jerome), ut succidantur et pereant (Isaki), and
the like, afford grammatical objections, which
disappear when it is referred to the enemies re-
garded in their unity, whose arrows are desig-
nated as without effect, as though they bad their
paints cut off (mo?t interpreters since Kimchi).
The treading or bending the bow is transferred
to the arrows, as Ps. Ixiv. 3.-}-
Ver. 8. As a snail w^hich in melting pass-
eth a'way. — The meaning " snail," which has
its Hebrew name from its apparent melting away
in slime, is rendered certain (Chald., Isaki,
Kimchi) as against the interpretation wax (most
of the older interpreters, Ewald), or torrent (Aben
* [Lane. Mod. Egyptians, chap. xx. " The charmer pro-
leases to discover, without ocular perception, (but perhaps
he does 80 by a peculiar emell). whether th4>re be any ser-
pents in a house ; and if there be, to attract them to him ;
as the fowler, by the fascination of his voice, allures the
bird into his nest. . . . Hm assumes an air of mystery, strikes
the walls with a short paloi stick, whistles, makes a cluck-
ing noise with his t)ngue, and spits upon the ground, and
generally says, ' I adjure you by (iod, if ye be above, or if ye
be below, that yecomeforth: ladjuroyou by theQreatName
if yo be obedient, come forth; and if ye be disobedient die I
die! die!' — The serpent is generally dislodged by his stick,
from a fissure in the wall, or drops from the ceiling of the
room." Thomson, in the Land and the Book, p. 155, says,
that " there are some serpents which the charmer cannot
subdue ; and instances are related in which thoy have fallen
victims to their daring attempts to conquer these deaf and
obstinate cockatrices." Tri8tr.»m, Nat. History of the Bible,
p. 272, refers this clause of the Psalm to the fact that " there
are some species of serpent not amenable to the charmer's
art, or that there are individuals of the ordinary cobra which
defy all his attempts to soothe them. — C. A. B.J
f [It is better to tr.inalate here fix or fit as the Hebrew
^Tl means to tread or trample, in the wine press, the
threshing-floor, or the bow in spanning it with the foot, and
the treading thus passed over naturally into fixing the ar-
rows by treading the bow, which the A. V. paraphrases by
"bendeth his bow to shoot hit arrows^" whilst Perowne
translates directly shoot and Alexander h«nd hia arrows. —
0. A. B.]
Ezra, Koster).* — Miscarriage of a woman
— ntil^X is here confirmed as a stat. absol. ^= wo-
man by Deut. xxi. 11 ; 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 [although
this is usually the stat. const.'\, as against the
interpretation: mole (Chald.), or: fire (Sept.),
namely : falls down, so that it is not necessary,
by a change of reading, to get the sense of " the
hopeless one."
Ver. 10. Before your pots feel the thorn
whether fresh or burning. — He w^hirls it
away. — The idea here is of the sadden and un-
expected destruction of all their plans and all
their arrangements for their fulfilment. It is
represented in a figure, derived from a frequent
occurrence in connection with caravans in the
desert. The only striking thing is the sud-
den address to the wicked, who are spoken of"
from ver. 3 on, only in the third person. Since,
however, they have been already directly ad-
dressed (vers. 1, 2), there is no objection to it
here. Still less is there any weight to be laid
upon the fact that JTin is used elsewhere of the
fire of God's wrath (Cleric). For since it pro-
perly means "burning," and the words with V\
were originally accusatives with nun, or adverbs
which denote circumstance or condition (Hup-
feld), we may have some objection to understand
it of cooking meat, or meat already cooked (Heng-
stenb. after Berl. Bibel and Delitzsch) or of dry
wood (Symm., Ewald), but not to understand it
of the IDX r^ black, or buck thorn [rhamnus),
already on fire, which flames up quickly and high
in the fire, and gives indeed suitable coals for
cooking, yet is easily put out by the wind ((Ed-
mann, Vermischte Samml. iv. 99 sq,). On this
account, therefore, we understand by the previ-
ously mentioned ''n that is to say, living, not
raw flesh (Calvin, et al.), but fresh thorns, still
green (Geier and most interpreters). If the in-
terpretation of the double 1D3 in the sense of
sive-sive should be doubted we might translate :
when he is still lively, that is to say, fresh
(Chald,, Isaki, Kimchi), it will whirl him away
as burning wrath. It is however not advisable
to give to the word riYVD the meaning «* thorns,"
instead of *' pots " (the ancient versions,
Aben Ezra, Isaki, Luther, and many interpre-
ters). For the inaccuracy of the ancient ver-
sions: "before your thorns have grown or
ripened into the thorn bush " may be avoided it
is true, and the words thus interpreted: "before
your thorns were observed, a thorn bush was
* [This metaphor is thus explained by Tristram, Nat. His-
tory of the Bible, p. 295 sq. " The snails of all species in the
Holy Liind are in the habit, not of hybemating in winter, as
they do in our colder climate, but of shutting themselves
into their shells and remaining dormant daring the dry sea-
son. Few snails can remain long in an active state withont
moisture. In order to prevent the evaporation of the mois-
ture of the body, all those molluscs which have a thin or
semi-transparent shell, secrete themselves in dry weather
under stones like the shellless snails or slugs, or else among
moss, and under leaves, and many species also in the earth.
. . . But notwithstanding the care they take to secrete them*
selves, the heat often dries them up, either by a long conti-
nued drought, or by the sun's ray's penetrating to their
holes. Thus we find in the Holy Land myriads of snail-
shells in fissures, still adhering by the calcareous exudation
round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal
of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, 'melted away,'
according to the expression of the Psalmist." — 0. A. B.]
PSALM LVIII.
353
there (Aben Ezra, J. H. Mich., Knapp, Koster),
or : before your thorns observe it, whether fresh
or dry He will whirl away the thorn bush
(Ewald). But although the singular T'D has a
aouble meaning, yet only the masculine plural
form has the meaning of thorns (Eccl. vii. 6),
the feminine however: pots, with the exception
of Amos iv. 2, where, however, the idea of thorn
prickle has passed over into that of fish hooks.
It is entirely inadmissible to refer the word
'* alive," in the second clause, directly to men,
who would then be characterized as thorns, and
of whom, with an allusion to the ruin of the band
of Korah, it would be said : as living, as in the
midst of life, He will devour them in wrath
(Schegg, after the Sept. and Vulgate). However,
it might mean, on the other hand: as often as
he revives, so often the burning (Hitzig).*
Str. IV. [Ver; 10. He shall bathe his feet
in the blood of the "wicked. — Alexander :
" To bathe his feet (or rather his steps) in the
blood of others is to walk where their blood is
flowing, to tread the battle-£eld where they have
fallen, to gain a sanguinary triumph over them,
or rather it is to partake in the triumph of an-
other."t— C. A. B.]
Ver. 11. Yes, there is a Divinity judging
upon earth. — Elohim is construed with the
plural as Gen. xx. 13 ; Jos. xxiv. 19 ; 2 Sam. vii.
23 (unchanged in 1 Chron. xvii. 21). Yet this
is not in accordance with heathen usage (Ewald)
or in the mouth of the heathen, who then would be
named with DIX (Oish., Baur) or with a still more
direct reference to ver. 1 a, if elim is taken as
the proper reading there, in order to character-
ize the just Hebrew judge who makes the name
gods whichhasbeen dishonored by unjustjudges,
a true designation (J. D. Mich.), or as render-
ing prominent the true judging God (Hupf.) or
the real God elevated above all earthly magnates,
Ecc. V. 7 (Delitzsch), in contrast to the false and
unjust gods of the earth. There is not the slight-
est trace of these references and contrasts in the
entire Psalm. But the pure grammatical con-
struction (Hitzig) and the sense and context af-
ford the general meaning of Divinity.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is very bad when those persons and ma-
gistrates who are appointed to administer justice,
instead of pronouncing judgmient, are silent and
are dumb to the prayers of their subordinates,
and the earnest entreaties of their friends not
less than to the demands of the law and the voice
* [Perowne : The general sense of this difficult verse
eeems to be this: As a sudden whirlwind in the desert
sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cook-
ing, almost as soon as they have been set on fire, and before
tho caldron has grown hot (comp. Ecc. vii. 6), so shall the
wicked, and all their yet incomplete designs, be swept away
by tue wpdth of God."— C. A. B.J
t [Hupfeld regards it as a figure of speech indicating the
(juantity of the blood that has been shed. He compares the
corresponding expressions in Ps. Ixviii. 23, where the feet
are washed in blood ; Job xxix. 6, where the feet are washed
in mills and brooks of oil; Job xx. 17, where brooks of ho-
ney and milk are mentioned. " It here Indicates the great-
nt*ss of the vengeance; usually of that taken by the party
himself, but here since it is not his own act but that of God,
and is merely beheld, it can only be a symbolical expression
of the internal participation therein, or the satisfied feeling
^>f revenge." He compares Deut. xxxii. 42 sq. ; Is. xlvi. 23
Bq., ete.— C. A. B.l
23
of duty, honor, and conscience. They then not
only misuse the scales of justice entrusted to them,
in an irresponsible manner to the injury of their
fellow-men ; but they are likewise hypocrites and
liars, since they violate justice at the very time
that they pretend to exercise it, and in this ma-
nifest their serpent-like nature.
2. In such conduct there is manifest partly the
inherited sinful nature (Gen. viii. 21; Ps. li. 6;
Job xiv. 4;. Is. xlviii. S), partly there is pre-
sented in them their own hardening of themselves,
with which they stop the way of the grace as
well as the word of God, increase their readiness
to sin as well as their scorn of the means of
grace, and hasten the approach of a terrible,
unavoidable, and sudden ruin. " What makes
human ruin so fearful, is the fact, that it rests
upon original sin, and is rooted in the innermost
depths of the heart. . . . The contrast is not be-
tween those men who are corrupt from the womb,
and those who are not, but of those in whom the
ruin which is common to all has developed itself
without hindrance, and those in whom the de-
velopment has been checked and interrupted "
(Hengst.). Respecting the Doctrine of Original
sin in the Old Testament, comp. Kleinert in the
Stud, and Krit., 1860, Heft. 1.
8. The righteous need not despair. They will
no more lose the fruit of God-fearing conduct
than of their patient endurance of suffering, Is.
iii. 10 sq. But no less sure is the reward of the
wicked by just recompense, v;h'ich. even when it
is no longer looked upon and enjoyed as ven~
geance in the meaning of the Old Testament, yet
remains just as joyful and comforting to the
righteous, because they recognize therein the go-
vernment of God, who reveals Himself from hea-
ven as a Judge on earth.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
When we follow our mSorn nature we ruin our-
selves and others. — If some sinners harden them-
selves in sin even to obduracy, and fear neither
God nor men, they yet will not escape their
Judge, and will be ruined, together with their
plans, before they have made their preparations.
— The ungodly are ruined by God's judgment, it
is true, but of their own guilt, and on account of
their impenitence. — He who will not hear when
God speaks to him, will be obliged to feel when
God judges him. — The righteous may lose the'ir
rights,\iViinoii)iQ\T fruit. — We can sin not only
by speaking, but likewise by silence, and since we
injure our fellow-men, bring upon ourselves a
severe reckoning. — If the wicked will not hearken
to you, you may testify against them, that others
may be warned. — Justice, may be violated, per-
verted, denied, but righteousness cannot perish,
for God Himself leads it through to victory. —
Men may despise God's word and deny God's ex-
istence, yet they cannot do away with God's
word or prevent God's rwZeupon earth. — God Him-
self testifies to His existence by delivering and
judging.
Starke: God has given us a ready tongue,
that we may use it for His glory and the good
of our neighbors. — The leaving off from good is
soon followed by the commission of evil. — The
wickedness and obduracy of many men are bo
354
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
great, that no prayers, warnings, or threaten-
ings will help them. — The blood-thirsty perse-
cutors will be rewarded with blood; for a man
will be punished with that with which he trans-
gresses.— If we knew how many thousand de-
vices of the ungodly the Lord brings to naught,
before they were fully conceived, and how many
arrows He breaks, before they are shot oflF, we
would be astonished at His wisdom, faithfulness,
and Omnipotence.
Renschel; Sins of carelessness and neglect
are likewise great sins. — Frisch: Many who
have thirsted for blood have perished in their
own blood. — Tholuck: God does such signs that
we may see that, although He has given much
power to mortals, yet no one can deprive Him
of His sceptre. — Taube: Being dumb to the ffrace
of God, they are dumb to the Judgment of God. —
The first blessing that a man receives when He
has committed his cause to God in prayer, is that
he gains another view of the cause in the light
of God.
[Matt. Henrt* Let none wonder that these
wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness
is bred in the bone with them ; they brought it
into the world with them, they have in their na-
tures a strong inclination to it, they learned it
from their wicked parents, and have been trained
up in it by a bad education. — Barnes: Men
everywhere approve of the just administration
of law, even though it consigns the transgressor
to prison or to death ; and it is a matter of gra-
tification to ail who love law and order when a
righteous government is maintained ; when wick-
edness is checked ; when justice is administered
in a community. — Spukgeon : It is not in your
music, but in the sinner's ear that the cause of
failure lies, and it is only the power of God that
can remove it. — Every unregenerate man is an
abortion. He misses the true form of God-made
manhood ; he corrupts in the darkness of sin ;
he never sees or shall see the light of God in
purity, in heaven. — Two things will come out
clearly after all — there is a God, and there is a
reward for the righteous. — C. A. B.J
PSALM LIX
To the chief Musician, Al-iaschith, Michtam of David; token Saul sent, and they watched the house to
kill him.
1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God :
Defend me from them that rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloody men.
3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul :
The mighty are gathered against me ;
Not /or my transgressions, nor /or my sin, O Lord.
4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault :
Awake to help me, and behold.
5 Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to visit all the heathen :
Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
6 They return at evening : they make a noise like a dog,
And go round about the city.
7 Behold they belch out with their mouth ;
Swords are in their lips :
For who, say they, doth hear?
8 But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them ;
Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
9 Because o/his strength will I wait upon thee:
For God is mv defence.
10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me :
God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
PSALM LIX.
855
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget :
Scatter them by thy power ; and bring them down,
O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride :
And for cursing and lying which they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they Tnay not be :
And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob
Unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 And at evening let them return ; and let them make a noise like a dog,
And go round about the city.
15 Let them wander up and down for meat.
And grudge if they be not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of thy power :
Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning :
For thou hast been my defence
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing :
For God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The Psalm
is artistically arranged, in two parts consisting
of two strophes each. In each part the same
expressions and thoughts are rhythmically en-
twined with one another, and repeated with but
slight differences. The Title in its first half has
the same elements as those of the preceding
Psalms. The other portion of the Title refers to
the period of the pursuit of Saul, an episode of
which is described in 1 Sam. xix. 11 sq. For
the contents and form of this Psalm do not lead
us to limit that dangerous situation in Gibeah to
the one night before the flight which was ren-
dered possible by Michal. It is particularly the
recurring verses, yers. 6 and 14, which describe
repeated hostile waylaying, which began with
the evening. Over against them the singer puts
in vers. 5 and 8 the activity of Jehovah, and
vers. 9 and 17 his personal relation and beha-
viour towards God in the assurance of victory
in faith, with words which evidently refer to one
another, and yet are not entirely of the same te-
nor. At the same time the form of expressions
excludes the supposition of a change of place.
It is more appropriate therefore to think of this
Psalm as an evening song, originating from the
experience of those dangerous times at Gibeah,
(Delitzsch), than to refer it to the wearisome and
dangerous flight of David after his deliverance by
Michal, and to find the occasion for the Psalm in
this circumstance, and put its composition in the
time after this danger was overcome (Hengst.).
The universal historical conception of the Divine
judgment over all the heathen (vers. 6, 8 ; comp.
ver. 13) shows that it is not necessary to think
of foreign enemies ; rather this view is decidedly
against their description as hungry men (vers.
11, 15), roaming about the city in which the
threatened man was then situated with them,
(vers. 6, 14), using slanders as weapons (vers.
7, 12). Hupfeld concedes this, and likewise that
the enemies appear throughout as personal, and
that we have therefore no more to think of a la-
mentation of the people in the time of the exile,
when the poet was in the same city with the
heathen (De Wette), than of a siege, whether of
Jerusalem by the neighboring nations confede-
rate with the Chaldeans, under the last king of
Judah (Ewald), or of some fortress in the time of
the Maccabees (Hitzig), or of an attempt by the
Samaritans to disturb the rebuilding of the holy
city begun under Nehemiah (Koster, Maurer). —
The course of thought is in general the follow-
ing: The jorayer of the Psalmist for deliverance
from bloodthirsty enemies (vers. 1, 2) is founded
upon the mention of their waylayings and his in-
nocence (vers. 3, 4), and then takes the form of a
prayer for the Divine punishment in a universal
historical character (ver. 6). This characteristic
again appears in the expressions of the assurance
of victory, which follow the description of the
disgraceful conduct of the enemies (vers. 6, 7).
This assurance lies in the position and actions
of God as well as of His threatened servant,
(vers. 8, 9). This characteristic becomes still
more definite in the prayer which results from
this confidence in the gracious operations of God,
which prayer is that a moral effect may be pro-
duced upon his people through their perception
of the Divine judgment upon lying enemies
(vers. 10-13), whose disgraceful conduct is again
brought forward (vers. 14, 15), which is then
connected with the very different behaviour of the
poet, who is assured of his deliverance by the
grace of God, and testifies his thankfulness
for it.
Str. I. [Ver, 4. Run and set themselves. —
Perowne : "The words are military terms : for
the first, see Ps. xviii. ^9, (according to one in-
terpretation), Job XV. 26 ; xvi. 14 ; the other de-
notes the marshaling in order, the array of
troops, with a view to the execution of a deter-
mined plan. Or as Hengst. explains, a metaphor
borrowed from an attacking host, which, getting
a firm footing on the walls of a beleaguered city,
is ready to rush in over them, or through them,
as already broken, into the city," — Awake, to
356
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
meet me, and see. — Delitzsch: David is beset,
by such a band of assassins, as one besieged,
sighs for relief, and calls upon Jehovah, who, as
if asleep, seems as if He would abandon him.
He calls upon Him with that bold appeal, to
awake to meet him, that is to say, to push on to
him with His help as an army of relief, and con-
vince Himself in person of the extreme danger in
which His protege was involved." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 6. And Thou, Jehovah, Elohim,
Sabaoth, God of Israel. — Instead of Jehovah,
Sabaoth, God of Israel (2 Sam. vii. 27), Elo-
him is inserted here in addition, which cannot
be connected with the Jehovah which precedes
even here, as Gen. ii. 5 sq. ; Ex. ix. 30 ; Jonah
iv. 6, and as we then would have to supply Elohe
=God of hosts. But still less as Jehovah=
God, that is to say, God Jehovah, are we to
translate here : God Sabaoth (Luther), as if Sa-
baoth had already become a proper name (Ge-
senius, Olshausen), as after the Sept., the New
Testament and the Church ; but Elohim is used
here as Pss. Ixxx. 7, 14; Ixxxiv. 8, in the same
connection as Jehovah Sabaoth, Pss. xxiv. 10 ;
Ixxxiv. 3, and instead of this because Jehovah
had already been mentioned, and Elohim in this
Psalm is treated as a proper name. Thus there
is no improper use of the term (Hupfeld), but
a characteristic heaping up of names of God,
the use of which in the Holy Scriptures is no
more to be regarded as usual formulas and a
drawling use of titles, than we are to suppose a
poetical figure in connection with the judgment
of the world. — To visit all the heathen. —
Since WM is not to be changed into D''U=proud
(Paul.), or to be referred to the final judgment
(Kimchi, Rosenm.), so no more is the expression
which is taken out of all limitations by the
" all," to be referred to those heathen among
whom the threatened Psalmist is said to have
been (De Wette, Ewald, Olshausen, Hitzig), or
to be explained improperly of those Israelites
which resembled them in disposition (Isaki,
Ruding., Venema, et al.), but as these enemies
are described directly as faithless with respect
to iniquity, it is to be understood as comprehen-
sive of all enemies of the kingdom of God, do-
mestic and foreign (Chald., Aben Ezra, Geier, J.
H. Mich., Delitzsch).*
Str. II. [Ver. 6. They return at evening,
hoTvl like the dog and go about the city.
— This is the refrain of the Psalm (vide ver. 14).
He compares his enemies to those half- wild dogs
which are the scavengers of the cities of the
East. They prowl about the streets at night,
hunting for offal, and hesitate not to prey upon
the dead and even the feeble and helpless, comp.
* fPerowne : " The nations, to an Israelite, would be the
embodiment of all that opposed itself to God ; and in ap-
pealing to God to punish them, he would, in fact, be appeal-
lug to Him to punish all evil wherever manifested. The spe-
cial judgment would follow from the universal, and be an in-
stance of it. Even for the vindication of his personal inno-
cence, we find our Psalmist (vii. 6-8) calling upon God to as-
semble all nations to His judgment-seat. Such expressions
seem to us exaggerated, partly because of the comparative
coldne-'S of the western mind, and partly because it is very
difiBcult for us to conceive of the feelings of the true Israel-
ite, to whom the whole outer heathi-n world was a world
lying under t^e heavy wrath of God, and to whom the greater
part of Israel itself seemed corrupt and apostate."— C. A. B.]
Psalm xxii. 16 ; 1 Kings xiv. 11 ; 2 Kings
ix. 86.*
Ver. 7. They pour out, etc. — Alexander:
" The first verb is expressive of a constant flow
or gush. See above on Ps. xix. 2. What it is
that they thus pour out, although not expressed,
may be readily gathered from the context,
namely, slanders and reproaches. The swords in
their lips, are significant of sharp and cutting
speeches, see Ps. Iv. 21, and comp. Ps. lii. 3." —
C. A. B.] — Who hears it? — This question may
either be regarded as the complaint of the
singer (Rosenm., Hengstenberg, [Alexander]),
or the fancy of the wicked (Syriac, Chald.,
Symm., Jerome, Isaki, et al.).
[Ver. 8. But Thou, Jehovah, dost laugh
at them. — Whilst they think to fall upon their
victim unexpectedly, there being no one to know
of their purposes and to warn the singer of
them — yet Jehovah knows — Jehovah sees them
prowling in the night, and Jehovah laughs at
their folly, and holds all the heathen in derision
who revolt and plot against His anointed, comp.
Ps. ii. 4.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 9. My strength, Thee will I regard.
— Instead of the here unmeaning VlJ?, we are to
read with the ancient versions and 'some codd. :
'Tj^, as a vocative. For the manifold attempts
to explain the suffix of the third person have all
been grammatical and syntactical vexations.
Yet it is unnecessary to make any further
changes in the reading in order to make this
verse entirely like ver. 17 (Venema, Olshausen,
Baur, et al.).
Str. III. Ver. 10. My God wiU come to
meet me Tvith His grace. — This reading is
attested by the ancient versions, and Augustine
uses it in proof of his doctrine of prevenient
grace. It cannot be pushed aside in favor of the
reading preferred by most interpreters after the
Chald. and the Rabbins (which gives the sense :
God of my grace=my God of grace, that is to
say : my gracious God), although that reading
is undoubted in ver. 17. f
[Ver. 11. Make them Tvander, that is,
lead them astray, so that they will fail of their
object. This verb is used of Cain, Gen. iv. 12,
and of Israel in the wilderness. Num. xxxii. 13 ;
vide ver. 15, where their disappointment is ex-
pressed. Thus they would afford a better evi-
dence that Jehovah was his protector than if
they should die a sudden death. — Our shield.
— Comp. Pss. iii. 3 ; xviii. 2 ; xxviii, 6.
Ver. 12. The word of their lips (is) the
sin of their mouth (Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Moll,
et al.), that is to say, every word they speak is a
sin. Ewald, in order to avoid this tautology,
makes the clauses parallel, thus : the sin of their
mouth, the word of their lips — 0 let them be
* [Wordsworth : This description of the malicious vigi-
lance of Saul's messengers, thirsting for David's blood (see 1
Sam. xix. 11, 15, 20, 21), is very applicable to the conduct of
the enemies of Christ, who are compared in the Pasch*l
Psalm to dogs thirsting for blood (see xxii. 16, 20), especially
on the eve of His crucifixion. Then they went about the
city of Jerusalem, like the howling and prowling dogs of the
evening, in some Eastern cities. The Jews c mpared the
Gentiles to dogs (see Matt. xv. 27) ; but they themselves were
dogs, in their blood-thirsty cruelty and foul uncleanness,
comp. Pha. iii. 2."— C. A. B.]
f [The A. V. prevent is used here in the antiquated sense
of going before, anticipating.— C. A. B.]
PSALM LIX.
357
taken, etc. But the above rendering is more ap-
propriate.
Ver. 13. Consume them. — ^Perowne : " This
does not contradict the previous imprecation.
He would have his enemies destroyed at last, but
only after they had been, by a protracted, misera-
ble existence, a warning to mei;i of God's right-
eous severity." — Unto the ends of the earth.
— Perowne : " This may mean that God, sitting
in Jacob, having there" His throne, exercises
thence a universal dominion. But, according to
the accent, these words should rather be con-
nected with the words : 'that men may know.'
So Calvin : ' David indicates a singular kind of
punishment, one the fame of which would reach
even the most distant nations.' And so Heng-
stenberg, who refers to David's words to Goliath,
1 Sam. xvii. 46 : * And all the earth shall know
that there is a God in Israel.' "— C. A. B.]
Str. IV. Ver. 16. They wander about in
order to devour, if they are not satisfied,
they pass the night.— It is possible, by a
slight change of the vowel points, to translate :
if they are not satisfied they growl (Septuagint,
Vulgate, Jerome, Luther, Geier, et al.). The
present reading=they pass the night, is mani-
festly not to be explained of continued wander-
ing about in search of food during the night
(Isaki, Rosenm.), but of a night without the
fruits of the day's labor (Hupfeld), full of dis-
quiet and pain from unsatisfied hunger, in con-
trast to the promise given to the pious, Prov.
xix. 23 (Calvin, J. H. Mich., Hengstenberg, et
al.), or to a remaining at the place and watch-
ing greedily for their food. It is true KT QN
may be a particle of afl&rmation=truly (Ewald,
Hitzig, Koster, Maurer) ; but the further expla-
nation : they will satisfy themselves and remain
(dead in the place) (Ewald), or : they will fight
long enough and rest (Hitzig), is objectionable.
[Ver. 16. In the morning. — This is in evi-
dent contrast to the evening, in ver. 14. The
enemies remain like hungry dogs unsatisfied in
the streets, the Psalmist is delivered from their
hands and praises God, his shield and defence,
in the morning. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 17. To thee will I harp. — Here there
is a play upon words, m)3T^ with tTiQiyN, ver.
9. To God is to be directed both things that the
Psalmist has vowed, his playing upon the harp
and his waiting (Ps. cxxx. 6), or better: his at-
tention (2 Sam. xi. 16) regarding, 1 Sam.
xxvi. 76.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God exalts His refugees in the midst of
their enemies to such a position and condition of
spirit, that they can lie down to sleep quietly by
night in the feeling of security under Divine
protection, whilst their adversaries, like a pack
of hungry dogs, howl about without attaining
their ends. But as this security does not arise
from a proud satisfaction with themselves, but,
whilst they protest their own innocence against
the slanders of wicked opponents, originates only
tVQva. faith in God's grace, it does not produce any
idle expectation and self-indulgence, but a com-
forted and joyous giving over of themselves to
God in constant observance of His providence
and renewed thankfulness for His help.
2. Although God, in accordance with His na-
ture and actions, needs not to be summoned or
aroused, in order to behold what transpires on
earth, and to interfere for the deliverance of the
pious and the punishment of the ungodly, to
make an end of the no less shameful than danger-
ous conduct of the faithless, yet this is a strong
support to the oppressed and persecuted, as well
as a natural expression of their needs, and an in-
voluntary testimony of their faith in the right-
eous government of the Almighty, and the conde-
scending goodness of the faithful Qod of the cove-
nant.
8. The closer the history of a man's life is en-
twined in the history of the kingdom of God. the
stronger is the impression made upon him, that
his troubles as well as his deliverance have a
universal significance transcending any personal
references. In accordance with this on the one
side is the pressure for a corresponding declara-
tion of the judicial activity of God, that it may
be experienced in the whole earth that the God
of Israel is the only true God (1 Sam. xvii. 46) ;
on the other side, the expression of satisfaction
in the execution of the Divine judgments even
to the extent of the annihilation of the enemies,
which in the Old Testament not unfrequently ad-
vances to a personal desire of revenge.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is well for those who not only look at their
need, but at the same time behold and trust in
the true helper in need. — All the mighty ones of
earth cannot cast you down, if God the Almighty
will remain your strength and exalt you. — If thou
canst oppose thine innocence to the wickedness of
thine enemies, thou mayst confidently rely upon
God's strength against their superiority over you.
— God sees very well how it fares with you, and
knows likewise what He will do ; but He would
likewise he prayed to for His assistance. — When
the enemies' word has wounded your heart like
swords, let God's word be your balsam. — You may
trust the power of the Almighty Lord of Hosts,
the willingness of the faithful and gracious God
of Israel to deliver and to fudge. — The punish-
ments of God are not only for the ruin of the
faithless, but likewise for the warning of be-
lievers.
Calvin : It is the peculiar function of God
not only to tame the few, but to draw the whole
world to punishment for their shameful deeds.
Starke : When the ungodly suppose that they
have the righteous already in their hands, God
knows how to open a way of deliverance. —
There is a visitation of grace and a visitation of
wrath ; he who would escape the latter, must
humble himself in order to be capable of the
former. — Were it not for the almighty protection
of God, Satan and the world would long since
have devoured the Church.
Frisch : There are two kinds of innocence, one
before God, the other before men. — Tholuck :
Although heaven is high, yet God's ear reaches
down to the earth. — God will come a thousand
miles with His grace to meet him who takes but
a single step towards God. — Taube : Power and
358
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
grace are the two pillars of our help. The
power of God without His grace is fearful, as
the judgment over the enemies testifies ; His
grace without power would aflFord no comfort or
help to the miserable.
[Matt. Henry : Let not those expect to find
mercy who never showed mercy, for such are
wicked transgressors. — When we think God's
judgments come slowly upon sinners, we must
conclude that God has wise and holy ends in the
gradual proceedings of His wrath. — As we must
direct our prayers to God, so to Him we must di-
rect our praises and must look up, making
melody to the Lord. — Barnes : Whatever may
have been the means of our rescue, it is to be
traced to the interposition of God. — Spurqeon :
To a brave man the danger causes little distress
of mind, compared v^ith the injustice to which
he is subjected. — It is the mark of thoughtful
prayer, that the titles which are in it applied to
God are appropriate, and are, as it were, con-
gruous to the matter, and fitted to add force to
the argument, — How wrong is that state of mind
which hates to hear of the punishment of the
wicked ! — How frequently have we met with pre-
venting mercy — the supply prepared before the
need occurred — the refuge built before the
danger arose. Far ahead into the future the
foreseeing grace of heaven has projected itself,
and forestalled every difficulty, — Sweet is the
music of experience, but it is all for God ; there
is not even a stray note for man, for self, or for
human helpers. — ^C. A. B.]
PSALM LX.
To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach ; when he strove with Aram*
naharaim and with Aram-zohah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the
valley of salt twelve thousand.
O God, thou hast cast us oiF, thou hast scattered us.
Thou hast been displeased ; O turn thyself to us again.
2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble ; thou hast broken it :
Heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.
3 Thou hast showed thy people hard things :
Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee,
That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
5 That thy beloved may be delivered ;
Save with thy right hand, and hear me.
6 God hath spoken in his holiness ;
I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,
And mete out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine ;
Ephraim also is the strength of mine head ;
Judah is my lawgiver ;
8 Moab is my washpot ;
Over Edom will I cast out my shoe :
Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
9 Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me into Edom ?
10 Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off?
And thou, 0 God, which didst not go out with our armies ?
11 Give us help from trouble :
For vain is the help of man.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly:
For he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
PSALM LX.
859
feXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — For the first
part of the Title comp. Intro., § 12, No. 13, ^ 8,
No- 4. The second part refers us to the time of
the wars of David with the Ammonites and their
Aramaic confederates, repeated and carried on
with variable success. Among these was the
war with the king of Zoba, who, according to 2
Sam. X. 16, extended his rule across the Eu-
phrates, but seems to have had his capital be-
tween the Orontes and the Euphrates northeast
of Damascus. When now here the Aram of both
streams, that is to say, Mesopotamia, is men-
tioned together with Aram Zoba and Edom,
whilst 2 Sam. viii., besides these last two, men-
tions Damascus, there is no actual contradiction
but differences in relation which may be used
with great justice in favor as well as against the
authenticity of the title and its derivation from
an older and more complete historical source,
especially as here the overthrow of Edom in the
vale of Salt which is destitute of vegetation, and
is about ten miles wide at the southern extremity
of the dead sea (Robin. Bib. Researches, II.,
109), is referred back to Joab, David's general,
whilst 2 Sam. viii. refers to David himself, and
1 Chron. xviii. 12 to Abishai, the brother of Joab,
2 Sam. X. 10. Instead of the number 12,000
slain mentioned here,, these two passages have
18,000.* The composition of the Psalm has
been placed more correctly in the time before
the battle in the valley of salt (Delitzsch), than
afterwards (Hengst. ), because it is necessary to
suppose that the Edomites had fallen upon the
land, laying it waste from the south when David
had marched against his powerful enemies in
the North and victoriously forced them back,
but sent off his general Joab against the Edom-
ites. To this laying waste the land, the lamen-
tation which begins the Psalm refers (vers. 1-3).
There is then a reference to Divine incitement
(ver. 4) which introduces the prayer for Divine
help (ver. 5), which passes over into the appro-
priation of a Divine tirade promising victory
(vers. 6-8). Upon this is based the renewed pe-
tition, intensified by its inconsistency with the
present situation (vers. 9, 10) into pressing sup-
plication for Divine assistance (vers. 11, 12).
Ps. xliv. of the sons of Korah, in which ver. 9
corresponds with ver. 10 of this Psalm, would
then have been composed subsequently to this
Psalm of David. The latter part of our Psalm
from ver. 5 is repeated in not so good a form in
Ps. cviii. This relation is not favorable to the
many hypotheses differing exceedingly from one
another, which refer this Psalm to events of the
Maccabean times (Rudinger, Hesse, Olsh., Hit-
zig), or to the times after the exile (Ewald,
Kiister, Maurer). Even the supposition that
the promise in the oracle of God expresses the
idea of the restoration of the unity of the empire
which is usual in the prophets, which presup-
poaes the division and the experience of its sad
[* Mich, justly remaks : "David as king, Joab aa com-
mander-iu-chief, Abishai as sent by his brother on this par-
ticular expedition, defeated the enemy." The discrepancy
in numbers may have arisen from a mistake of the copyist,
or rather is due to the fact, that there is here a reference to
a single engagement, whilst the history perhaps states the
losses of the campaiga.— C. A. B.]
consequence (Hupfeld), cannot be established
by the contents or the expressions of this oracle.
As for the expression "to teach," there is no-
thing to decide whether it designates the Psalm
as designed for the instruction of posterity
(most interpreters), or whether it refers parti-
cularly to the design of bringing the unmanage-
able tribes to recognize the Divine choice of
David by teaching them that his government
was pleasing to God (Calvin), or whether it
states directly its purpose of being committed to
memory by the people on account of its national
significance as Deut. xxxi. 19 (Hengst.), or
whether it is to be explained by 2 Sam. i. 18,
and accordingly is to be regarded as a song of
military exercise, which was to be sung in con-
nection with shooting with the bow (Delitzsch).
Str. I., Ver 1. Hast broken us. — This He-
brew word is used by David, 2 Sam. v. 20, as a
suitable term for the overthrow of the Philis-
tines in the sense of breaking through, as fre-
quently elsewhere, e. g. Pss. Ixxx. 12; Ixxxix.
40, of breaking through a wall and figuratively,
e.g. Ps. cvi. 29; Ex. xix. 22, of the crushing
blows of God. We are not then obliged to think
here of the tearing asunder of the tribes of Is-
rael, as Judges xxi. 16. — Give us restoration
again. — [Thus Moll, who finds the object in the
verb 331iyi^,- denoting to give restoration or re-
freshment. Hupfeld would supply the object
from the preceding verb, 'appease Thine anger
towards us.' He refers to the phrase ^"jX^'E^n
let go, and appease anger, and to Is. xii. 1.
With ^J7, the dat. comm., it is thus equivalent to:
be gracious to us again, turn to us Thy grace
again. Others find the object understood in
favor: restore to us (Thy favor or salvation).
Perowne, following Ewald, translates: restore
us again, comp. Is. Iviii. 12. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. The figures of this verse are derived
from the earthquake shaking the whole land and
making rents in it as breaches in a tottering
building (Is. xxx. 13, &c.).
Ver. 3. Wine to intoxication. — This is
literally wine, which is intoxication. It is the
gift of God from the cup of wrath (Is. li. 17 sq.),
from the hand of God (Ps. Ixxv. 9). It is a
figure, not of the total passionateness, folly and
infatuation of the brotherly hatred raging in
their bowels which has plunged the people into
ruin as a punishment (Hupf.), but of the condi-
tion at once of internal confusion of spirit
(Geier, et al.) and of helpless bodily weakness
(Hengst.), Is. xix. 14; Job xii. 25^ of the sense-
less condition in which man is unable to advise
or help himself, and is ^n danger of falling ( Hit-
zig), and indeed under the point of view of a
Divine punishment.
Ver. 4. To be lifted up because of truth.
— This verse makes the transition from lamenta-
tion to prayer, even if the last member of the
verse should be translated: flee before the bow
(the ancient versions, Ewald, Hitzig, Hupfeld).
This likewise allows the reference to a Divine
benefit, rendering the deliverance of the people
possible. It is more appropriate to derive the
reflexive DDUPH (not to speak of the doubtful
passage, Zech. ix. 16), here, on account of its
connection with DJ from the same root. DOJ=
360
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
to lift up (Num. XXI. 8) rather than from D^J^
to flee, especially as Di^'p ia the meaning: truth
is established by Prov. xxii. 21 (Chald.). On
the other hand, the supposition that we are here
to read r\^p=how, or that iastead of this word,
there is here an incorrect Aramaic spelling, is
somewhat arbitrary. The interpretation that
^pap^with respect to, with regard to (Baur),
to designate the occasion and the motive=be-
cause of, is established by passages like Deut.
xxviii. 20; Neh. v. 15 (Delitzsch). In this state
of the case, the '^ truth" is not the true religion
or the righteousness of the cause (De Wette),
for which God has given the signal to arise in
war (Hitzig, Koster, Maurer), but the truth
and trustworthiness of the banner which is ac-
cording to the context, the promise which God
has spoken in His holiness.
Str. XL, ver. 6 sg. Has spoken in His
holiness — This is not in His sanctuary, or:
swearing by His holiness, Ps. Ixxxix. 3G ; Amos
iv. 2. It is most appropriate to understand this
promise, which refers to the duration of the
possession of the promised land and the su-
premacy over neighboring nations, not of a spe-
cial oracle given through the Urim and Thum-
mim of the high-priest, or the answer just sought
(J. D. Mich., Koster), nor to limit it to (he pro-
mise given to David, 2 Sam. vii. 9 sq., and as a
figurative reproduction of the same (Delitzsch),
but to regard it as a free summary of the an-
cient (Hengst.) prophecies, especially those con-
tained in the Pentateuch (Hengst.). For the
contents and form of the following words are
opposed to the supposition of a direct address of
God. The subject of the following predicates
can only be either personified Israel (De Wette,
et al.) or their king. If we more naturally
think of the latter, there is no reason at all for
the supposition, that God speaks in His charac-
ter as ruler and in poetic anthropomorphic forms
(Koster, Olsh., Hupfeld, Hitzig). For if David
has appropriated these promises to himself as
king and at the same time ippeaka as the author
of this Psalm in the first person, all objections
are removed such as arise from the absence of a
conjunction which would indicate a consequence
of the divine oracle. — At first ancient or re-
nowned places (Olsh.) are mentioned, which ap-
pear significantly in the history of Jacob
(Hengst.), Shechem on the west of the Jordan
(Jos. xiii. 27), the valley of Succoth on the
east of the Jordan (Gen. xxxiii. 17; Judges viii.
4), not far from the Jabbok in the tribe of Gad,
which latter, together wiih the tribe of Reuben,
comprehended the here mentioned Gilead and
Manasseh (ver. 7). Then the two chief tribes
Ephraim and Judah are mentioned together
with closer designation as the helmet and the
sceptre (Gen. xlix. 10; Num. xxi. 28).
Finally three hostile, renowned and dangerous
neighboring nations come into consideration
(ver. 8). Moab is said not, as it were, to fol-
low the king as a servant with the wash-basin,
but as to be used by him as such, in order to
wash his face white, that is, to gain for himself
glory and renown by victory over him. Edora
is designated as entirely humbled and disgraced
by the figure of a shameful contact with the
shoe. Fhilistia is described as conquered by
the mention, not as it were of a shout of joy in
homage (De Wette, Hengst, Hitzig), but either
of the cry of murder. Is. xv. 4 (Delitzsch), of
wailing outcry (Ewald), or of the cry of the
warrior upon the battle-field and of vengeance.
For the previous, for the most part false, in-
terpretations of the symbol of the wash-basin
and shoe, see the Excursus of J. G. Wetzstein in
Delitzsch Comm.
Str. III., ver. 9. Strong city.— This is dis^
tinguished by the parallel member of the verse
as the capital of the Idumeans (2 Kings xiv. 1 ),
namely j;Sd that is to say, rock, thus the re-
nowned Petra, comp. Gen. xxxvi. 42; Jer. xlix.
16; Obad. 3; Ps. cviii. 10.
Ver. 10. Hast not Thou, O God, cast us
off? and marchedst not out, O God, in
our armies ? — This is not an answer to the pre-
ceding question : Art Thou not the one who
(most interpreters), but must be regarded as a
lamentation on account of the absence of the rela-
tive and the parallels in ver. 1 and Ps. xliv. 10,
which then is presupposed and constitutes the
foundation of the following prayer (Hupfeld,
Delitzsch),
[Ver. 11. AfiFord us deliverance from the
adversary.-:— The prayer follows the lamenta-
tion seeking help in God. Israel implores de-
liverance from above, and receives it. Delitzsch:
"Israel conquers in God, and God, who is in Is-
rael, will deservedly trample Edom under foot
through Israel."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. There are sad times to the congregation of
God in the world, in which they are obliged to
experience hard, yes terrible things, since they
not only are surrounded on all sides by enemies,
which are greedy to spy out their nakedness
and select for falling upon them the hour in
which they feel themselves shattered, tired and
weakened by previous struggles, but they like-
wise must confess that in all this they yet only
receive and experience what God gives and does.
2. But if it really happens that the congrega-
tion bows under the hand of God when He hu-
miliates and chastises them, it then gains again
directly on the one side the comforting remem-
brance of God's grace previously shown to them
in many times and in many ways, whereby it
has been placed in a peculiar relation to Him,
and has gained a special position in the world,
on the other side the refreshing confidence of new
manifestations of grace in order that they may
assert this position and carry out the tasks im-
posed upon them.
3. This remembrance, as well as this confi-
dence, grows up in the heart only from faith in
the truth of that which God in His holiness has
spoken, and the congregation directs itself to
the proclamation of the Divine promises in its
suflFerings, and rises again from its defeats. It
learns to look to the right hand of God and the
banner lifted up and sustained by it, and it
fights for the cause in which it suffers, with the
glad courage of the certainty of victory through
that assistance of God which renders all human
PSALM LXI.
361
help of no avail and all human hostility without
danger to those who fear God and are likewise
the beloved of God, and have been lifted above
the present misfortunes by the fact that they
have been driven by them to greater depths of
faith and prayer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Wars are for nations what earthquakes are for
their lands; God sometimes visits men with
both, and then likewise strikes the congregation
with hard blows and shakes them; but He heals
again the breaches and rents which arise there-
by.— He who/ear« God is loved by God; he who
trusts God will be helped by God. — It is not ne-
cessary that God should march out with armies
in order that He may conquer the whole world. —
Earthly success is fleeting, human help vain, trust
in God alone is right. — God may strike hard and
painfully even by human hands ; but He heals
again with His hand those among them who
humble themselves. — There is but one banner
upon vfhiQh. -victory is always perched; what fol-
lows from this with reference to our actions? —
He who relies upon the truth of God's word and
upon the power of God's hand will not lose hope.
— The beaten not only find refuge with God, but
likewise the healing of their wounds, power for
new conflicts, and assistance for final victory. —
In God the fallen rise up, and in God the weak
become strong; yet faith in the truth of His word
is requisite. Whither are you driven by your
every misfortune? to God and His word? to
penitence, io faith, to prayer? or whither else?
Calvin: When God lifts us on high by His
bounties. He must yet always be sought in
prayer modestly and humbly that He may carry
on His wo^k.
Stakke: Men do not truly understand the
good things which God bestows upon them until
they are deprived of them. — The vile drink of
security is followed by the intoxicating cup of
wrath and the punishments of God with all cer-
tainty ; therefore flee from the former if you
would not taste the latter, — God gives the vic-
tory and divides the lands to whom He will. —
That is a fine campaign when God gives com-
mands and He is the general. — The best advice
in all our aff'airs is to lay them plainly before
God and crave His assistance without prescri-
bing to Him the kind and manner of help.
Rbnschel: God chastises us on account of
our sins, that we may not be condemned with
the world. — Gtjenther: Lord, preserve us from
Thy fiery wrath in war 1 But if it must flame
up, give us warriors which can pray and Thy
banner to those who fear Thee. — Diedbich : If
only we are the true confessors, we must obtain
the victory, although it may be through many
humiliations.
[Matt. Henrt: Whatever our trouble is, and
whoever are the instruments of it, we must own
the haud of God, His righteous hand, in it. —
Our calamities serve as foils to our joys. — A
lively faith in the promise will assure us, not
only that the God of peace shall shortly tread
Satan under our feet, but that it is our Father's
good pleasure to give us the kingdom. — Words-
worth : Christ has given to His soldiers a ban-
ner— the banner of the Cross ; and at their bap-
tism they are pledged to fight. valiantly under it
against sin, the world, and the devil. — Perowne:
When men will drink presumptuously of the cup
of their wickedness, God forces it, as it were,
into their hands, till they have drained the very
dregs as the cup of His wrath. — Spurgeon: The
bravest men are usually entrusted with the ban-
ner, and it is certain that those who fear God
most have less fear of man than any others. —
To publish the gospel is a sacred duty; to be
ashamed of it a deadly sin. — Faith divides the
spoil; she is sure of what God has promised,
and enters at once into possession. — From God
all power proceeds, and all we do well is done
by Divine operation; but still we, as soldiers of
the great King, are to fight, and to fight va-
liantly too. — C. A. B.]
PSALM LXI.
To the chief Musician upon JVeginah, A Psalm of David.
Hear my cry, 0 God ;
Attend unto ray prayer.
2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed :
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For thou hast been a shelter for me.
And a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever :
I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
6 For thou, 0 God, hast heard my vows :
Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.
362
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
6 Thou wilt prolong the king's life :
And his years as many generations.
7- He shall abide before God for ever:
O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever,
That I may daily perform my vows.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition — The Psalm-
ist calls from afar for deliverance to Go* (vers.
1, 2), who has previously afforded it to him (ver.
3), and he prays for shelter and protection in
God's tent (ver. 4), on the ground of previous
special tokens of grace (ver. 5). Upon this is
based the prayer for special blessings for the
king (vers. 6, 7), for virhich the Psalmist will
offer without cessation the thanksgiving he has
vowed (ver. 8). Although the king is referred
to in the third person, this does not necessarily
show that he and the Psalmist are two different
persons. The objection that such a petition in
the mouth of the speaker would be immodest,
amounts to nothing, when we consider that the
contents of the prayer refer to the eternal royal
position before God's face and the worthy fulfil-
ment of this position as well as enduring es-
tablishment in it by Divine blessing. The king
thus praying gives his petition naturally and in-
voluntarily a more objective form, and if we hold
fast to its composition by David, and accordingly
refer ver, 5 to the special promise, 2 Sam. vii.,
it has likewise a prophetic character. It is un-
necessary, therefore, to put this verse into the
mouth of a chorus (Paulus), which ver. 2 would
not allow, or to understand this of the dynasty
of David (Hengstenberg), or the rule of the
Messiah (many of the older interpreters after
the Chald.), which would be against the word-
ing and context. It thus resembles Psalm xxi.
Since now the expression: to be a guest in the
tent of God, is entirely in David's style (Ps. xv.),
and the " end of the earth " can be satisfactorily
explained, there is no reason to give up the
statement of the title, and think of a prophet
under King Josiah and his successors at the time
of the exile at Babylon (Ewald), or of a priest
in a Jewish colony living among the heathen in
the time of the Seleucidae (Hitzig). or a poet liv-
ing in a distant land, perhaps in banishment
(Hupfeld), or indeed of King Cyrus (Bottcher).
Str. I. Ver. 2. From the end of the earth.
— This is an expression for the greatest distance
from the dwelling of God, as the place of pro-
tection, help and salvation, not indeed mathema-
tically, but in accordance with the feelings, but
yet on a geographical foundation in accordance
with the ideas of the Israelites, not in contrast
to heaven audits centre=outfrom the earth (Lu-
ther), or out of the uttermost depths of the
earth (Clauss), but in contrast to Zion as the
middle of the earth (Ps. Ixxiv. 12 ; Ezek. v. 6),
and in connection with the usage of the lan-
guage, in accordance with which the land to the
east of the Jordan did not belong to the land of
Canaan in the strictest sense (Num. xxxii. 29
sq.), and a foreign land included generally the
idea of banishment from the face of God (Pa.
xlii). We have therefore properly to think of
the abode of David in the district of Gilead at
the time of his flight before Absalom, and the
translation from the end of the land (Geier, et
al ), is to be rejected. — In the covering of
my heart. — [This word is used of covering with
a garment, of clothing the valleys with corn, Ps.
Ixv. 14, etc. Thus by a natural metaphor of
clothing the mind or soul, covering it over, en-
veloping it,- clouding it with care, anxiety, trou-
ble, Ps. cii. 1 ; Is. Ivii. 16. — Upon a rock, too
high for me. — A rock which was inaccessible
to him by his own power, and hence still more
inaccessible to his enemies. The high rock is a
usual figure of security, comp. Ps. xxvii. 5.
Ver. 3. A strong toTArer before the face
of the enemy. — Comp. Judges ix. 51 ; Prov.
xviii. 10. This is parallel with the high rock,
both of which afford a sure refuge before the
enemy. They are alike inaccessible to him. —
C. A. B.]
[Str. II. Ver. 4. Let me be a guest. — Com-
pare Pss. XV. 1 j xxvii. 4. — In Thy tent. — Pe-
rowne: " The expression is figurative, no doubt,
but would hardly have been employed after the
Temple was built, and hence it is almost certain
that the Psalm belongs to the time of David." —
Forever —Hupfeld : «'The plural D''dSij; is
not used with reference to the double eternity of
this and the future life, as the Rabbins, but in ■
stead of the singular dSi;;, usually Ip'i dVi;\"
The reference is entirely personal. — Let me
find refuge in the shelter of Thy wings.
— Comp. Pss. xvii. 8, Ivii. 1. Perowne thinks
the reference here is evidently to the outstretched
wings of the cherubim, but it is better to think
of the more simple figure of the hen, or eagle,
as in the other passages.
Ver. 5. The possession of those that fear
Thy name. — Perowne: "Primarily this would
be the land of Canaan, and then it would include
all blessings, temporal and spiritual, which
were in fact implied and comprised in the pos-
session of the land. — C. A. B.]
[JStr. III. Vers. 6, 7. Add days to the days
of the king ! [May] his years [be) as gene-
ration and generation. May he sit {en-
throned) before God's face, appoint grace
and truth that they may guard him.— The
king David here prays that he as the anointed of
Jehovah may have a long life, seeing one gene-
ration after another , that he may sit on his
throne enjoying the sunshine of God's counte-
nance, and that God's grace and truth may be the
appointed guards to stand at the side of his
throne, to protect him from his enemies and re-
bellious subjects. David, realizing that he is the
anointed of the Lord, does not always distinguish
between himself and the Messianio dynasty, so
PSALM LXri.
863
that the latter thought fills up as it were the
background of his consciousaess. The transla-
tion of the A, v., Perowne, Alexander, et al. of
the verbs as futures of confident expectation, is
not so good, The translation given above is es-
sentially that of Hupfeld and Moll.— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is worse to be separated from the house
of God than it is to be far from home. When the
pious experience both painfully, they long above
all in hope of return to the former. But where
ever we may be on earth, we can call upon God
and implore in prayer, with the assurance of faith,
the consolation of the Divine promises and the
assistance of Divine help in order to a deliver-
ance unattainable by our own power.
2. The faith of an afflicted man finds great
strength in looking at previous exhibitions of Di-
vine help in words and deeds, and arises on this
foundation not unfrequently to the boldest hopes
of faith, especig-lly to the desire for a communion
with God, which reaches from time into eternity,
and to the prayer for the blessings necessary
thereto. For the possession of the promised land
secured to those who fear God and allotted to
them, forms the foundation, the sweet pledge,
the symbolical type of the inheritance involved
in it.
HOxMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL-
Fresh hopes spring forth from experiences of
grace, and when prayer is heard anew, new vows
are entwined with the thanksgivings to which
we have been accustomed of old. — A long life is
a blessing only when grace and truth are its
guardians. — CommMnwra withGodis best strength-
ened by prefering to be a guest in the house of
God. — Our welfare is best provided for when we
are provided with the good things of the house of
God. — God sees us and hears us everywhere, but
He prefers to see us in His house and in His
ways, — Children of God need to pray likewise
for temporal welfare and earthly good things, but
their special desire is for communion with their
God, — Communion with God is spiritually at-
tained through grace and faith in the heart ; it
presents itself as intercourse with God in prayer
and the service of God,' it is accomplished as an
eternal sitting on a throne before God's face with
submission to God's grace and truth, — He who
would gain abiding blessings, must not only flee
to God's protection, but must keep himself at the
house of God and allow himself to be led in his
calling by God's grace and truth. — It is likewise
the king's honor and surest gain to show himself
to be a servant of God.
Starke : God is to us all things and will be
all by faith. — God is more inclined to hear our
prayers than we are to send them up to Him. —
The reward which the God-fearing are to re-
ceive, is not based on their own merits, but God's
gracious promises.
Frisch: To lift up holy hands is everywhere
good and nowhere fruitless. — Franke : So long
as we have an earthly mind, we have a heart un-
faithful to God. — Arndt: We are so much in-
debted to God that we should pay something
daily. — Tholuck • The inheritance of those who
fear God is His rich grace. — ^Taubb ; Truly it is
equally far from earth to heaven in all places,
and God is everywhere near those who call upon
Him.
[Matt. Henry : That which separates us from
our other comforts, should drive us so much
nearer to God, the fountain of all comfort. —
Weeping must quicken praying, and not deaden
it. — We need not desire to be better secured than
under the protection of God's mercy and truth.
— Spurgeon : Tribulation brings us to God, and
brings God to us. Faith's greatest triumphs
are achieved in her heaviest trials. — How in-
finitely higher than we are is the salvation of
God We are low and grovelling, but it towers
like some tall cliflF far above us. — Experience is
the nurse of faith. From the past we gather
arguments for present confidence. — He who com-
munes with God is always at home. — There
should be a parallel between our supplications
and our thanksgivings. We ought not to leap in
prayer, and limp in praise. — C. A. B.J
PSALM LXIL
To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.
Truly my soul waiteth upon God :
From him cometh my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation ;
He is my defence ; I shall not be greatly moved,
3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man ?
ye shall be slain all of you : as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.
364
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency : they delight in lies;
They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
5 My soul, wait thou only upon God ;
For my expectation is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation :
He is my defence ; I shall not be moved.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory :
The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times ; ye people.
Pour out your heart before him :
God is a refuge for us. Selah.
9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie :
To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery:
If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this;
That power belongeth unto God.
12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy :
For thou renderest to every man according to his work.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — For the
Title comp. Introd. g 12, No. 8. There are no
historical statements or decisive references to
known events in the life of David; yet the rela-
tionships with Pa. xxxix. on the one side, and
with Ps. iv. on the other, point to the time of his
persecution by Absalom. This relationship with
Ps. xxxix. makes it advisable to translate the cha-
racteristic '^X which is repeated [vers. 1, 2, 4,
6, 6, 9] not by: yea, surely (Flamin., Geier, et
al.) but by : only (Kimchi, et al.) In the former
sense the subjective side of the assertion is em-
phasized, in the latter more the objective side.
In both cases it bears the emphasis of reliability,
whilst the Hebrew word embraces both sides,
and the individual passages demand now more
this, then more that reference in the narrower
sense ; but in order to allow the designed repe-
tition of the same word to be clearly manifest in
the translation, it is better to retain the transla-
tion given above [only] the more as this is ap-
propriate throughout. For the assertion, that
only with God is the soul entirely quieted (ver.
1), because God only is the rock (ver. 2), upon
which, when the singer is established, he can
designate as vain (ver. 3), the attacks of those,
who only desire to cast him down from his high
place (ver. 4) ; — this assertion is at once the foun-
dation for the exhortation of his soul, to turn to
God alone iu confident submission (ver. 6), be-
cause God only is the reliable helper (ver. 6).
This repetition forms not only the transition to
the renewal of the appropriate personal confes-
sion (ver. 7), but likewise to the exhortation of
the people to constant trust in God (ver. 8), be-
cause men are only breath one and all (ver. 9),
the trust in temporal possessions, whether goods
or powers, is vain (ver. 10), but God has spoken
the word, which has been frequently heard, and
is valid once for all, that the power is His, (ver.
11). Therefore the petitioner, moved by the as-
surance of the government of God, which re-
compenses justly, turns to the grace of God
which is equally essential with His power
(ver. 12).*
[Str. I. Ver. 1. My soul (is) silence to
God. — Some regard TT'pn as an adjective (Ge-
senius, Stier, et al.), but most interpreters, as a
substantive either as an accus. abs. (Hupfeld) =
in silence, in quiet resignation to God, or better
as a simple predicate (Delitzsch, Riehm, Pe-
rowne, et al.) "It is," says Calvin, " that set-
tled submission, when the faithful rest in the
promises of God, give place to His word, obey
His rule, and keep down every murmur of pas-
sion in their hearts."
Ver. 2. My salvation, etc. — Delitzsch : " His
salvation comes from God, yes, God Himself is
His salvation, so that, God being his, he pos-
sesses already salvation, and by this stands im-
movably firm." For the figures which are here
heaped up, comp Pss. ix. 9 ; xviii. 2. — I shall
not be greatly shaken. — Delitzsch: "What
the poet means by 713^ is clear from Ps. xxxvii,
24. He shall not totter greatly, much, espe-
cially, that is, not so as to fall or to remain upon
the ground."— C. A B.]
Sir. II. Ver. 3. Rush against a man. — This
word, which occurs only here, is not to be
changed into another similar word (Nah. ii. 5 ;
Jer. xlvi.) := to rave, storm (Hupf.) or (Ps. cii.
8) = rage. Nor does it mean : to fall upon
(Sept.) pursue (Aquil., Jerome) exhaust one'a-
self in vain (Symm.l, di^vifje ruin (Rabbin [A.V.
* [It is better with Hupfeld, etaZ. to regard this Psalm "as
composed of three strophes with four verses each. The two
first thus have a refrain at the beginning embracing a pair
of verses, instead of at the close, as Moll, and besides they
conclude with a Selah. The third strophe would then begin
with the characteristic !lj< and with contents in contrasted
parallelism with the two other strophes. Hupfeld trans-
lates IJX each time hyja, but Moll's translatioa, only is pre-
ferable.—0. A. B.J
PSALM LXTI.
365
imagine mischief]) slander (most recent inter-
preters), but in accordance with an expression
still current in Syria (Delitzpch) : to rush upon
one with outcry and lifted fist, in order to brow-
beat.— All of you break (him) down, as a
wall inclined, a fence, overthrow^n? — The
interpretation of this clause in accordance with
the Tiberiau reading [followed by the Western
Jews]: may ye all be ruined (or likewise =
murdered) (Chald., Rabbin, Geier, [similarly A.
V.J) is less in accordance with the context than
the Babylonian reading, which with the ancient
versions and most interpreters, is followed by us
in our translation above.*
[Ver. 5. Only to God, be silent, my soul.
Perowne : " The first strophe opens with the
expression of his resignation ; this, with the ex-
hortation to resignation. But this is no contra-
diction. The life of man's spirit cannot always
preserve the same even tenor. The heart of man
is like the sea ; however calm and smooth it may
seem, a light air will ruffle its surface. The re-
signation, the trust in God, the peace, the rest
which have come after long struggle and much
prayer, may too easily be broken. And hence
when these have been attained, we need to ex-
hort ourselves to them in renewed measure." —
C. A. B.]
Str. III. [Ver. 7. Upon God (resteth) my
salvation, etc. — Comp. Ps. vii. 10. All de-
pends upon Him, and is founded on Him. — C.
AB.]
Ver. 8. Trust in Him at all times, O peo-
ple.— Since dm ^ people, is used in the text,
and not dmmi = my people, we are not to think
of the people of Israel (Chald., Aben Ezra, Cal-
vin), or of men in general (Hupfeld) = dear
people (Luther), but of that portion of the peo-
ple that remained with David, of <^e retinue
which was in his service, Judges iii. 18 ; 1 Kings
xix. 21 ; 2 Kings iv. 42 (Delitzsch).
Ver. 9. Only a breath are men of low de-
gree, etc. — Respecting the contrast between
mK-^33 and W'ii-"22 vid. Pss- iv. 2; xlix. 2.
TT ••: • ••:
[There seems to be no other way of rendering
this distinction than that of the A. V. The Ger-
man language distinguishes very nicely hQ-
tyreBn Menschensohne and Mannessohne — C. A. B.]
—Men of high degree a lie, ascending
upon balances — they (are) of breath alto-
gether.— Since the infinitive with 7 as the ab-
lative of the gerund, does not precede the prin-
cipal clause, but always follows (Ewald, | 280
d), the first half of the clause is not to be at-
tached to the second half (most interpreters), but
to the preceding clause (Delitzsch) so that the
sense is, that the supposed weight of the men
of high degree is shown by trial to be a lie. In
the second half of this clause it is better to re-
gard the |D as partitive, than comparative (comp.
Is. xl. 17; xli. 24; xliv. 11).
Str. IV. Vers. 11,12. It is not said here that
God's revelation has taken place once, twice,
that is to say, often, and has been heard by the
* [Hupfeld prefers the usual sense of H Vl, and translates
mnrder, and regards the metaphors as rery much mixed, but
it seems better with Ewald, Delitzsch, Moll, Perowne, etal.,
to translate in accordance with the original meaning : to
vnak d(nm.—0. A. B.]
Psalmist just as often (De Wette, Hupf.), or that
God has spoken a word, which consists of the
two things heard by the Psalmist and expressed
ia the following clauses, that with God is powers
and with Him also is grace (Grotius, Delitzsch,
Hitzig). The expressions do not agree with the
first supposition ; against the latter are the
change of construction in ver. 12, and the men-
tion of the retributive justice of God in the
closing clause, which would have been a third
member of the word of revelation. It is rather
stated as the subject of the word of revelation
once spoken ; that God is almighty. Even on
this account the Psalmist addresses Him directly
as adonai, and expresses in an independent
clause (Hengst.), yet not in the sense of an ex-
planatory supplement (De Wette, Hupfeld), but
moved by his circumstances and feelings, his
truthful confession of the grace of the Almighty^
which is based upon his experience of the Provi-
dence of God recompensing the actions, that is to
say the conduct and behaviour of men. The ex-
pression is in form entirely in general terms, but
in contents it applies to the pious in concrete.
This passage is used in this sense by the Apostle
Paul, Rom. ii. 6, after the Sept. It does not
follow from this that we are to explain ver, 11
a, thus : it is twice that I heard (Ewald), Job
xl. 5 ; 2 Kings vi, 10. The hearing of the one
or once spoken word of revelation has been re-
peated.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1, There is a silence which is not that of fright,
of pain, of despair, of defiance, but as that of the
soul in prayer, and of the heart trusting God,
means simply the silence of lamentation, yet iu
accordance with its nature is ih.Q quiet of resigna-
tion and the depth of peace in a soul directed tow-
ards God, relying upon God and quieted in God.
Such a condition of soul, however, arises only
from an unconditional, entire, and exclusive sub-
mission to God ; and this is not only the single
act of yielding to God, but the uninterrupted
giving of oneself in order to be in entire safety in
God. In order to such an experience in life
amid manifold temptations, there is necessary on
the one side the help of prayer, in order to be more
deeply rooted in God, and constantly renewed in
submission. to Him, on the other side, the com-
forting, refreshing, warning joromises, in order to
keep our own souls awake. " For if we put God
out of view, and do not turn to prayer, the sea
is not so tempestuous in the storm as the human
heart and soul," (Joh. Arndt). He however who
truly not only expects and implores his salvation
and help/roTW God, but finds and has them with
God and in God, feels that he has been delivered
as upon a rock, and is lifted up as well above the
feeling of his own weakness and frailty, as above
fear of the assaults of numerous, powerful, and
lying enemies.
2. The man who has resigned himself to God,
relies upon God for the deliverance of his life as
well as the defence of his honor and the protec-
tion of his position. This condition of soul is
especially strengthened by emphatically holding
before it the portion that it has in God and the
constant appropriation of what God says of Him-
366
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
self, and bestows upon them. This strengthens
the personal faith, and encourages others to do
likewise. The diligent consideration and right
use of the word of revelation is of especial im-
portance and influence in this respect ; for it tes-
tifies that the God whose grace has been so often
experienced by the pious in His providence,
■which recompenses every man justly, is the Al-
mighty, upon whom, as the only true Lord, we
should rely alone, and may rely truly, whilst all
human devices, powers, undertakings, are as
windy, that is to say, powerless and perishable
as the riches which have been acquired thereby,
and indeed to some extent with deceit and vio-
lence.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God alone gives true peace to the soul that
trusts in Him, but He gives it really. — Resigna-
tion to God is not without the giving up of one-
self, but it makes no real loss, but eff'ects true
and abiding gain. — Prayer is not opposed to the
quiet of a heart resigned to God. — He who resigns
himself trustingly to God, will be accepted by
God ; and he who accepts what God speaks, does,
and sends, is established in his resignation to God.
— When we feel ourselves to be weak, and our
enemies treat us as if we were shaking, God the
Almighty remains our strength, as long as we
trust in His grace. — God can screen believers
against their enemies with as many shields as He
has names.— On^y God is reliable in all respects,
the world in no respect. — He who would rely
upon the grace of the Almighty, must not forget,
that the Lord recompenses justly. — When men are
weighed by God, many are found too light. — Hear
often what God has spoken once, but judge your-
selves by it, and not by other men to whom you
preach it.
Starke: Trust in God never deceives; for
even if we are forsaken by the entire world, God
remains faithful. — Craft and power are the wea-
pons of the ungodly ; if the one is not enough,
they seize the other, and not unfrequently make
their attacks with both at once. — Riches are to
many snares by which they are plunged into
ruin.
Osiander: The pious have many assaults, but
they are not ruined. — Franke : What God
speaks once we should frequently repeat, and
always carry it about in our hearts. — Frisch:
An honest prayer is nothing but a pouring out
of the heart before God. — Tholuck : This is the
course of the world, the richer God's gifts, the
more do men trust in the gifts instead of the rich
Giver. — Diedeich : God is enough ; but He alone.
— GuENTHER : To be silent to God — a precious
jewel and a fruit of the Spirit. — Deichert:
What it means to follow our Saviour with the
cross. 1). He was still as a lamb, be ye like-
wise; 2) Hig enemies have not overcome Him,
take shelter under His wings; 3) He trusted
God, who helped him out, therefore put all your
confidence in Him.
[Matt. Henry: The good we do we should
stir up ourselves to continue doing, and to do
yet more and more, as those that have through
grace experienced the comfort and benefit of it.
— The more faith is acted, the more active it is.
It is a smiling world that is most likely to draw
the heart away from God, on whom only it should
be set. — Barnes: All these combined — power,
mercy, equity — constitute a reason why men
should confide in God. — If these things do exist
in God, unlimited confidence may be placed in
Him as having all needful joower to save ; as being
so merciful that sinful men may trust in Him;
and as being so just and equal in His dealings
that all may feel that it is right to repose con-
fidence in a Being by whom all the interests of
the universe will be secured. — Perowne: Power
without Love is brutality, and Love without
Power is weakness. Power is the strong foun-
dation of Love, and Love is the beauty and the
crown of Power. — Spurgeon : No eloquence in
the world is half so full of meaning as the pa-
tient silence of a child of God. It is an eminent
work of grace to bring down the will and subdue
the affectiofis to such a degree, that the whole
mind lies before the Lord like the sea beneath
the wind, ready to be moved by every breath of
His mouth. — We cannot too often hear the toll
of that great bell only ; let it ring the death knell
of all carnal reliances, and lead us to cast our-
selves on the bare arm of God. — Our meditative
soul should hear the echo of God's voice again
and again. What He speaks once in revelation,
we should be always hearing. Creation and
Providence are evermore echoing the voice of
God.— C. A. B.]
PSALM LXIII.
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of JudaH,
0 God, thou art my God ; early will I seek thee :
My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee
In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ;
2 To see thy power and thy glory,
So a« I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
PSALM LXIII.
367
3 Because thy lovingkindness ia better ttan life,
My lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live :
I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness ;
And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips :
6 When I remember thee upon my bed,
And meditate on thee in the night watches.
7 Because thou hast been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee ;
Thy right hand upholdeth me.
9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword :
They shall be a portion for foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God ;
Every one that sweareth by him shall glory :
But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The speaker
longs vehemently after Elohim=Jehovah as his
God (El), and designates this longing as the
thirst of one who is parched and languishing,
because he was in this bodily condition when he
sojourned in the dry, barren land (ver. 1). The
mention of jackals (ver, 10) is against a figura-
tive interpretation of this expression (Hitzig),
derived from the fact that God is the element of
life, as it were the nourishing sap of men (Hup-
feld)=as in the barren land (Syriac, et al.). The
description of the fate of the enemies of the
Psalmist (ver. 10) is much more natural, if a de-
signation of place is found in ver. 1 (Septuagint,
Chald., Hengstenberg, Ewald, Delitzsch) ; and
the mention of the king (ver. 11), is not at all
in such a way that we are compelled to think of
a different person from the speaker (De Wette).
On the contrary, the verbs, which it is better to
regard as futures than optatives, lead to the as-
surance of the joy of victory in the overthrow
of lying and boasting enemies, who pursue the
Psalmist in his flight to the wilderness, but will
themselves perish in this undertaking. In this
connection it is much easier to think of the royal
dignity of the Psalmist, who vindicates this
against his enemies and as a sign of his Divine
calling, in order to strengthen his faith, than to
think that the king not mentioned otherwise is
to rejoice in the deliverance of the Psalmist
from the hands of his enemies. This being the
case, we cannot think of any other royal poet
but David, especially as this Psalm not only has
points of resemblance with Ps. Ixi. and other
Davidio Psalms, but the characteristic expres-
sion of the thirsting of David and his followers
is used, 2 Sam. xvi. 2, 14; xvii. 29 (Hengsten-
berg, Delitzsch), when he halted in the steppes
of the wilderness one or two days (2 Sam. xv.
23, 28 ; xvii. 16) in his flight from Absalom, be-
fore he crossed the Jordan, As well the men-
tion of the sanctuary (ver. 2) as the prominence
given to the royal dignity (ver. 11), makes it
necessary to think of this period and not of the
sojourn of David in the wilderness of Judah in
the time of Saul (most of the older interpreters).
The Psalmist thirsting in the wilderness wishes
to be again near to God (ver. 1), as be was pre-
viously near Him in fhe sanctuary (ver. 2), and
this longing is based upon the grace of God,
which surpasses the dearest and most precious
of all things, life (ver. 3), for which the singer
will praise God continually (ver. 4). His soul
lives and is nourished by this, his mouth is filled
with it (ver. 6), as bis hours of rest and the
night watches are filled with meditation upon
God (ver. 6). For God has become to him a
constant help, so that he can shout for joy in
the experience of Divine protection (ver. 7), and
feels himself, in the attachment of his soul,
drawn towards God, whom he thanks for his pre-
servation (ver. 8). His enemies will suffer a.
terrible ruin (vers. 9, 10). He, the king, on the
other hand, will rejoice in God, that is to say, as
one who has been delivered by God and drawn
to Him ; and every one who swears by God, that
is, honors God as God (Deut. vi. 13 ; Is. xix, 13;
xlv. 23 ; Ixv. 16 ; Amos viii. 14), will glory, be-
cause the mouth of thosd who speak lies is
stopped (ver. 11). — In the ancient Church, the
morning service was opened with the singing of
this Psalm (const, apost. II. 59 ; VIII. 37), partly
on account of ver. 6, partly on account of the
translation of ver. 1 : early I seek Thee.*
*■ [Perowne : " This is unquestionably one of the most beau-
tiful and touching Psalms in the whole Psalter. Donne says
of it : ' As the whole Book of Psalms is oleum tffnsum, (as
the spouse speaks of the name of Christ), an ointment poured
out upon all sorts of sores, a cerecloth that supplies all
bruises, a balm that searches all wounds ; so are there some
certain Psalms that are imperial Psalms, that command over
all affections, and spread themselves over all occasions-
catholic, universal Psalms, that apply to all necessities.' —
And Again he observes : 'the spirit and soul of the whole
Book or Psalms is contracted into this Psalm,' Berm. Ixvi." —
C. A. B.]
368
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
. Sir. I. Ver. 1. I seek Thee {earnestly/). — The
older interpreters translated this: I seek Thee
early, since they referred the verb *int!' to the
noun "^y}^ (dawn), although it properly means
only a "solicitous seeking."* — My flesh lan-
guisheth. — The Septuagint and Symm. have
read incorrectly n?3J=a8 often, instead of v\D2,
•which Symm, renders by ifieiperai. [My flesh,
in connection with my soul, indicates the whole
man in his two principal parts, body and soul,
as Pss. xvi. 9; xxxi. 10; xliv. 25, etc. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 2. Thus have I looked at Thee in
the sanctuary, to see Thy po-wer and Thy
glory. — The change of the perfect (ver. 2) and
the imperfect (ver. 4) shows that the Psalmist
will continue to do, what he has previously done;
and the repeated " thus," renders prominent the
similarity of his feelings prevailing under both
circumstances, namely, the longing after God,
which he now has in the barren land, as he once
had it in the sanctuary. The supposition of a
reference back to the beginning of the Psalm=
so as to my God (Ewald), has little in its favor.
The following interpretations are to be entirely
rejected, especially on account of their not re-
garding the perfect : then (when my longing is
quieted) I will behold (Chald., De Wette), or
there, that is to say, in such a land (Luther,
Geier), or : thence, that is, in consequence of
which (Calvin, Rosenm., Hengstenberg) I behold
Thee in the sanctuary, so that I see Thy glory,
which then is understood of spiritual beholding,
as if the beholder, though far off in the body,
had been snatched away by his longing into the
sanctuary. There is no necessity to transpose
the halves of each verse from ver. 2 to ver. 8
(Hupfeld). [The A. V. transposes the parts
of ver, 2 without reason. — C. A. B ]
[Ver. 3, For Thy grace is better than
life. — The A. V. regards the O as giving the
reason of the praise in the second clause, and
translates : because. This is possible, yet not so
good as the interpretation that it gives the rea-
son of the longing of ver. 1 (Hupfeld, Delitzsch,
Moll, Perowne, et al.). Hengstenberg refers it to
the previous verse. |
Ver. 4. Comp. Ps. xxviii. 2, for the lifting up
of the hands in prayer. — C. A. B.]
Sir. XL [Ver. 5. As -with marrow and fat-
ness.— Perowne : " An image borrowed from
a rich and splendid banquet, comp. Pss. xxii.
26, 29 ; xxiii. 6, 6. Hupfeld, following J. H,
Mich., thinks that the reference is immediately
to the sacrificial meal, which accompanied the
* [Delitzsch aflm its this, yet contends that "since ver. 6
looks back upon the night, this expression was chosen with
reference to the break of the morning, as Is. xxvi, 9. '^^\\if
ia 8i(l« by side with D^''^^ H^K," and thus he prefers the
t: - T
translation : I seek Thee early. — C. A. B.J
t [Delitzsch : "Thii longing after God, which is now the
more violent in the wilderness afar off from the sancfuary,
fills him and impels him, for God's grace Is better than lite,
better than natural life (see Ps. xvii. 14), which aslikewise a
good thing, and the condition of all earthly blessings is a
very good thing; yet God's grace is a higher good, the high-
est good and the true life. His lips are to praise thisGod of
grace, a morning song is due Him, for that which truly
blesses, and that which he now, as previously, solely and
alone longs for, is the grace of this God, whose infinite
worth is measured only by the greatness of His power and
glory."— C. A. B.J
thank-oflfering, here used as an image of thanks-
giving (comp, Pss. 1. 13 ; liv, 6, etc.), and that
the comparison is between his delight in render-
ing thanksgiving to God, and the enjoyment of
the fat of the sacrifices. But the simpler expla-
nation is the more probable, comp. Deut, xxxii.
14; Is, XXV. 6 ; Jer. xxxi. 14." — C. A. B.]
Ver, 6. The mention of night-viratches, of
which there were three, at the beginning, in the
middle, and at the end of the night (Ex. xiv. 24 ;
Judges vii, 19 ; Lam, ii, 19), shows that the re-
membrance- of God with the Psalmist was not a
transient occurrence, but called forth repeated
earnest meditation during the whole night, Ps.
cxxxix, 17 sq,
[Ver. 7. For Thou hast been a help tome,
and in the shadow of Thy -wings will I
shout for joy, — Perowne: "David in the
present distress, finding support in the past, and
from that sure ground looking forward with con-
fidence and joy to the future." — For the figure ia
the last clause, comp. Pss. xvii. 8; xxxvi. 7;
Ivii, 1 ; Ixi. 4.
Ver. 8. My soul cleaveth to Thee, Thy
right hand upholds me. — God holds fast to
the righteous with His right hand and holds him
up, whilst the righteous hangs on to God or
cleaves to Him. This is a beautiful representa-
tion of the mutual affection and reciprocal re-
lation of God and His servant. — C. A. B.]
Str. III. Ver. 9. But they, to {their own) de-
struction shall they seek my soul, shall
go into the abysses of the earth. — Some,
after the Septuagint and Vulgate, take nxijyyis
■ ■ ^ •
in vain {in vanmr), as if they had before them
NIE'7, But it does not state the purpose of the
enemy (most interpreters), but the consequence
of their hostile pursuit, which was for the ruin
of others, -yet brought ruin upon themselves.
The parallel clause is particularly in favor of
this. The abysses of the earth, or the depths
of the interior of the earth (Ps. cxxxix. 15; Is.
xliv. 23), mean here as Eph, iv, 9, not the clefts
and caves, but the world below (Bottcher, et al.).
Ver, 10, They shall be given up to the
edge of the sword. — This is literally : they
shall pour him (that is, the enemy as a collective
noun) into the hands of the sword. This would
not only be unusual and obscure in English, but
in the present connection would cause misunder-
standings; hence transposition is necessary.*
The verb is the Hiphil of *)JJ, and not from
T^J. The same construction is found, Jer. xviii.
21 ; Ezek. XXXV. 6. — [A portion for jackals.
— The idea is that, slain by the sword and left
upon the field, their bodies would be the prey
of jackals. Jackals are the scavengers of the
East, and even enter the towns and quarrel with
the dogs in the streets for carrion. f — C. A. B.]
* [It is better, with Perowne, Alexander, et al., to trans-
Irtte the power of the sword, the hand being expressive of
power, Hupfeld and Delitzsch prefer the renderiog: hands
of the sword. — 0. A. B.]
t [Tristram Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 110 : ''Shu'al, al-
wstysin the Bible translated ' fox' is undoubtedly a compre-
hi-naive term, from which our own word jackal is ultimately
derived, and which comprehends the jackal as well as the
fox. In several instances, »8 in the expression, Ps. Ixiii. 10,
the jackal is Indicated. It is the jackal rather than the fox
which preys on dead bodies, and which assembles in troops
on the battle-fields to feast on the slain — The natives of tua
PSALM LXIII.
369
Ver. 11. Every one that Bweareth by
Him. It ia likewise correct, as far as the lan-
guage is concerned, to explain : that sweareth
by the king, that is, confess themselves as his
subjects, and show themselves to be such (Theo-
doret, Ewald, Hengstenberg) ; but actually this
is objectionable from the fact that heathen na-
tions might very well swear by tho life of the
king (Gen. Ixii. 15), but an Israelite could not
do this.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In the greatest abandonment, in the deso-
late wilderness, in peril of body and life, the
pious hold fast their communion with God in faith,
and long constantly for a more complete realiza-
tion of it. For God is the highest good of the
pious, and as their God is not only more precious
than life, but is likewise the source of all refresh-
ment and the ground of every deliverance and
help. Hence God, as the abiding object of their
longing, as well as the essence of salvation, is
the constant subject of their meditation and
praise, in which they find the strongest nourish-
ment and the sweetest enjoyment for their souls
2. The remembrance of the blessings which the
pious have received in the sanctuary of the Lord,
and the longing there experienced and gratified,
for ever deeper insight into the power and glory
of God, not unfrequently, in times when they
are far from the sanctuary, without their own
fault, and in distress of body and of soul, is
violently awakened by the burning longing for
consolation, assistance and deliverance from God.
Since, however, it is connected with the recollec-
tion of ^Te\io\i& benefits and assistances from God,
it draws the soul into the sphere of comforting
thoughts and blessed experiences, and excites it even
during the time of suffering to pleasure in prayer,
and Joy in thanksgiving, from which again grows
resignation to God, confidence in deliverance
from the hands of the enemies who pursue the
pious to their own destruction, and the enlarge-
ment of tho view, so that it embraces all who
confess God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
We can call upon God in the wilderness as well
as in God's house, yet we have no reason to un-
dervalue the latter or give it up. — He who can-
not enter the house of God, may yet thankfully
remember the blessings which he has there re-
ceived, as well as the benefits which God has be-
stowed upon him besides. — Why is the grace of
God more precious than life ? — To praise God is
no burden, but a. pleasure to the pious. — With the
pious sorrow as well as joy should serve to ex-
press the dependence of their- souls on God, and
at the same time to render this more spiritual
Eajst discriminate very little between the two animals, or
rather look upon the fox as a small and inferior species of
jackal. Indeed, their appearance to a cursory observer is
very similar, the jackal having its fur of a paler color or
yellowish rather than reddish in hue." — C. A. B.]
24
and deeper. The longing after God in its
grounds, its expressions, and consequences. —
To reflect upon God's glory, benefits and
guidances is a salutary occupation, and at the
same time a sweet enjoyment. — What fills the
heart passes over the mouth, yet for some to
everlasting confusion. — Together with Psalm cv.,
the daily morning prayer of the ancient Church.
Augustine : Si non traheris, ora, ut traharis.
Starke: True thankfulness has its ground in
the heart, but expresses itself by words and
works. — A believing soul finds its greatest plea-
sure in the consideration of the word of God,
hence it has likewise a constant longing after it.
— Where a carnal mind prevails in a man over
the fear of God, the carnal will be the last be-
fore sleep, and the first after awaking. — He who
loves lies is hateful to God and men, and ruins
himself thereby.
Feanke : What is it, that man has to seek more
than this, that the Lord may be his God, who be-
gins the ten commandments thus: I am the Lord,
thy God. — Feisch: Better lose a thousand lives,
than once willingly dispense with the grace of
Ood. — Aendt: To live without God's grace is
death, to be eternally without God's grace is
eternal death. — Tholuck : The power of prayer
depends on knowing God as our God. — Guen-
ther: O that we might learn three things from
David : The art of doing without a thing without
pain, the preparation and use of the still hours,
the blessed joy in communion with God in spite
of flight, hunger, thirst, a wilderness, anxiety,
and need.
[Matt. Henrt : Gracious souls look down
upon the world with a holy disdain, and look up
to God with a holy desire. — A closet may be
turned into a little sanctuary. — Barnes : No-
thing can be more proper than that our last
thoughts, as we sink into quiet slumber, should
be of God; — of His being, His character. His
mercy. His loving-kindness; of the dealings of
His providence, and the manifestation of His
grace towards us during the day; and nothing
is better fitted to compose the mind to rest, and
to induce quiet and gentle slumber, than the
calmness of soul which arises from the idea of
an Infinite God, and from confidence in Him. —
WoRDSWOETH : Every devout soul which has
loved to see God in His house, will be refreshed
by visions of God in the wilderness of solitude,
sorrow, sickness, and death. — Spurgeon : A
weary place and a weary heart make the pre-
sence of God the more desirable; if there be no-
thing below and nothing within to cheer, it is a
thousand mercies that we may look up and find
all we need.— Life is dear, but God's love is
dearer. To dwell with God is better than life
at its best. — When God gives us the marrow of
His love, we must present to Him the marrow of
our hearts. — AVe see best in the dark if we there
see God best. — Night is congenial, in its silence
and darkness, to a soul which would forget the
world, and rise into a higher sphere. — C. A. B.]
370
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
PSALM LXIV.
7b the chief Musician^ A Psalm of David.
Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer :
Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked ;
From the insurrection of the workers of iniquity :
3 Who whet their tongue like a sword.
And bend their bows- to shoot their arrows, even. bitter words:
4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect :
Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter :
They commune of laying snares privily ;
They say, Who shall see them ?
6 They search out iniquities ;
They accomplish a diligent search :
Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.
7 But God shall shoot at them
With an arrow : suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves :
All that see them shall flee away.
9 And all men shall fear,
And shall declare the work of God ;
For they shall wisely consider of his doing.
10 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him ;
And all the upright in heart shall glory.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents. — Owing to the absence of all
historical references, we cannot Bt&ie a.ny parti-
cular time in the life of David for its composi-
tiou. The Psalms which have corresponding
figures and features belong to very different pe-
riods. The situation of the Psalmist is one which
frequently recurs in the life of David. In la-
mentation to God he implores protection against
a throng of wicked men who threaten his life,
(vers. ], 2), who seek to destroy him, especially
by ill report and other secret devices (vers. 8,
6). On this account the judgment of God will
overtake them (vers. 7, 8), the knowledge of
which will serve as a warning to all men (ver.
9), but will strengthen the faith of the righteous,
rejoicing them and encouraging them.
[_Str. I. Ver. 1. In my lamentation. — De-
litzach: "The infin. nom. X^''p means lamenta-
tion, complaint, not in sounds of pain, but in
words of pain." See Ps. Iv. 2.
Ver. 2. From the secret league of the
TT^ioked — from the tumultuous throng of
evil doers. — Delitzsch : " 11D is the club or
clique, rnyJCI the noisy crowd." Perowne trans-
lates HID as conspiracy ; this is the sense, but it
is better to employ the more general meaning of
the word referring to secret converse in the inti-
macy of friendship on the one hand, and of de-
vising, planning, plotting on the other. See Ps.
XXV. 14.
Vers. 3, 4. The figures of these verses are fa-
vorite ones with David. For the comparison of
th^ tongue to a sharp sword, see Pss. lii. 2 ; Ivii.
4; lix. 7; for that of bitter words to fixed ar-
rows, Ps. Iviii. 7. As the robber lurks in his
haunts (Ps. X. 8) or the hunter shoots from the
thicket at the bird (Ps. xi. 2) so they lurk and
watch for their opportunity to shoot forth their
bitter words. Unseen of men they fear not God
and His retributive justice (Ps. Ir. 19). — C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Ver. 5. They strengthen for them-
selves an evil thing. — Perowne : " They take
every means to secure their object, follow it up
resolutely." It is better to understand this of
their plan or purpose than of the bitter words
which they have epoken.-They calculate how
to lay snares privily. — They carefully go over
each part of the plan, that they make it success-
ful in all its parts. And all this is in secret.
None but the conspirators are aware of these
snares. — They say, vrho shall look at them ?
— The question is interpreted very dififerently.
PSALM LXIV.
371
Some refer the pronoun " them " to the snares
laid with so much care and craft that they can
confidently ask who shall discover them ; but the
analogy of ver. 4 c and Pss. x. 11, 13 ; lix. 8 ;
xciv. 7, favors the idea that they think that God
does not observe or care for their actions. Some
interpreters then regard the question as indirect
(Ewald, Delitzsch, Maurer, Olsh., Perowne, et
aZ.), the pronoun "them" referring to the evil
doers themselves. But it is better to refer the
pronoun to the " snares " as the object of God's
observation. They think that God does not care
for them, does not observe them, will not attend
to them, or interfere with them. — C. A. B.]
Ver. 6. They have completed the con-
trived plan. — With the led. rec. ^JDjj) which
can only be 1. plur. perf., we must in direct dis-
course think either of the pious: we are finished,
it is all over with us, that is to say : we are lost
without God's help (J. H. Mich.), or of the un-
godly: we have it ready (Geier, Rosenmiiller,
De Wette), we are ready (Ewald, Koster, Hitzig),
with the contrived plan, or likewise : the plan is
contrived! (De Wette), a thought out* plan!
(Hengst.), thoughts well thought out! (Hitzig).
There is nothing, however, to indicate a direct
discourse like this, and it would disturb the con-
text. We must therefore either correct by ^J3il
the 3. plur. perf. (Aben Ezra, Kimchi), or Op£3
(Isaki, Luther) with many MSS. editions, and
interpreters. The latter suits the sense very
well = they have hidden, but has not sufficient
critical evidence. — [Deep. — The heart, the in-
ner man is deep as "the source of this plan," as
the "invisible work-shop of the evil" which is
now prepared. It is like an " abyss of dark
mystery and brooding wickedness," (Hupfeld)].
Str. III. Vers. 7, 8. Tet God will shoot
them; an arrow — suddenly — these are
their wounds. They are overthrow^n, over
themselves — their tongue. — In ver. 8 a the
present text suffers from insuperable difficulties,
which with forced interpretations hardly afford a
tolerable sense, leaving now this and now that
form unnoticed. It is the easiest to regard the
whole manner of expression as broken in both
verses, and to render the plural of the verb for
the sake of clearness not by "they," but by an
indefinite subject {man stUrtzt sie) and for the
same reason to change the sing, suffix " him,"
which designates the enemy collectively, into
" they," in accordance with the sense. Thus
the thought is expressed that their fall is occa-
sioned by powers, left ujadetermined yet subject
to God, whilst at the sq.me time their tongue, the
instrument for injuring other men, brings on the
judgment to their own ruin. Somewhat thus
Ewald, Hengst., Delitzsch. — [All that look
upon them shake the head. — Perowne : "For
this meaning of the verb comp. Jer. xviii. 16;
xlviii. 27 ; for the gesture, as one of malicious
triumph in looking upon suffering, etc. See Ps.
xxii. 7." So Hupfeld and Delitzsch, But Ewald
and Hitzig translate Jlee away, as A. V. — C.
A. B.]
Ver. 9. And all men shall fear, — Many
oodd. and editions read instead of ^&?T'l [shall
fear) ^Kl^l (and shall see it). — [And un-
derstand His work. — The 1 is incorrectly
rendered "for" in the A. V, The clauses are
all parallel, following one upon the other. " They
no longer foolishly ascribe it to mere chance or
human agency," (Alexander).
Ver. 10. Refuge seek in Him. — This is the
usual expression for seeking shelter and protec-
tion in God. See Ps. Ixiii. 7.— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The wicked are not helped by their craft,
power, and wickedness. They may for a time
do the pious much harm, cause them great pain,
extort lamentation and sighing. But when they
have entirely completed their plans among them*
selves, and flatter themselves that they are near
their end, the judgment of God overtakes them
and destroys them by means of their own plans.
For the Searcher of hearts, since He looks into
the depths of the heart, knows what is contrived
within the man (Jer. xvii. 9sq.), and the Holy
one of Israel brings the plans of the wicked to
naught.
2. God causes His righteous government
among men to become known, and thus makes
His judgments to become blessings, in that He
makes them to be perceived to the terror of the
wicked, to the warning of all men, to the joy of
all the upright, who are comforted in their afflic-
tions, especially by the experience that God's
judgment over the wicked is the deliverance of
the pious. This preserves them from despair in
their lamentation, and strengthens them amidst
dangers in their faith in God's assistance, and
encourages them to implore it, so that they may
glory in their gracious condition in God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The nearer the wicked seem to be to their
ends, the nearer are they to their ruin. — The pi-
ous have often occasions to lament, yet never rea-
son for despair, but always cause for prayer,
praise, and reflection. — Many a depth of the heart
is an abyss of wickedness. — God delivers the pi-
ous whilst "S-Q judges the wicked. — What God does
should be observed and declared. — To bring the
slandered to honor, to defeat the plans of the
wicked, to destroy the ungodly by their own wea-
pons—this is a matter of Divine righteousness. —
The ungodly trust in the secrecy of their plans,
the pious in the omniscient and just God. — Judg-
ments are long in coming, but they break forth
suddenly and decisively.
Starke : To pra-y for a gracious hearing is
always the beginning of an acceptable prayer. —
Let us take more heed to our tongues, our own
weal or woe depend upon whether we use it
aright or misuse it. — Childlike trust in God, and
spiritual joy in God are connected closely toge-
ther; for both are the results of a justifying
faith.
Fkanke : The fig leaves must be removed that
we may know our shame and nakedness before
God's face. — Feisch : God's arrows have a dif-
ferent effect from those which men shoot. — Tho-
LtrcK: If we rejoice when God's hand beats the
unrighteous to the ground, we have to take good
care lest we mingle unholy fire with the holy. —
872
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
Taube: The vuin of the innocent would be alto-
gether unavoidable if the only searcher of hearts
did not look upon them and interfere. — God's
hand judges the ungodly sometimes by their own
hand. — Diedeich: All the battles of spirits are
with words ; even the wicked fight mostly with
their words.
[Matt. Henry: It is bad to do an ill thing,
but worse to encourage ourselves and one an-
other in it; that is doing the devil's work for
him. — Half the pains that many take to damn
their souls would serve to save them. — Barnes :
Judgment, punishment, wrath, are adapted and
designed to make a deep impresion on mankind.
On this principle the final punishment of the
wicked will make a deep and salutary impression
on the universe forever. — Spitbgeon : It is a good
thing to conquer malicious foes, but a better
thing still to be screened from all conflict with
them, by being hidden from the strife. — The
righteous need not learn the arts of self-defence
or of attack, their avengemeut la iu better hands
than their own, — C, A. B.]
PSALM LXV.
Th the chief Musician., A Psalm and Song of David.
Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion :
And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer,
Unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 Iniquities prevail against me :
As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he
may dwell in thy courts :
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation ;
Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off
upon the sea :
6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains ;
Being girded with power ;
7 Which stilleth the lioise of the seas, the noise of their waves,
And the tumult of the people.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens :
Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it :
Thou greatly enrich&st it
With the river of God which is full of water:
Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly : thou settlest the furrows thereof:
Thou makest it soft with showers :
Thou blessest the springing thereof
11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
And thy paths drop fatness.
12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness :
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks ;
The valleys also are covered over with com ;
They shout for joy, they also sing.
PSALM LXV.
373
EXEGETICA.L AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The Psalm
begins with the solemn declaration, that thanks-
giving is due in Zion to the God who heareth
prayer, and that all flesh draweth near Him in
prayer (vers. 1, 2), that it is true misdeeds had
gained power over the congregation, which is
now engaged in prayer, but God covered them,
(ver. 3), so that they now taste the salvation of
those who can draw near to God in His temple,
(ver. 4), the God of strength, who rules in na-
ture and in history, exciting fear and confidence
(vers. 5-8), and who now again has blessed the
land with fructifying rains (vers 9, 10) and lias
adorned it with the signs of a good year, so that
all may shout for joy (vers. 11-13). The refe-
rence to the blessings of the harvest is so manifest
that the Psalm may be regarded as a prayer of
thanksgiving for them, whether with reference to
the approaching harvest (Hengst.) or one just
finished (Hitzig). But there is no evidence of a
previous scarcity such as that famine caused by
the blood-guiltness of Saul, 1 Sam. xxi. (Ve-
nema, J. D. Mich.), or a great drought (Abeu
Ezra, Ewald, and most interpreters ^, in which
sense a Greek scholiast has read jVlf ^ a dry
land, instead of Zion (ver. 1). No more does
the mention of the palace of God (ver 4), refer
to a period, subsequent to David ; nor does the
confession of grievous misdeeds on the part of
the entire congregation (ver. 3) refex to the guilt
of the nation which brought on the Exile (De
Wette). There is likewise no occasion to explain
the fearful exhibitions of the righteousness of
God (ver. 5), which are directly parallel with
His mighty deeds, of the overthrow of the Assy-
rians (Ewald), or to put these words, which are
manifestly introductory, as a thanksgiving for
the victory which had been granted them, along-
side of the thanksgiving for the blessing of the
field, and thus to think of the spring of the third
year after the overthrow of the Assyrians, Isa.
XXX vii. 30 (Delitzsch). After the return from
the exile this Psalm certainly aflPordedmany use-
ful adaptations to the worship of the congrega-
tion, as these might be found in it for the spi-
ritual explanation of the blessings of harvest.
There is very little to justify the idea that this
Psalm is a prophecy during the exile of the con-
yersion of the heathens after the return .of the
people to Jerusalem (Flamin.) or thanksgiving
of the Church of Christ for the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, and the blessings flowing therefrom
(most of the older interpreters) The title found
in the Arabic translation, de transmigratione po-
puli, and that remark attached to some MSS. of
the Sept. and Vulg: "Song of Jeremiah and
Ezekiel for the people of the Diaspora as they
were about to return home," have not the value
of historical statements.
Str. I. Ver. 1. To Thee is silence [resigna-
tion) praise. — The word TTDl does not mean
the solemn silence at the holy 'places (Grotius),
or the silence of the mouth^in silence (Luther
after the Rabbins), or in the sense that silence
is the best praise (Chald., Isaki, Stier), but the
silence of unrest in the heart=resignatioii, as
Ps. Ixii. 1, yet not as the consequence of praise
(Hengst., who previously translated silence
praise), but either as an expression of pious
duty parallel with the praise (and the actual
fulfilment of the vow) (Geier, Rosenm., De Wette,
Hupf, Hengst), or more in accordance with the
accents as the tribute due, which is brought as
praise to the God enthroned in Zion (Delitzsch).
A similar sense is given by the translation: si-
lent resignation praises Thee (Hitzig), without
making it necessary to change the reading of
the noun "praise" into the corresponding verb,
which would certainly, however, be preferable
to the change of dumijjah:^silentiiim, into domijjah
=similis, par., since the explanation of tibi par
est laus by iibi convenit laus (Sept., Vulg.) is con-
trary to usage. If the word is regarded as an
adverb, the sense would not be: constantly, in-
cessantly (Venema, Muntinghe), but: in resig-
nation.
Ver. 2. The coming of all flesh to God does
not refer to the conversion of the heathen. Is.
xlv. 24 (Aben Ezra and the older interpreters),
but to the coming of all needy creatures partly
in prayer and partly in thanksgiving.
[Ver. 3. Cases of iniquity have over-
come me.— There is a reference here to the
variety of iniquities rather than their unity.
Hupfeld: " They have overpowered me as with
a superior hostile power. (Comp. Ps. xl. 12:
*they have overtaken me,' parallel, 'sur-
rounded me'). They are usually compared to
a burden (Ps. xxxviii. 5: 'they are too heavy
for me,* parallel, 'they have gone over my
head,' Gen. iv. 13; 'too great to be borne').
This is the usual figure even in legal language
(comp. Ps. vii. 16). Both figures are with the
sense that man cannot answer or make good
(atone for), without succumbing and perishing,
thus he needs forgiveness (comp. Ps. cxxx. 3;
cxliii. 2)."
Ver. 4. Delitzsch : ♦' How good it is for those
whom God chooses and brings near, that is, re-
moves into His presence that they may dwell in
His courts, that is, may have their true home
and be at home where He is enthroned and re-
veals Himself (see Ps. xv. 1). This advantage
is aff'orded to the congrjegation gathered about
Zion in the midst of the nations, which, in the
happy consciousness of this preference given it
out of God's free grace, encourages itself to en-
ioy in full draughts (J^3ty with 3 as Ps. ciii. 5)
the abundance of the gracious good things
(31£D) of the house of God, the holiness, iyiov, of
His temple, that is, His holy temple (K''^P, as
Ps. xlvi. 4, comp. Is. Ivii. 15), for, for all that
God's grace off^ers us, we can oft'er no better
thanks than by hungering and thirsting after it
and satisfying the poor soul therewith." — C.
A. B.]
Str. II. Ver. 5. Terrible things, or things
exciting fear are frequently mentioned, (Deut. x.
21; 2 Sam. vii. 23; Is. Ixiv. 2; Pss. cvi. 22 sq.;
cxlv. 4 *y.), together with the mighUj deeds and
TTiiracles of God in the leading of His people out
of Egypt ; it thus includes the idea of the sub-
lime and wonderful, Ps. cxxxix. 14. This re-
ference is more suitable here than that of fear-
ful, since the answer here manifestly means the
874
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
actual answer to prayer. — [The confidence
of all the ends of the earth and of the sea
afar off. — Perowne: "The word is properly an
adj., and may, as Hupf. takes it, belong to the
noun 'ends,' the construction being 'the distant
ends of the earth and sea.' He refers to Ps.
Ixiv. 7; Is. Ixvi. 19, as compared with v. 26;
viii. 9; xxxiv. 17. — But according to the accent
the construction is 'sea of the distant ones,' i. e.
the dwellers on distant coasts and islands."
Ver. 6. Girded w^ith power. — This refers
to God, who, girded with power as a master-
workman, places the mountains in their firm
founJations.
Ver. 7. Stilleth the roar of seas, &c. Pe-
rowne: "The fiea and nations are mentioned to-
gether, the one being so often used as an image
of the other. See Ps. xlvi."
Ver. 8. Signs or miracles, the mighty deeds
of God, cause the nations to fear and tremble. —
C. A. B.] The outgoings of the morning
and evening do not mean the rising of the
morning and evening stars which cause men to
rejoice (Kimchi, et al.), or the creatures which
come forth at such times of the morning and
evening (Luther, Geier, J. H. Mich., et al.), but
the east and west as poetical parallels of the
ends of the earth (Hupf.)
Str. III. Ver. 9. [Thou hast visited the
land and made it overflovir. — Barnes: "God
seems to come down that He may attend to the
wants of the earth; survey the condition of
things; arrange for the welfare of the world He
has made, and supply the wants of those whom
He has created to dwell upon it." — Hupfeld :
"TypD^l/n here as Hiphil, Joel ii. 24; iv. 13,
make overflow, that is, moisten, rigare (with
rain, com. ver. 10 nJJJnon in a similar form) as
already the ancient versions (apparently inter-
changing it with npiy). Aben Ezra, Kimchi,
[margin of A. V] interpret it in accordance
with the meaning which is found in nplj^n and
"pVi^, make desire (namely, rain, owing to the
previous lack of rain). But this does not suit
the context."— C. A. B.]— God's brook is full
of water. — God's brook is not a brook or stream
in the Holy Land (the Fathers), or a figure of
Divine blessings in general (Geier, J. H. Mich.,
et al.), but the rain (Chald.) or the clouds (J.
D. Mich.) in contrast to earthly waters (Calvin,
et al.). — Thou preparest their grain, for so
dost Thou prepare it {i. e. the land). — We
must notice the alliteration of jJD^so, that ia,
right so (Delitzsch), with pDH^adjust, prepare.
[Perowne: "The repetition of the verb prepare
seems designed to mark that all is God's doing.
He prepares the earth and so prepares the corn.
The present tenses are employed here to ex-
press that this God does not in one year only,
but every year."
Ver. 10. Drenching its furrows, pressing
down its clods, Thou makest it dissolve
by copious show^ers, Thou blessest its
increase. — n^'^ and nnj are, according to the
existing punctuation, imperatives. Few inter-
.preters (Hitzig, Alexander, ei al.) render in this
way, for it does not suit the context and the
general tone of the Psalm. Hupfeld would alter
the punctuation and read PHJi Hl'n, 3 pers. pret.
Thus there would be a most unusual transition
from the 2d person to the 3d. It is better, with
most interpreters, to take them as infinitive ab-
solutes, denoting the manner in which this pre-
paration of the earth took place, and then ren-
der them as participles depending on the verb
of the previous verse (Ewald, De Wette, De-
litzsch, Moll, et al.). Perowne considers that
they stand instead of the finite verb. — C. A. B.]
Sir. IV. Ver. 11. [Thou hast crowned the
year of Thy goodness. — This is the rendering
of all of the older interpreters and most recent
ones. Comp. Is. Ixi. 2, "the year of grace," as
the year of Divine goodness and favor which
was crowned with fruitful harvests. Others
(Hupfeld, Bottcher, Perowne, A. V.] prefer to
render: with Thy goodness. The former in-
terpretation is favored by the construction and
gives an excellent sense, and is to be preferred
(Delitzsch, Moll, Alexander, et al.) — C. A. B.] —
Thy tracks drop fatness. — The tracks or
wagon ruts are perhaps mentioned with refer-
ence to the clouds on which God rides as on a
chariot (the older interps. after the Rabbins),
hardly, however, in allusion to the wagons of
thunder in storms (J. D. Mich., Olsh.), but they
have rather here the meaning of tracks in gene-
ral, or foot8teps=fruitfulness follows in his
footsteps (Geier, et al.).
[Ver. 12. The pastures of the steppes
drip, and the hills gird themselves with
rejoicing. — Delitzsch: "The tracks of the
chariots (Deut. xxxiii. 26) drip with luxuriant
fruitfulness, even the pastures of the unculti-
vated, rainless and unfruitful pasture land,
Job xxxviii. 26 sq. The hills are personified in
the favorite manner of Isaiah (xliv. 23; xlix.
13) and the Psalms of this character (Pss. xcvi.
II sq; xcviii. 753-; comp. Ixxxix. 12). Their
appearance with the freshness of plant-life is
compared with a garment of rejoicing, girding
the hills which previously appeared naked and
sad, and the grain with a shawl in which the
valleys wrapped themselves all over." — C. A. B.]
[Ver. 13, The meadows are clothed with
flocks. — Some translate instead of meadows or
pasturage, rams (J. D. Mich.) or lambs (Hengst.)
as Ps. xxxvii. 20, after the ancient versions,
which the language does not require, and it
would give a singular expression to a plain
thought. — They shout for joy, yea, they
sing. — We can hardly regard men and beasts,
the inhabitants of the creation (Hengst.), as the
subject of the Psalm and singing in this clause,
but must either take the above-mentioned mea-
dows and valleys (Calvin, et al.), the inanimate
creation in general in accordance with poetical
usage (Hupfeld), or resolve the third person
plural into the general and comprehensive
"they" ("man," Luther, Ewald, Delitzsch),
which is more correct than to put at once "the
people" (Hitzig), and thus limit it.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God has revealed Himself in history and nature
in such a character that we cannot do better
than resign ourselves to Him as well as give
thanks, and thus pay our vows in fact.
PSALM LXVI.
875
2. In the historical life of the people God ob-
ligates them to give such thanks as this by
atoning for their sins, by providing them in His
house with the enjoyment of His presence and
gatisfaction in the good things of His house which
correspond with their needs, and by giving
them protection, assistance and victory in their
relations with other nations.
8. With respect to the relations of nature,
this happens by a government of the world cre-
ated by Him in such a manner that all needy
creatures turn to Him in trust, and His own
people, who are weli cared for, praise Him with
the more thankfulness as the praise of the Cre-
ator and Preserver sounds in all places and quar-
ters, and every good thing with which God
adorns the earth every new year of goodness re-
minds them of the highest good, the oomraunion
of salvation which God has established and pre-
serves with and among His favored ones.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
If all creatures praise God, man must not be
backward and least of all those who have re-
ceived forgiveness of sins. — Submission to God's ad-
vice, God's will and hand, is true thankfulness for
all the spiritual and bodily bounties of the Most
High. — God fits not only the earth, but also man,
so that they can bring forth the desired fruits. —
Follow the tracks of God, and you will meet
everywhere abundant blessings. We can find the
tracks of God all over the world ; but all depends
upon our drawing near to God Himself. — The
year that God has blessed has its bounties for
which we should praise God ; but a still richer
and more enduring favor is in the sanctuary dedi-
cated to Him.
Luther: Run all over the veorld — yet Thou
art the only one, 0 God, upon whom man's com-
fort of heart can stand and remain.
Stakke : Since all men are in manifold weak-
ness and needs, is it not a great thing that we
have a Lord with whom we can all take refuge ?
— The .true worship of God is no burden to the
believing, but the greatest benefit and refresh-
ment.— No one can escape from God's sight;
this must terrify the ungodly; but it strength-
ens the confidence of the pious* — Every place on
earth has received its special favors from the
Creator, so that no place has nothing, and no
place has aU. — The kingdom of nature points
everywhere to the riches of the Divine blessing
and grace; how full then must the kingdom of
grace be.
Frisch: The world so forgets the benefits it
has received; Zion and its children take them
to heart much better. — To be a true member of
the Church of God, is man's greatest happiness.
— Franke: It becomes those who are called
God's people to show by their words and walk,
that they are His people in deed and in truth. —
Tholuck: As often as the spring comes, God
reveals Himself to us again as the Almighty
who yet uses His power to bestow blessings. —
Stier: Praise of the prayer-hearing God; a,
for forgiveness of sins; b, admission to His
sanctuary; c, satisfaction with its blessings, —
XJmbreit: Faith in the hearing of prayer and
the help of God is based on the miracles of Om-
nipotence spread out before the eyes of men. —
Taube: God's name is majesty ; but it is a ma-
jesty full of grace and goodness.
[Matt. Henry: As there are holy groanings
which cannot be uttered, so there are holy ado-
rings which cannot be uttered, and yet shall be
accepted by Him that searcheth the heart and
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. — The
holy freedom that we are admitted to in God's
courts and the nearness of our approach to Him
must not at all abate our reverence and godly
fear of Him ; for He is terrible in His holy
places. — Wherever God goes, He leaves the to-
kens of His mercy behind Him. — BarneS: God,
in the advancing seasons, passes along through
the earth, and rich abundance springs up
wherever He goes. — Spurgeon: He who is once
admitted to God's courts shall inhabit them for-
ever. Permanence gives preciousness. Termi-
nated blessings are but half blessings. — Terrible
things will turn out to be blessed things after
all, when they come in answer to prayer. — How
truly rich are those who are enriched with
grace ! — Nature has no discords. Her airs are
melodious. Her chorus is full of harmony. All,
all is for the Lord; the world is a hymn to the
Eternal. Blessed is he who, hearing, joins in
it and makes cue singer is. the mighty chorus.—
C. A. B.]
PSALM LXVI.
To the chief Musician, A Song or Paalm.
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
Sing forth the honor of his name :
Make his praise glorious.
Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works I
Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto
thee.
876
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee;
They shall sing to thy name. Selah.
5 Come and see the works of God :
He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men,
6 He turned the sea into dry land :
They went through the flood on foot :
There did we rejoice in him.
7 He ruleth by his power for ever ;
His eyes behold the nations :
Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
8 O bless our God, ye people,
And make the voice of his praise to be heard :
9 Which holdeth our soul in life,
And suffereth not our feet to be moved.
10 For thou, O God, hast proved us :
Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
11 Thou broughtest us into the net;
Thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads ;
We went through fire and through water : but thou broughtest us out into a weal-
thy place.
13 1 will go into thy house with burnt offerings ;
I will pay thee my vows,
14 Which my lips have uttered,
And my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings,
With the incense of rams :
I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare
What he hath done for my soul.
17 I cried unto him with my mouth,
And he was extolled with my tongue,
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart.
The Lord will not hear me:
19 But verily God hath heard me;
He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God,
Which hath not turned away my prayer,
Nor his mercy from me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — An exhor-
tation to the nations of the earth to praise God,
the Almighty (vers. 1-4), introduces the exhor-
tation to consider the mighty deeds of God in the
deliverance of His people in ancient times (vers.
5-7). This is then followed by the exhortation
to praise God for a deliverance of the people from
trials recently endured (vers. 7-12). The Psalm
now passes over from the plural to the singular,
yet its turns of expression are so individual,
e.g. vers. 16 and 18, that the supposition that
the nation is personified is entirely untenable.
The Psalmist speaks from his own soul and ex-
perience, yet as a member of the congregation
here mentioned (Calvin, Geier, et al.). He ex-
presses his design of bringing the promised offer-
ings into the house of God (vers. 13-15), and
concludes with an exhortation to the pious to
listen to his narrative, how he called upon God,
and God heard him, and this to the praise of
God (vers. 16-20). There is no reason what-
ever to regard this second part as a special song
of thanksgiving (Ewald). The similarity of
vers. 16 and 6, and that of the structure of the
strophes thus apparent, is in favor of the origi-
nal unity of the Psalm. The person and age of
the author remain undetermined in this, as well
as the following Psalm, notwithstanding the de-
dication to the director. If Uli^, ver. 7, meant
the world (Chald., et al.), we would have evi-
PSALM LXVI.
37T
dence in favor of the Maccabean age (Paulus,
Olsh., Hitzig), bul the word has this meaning
only with the Rabbins (Aben Ezra), whilst in
the Old Testament this form is always elsewhere
an accusativQ of time with the meaning, forever
and ever. It is mere guess-work to think of the
time of the dedication of the temple after the
exile (Ruding,, Rosenm. II., Ewald), or of the
exile itself (Rabb., Flam., Rosenm. I.), or of the
fall of the Assyrians (Von Leng.), or of the
raising of the siege of Jerusalem in connection
with Hezekiah's sickness (Venema, Muntinghe,
Koster). The title of the Sept. names it a re-
surrection Psalm, perhaps with reference to
ver. 12 (Delitzsch). The Greek Church has re-
tained this name. ,
Str. I. Ver. 2. Give glory. — This is not to
be taken as Jos. vii. 19, Is. xlii. 12; Jer. xiii.
16, but as Ps. xxix. 12; Deut. xxxii. 8, in the
sense of giving li22. For this word is placed
immediately before, in the objective sense. Hence
it cannot be rendered : give the honor (namely)
to His praise (or: His renown), that is, make
His praise glorious (most interpreters, [A. V.]).
The sense can only be : recognize glory (or ma-
jesty) His renown. For this rendering it makes
no difference whether the last words are re-
garded grammatically as the second object, or
as in apposition, or as connected with the pre-
ceding words by an inserted "as."
Ver. 3. How terrible, etc. — This is related
with the song in heaven, Rev. xv, 3 sq. — [Thine
enemies dissemble to Thee. — Compare Ps.
xviii. 44. They yield unwilling, constrained,
feigned homage.
Ver. 4. Alexander: "This anticipation of
universal homage to Jehovah is in strict accord-
ance with the whole spirit and design of the
Mosaic dispensation." — C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Ver. 6. They passed through the
stream. — The stream is not the Euphrates
(Stier, Hengstenberg), but the Jordan. For the
reference is to miracles of ancient times, and not of
the future, in which the miracle of the Jordan
is to be repeated on a grander scale. In the
latter case it would be as natural to think of the
Nile, Zech. x. 11, as the Euphrates, comp. Isa.
xi. 15 sq. — [There we rejoiced in Him. —
This is the rendering of Hupfeld, Delitzsch,
Moll, et al. As Delitzsch remarks : " the con-
gregation of all times is a solid unit." The
Psalmist brings these miracles of the past be
fore his hearers, with such vividness that both
speaker and hearers seera to be present and en-
gaged in them as members of the chosen peo-
ple. There is no reference to a possible repeti-
tion of these wonders in the future, as even
Alexander, or in the present (Perowne).*
Ver. 7. For ever. — As God has wrought His
mighty works in the past, so does He govern
now, and so will He in all future times. His go-
vernment is an everlasting government. — His
eyes keep watch upon the nations.— The
affairs of His people are no less closely scruti-
nized by God now than of yore, when He led
• [Peiowne translates: " l^iere let us rejoice in Him.
Tfure, poiDtiag as it were to the field in which God had
made bare His arm, and where the past history had been
repeated in the present, there, let us rejoice in Him."— C
A. B.J
them through the Red Sea and the Jordan. He
is the ever-watchful spy of Israel, searching the
hearts of the nations to frustrate their evil plans.
— C. A. B.] — The rebellious cannot raise
{their heads). — This clause begins with bx, and
it cannot be changed for vh, or regarded as equi-
valer^t to it. Accordingly it does not express a
prophecy (Kimchi, Luther, Geier, et al.), but a
negative conclusion (Septuagint, Isaki, De Wette,
Hengstenberg, et al.), either as a warning or as
an expression of prevention. [The author sup-
plies "heads," as Pss. iii. 3; ex. 7 ; comp. Ps.
Ixxv. 6, 6, where "horn" is used. — C. A. B.]
Str. III. [Vers. 9, 10. Sets our souls in life,
etc. — Delitzsch: "God has turned away from
His people the danger of death and of falling ;
He has put their soula in life, that is, in the
sphere of life ; He has not left their feet to tot-
ter until they fall. For God has cast His peo-
ple as it were into the smelting furnace or pot,
in order to remove their dross by sufferings and
preserve them — a favorite figure of Isaiah's and
Jeremiah's, but likewise of Zech. xiii. 9 ; Mai.
iii. 3."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 11. Thou hast brought us unto the
enclosure. — nH2fD is not a net (Sept. and
most interpreters, [A. V.]), but a strong place or
state of being enclosed (Aquila, Symm,, Jerome,
Isaki, Luther, Geier, et al.), with the article as
here, a designation of the condition of David in
the wilderness, 1 Sam. xxii. 4sq. ; 2 Sam. v. 17;
xxiii. 24 (Hupfeld). — [Hast laid an oppres-
sive burden on our loins. — Delitzsch; "The
loins are mentioned, because in carrying heavy
burdens, which have to be lifted by squatting
down, the lower region of the spine is particu-
larly employed." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 12. Hast made men to ride over our
head. — This expression cannot be explained in
accordance with Is. li. 23 (make his back a
street for travellers), in behalf of the meaning
" subdue, subjugate " (Clauss, Stier), as Ps.
cxxix. 3, because the head is mentioned here ;
but in accordance with Deut. xxxii. 13 ; Is. Iviii.
14 : drive or advance over the high places of the
land, Deut. xxxiii. 39 ; Mic. i. 3 ; Amos iv. 13
(Kimchi, et al.). It is possible, however, to
translate : ride on our heads (Calvin, Geier, and
most interpreters) ; then there would be con-
nected with the idea of subjugation that of hard
and shameful treatment. This might be pre-
ferred for the reason that the riders are here
called l^1Ji<, and thus the contrast is brought
into view between their proud and violent con-
duct, and their mortal, frail nature, Pss. ix. 19
sq. ; X. 18; Ivi. 1; Is. li. 12; 2 Chron. xiv. 10
(Delitzsch.) — We came into fire and water
— and Thou hast brought us out into
abundance. — [Delitzsch : " Fire and water,
as Is. xliii. 2, are figurative of the changing
perils of death in their extreme forms. Israel
was near to being consumed and overwhelmed,
but God brought him out to the richest abund-
ance, to the exuberance of prosperity." — C. A.
B.] Many interpreters have objected to TT'n
(abundance, Ps. xxiii. 5), because the contrast
to the condition of danger figuratively expressed
in the previous line, would lead us to expect an
378
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS,
expression, somewhat as : wide place (Chald.,
Symm.), or rest (Arabic, JEthiop.), or refresh-
ment, enlivenment, recovery (Septuagint, Vulg.,
Syriac, Aquila). Hence the proposal to change
the reading into nniT (Houbig., etal.)
Sir. IV. [Perowne : " We have now the per-
sonal acknowledgment of God's mercy, first, in
the announcement on the part of the Psalmist
of the offerings which he is about to bring, and
which he had vowed in his trouble ; and then, in
the record of God's dealing with his soul, which
had called forth his thankfulness." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 14. To -which my lips quickly
opened. — The quick opening, literally tearing
open of the lips refers to the involuntariness of
the vow pressed out by necessity, not as Job
XXXV. 16, and Judges xi. 35, to the hasty vow.
Ver. 15. Alongside of the lambs and bul-
locks universally used as animals of sacrifice,
rams and goats are here mentioned. The
former are mentioned only as the whole burnt-
cflferings of the high-priest, the prince of the
tribe and the people, and as the thank-offering
in the shelamim of Aaron, the people, the
princes of the tribe, and the Nazarite (Num. vi.
14) ; the latter are never mentioned as whole
burnt-offerings, but only in the shelamim of the
princes of the tribes, Numb. vii. Thus appa-
rently the Wp introduces the shelamim brought
in connection with the whole burnt-offerings (De-
Utzsch).
Str.Y. Vers. IG, 17. [Delitzsch : "The ad-
dress goes forth, as in vers. 6 and 2, to the
widest circles, to all who fear God, wherever
they may be on earth. He would tell them all
that God has caused him to experience in order
that God might be glorified and they might be
benefited." — " He cried to God with his mouth
(thus not only quietly within the soul, but loud
and violently), and a hymn was under my
tongue, that is, I was so sure of the hearing of
my prayer, that I already had in readiness a
song of praise (see Ps. x. 7), which I would
strike up when the implored help which was as-
sured to me should come."
Ver. 18. If I had seen iniquity in my
heart, the Lord ^vould not have heard me.
■ — Perowne : " Probably, if I had been conscious
of iniquity in my heart, the assertion being that
of freedom from anything like purposed deceit,
as in Pss. xvii. 1 ; xxxii. 2 ; or the phrase may
mean, as the A. V. takes it : • If I had regarded
iniquity,' i. e., looked upon it with pleasure and
satisfaction. Compare for this use of the verb
(with the accusative) Job xxxi. 26 ; Heb. i. 13 ;
Prov. xxiii. 31. For the general sentiment of
the passage, comp. Job xxvii. 8, 9 ; Is. i. 15 ;
lix. 2, 3; John ix. 31; 1 John iii. 21."— C. A. B.]
Ver. 20. The closing clause is broken up by
most interpreters into two clauses, either by a
repetition of the verb in another meaning:^who
has not rejected my prayer and has not taken
away His grace from me (Luther, J. H. Mich.,
De Wette, Stier), or without the repetition (=
who has not removed) by the insertion of the
words: "from Himself," as a contrast to the
closing words : from me (Isaki, Venema, Koster,
Hengstenberg, Hitzig), comp. Amos v. 23 ; Job
xxiii. 12. But this is against the sense and the
accents. Moreover the prayer is not=that
which is asked for (Geier, Hupfeld), but the
prayer as the contrast of silence (the ancient
versions, Augustine, Delitzsch). The Psalmist
rejoices that he can pray at all times, and that
the grace of being heard is afforded him.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. God's name has a majesty and a grandeur
which constitutes His glory, and is worthy of be-
ing praised by the whole world. The enemies of
God do this from fear, and therefore they are
hypocritical, but those who truly reverence Him
thereby testify their sincere thankfulness. " The
glory of God is unworthily suppressed, if when
He stands by us in misfortune, our deliverance
is not followed by solemn thanksgiving" (Calvin).
2. That which is not conformed to the gracious
will of God, must submit to His irresistible
power ; and God sees all. 0 that the rebellious
would allow themselves to be warned by this, and
that those who fear God would be comforted. For
although they have the severest afflictions and
are brought into every imaginable misery, this
is only to try them, as gold and silver are melted
in the furnace for purification (Is. i. 25 ; xlviii.
10 ; Zech. xiii. 9 ; 1 Peter i. 7) ; and God is not
only their Comforter, but likewise their Deliverer.
He leads them in ; He will likewise be their
Keeper.
3. Every fresh experience of deliverance re-
minds us of the previous mighty works of God.
Among these, those rise pre-eminent which refer
to the organization and preservation of the congre-
gation in the midst of a hostile world. These
are worthy above all of being brought near and
recommended to the consideration of the entire
world, and are especially suited to strengthen
the Aojae o/ the believer in God's further assis-
tance and to enliven faith in the hearing of prayer.
Yet we must not forget that prayers niu§t not
come from wicked or hypocritical hearts. For
God can deprive men of the gift of pray &r as
well as the grace of granting the petition, Is. i.
15; lix. 2, 3; Prov. xv. 29.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Use and misuse of the name of God, — What are
we to learn from the history of out forefathers? —
What God does to His people has an importance
for the entire world. — Patience, faith, and prayer
are necessary in order that we may endure the
trials of sufferings. — Not to he able to pray is still
worse than to have no answer. — Prayers of
wicked hearts are not heard. — The pious will have
deliverance, but of grace. — God sees and hears all
men, but how does He look upon them, and
whether He grants their requests, that is the
question.
Stauke : Men and angels were created for the
praise and glory of God, they should thus al-
ways be ready and willing. — When you tell
others of the guidances of God respecting your
soul, take care lest some hypocrisy or self-love
creep in, and that the glory of God be your only
aim.
Fbankb : The mystery of the cross is the true
means of putting a joyous Psalm into our heart
PSALM LXVII.
379
and mouth. — Renschel : The faith, constancy
and patience of the pioua are furthered by afflic-
tion.— A noble thanksgiving is due to a great
benefit. — Frisch : The most precious and useful
narratives are those which a converted heart
makes of its own experience of God's bounties.
This strengthens us and edifies our fellow-
men. — Tholuck:: There are few men whose
thanksgivings are so numerous and warm as
their prayers. — Taube: He who will not recog-
nize himself as dust and ashes before God, God
knows how to make him such ; the recognition
must be expressed that He is the Lord, whether
from the heart or in pain.
[Matt. Henry: Much of religion lies in a
reverence for the Divine providence. — God brings
His people into trouble, that their comforts af-
terwards may be the sweeter, and that their af-
fliction may thus yield the peaceable fruit of right-
eousness, which will make the poorest place in
the world a wealthy place. — What we win by
prayer, we must wear with praise. — Barnes:
Vows made in trouble, in sickness, in bereave-
ment, in times of public calamity, should be
faithfully performed when health and prosperity
visit us again ; but, alas, how often are they
forgotten! — Spurqeon: All the saints must go
to the proving house ; God had one Son without
sin, but He never had a son without trial. —
Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end,
ought we not to submit to it with abounding re-
signation?— Nothing hinders prayer like iniquity
harbored in the breast. — Facts are blessed things
when they reveal both God's heart as loving, and
our own heart as sincere. — C. A. B.]
PSALM LXVII.
To the chief Musician on Neginoth^ A Psalm or Song.
1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us ;
And cause his face to shine upon us ; Selah.
2 That thy way may be known upon earth,
Thy saving health among all nations.
3 Let the people praise thee, O God ;
Let all the people praise thee.
4 0 let the nations be glad and sing for joy :
For thou shalt judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
6 Let the people praise thee, O God ;
Let all the people praise thee.
6 Then shall the earth yield her increase ;
And God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us ;
And aU the ends of the earth shall fear him.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITIOAIi.
Anaitsis of Contents. — Since the Hebrew
tenses are capable of many references to time, it
would be admissible to regard vers. 3, 6 as state-
ments respecting the praise of God by all nations,
which had already occurred (De Wette), which
fact would then admit of various explanations in
accordance with its value and reality, as well as
with respect to its reasons and its significance.
The same remarks apply to the final clause in
which the fear of God takes the place of His
praise. We might likewise find in the harvest
mentioned by the perfect as finished (ver. 6 a), a
statement of the fact of the blessing (ver. 6 5),
and ihQ pledge of its continuance (ver. 7 a). The
latter reference is, however, for the Israelites,
contained in the fruits of the harvest (Lev. xxvi.
4), and it would be more in accordance with the
tone of the prayer to find in these words the ex-
pression of a wish for the continuance of uni-
versal blessings, this wish having originated from
the recent appropriation of the pledge resting upon
Divine promises. This interpretation is still
further recommended by the fact that in the two
lines, ver. 6 b and 7 a, the same tense is used as
in ver. 1 a, where the optative is certainly meant,
since there is there indeed not an answer of the
people (J. J). Mich., Stier), but an appropriation
380
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
and free repetition of the blessing of the High
Priest, Num. vi. 24 sq. When now ver. 2 puts
this blessing of Israel in direct relation to the
making known God's ways and the salvation
(TIJ^IE?"') therein to be obtained by deliverance, it
is much more natural to give the words which
follow, a Messianic reference in the universal
sense, which is contained in the blessing of
Abraham (Gen. xii. 3), and to recognize ih.Q mis-
sionary character of this Psalm, which appears
likewise in the hymn of Luther: '■^Es wolU uns
Gott, genddig sein" than merely to find here a
manifestation of i\\.Q goodness of God in general,
and a lyrical transition from the national to the
universal stand -point, embracing mankind (Hup-
feld), in which God, in accordance with the na-
ture of Monotheism, is designated as the object
of the praise and reverence likewise of the hea-
then. In'this state of the case, likewise, it is
most natural to regard ver. 8 sq. as optative, and
only to let the final clause conclude with the fu-
ture. For thus the clauses, which constantly
implore, in believing appropriation, the bless-
ings promised and bestowed, are entwined with
those which proclaim and wish for, in accord-
ance with the promises and in the joy of faith,
the salvation to be obtained through the bless-
ings in Israel, and praise of God among the hea-
then. Thms there is formed a chain ; the end of
which not merely bends back towards the begin-
ning, but has partly an internal progress, partly
opens an infinite prospect. Hence the spiritual
interpretation of the fruitfulnesa of the earth,
(Luther, Stier, after the older interpreters) seems
to be arbitrary. We are to think of a blessed
harvest, which we have reason to consider not
merely as an occasion for the composition of the
Psalm (Koster, Ewald, Hitzig), but at the same
time as an occasion for far-reaching thoughts,
^Calvin, Hengst.), and as the pledge of more
(Venema, J. H. Mich.), if not the type of higher
blessings (Stier). The attempts to put the com-
position in the time of the Maccabees (Olsh., Hit-
zig), or the restoration of the kingdom after the
exile (Ewald), or after the deliverance from the
Assyrians under Hezekiah (Venema, and Von
Leng.), are entirely without proofs and sup-
port.
Str. I. Ver. 1. Cause His face to shine
among us. — The change of the phrase " upon
thee," (Num. vi. 26) into "among us" is con-
nected on the one side with the entire appropria-
tion of the blessing of the High Priest, on the
other side with the purpose directly expressed,
which latter is already prepared by the change
of Jehovah into Elohim, and appears as the jcrm-
cipal thought of the Psalm by the transition from
the indirect to the direct discourse. The expres-
sion: among or with us, accordingly does not in-
dicate the nearness of the help (Geier), but the
accompanying (Hengst.), or better, the guiding
presence of God.
[Ver. 2. Thy way— Thy salvation.— Alex-
ander: '' Thy way, i. e., Thy mode of dealing
with Thy people, referring more particularly
here to providential favors, the knowledge of
which he hopes to see extended to all nations, as
a means to the promotion of still higher ends.
The pleonastic phrase, saving health, retaiaed by
the A. V. from an older one, has nothing corres-
ponding to it in the Hebrew, but the single word
which always means salvation, and is commonly
so rendered." — C. A. B.]
[Sir. XL Ver, 4. For Thou judgest.— This
is not the judicial condemning and punishing,
but as Ps. Ixxii, 12 sq. ; Isa. xi. 3 sq., the n^A^
eow5 government of the roya? ruler. — [Thoulead-
est. — Perowne : "The verb is the same as in
Ps. xxiii. 3, God being the great Shepherd of all
nations."— C. A. B.]
[Str. III. Ver. 6. The earth hath yielded
her increase. — Moll, wi.h most interpreters,
renders the verb in its natural sense. Some,
however, as the A. V., regard it as the prophetic
past, and translate as future. Ewald translates
it as present. The natural reference is to a re-
cent harvest, on the basis of which the Psalmist
prays the final prayer that: "God our God may
bless us, and all the ends of the earth may fear
Him."— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The congregation of the Lord can have no
wish more acceptable to God, than that He should
bestow upon them blessings spiritual and bodily, in
order that their welfare and its manifest cause
may make known to the heathen the salvation which
God gives to those who fear Him, and the ways
upon which He brings this to pass. The con-
gregation thus maintains its true historical and
redemptive position, and fulfils at the same time
its missionary calling.
2. The ground upon which this hope, which
has grown up out of faith in the truth of God's
promises is based, that the heathen will attain
their destiny, is the government of God in the his-
tory of the world, which is manifest to all na-
tions, and is as righteous as it is gracious. The
occasion of a prayer of this kind is given in the
bestowal of a blessed harvest, partly as a testimony
of His power and goodness in general, partly as
a seal of His promises, partly as a pledge of ad-
ditional gracious guidance.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God's blessing is to be implored in faith, re-
ceived with thanksgiving, used in accordance with
God's will. — The gifts of God to His people should
benefit the whole world. — The righteous govern-
ment and the gracious guidance of men are as
worthy objects oi praise, as valuable foundations
of hope, — The congregation is not only called to
receive the Divine blessing, but likewise to spread
it abroad, and should allow itself to be properly
prepared and guided thereto. The aim, hope, and
right of missionary work. — The end, basis, and
means of hope in missions. — The end, way, and
guardian of our pilgrimage. — God would not only
reign as monarch of the world, but men should
know likewise the ways in which He leads them.
— God not only guides His people in the right
ways, but Hejuic^ens them under the way, Is.lviii.
11. — God has made known His ways (Ps. xxv.
10) to His people (Ps. ciii. 7) that they m&j walk
therein, and teach other nations to do this. — The
^anc? has given its increase; how is it with the
people in general ? — How with the congregation?
How with thee 9
PSALM LXVIII.
381
Starke: The pious share their bodily bless-
ings with the ungodly, but these are properly no
blessings to the latter ; but spiritual blessings
belong only to the children of God. — All depends
upon properly knowing God, and the way of life
pointed out by Him. — In the kingdom of God it
is demanded of each and every member, to be
fruitful in good works. — God's grace makes no
man poor, but may make him rich.
Franks : God's grace, blessing, the light of
His countenance, are not for temporal blessed-
ness, but for eternal life. — Tholuck : Longing
after the most spiritual of all blessings that the
salvation from God should arise in Israel and its
light shine over all the heathen on earth. — Gtten-
ther: These are the true prophets and teachers,
upon whose countenance the glance of the Di-
vine light still remains. — Taube : Prophetic
glance at the erection of the kingdom of God
among all nations.
[Matt, Henry : We need desire no more to
make us happy than to have God's face shine
upon us, to have God love us, and let us know
that He loves us. — We shall have never the less
of God's mercy, and blessing, and favor, for
others coming in to share with us. — It is good to
cast in our lot with these that are the blessed of
the Lord. — Barnes : The happiness of man de-
pends on a knowledge of the principles on which
God bestows His favors ; for all men are, in all
things, dependent on Him. Individuals and na-
tions, as they follow Ihe counsels of God, are
safe and happy ; and in no other way. — Spur-
geon: Our love must make long marches, and
our prayers must have a wide sweep ; we must
embrace the whole world in our intercessions. —
We never know God aright till we know Him to
be ours, and the more we love Him the more do
we long to be fully assured that He is. ours. — C.
A. B.]
PSALM LXVIII.
To the chief Musician^ A Psalm or Song of David.
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered :
Let them also that hate him flee before him.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away :
As wax melteth before the fire,
80 let the wicked perish at the presence of God,
3 But let the righteous be glad ; let them rejoice before God :
Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name :
Extol him that rideth upon the heavens
By his name J AH, and rejoice before him.
6 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows,
Is God in his holy habitation.
6 God setteth the solitary in families :
He bringeth out those which are bound with chains :
But the rebellious dwell in a dry land,
7 0 God, when thou wentest forth before thy people,
When thou didst march through the wilderness ; Selah ;
8 The earth shook,
The heavens also dropped at the presence of God :
Bven Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of IsraeL
9 Thou, 0 God, didst send a plentiful rain.
Whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.
10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein :
Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.
U The Lord gave the word :
Great was the company of those that published it.
882 THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
12 Kings of armies did flee apace :
And she that tarried at home divided the spoil.
13 Though ye have lain among the pots,
Yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver,
And her feathers with yellow gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it,
It was white as snow in Salmon.
15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan ;
A high hill as the hill of Bashan.
16 Why leap ye, ye high hills?
Tliis is the hill which God desireth to dwell in ;
Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever.
17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels :
The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive ;
Thou hast received gifts for men ;
Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them,
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily
Loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah,
20 He that is our God is the God of salvation ;
And unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.
21 But God sffall wound the head of his enemies.
And the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan,
I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea :
23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies,
And the tongue of thy dogs in the same.
24 They have seen thy goings, O God ;
Even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after ;
Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
26 Bless ye God in the congregations,
M)en the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler.
The princes of Judah and their council,
The princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Thy God hath commanded thy strength :
Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.
29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem
Shall kings bring presents unto thee.
30 Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of
the people,
Till every one submit himself with pieces of silver :
Scatter thou the people that delight in war.
31 Princes shall come out of Egypt ;
Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God,
32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth ;
O sing praises unto the Lord ; Selah :
33 To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old ;
Lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.
PSALM LXVIII.
383
34 Ascribe ye strength unto God :
His excellency is over Israel,
And his strength is in the clouds. •
35 0 God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places :
The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people.
Blessed be God.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — This Psalm,
if not the most difficult (J, D. Mich.), is yet the
most disputed (Hupfeld), on account of many ob-
scure allusions, rare expressions, and doubtful
readings. It is a Titan (Hitzig), the most glow-
ing, the boldest and the most powerful hymn of
the whole collection (Hupfeld), a Psalm in the
style of Deborah, advancing to the highest pin-
nacle of hymnic invention and representation
(Delitzsch). It is reckoned by some to the later
(Gesenius, Ewald, Hupfeld), by others to the
latest (Ruding., Reuss, Olsh.), by others still to
the most ancient monuments of Hebrew poetry
(De Wette, Bottcher, Hengst., Hitzig, Delitzsch),
because the highest originality in figures and
words is mingled frequently in this lyrical work
of art, with unmistakable repetitions of the fa-
vorite words of previous writings. These, in
many particulars, still need a satisfactory ex-
planation. Yet the Psalm is so transparent in
its chief features, so sublime and edifving that
it deserves and admits of another application
than as a " monument of exegetical extremity
and skill," (Ed. Reuss, 1851). The fundamental
thought is as clear as the arrangement and rhyth-
mical organization, namely : The celebration of
an entrance of God into His sanctuary on Zion after
a victory, and His rule over the world extending itself
from thence. The opening strophe with the very
first words (ver. 1) awakens the most precious re-
membrances of Israel by the watch- word of Num.
X. 3-5, and by changing it into the form of a wish
refers to circumstances in Israel in which the re-
petition of those previous eventsis necessary, and
is directly implored (ver. 2) in order to the ruin
of the wicked (ver. 3), as well as the joy of the
righteous, it transports us into the midst of a
victorious march led by God through steppes,
in reference to which the righteous are exhorted
to praise God with festive joy (ver. 4) as the
Father and Helper of the forsaken (ver. 5), who
provides a home for the solitary and the prison-
er, whilst the rebellious remain in the land
which is scorched by the heat of the sun (ver.
6). Then follows a glance at the providential
care of God over His people in the Arabian
desert after the exodus from Egypt and the re-
velation on Sinai (vers. 7-10), with a repetition
of the words of Deborah, Judges v. ^sq., which
go back to Dent, xxxiii. 2; comp. Ex. xix. 15
sq., as Hab. iii. depends upon this Psalm. This
forms the transition to the hope expressed in
vers. 11-14, of a new victory over hostile kings.
For the Divine names, Adonai and Shaddai, af-
ter the use of Elohim eleven times, the words
ver. 13, and the absence of preterites are in fa-
vor of the supposition that the reference here is
no longer to previous events, but expected ones,
although in allusion to the fact that previous
events are to be repeated, namely, the decision
by God's oracle and the celebration of the vic-
tory by festival choirs of women. By this vic-
tory it is established that Zion has been chosen
by Jehovah for the abiding habitation of histo-
rical revelation (vers. 15, 16), notwithstanding
its littleness in comparison with other moun-
tains. It is comparable with Sinai in holiness,
and likewise protected, as well as honored by
the presence of God, surrounded by His angelic
hosts (vers. 17, 18). Israel now likewise feels
that he is supported and delivered by this God
and Lord (vers. 19, 20), and can safely reckon
upon the ruin of his enemies (vers. 21-23.)
God's festal march of victory will be seen (vers.
24, 26) ; all the tribes of the people will praise
Him (vers. 26, 27) ; the consequences of this
act of judgment and deliverance will be felt
throughout the whole earth, whilst the great
monarchies will submit themselves and mighty
kings with their people will turn to God in
homage (vers. 28-31), and they are summoned to
do this because He thunders down from the
highest heavens of old upon the rebellious (vers.
32, 33), but to His people, over whom His glory
rules from His sanctuary. He gives power from
on high. Hence all the world should acknow-
ledge God's power, and Israel should praise
Him (vers. 34, 35).
It follows from this survey with sufficient
clearness, that this Psalm is not a direct prophecy
of Christ, as to His advent, His saving doctrine,
His triumphant ascension to heaven, His all-em-
bracing sovereignty and Divine glory (J. H.
Mich., after the fathers and most of the older
theologians, especially in connection with the
citation of ver. 18 in Eph. iv. 8). Moreover it
does not admit of a merely spiritual application
(Flamin., Calvin) and typical interpretation
(Stier), but it has a Messianic meaning, yet not
through the prophetic idea of the reuniov of the
divided kingdoms and the restoration of the mo-
narchy (Hupf.), but through the proclamation of
the spreading of the Divine kingdom among the hea-
then by means of the victorious deeds of the Ood of
historical revelation, who is enthroned upon Zion as
in heaven. If this fundamental thought is not
recognized, the Psalm falls asunder into two
parts, and there is left on the one side, merely
the sanctuary of God (J. D. Mich.), or His holy
majesty (Clauss), or His march of victory (Her-
der), on the other side the general feelings, re-
membrances and hopes of the people (Reuss.).
These are then the subject and form the contents
of a festival hymn, which can be put in almost
any time that we may desire, if we either look
away altogether from definite historical events
as an occasion for its composition, and merely
recognize the lyrical shaping of a general idea,
or if we likewise entirely reject the composition
by David, as stated in the title. Accordingly it
has been actually placed in the times of the Mac-
884
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
cabees (Olshausen), especially with reference to
the consecration of the Temple, 1 Mace. v. (Rud-
ing^), in the time of the rule of the ^tolemies
or the Seleucidae (Reuss), in the period of the
exile or shortly afterwards (Ewald, Koster, Hup-
feld), in the time of the struggle of Josiah with
the Egyptian king Necho (Thenius), of Hezekiah
with the Assyrians (Kimchi, Bdttcher), of the
confederate kings Jehoshaphat and Joram with
Moab and Edom, 2 Kings lii. (Hitzig), in the time
of Solomon (De Wette). There are points of
contact, but always at the same time serious ob-
jections to these references. The reasons ad-
duced against the time of David and his compo-
sition of the Psalm however are very weak. The
mention of the Temple may be explained as in
Ps. V. 7, and the combination of .Ethiopia which
was never at war with Israel, with Egypt the
beast of the reed, shows clearly that the refer-
ence here is not to a victory over Egypt and
Gush, but that these are the representatives of
the heathen monarchies in general (Hengsten.).
Since now Assyria is not mentioned here as one
of these powers ; since, furthermore, Zebulon
and Naphtali are mentioned along side of Judah
and Benjamin, and indeed with reference to a
joint celebration of victory in Jerusalem, finally,
since Jehovah marches with them in the ark of
the covenant ; we are led back to times joreuiotza
to a;id not subsequent to the division of the Da-
vidic empire or indeed the exile, and certainly
back of Solomon, for his government was through-
out peaceful. In this state of affairs, however,
it is unnecessary to remain satisfied with the
time of David in general (Calvin). We may
think of the removal of the ark to Mount Zion,
2 Sam. vi. (most of the older interpreters,
finally, Stier, von Hofmann), or of the triumphal
return after the happy issue of a war, and in-
deed in the last case, not so much of the war
with the Syrians and Edomites, 2 Sam.viii. orx.
(Cler., Rosenm.), as with the Ammonites and Sy-
rians, 2 Sam. xi. (Flam., Thol., Hengsten., Reinke,
et al.). It is best however not to think of the go-
ing forth of the ark at the beginning of the war
(Venema, etal.), or of the celebration of victory
at its close, but in accordance with the tone and
course of thought, of the expression of the cer-
tainty of victory which is in part prophetic, in
the course of this perilous war, which extended
into the second year (Delitzsch), on which occa-
sion the ark of the covenant was carried forth
with the army, 2 Sam, xi. 11.
Str. I. Ver. 1. Let God arise. — Elohim is
used here instead of Jehovah (Numb. x. 35). We
are to take the verb as the imperfect instead of
the imperative, yet not as a future (most inter-
preters), or as a hypothetical present (Vatabl.,
De Wette, Hengstenberg, Hitzig). For in the
one case we would have a promise, in the other,
a clause of general application. But we have
nothing to do with either of these, but with an
expression of prayer in the repetition of those
words with which Moses, in marching through
the wilderness, after each halt, called upon the
ark of the covenant to arise and go forward, not
as if the ark was called God Himself (the Rab-
bins), but because the pillar of cloud and fire,
the sign of the Divine presence, rested upon it.
[Ver. 2. It may be that the figures of this
verse, smoke and war, were suggested by the
pillar of cloud and fire, as Hupfeld and Herder
contend. At all events, they are frequent in the
Scriptures, especially in connection with Theo-
phanies, comp. Psalms xxxvii. 20; xcvii. 6:
Hos. xiii. 3 ; Mic. i. 4.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 4. Cast up a highvray for Him*
Tvho driveth along through the steppes,
Jah is His name. — -The name Jah, shortened
from Jehovah, is first found in Ex. xv. 2, and is
probably derived from this passage, as likewise
Ps. cxviii. 14; Is. xii. 2. But that the entire
formula, of casting up (namely a highway, Isa.
Ivii. 14 ; Ixii. 10) through the pathless wilder-
ness, has been derived from Is. xl. 3 (Hupfeld),
is a supposition as ungrounded as the assertion
(Hitzig) that the previously-mentioned words
from Numb. x. have originated from this Psalm.
The reverse is true in both cases. The plural
D13^j7 is certainly not to be derived from 3TJ?=
evening, and to be referred to the region of I lie
evening (Septuagint, Vulgate, etal.), or that of
sunset=gloom of misery and night of misfor-
tune, over which the Lord advances and leads
His people to the sunrise (Schegg), or to be re-
garded in the sense of clouds=heaven (Chald.,
Rabbins), from whence the Lord is to come. It
is the plural from n31J7=sandy desert, which is
found not only between Babylon and Canaan, or
in Arabia, but likewise on (he Jordan.
Ver. 6. God, Tvho maketh the solitary to
dw^ell at home. — These are not the childleas
(Ps. cxiii. 9) who are promised a numerous pos-
terity, but the forsaken, who are to have a home
given to them, Is. Iviii. 7 — [Leadeth forth
prisoners into prosperity. — nniyij is found
only here. It is interpreted by most of the an-
cient versions, the Rabbins, A. V., et al., as:=
chains, as if it were related to "^^p. ButSymm.
renders : etc air62,vatv, and the Syriac : " into
abundance," Hupfeld regards it as equivalent
to the more usual \'i^^3, Ecc. ii. 21 , from lU'J,
a later Hebrew and Aramaic form for 11^% and
thus properly =the trup. condition, prosperity. —
Only the rebellious. — This is stronger and
better than the " but " of A. V. The rebellious
are those who refuse the guidance of the God of
grace. These are obliged to remain in the dry
and parched land, in the wilderness, and " do
not come into the land which is fructified by the
waters of grace, and shine in fresh green and
rich fruits " (Delitzsch).— C. A. B.]
Str. II. Ver. 8. —Yon Sinai before the
face of Elohim, the God of Israel. — Sinai
is not mentioned as the primitive throne of God,
but as the scene of His majesty, as well as the
giving of the law and its terrors, and as the
starting-place of His march towards Canaan, in
contrast with the second throne on Zion (Hup-
feld after Geier, et al.). The 711 is not to be con-
nected with Elohim (Luther, Calvin), but with
Sinai, and the expression is derived from Judges
V. 6. From that song of Deborah is likewise de-
[* Perowne : " The figure is borrowed from the custom of
Fastern monarchs, who sent heralde and pioneers before
them to make all the necessary preparations — to remove
obstructions, etc., along the route which they intended to
follow. Great military roads were mostly the work of the
Romai.a, and were almost unknown before the Persian and
Qrecian periods."— C. A. B.]
PSALM LXVIII.
S86
rived the expression: "the heavens dropped,"
namely, the rain.
Str. III. Ver. 9. Richly with rain didst
Thou sprinkle Thine inheritance. — The re-
ference here is hardly to storms to fructify the
land (.J. D. Mich., Bbttcher), or those giving vic-
tory (Herder), but either to the manna as the
bread of heaven (.Jos. vi, ; Pss. Ixxviii. 24 ; cv.
40), expressly called rain from heaven, Ex. xvi.
4; Ps. Ixxviii. 23 (Venema, Schnurrer, De Wetfe,
Stier, Reuss, Hupfeld), or figurative, not of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit (the older inter-
preters), but of the bestowal of gifts (Rosenm.,
Hengstenberg, Delitzsch), which come down
from heaven as the rain of willingness, that is,
freely, richly (Job xxxvii. 6 ; Ps. ex. 3), upon
the land of Jehovah (Hos. ix. 8), which is like-
wise called the inheritance of God in 2 Mace. ii.
4 (Hitzig, Delitzsch). That we are to think first
not of the people (Hupfeld) but of the land (Cal-
vin), follows from ver. 10, where it is said that
in it (not among them) God's living creatures
found their dwelling-place (3tJ^'). This expres-
sion shows at the flame time that we are not to
think of God's creatures in general (Geier, J.
D. Mich., et al.), or of the quails of the wilder-
ness parallel with the manna (Schnurrer, Hup-
feld), but of the congregation, whether we find
it designated thereby as the complex of a flock
of living creatures, 1 Sam. xviii. 18 (Rabbins,
Calvin, c< aL), after the Arabic=people (Hitzig),
or as the little creature=herd of God, Micah vii.
14 ; Ps. Ixxix. 19 (Luther, et al., Delitzsch), or go
back to the root in and accept the meaning : tent-
circle, circular encampment (2 Sam. xxiii. 11,13).
Str.lY. Ver. 11. The Lord gives the word
{of authority). — The word means here hardly
merely news, namely, of the victory, but with
this reference rather, song, hymn of triumph
(Calvin, Hupfeld). Since however the female
chorus of victory is mentioned directly in con-
nection with the division of booty, and it is bet-
ter to regard 1Di< as a Divine word, either of
promise (Ps. Ixxvii. 8) or of powerful effect
^Hab. iii. 9), and it is designated in ver. 33, as
in Is. XXX. 30, as the sound of thunder, and
Zeeh. ix. 14, as the blast of a trumpet, we
have here to think not of the watch-word in war
f Herder, etal.), but rather of the word of power
(Delitzsch, in part Reuss, G. Baur), which not
only commands the war and promises the vic-
tory, but brings, effects and gives the victory.
There is no reference here to the preaching of
the gospel (older interpreters).
Ver. 12. The kings of hosts are in ironical
oontrast (Bbttcher) with Jehovah Sabaoth. The
correct translation : flee, was originally derived
from the Rabbins. Previously the word was de-
rived from nT'=love, unite oneself, rather than
from nj.— She that abideth at home, is not
the congregation of Israel (Rabbins), but the
mistress of the house, «« the woman in the tent,"
Judges V. 24.
Ver. 13. Would you lie between the
hurdles? The wings of the dove are
overlaid with silver, e^c— The translation:
although you now lie between sooty pots, you
will become white and shining as the wings of
26
the dove (Rabbins, Calvin, [A. V.], et al.), is
certainly false. We are not only to strike out
the " allhough now," which is inserted in the
text, but likewise to put instead of scoty pots
either: boundaries (Chald., Jerome), or: hur-
dles (Kimchi). If the former should be adopted,
however, the sense could not be: if you lie be-
tween the boundaries, that is to say, on the field
in order of battle, you will shine (in the splen-
dor of arms) as the wings of the dove (Luther,
Geier). For the dove is a figure of peace or of
rapid flight. The two chief explanations are
then in this direction, whether we retain the
meaning: boundaries (Rosenm., Bottcher, Stier,
Hengstenberg), or put in place of this : hurdles,
Gen. xlix. 14; Judges v. 16 (Hupfeld, Hitzig,
Delitzsch). The reference is certainly to the
rest of the peaceful land and the shepherd's life,
which is likewise recognized in the untenable in-
terpretation: women drinking (J. D. Mich.).
If now the dove is regarded as the figure of
peace or of domestic life, and at the same time
we recognize the fact that the emphasis is upon
its shining play of colors, we may take the clause
either as scornful^ and as a reproachful question,
whether they resign themselves to the idle and
easy rest, and gaze at the play of colors of the
flying dove (J. D. Mich., Herder, Kbster), or we
may take it as a promise that after the victory,
in peace the wings of the dove, that is to say,
the people of Israel (Schnurrer) as the dove of
God (Delitzsch), Ps. Ixxiv. 19; Hos. vii. 11 ; xi.
11, or their women (Munting., De Wette, Reuss)
will be brilliant in the jewels of the booty which
is rich in gold and silver. This, then, in the
spiritual interpretation, is referred to the fact
that the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit unfold
their splendor in the people (Stier). If now it
is objected to this, that it is not the dove or its
neck, but its wings which afford the point of com-
parison, and this is the correct view, and we
think accordingly of rapid flight, then it is not
the members of Israel which are designated by
these expressions, nor the gold and silver field-
badges of the enemy which are part of the booty
(Maurer), but these wings themselves; and the
glance is inclined to their glistening richness,,
because it is to be the booty of the Israelites.
Whether now we are to regard this again as a
promise and a mere figure of the brilliant lot.
appointed to the people of Israel in the lap of
future peace (Hengstenberg), or as a description^
of the real booty in order to inflame them with
a zeal in pursuit of it, and as a reproachful re-
proof of those who would remain lying in peace-
ful pursuits or between their boundary stakes
(Bottcher, von Hofmann), depends partly on the
general view of the context, and partly whether
we take the particle DJ^, which begins the clause,,
as a conjunction=if, or as an interrogative par*
tide. We decide for the latter, since such ques-
tions of astonishment are used in connecLioir.
with warlike scenes, 2 Sam. xxiii. 10; 1 Mace,
vii. 46 sq.; Judith xv. 4 sq. Moreover the re-
ference back, to Gen. xlix. 14; Num. xxxii.. 5 sq. ;.
Judges v. 16, is manifest, and the mingling of
ideas and figures is avoided (Delitzsch), and.
thf-re is evident not only a thought clear in it-
self expressed in a natural aud easily UQde]>
386
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
stood figure, but at the same time a real ad-
vance in the discourse.
Ver. 14. "When the Almighty scattered
kings in it, it snowed on Zalmon [=dark
mountain). — Qod is designated as Shaddai, which
only occurs once more in the Psalms (Pa. xci. 1) ;
and in the prophets only in Joel i. 16; Is. xiii.
6; Ezek. i. 24; in the Pentateuch only in Num.
xxiv. 4, 16 ; then in Ruth i. 20, 21. It is used
however, 30 times in Job, whilst the fuller form
el shaddai is found as characteristic (Ex. vi. 3)
for the time of the Patriarchs, Gen. xvii. 1 ;
xxviii. 3; xxxv. 11; xliii. 14; xlviii. 3 (in the
Samaritan text likewise xlix. 25), and besides
only in Ezek. x. 6. Now this is connected, not
80 much with the ancient character of the Psalm
(G. Baur.), or with the derivation of this verse
(Olsh.), as well as the two preceding (Hupfeld,
et al.), from an ancient song, as with the fact
that almost all the names of God are found dis-
rtributed in appropriate places in the Psalm. In
accordance with the context, the Hebrew verb,
which properly means: "spread out," is re-
garded by most interpreters as=:" scattered,"
and "in it" is referred to the country, whether
Moab or some other one and the kings are re-
garded as hostile princes and captains. For the
interpretation of the latter as princes of Israel
and as types of the elect of God (Aben Ezra,
•Stier) or as regents set up here and there by
God, through whom light comes in the darkness
(Luther, Rosenm.), corresponds neither with
•the words nor the thought of the text. It is
true we might translate: "have a snowy aspect,
be as white as snow, to be pure, shine " (Rbdiger
in Ges. Thesaur., Hitzig), instead of "snow,"
but the reference to snow must not be left out of
view. The kings here might be compared with
;a light illuminating the darkness ; but their
being scattered can be better represented by
the figure of the falling of snow ; or even the
•consequence of this by the figure of a snowy ap-
pearance. Neither of these figures agree with
•the disputed meaning of Zalmon: darkness,
shade (Chald., Theod., Rabbins, Reuss.), but
both are in accordance with the reference to
Judges ix. 48, where the mountain Zalmon
(Sept., Syr.) south of Shechem, is mentioned,
whose name may be connected with Zelem=
shadow, on account of its well-known richness
in forests, and notwithstanding its comparative
unimportance, might be chosen here on account
of its name, which to the Hebrew ear was adapt-
ed for a play upon words^ (snow on the dark
mountain or black forest). Now we have in the
text not 3=a8 on Zalmon, but Il=either : on or,
in the manner of Zalmon. In connection with
the little height and southerly position of this
mountain, we cannot think of a snowy mountain
or a usual and frequent fall of snow. Thus all
the explanations are excluded which find a com-
parison between the brilliancy of the booty
Tvhich has fallen from the fugitives (Von
Hofmanja^, or the bleeding bones of the slain
(Rivet., Be Wette, et al), and the snow of Zal-
mon, or regard the snow whiteness, of the dark
mountain as a figure of the encouragement of
the previously sorrowing Israel (Calvin, J. H.
Mich., Hengst., et al.). These explanations gain
a 8uppo<rtable sense at the most only when Zal-
mon is at the same time brought forward as a
place either of battle or of refuge to the fugi-
tives (Delitzsch), or when there is found in the
clause: " then snow fell on Zalmon," a figura-
tive expression of the thought : then the moun-
tain, to celebrate this joyous event, clothed it-
self in a bright garment of light (Wetzstein in
Delitzsch's Com.). But for such a geographical
and historical reference of the clause with re-
spect to the foundation of the figure, as the moun-
tains of Hauran, consisting of black rocks with
the doubtful name of Asalmanos in Ptolemaos
for one of its mountains (Wetzstein), or a high
mountain of somewhat the same name among
the mountain peaks of Bashan (Bottcher) would
be more appropriate than the mountain near
Shechem, previously the only one of the name
known which yet could not be put for the entire
land (Von Leng., Hengst.). If we could put the
battle there, it would be much more natural
likewise to regard the snowing as simply histo-
rical than to vex ourselves with doubtful figures
which can only be understood by suggestion.
With this agrees the interpretation that the fall
and ruin of many kings has been designated as
a snowing of the slain (De Wette), especially of
kings in the black mountains (Bottcher, Thol.).
In this case, again, the interpretation that the
fall of snow in question rendered the flight of
the fugitives more difl&cult, or cut off" all places
of refuge (De Dieu), would be more natural than
the supposition of a scornful citation from an
ancient hymn of victory in accordance with
which the rough weather on Zalmon situated
somewhat in the south would be given as a rea-
son for the disinclination to march forth to the
mountain situated in the north (Herder, Hupf).
Since, however, there is no historical statement
here, but rather a prophetical declaration, we
are rather led to a figurative mode of expression,
whose sense, however, is as obscure as its foun-
dation and occasion is unknown. With this re-
sult, the translation: "and snowy bright it shines
in the dark " (Reuss) must likewise rest satisfied.
Str. v., vers. 15, 16. A mountain of God
is the mountain of Bashan, a mount full
of peaks, the mountain of Bashan. Why
do ye look vvith envy, ye many peaked
mountains, on the mountain on which
God has chosen to dwell? — The sense is
the same whether we regard these and the fol-
lowing words as vocatives as an address to the
mountains (Hunting., De Wette, Reuss) or as a
simple sentence (mostinterps.). The mountains
of Bashan consisting of basalt, now rising up
like columns into sharp points, and then conical
in truncated peaks, even if we do not reckon in
lofty Hermon (Olsh., Hupf., Hitzig), as boldly
formed masses of rock of gloomy majesty, make
the impression of antiquity and invincibility
when compared with the Cis-Jordanic moun-
tains, especially with Zion, which consist of po-
rous limestone and milder forms (Delitzsch).
They are thus adapted to a figure of worldly
power in contrast with the congregation of God.
Besides they were for the most part inhabited
by heathen nations hostile to the people of Is-
rael. The reference here is to lurking (Sept.,
Isaki, Kimchi), and so crafty and hostile (Aquil.,
Jerome), or envious and jealous looking over at
PSALM LXVIIL
387
them (J. H. Mich., and most interps.), not to
the leaping of these many-peaked mountains
(Chald., Luther), nor coagulated (Sept.), stiff
with ice (J. H. Mich.)^ Yet it is unnecessary
to think of the actual hostility of those nations
(Bottcher, Ewald, Hengst.) The use of this ex-
pression in order to contrast Bashan with Zion
is explained not only from the dangers threaten-
ing the Theocracy from the north, but is occa-
sioned by the fact, that notwithstanding the pre-
vious conquest of Bashan by Moses, these moun-
tains were not selected as the seat of the Theoc-
racy (Herder, De Wette), although they as Sinai
were ancient mountains of God, properly a
mountain of gods (J, H. Mich., Hupf., Hitzig)
Ps. xxxvi. 6, and not a ridge of godlike great-
ness (Bottcher), one favored by God (Hengst.),
a high mighty mountain (De Wette, et al.), or
one conspicuous as a basaltic mountain above
all other creations of God (Delitzsch). From
the erroneous opinion that the mountain of God
could only mean Zion (finally again Stier), the
ancient versions and interpreters have made it
the subject of the clause and the mountain of
Bashan the predicate and found the sense: the
mountain of God is a fruitful mountain; Bashan
being taken as the type of fruitfulness. Then
they put the heights in the place of the many
peaks, because they did not understand the
vowel points, and explained it symbolically of
spiritual elevation. Only since J. D. Mich, and
"Herder has the true interpretation been known,
to which, however, Rivetus {comm. in pas.proph.
Amst. 1H45) pointed in vain.
Ver. 17. The chariots of God are my-
riads, thousands and again thousands,
this Lord among them — [it is) a Sinai in
sanctity. — Over against the warlike powers of
the kings of hosts (ver. 12), the infinitely supe-
rior power of God is designated with expressions
which are derived from the characteristics of
warlike power, Ps. xx. 7; Hab. iii. 8, 15, and
are therefore symbols not only of sovereiga
power (Hengst.), but at the same time of trium-
phant victory (Schnurrer). They remind us,
on the one side, of the fiery horses and chariots
that carried up Elijah and surrounded Elisha to
protect him (2 Kings ii. 11; vi. 17), and on the
other of the noly myriads (Deut. xxxiii. 2) sur-
rounding God on Sinai, and therefore bringing
before the soul the innumerable angels of God
(Dan. vii. 10; Matt. xxvi. 63). And thus they
lead in this passage not to the ascension of Christ
(most of the older interps.), but yet symbolize
more than Divine providence and help (Calvin),
namely, the all-conquering presence of the God
' of revelation and holiness on Zion in its analogy
with His previous presence on Sinai. In favor
of this is likewise the final clause of ver. 17,
which is not: on Sinai in the sanctuary (Sept.,
Vulg., Chald. [A. V.]), but either: Sinai in the
. sanctuary (most interps. after L. de Dieu), or:
a Sinai in holiness (Delitzsch), The latter gives
the most suitable sense : that Zion affords a
eight as Sinai afforded it when God in His ap-
pearance surrounded it with holiness. The for-
mer interpreters, however, would give the dis-
torted thought that Sinai now or, as it were, has
entered into th« sanctuary, and thus Zion has
become a second Sinai, in an unclear form. For
it is much less natural to suppose that Zion it-
self has become Sinai by the presence of the ark
with the tables of the law than to be reminded of the
presence of God in the midst of \xin\\m.Qr&\i\Q multi-
tudes of His angels (Deut. xxxiii. 2), the latter,
however, not as Gal. iii. 19; Heb. ii. 2 (Hengst.)
as the mediator of the law-giving, but as the com-
pany surrounding His throne and as heavenly at-
tendants in general. We have to do here, how-
ever, not with these servants and their use, but
with a beholding the glory of the God who manifests
Himself on Zion as on Sinai as the heavenly king,
and our attention is drawn not to that which
happened, as it were, in the sanctuary, but to
that which Zion is when compared with Sinai,
namely, a place of the revelation and manifesta-
tion of this God. Thus it is not said that Sinai,
with its glory of thunder and lightning (Bottch er),
is now in the sanctuary, but that Zion as Sinai
brings into view the majestas tremenda of Jehovah.
H ence it is preferable to take K^lpS (comp. ver.
24) as Ps. Ixxvii. 13; Ex. xv. ll=:in the, name-
ly, well known holiness. Under these circum-
stances, we are not forced to the conjecture,
which is very natural, it is true, on account of
Deut, xxxiii. 2, to read U"'DD xi=He has come
■ ■ ■ T
from Sinai into the (namely, well-known) eano-
tnary (Pott, Koster, Maurer, Olsh., Hupf., [Pe-
rowne]), instead of ''ro D3. Besides this has
against it the fact that God has not entered into
the sanctuary in Zion in the midst of His hea-
venly hosts, but ascended from Sinai to the
height of heaven again as after every descent to
earth, and that this fact is directly brought for-
ward in ver, 18. It. would be much simpler to
suppose that a D has fallen away from before
Sinai (Hitzig). But then we would have the
untrue thought: the Lord among them, (coming)
from Sinai in holiness=in unapproachableness,
1 Sam. vi. 20. — The closing word is consequently
a closer definition of the noun Sinai which im-
mediately precedes; but it is not the Lord, but
Zion as the place of His revelation, which is a
Sinai like this. A false derivation of jNJSy haa
occasioned the translation: thousands of happy
ones or gladly rejoicing ones (Sept., Vulg.).
The literal translation of the clause is thousands
of repetition.*
Ver. 18. Thou hast ascended up on high.
Thou hast led captives captive, Thou
hast taken gifts of {=censisting of) men,
and even the rebellious, in order to dwell
as Jah Elohim. — The dwelling of Jehovah on
Zion being referred to, it is natural to think of
the "height of Zion" (Jer. xxxi. 12; Ezek.
xvii. 23 ; xx. 40) as the aim of the procession
(Hitzig), yet not of the return of the ark which
has just taken place (De Wette), but of the first
entrance of God into Zion (Ewald, Reuss, Olsh.)
after the storming of the citadel of Zion, 2 Sam.
V. 7 (Delitzsch), without its being necessary to
regard the captives particularly as the bond-
slaves of the sanctuary, the Nethinim, Ex. viii.
20; comp. Num. xvii. 6 (Bottcher), as the Gi-
beonites (Jos. ix. 23). But the "height" with-
out any further additions, and with the article
* [The word is a ait. Xey., and ia rendered by the Tnrg. and
Saadia foUowed.by A. V.i thousandB of <mgeL» — C. A. B.]
888
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
always elsewhere, means the height of heaven as
the dwelling of God, Pss. vii. 7; xviii. 16; xciii.
4; cii. 19 (Hengst., Hupf.), and ver. 33 likewise
here points to this, yet there is no mingling of
the heavenly and earthly figure and seat of God
(Hupf.) here, but the biblical view of the ascent
of God into heaven after that He had made Him-
self known on earth in deeds of omnipotence and
love and had conducted the cause of His people
there, Ps. xlvii. 5 (Hengst.).- Likewise the pre-
terite here refers to such a historical manijesta-
tion, and the following expressions show that it
has to do with such deeds of God for His people,
by which hostile nations were subjected, their
gifts of homage brought and accepted, the testi-
monies of the victorious dwelling of Jehovah
among His people increased and confirmed. The
enthronement of God in the heaven. His ascent
and descent, His dwelling in His house on Zion
and among His people agree very well with one
another, and are not only symbols and types,
but are actual guidances and real foundations
of history, which come to fulfilment and com-
pletion in and through Christ, Thus this pas-
sage (Eph. iv. 8 sq.) is referred to the victorious
march (Col. ii. 15) of the triumphant Redeemer,
yet from the stand-point of fulfilment it is ap-
plied in such a way that the thought comes out
that the conqueror has not taken to himself these
gifts, which constitute his spoils, for his own
enrichment, but for the benefit of men. For
there the reference is to " giving " the gifts, as
likewise in the Syriao and Chald., yet here
the reference is to " taking." But this differ-
ence vanishes when we regard the tribute,
which sometimes is designated as gift and pre-
sent (2 Sam. viii. 2, (i), as consisting of n>en
(Ewald). These are here not the slaves of the
temple (BoLtcher), or proselytes (De Wette), or
the apostles and evangelists as the servants of
God (J. D. Mich.), but those who voluntarily
submit themselves in distinction from those who
are directly mentioned as made subjects by com-
pulsion. For it is very natural that the clause:
" and the rebellious also," should depend upon
the verb (Geier), as the second object subordi-
nate to the first object, " gifts of men." It is
true we might put instead o,f this expression :
^jfts among men (Olsbausen), that is to say, on
earth (llengstenberg) ; but the interpretation:
and among the rebellious also (Delitzsch), would
demand that we should supply the preposition,
which would be difficult, and the interpretation :
and the rebellious likewise, namely, give Thee
(Hengstenberg), would require together with
the supply of the verb, a transposition of form.
By our interpretation the clause of design unites
naturally with the preceding, its structure de-
manding not that Jdh Elohim should be taken as
subject (Delitzscb)=in order that he may dwell,
that is to say Jah Elohim continue to dwell. It
would be more natural to regard these as voca-
tive (Hengstenberg, Hitzig). But this would
make the clause of design too insignificant, or
give it a wrong sense, if we should unite it with
" ascend," which besides is against the accents.
Hence we take the two last words as a closer defi-
nition ji.oi only of the subject addressed in all the
preceding verbs, but at the same time of His
dwelli^i aa it is brought about by His actions
which characterize the conqueror. Thus the con-
nection of the two names of God in this very
passage is explained. This is not so much the
case if the whole line is regarded as an inde-
pendent clause: and the rebellious likewise are
to serve for a dwelling of Jehovah Elohim, or:
dwell with Jehovah Elohim (De Wette, Maurer,
Hupf. ), whether it is taken as active or as passive.
At the same time this would give the prophetical
idea of a future conversion of the heathen aa
unusual manner of expression and one which is
less suitable to the context. It leads rather to
the thought of a revelation of power and glory
made by the God of Israel as the heavenly king
and the conqueror of hostile powers, in order
that He may dwell on Zion as He is enthroned
in heaven, as Jehovah Elohim. There is no re-
ference here to His dwelling in the hearts of
men as the third sanctuary (J. D. Mich.)
Str. VI. Ver, 19. Blessed be the Lord day
by day ! Are we burdened— He, God, is
our help. — By a change of the disputed ac-
centuation (Bahrafter Heidenheim), thedesigna-
tion of time, " day by day," is by many attached
to the second member of the verse (Chald,,
Isaki, Kimchi). Then the sense is simply: He
burdeneth Himself for us (Delitzsch), helps us
bear it (Ewald), bears us or is burdened with
us (Jerome, Hupfeld) ; for DDJ? is not used of the
heaping up of benefits (Calvin, Rudinger, et al.),
and since it is here connected with 7, and not
as usual with 7^;, and since SxH ofi'ers itself as
an appropriate subject of the clause, this inter-
pretation is more preferable than the explana-
tion: the God of our help and our salvation
daily loadeth us [A. V.], which would lead to
an entirely diflferent course of thought. But
we may divide the second member into an ante-
cedent and consequent, whilst we connect the
designation of time with the first clause ; and
then the context is in favor of leaving the sub-
ject undetermined (L. de Dieu, Hengstenberg,
Hiizig), As a matter of course, /NH is not like
/N Wn. We have only translated it thus for
perspicuity. The definite article renders God
prominent as the well-known God of Israel, who
alone is the real and true God,
Ver. 20. Jehovah the Lord has for death
■ways of escape. — The reference here is not
to issues in death for the enemies (Symmach.,
the Rabbins, et al.), but ways of deliverance
(Calvin), by which we may go forth free (Hit-
zig) with respect to death (Stier), or at the ex-
pense of death [dai. incomm.) ; an expression 80
comprehensive that it can mean the departure
from death to eternal life, as that in contrast
with death, frona anxiety of death in peril of
life. There is an expression of the highest
triumph in the rhymes at the end of the verses,
20, 21, 26 (Bbttcher).
Sir. VII. Ver. 21. The hairy scalp is best
understood of a head with luxuriant growth of
hair, the sign of the bloom of youth and power
(Hupfeld, Delitzsch), as the unshorn head with
bristly hair (Bottcher) is the figure of desolate,
wild nature (Stier), or defiant wildness (Geier).
It cannot be decided whether there is meanthere
PSALM LXVIII.
889
a prominent person who was then particularly
hated (Olsh )
Ver. 22. Bring back. — The context shows
that this does not promise the bringing back of
those who have met with misfortune upon moun-
tains or on the sea (Chald. and the Talmudists),
nor the deliverance of those threatened with
great dangers (Vat., Stier, et al.), nor the lead-
ing back of the Israelites scattered in the whole
world (Reuss, Olshausen), but the reaching the
beaten enemies, whether they have hidden in in-
accessible places in the mountain- forests of Ba-
shan, or in the abysses of the sea, that is, the salt
sea (Is. xvi. 8 ; 2 Chron. xx. 2), in order that
the people may take vengeance upon them. Num.
xxi. 34; Deut. iii, 2 ; Amos ix. 2 (Geier, et al.)
Yer. 23. That thou mayest wash thy foot
In blood. — According to the present reading,
timchaz, we joxnat translate : in order that thou
mayest crush (namely them) with thy foot in
blood (Hengstenberg). But this is contrary to
the accents. If on the other hand the last words
are not regarded as adverbial, but according to
the accents as the object of the verb: that thou
shakest, that is, violently movest thy foot in
blood, then we come in conflict with the meaning
of the word, comp. ver. 21 and Ps. ex. 6 ; Num.
xxiv. 8, 17. Hence it is appropriate to change
the reading into iirchaz, Ps. Iviii. 10=that thou
mayest bathe (almost all recent interpreters),
and this is more acceptable than to change the
letters into y^H^. (Hitzig), in order to get the
sense : that he may become red (Kimchi, Vatab.,
et al.), or become brilliant (Ewald), or dip one-
6elf=become colored (Septuagint, Vulgate, Syr.,
Fhiminius, Calvin, Rudinger [A. V.]). — The
tongue of thy dogs have its part in the
enemies. — Almost all the older interpreters
take the closing word, ^HilO, as a preposiiion (=r
of it), and refer it either to the enemy partly
distributively, partly to the one who according
to ver. 21 goes about proudly and securely (most
interpreters), or to the blood (Calvin, Geier, Ge-
senius, Hengstenberg.) We must then either
supply a verb, e.g., drink, or lick, or obtain.
This would be hardly admissible and would be
harsh after " of their enemies." It ia natural
to think of the verb TMD (Isaki, comp. Job vii.
3 ; Jonah ii. 1 ; Dan. i. 10) ; but the sense : He
gave the tongue of thy dogs its part of the ene-
mies (J. D. Mich.), is inconsistent with the con-
struction. Accordingly we must regard it as a
substantive, either one not found elsewhere, yet
usual in the Chald., |D (HupfeldandDelitzsch
after the proposition of Simon), in connection
with which \W/, which occurs elsewhere as a
fem., is considered as a masc, as perhaps Ps.
xxii. 15 ; Prov. xxvi. 28, or the well-known word
which we get by correcting the form into ^njD
Ps. Ixiii. 10 (Olshausen), with the meaning: por-
tion of food (Ps. xi. 6; xvi. 6), which is more
appropriate than ^HiipO (Hitzig), in order to get
the idea of a8siffnatum=the allotted portion.
Str. VIII. Ver. 24. They have seen Thy
processions, O God, the processions of
my God, of my King in holiness.— The
subject is not specifically designated, but con-
oretely thought, and therefore is not to be weak-
ened into an indefinite subject. The perfect
does not favor the march against the enemy, as
Ps. Ixxvii. 13 ; Hab. iii. 6, but the triumphal
procession after the victory, with which the fol-
lowing clauses agree. The supposition of a pro-
cession "into the sanctuary" (Hupf., et al.), is
against the form of the word, tliat of a proces-
sion " in the sanctuary " (De Wette, Hengsten-
berg), against usage, hence it is better to trans-
late as ver. 17 b. [in holiness'].
Ver. 26. Ye from the fountain of Israel.
— The fountain of Israel is not Christ as the
fountain of salvation (many older interpreters),
but the ancestor from whom the people sprang,
Is. xlviii. 1 ; li. 1. The sense is the same
whether we regard this verse as the shout of the
poet, as Judges v. 9 (Hengstenberg), or as part
of the song of the singers and damsels.
Ver. 27. All portions of the people with their
princes are to be represented in this festival
gathering. Two southern and two northern
tribes are mentioned as representatives ; and
first Benjamin, because the first royal conqueror
of the heathen sprang from it, and because the
sanctuary was in its boundaries (Deut. xxxiii.
12; Jos. XV. 17; xviii. 16) ; then Judah, as the
home of David ; then follows Zebulon and Nap-
thali, celebrated for their bravery in the song
of Deborah (Judges v. 18, comp. iv. 6), which
are found in Is. viii. 23, in an entirely diff"erent
connection. Benjamin is called the little, not
as the youngest son of Jacob (De Wette), but on
account of the little extent of its territory and
the small number of its inhabitants, 1 Sam. ix.
21. The word Ul'^ is obscure, it cannot mean :
" its prince " (Septuagint, Geier, De Wette), but
rather : he who conquers it, that is to say, its
ruler [A. V.] What then does this mean? Since
m"l elsewhere is used only of violent subjuga-
tion, the reference to the marshal keeping the
procession in order (Clericus, Delitzsch), is just
as objectionable as the reference to the rule over
the Israelites, whetlier taken historically (Stier,
«< aZ.) or prophetically (Hupfeld). Nothing re-
mains then but to go back further than the im-
mediately preceding verses and consider the
enemies conquered by the Benjaminites under
Saul, 1 Sam. xiv. 47 sq. (Hengstenberg) as the
object of the ruling. [Moll thus translates :
There is little Benjamin, their conqueror
(namely, the conqueror of the enemies mentioned
previously).— C. A. B.] The word DnDJ*! is
still more obscure. For those are demonstratively
false derivations, by which they seek to get the
meaning princes (the ancient versions, Jerome,
Flaminius, Cocc, et al.), by means of the idea:
embroidered clothing, or purple. The v,ordraffam
means : stone. But the meaning=their stone=
their rock=their support or strength (Rosenm.,
after L. de Dieu), brings a strange thought into
the context in a word strange to this thought;
and the translation : their stoning, that is, their
(the enemies) subduing by the use of sling-stones,
or with an allusion to the sling of David (Rivet.,
Bottcher in his Proben, Hengst., Baihinger), is
at least an obscure expression for a remote
thought. The explanation : their throwing one
upon another=overthrow (Bottcher, in JEhren-
lese), is scarcely better. By means of the Arabic
390
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
(Gesenius, Hitzig, Delitzscli), however, we may
get the idea of a thickly pressed throng, a mass of
people (Luther, et al.), in connection with which
we may think of Judah aa the most numerous
tribe affording the great masses (Stier, Kosier),
without being obliged to change the reading into
DilB^JT (Hupfeld), which word besides would af-
ford the idea of a noisy crowd. It is true we
miss the copula, "and," or the preposition
"with," since the supposition of an apposition
is excluded by the sense of the word. Yet the
style and circumstances admit of the asyndet.
juxtaposition of princes and their multitudes of
people. This seems much more tolerable than
the translation : there is Benjamin, little, — fol-
lowing the princes of Judah with their crowds
(Hitzig), which is connected with another expla-
nation and position of D"]!! in the clause.
Str. IX. Vers. 28, 29. Thy God has com-
manded, etc. — Since the sudden address to
Israel is strange, and God is again addressed
directly in the following clause, and all the an-
cient versions have the vocative in the first mem-
ber, it is natural to change the reading from
fJ'riSx n^V ii^to D^rtbx n\^, that is, O God, com-
mand (Dathe, Bottcher, Ewald, Olshausen, Hup-
feld), yet it is unnecessary. So likewise \fQ
need not think of an address (of theEphraimite
poet) to a king (Jehosaphat) who had come
to the help of his people with an army, and with
reference to this translate still further : the
powerful help of God, as Thou affordedst it to
us (Hitzig), This is opposed, not to speak of
other objections, by the immediately following
undoubted address to God in the words : *' From
Thy temple." For there is no occasion for
attaching these words to the preceding clause,
and then translate: "to Jerusalem," and con-
necting this with the following clause (Hupfeld,
[Perowne]). The temple is the place in which
the kings will offer their gifts, and this temple
is at Jerusalem, that is to say, rises up ab-jve
Jerusalem. The interpretation of |p as, be-
cause of, or on account of Thy temple (Symm.,
Luther, Geier, Ewald, [A. V.]), gives an incor-
rect sense, the interpretation : from the temple
to Jerusalem (Bottcher), as a statement of the
extent of the procession which brings the pre-
sents, gives an unnatural local limitation. It is
unnecessary, moreover, to connect ver. 29 c.
closely with 28 b. (De Wette), or to undertake a
transposition of the members into the pretended
original order, vers. 28 a. 29 a. 28 b. 29 b. (Ols-
hausen). If we find the transitive interpreta-
tion of '\V^=Toborare, objectionable, not with-
standing Prov. viii. 28 ; Eccle. vii. 19, and in
spite of the example of the Septuagint, Symm.,
Flaminius, Calvin, et al., and the consent of De-
litzsch and Hupfeld, we may translate : show or
prove Thyself mighty (most interpreters) in that
which (J. H. Mich., Rosenmuller), or: Thou
who. Is. xlii. 24 (Kcister, De Wette, Olsli.), has
wrought or done for us.
Str. X., ver. 30. Rebuke the beast of the
reed, &c. — This is not the boar (Bochart, Oed-
mann) or the lion (Isaki), whether as a symbol
of Syria (Lowth, Scnnurrer) or a figure of strong
enemies in general (Bottcher) ; etill less is it the
serpent or the dragon as the symbol of Babylon
(Gesenius) ; but either the crocodile, Ps. Ixxiv.
13; Ezek. xxix. 3 (De Wette), or since this ani-
mal lives in the Nile itself, and not in the reeds,
better, the hippopotamus, Job xl. 21 (Hengst.,
Hitzig, Delitzsch) as the symbol of Egypt (Is.
XXX. 6), whose emblem is the reed, Is. xxxvi. 6.
The bulls (literally, the strong ones) are by
their connection with calves of the peoples
not used as figures of the gods (Hitzig), but of
leaders and princes (most interpreters). The
proper expression: "peoples," is used epexege-
tically alongside of the figurative and "calves"
(Geier), or has mingled with it into a mixed
idea. — Stamping along -with silver pieces.
— This is very obscure. The sing. masc. embraces
ail the rebuked in one. The participle desig-
nates the action as simultaneous with the re-
buking. This already affords many strong ob-
jections to the usual translation: that they may
submit themselves. Besides 03*1 only means:
to stamp, accordingly since the Hithpael is used
here, it should be translated: being in a state
of stamping, or : letting himself to stamp. The
latter does not suit the words: "with uncoined
pieces of silver." We abide therefore by the
former; for the meaning: stamping upon one's
8elf=casting one's self violently and fiercely to
the earth (Delitzsch), condemns itself. And the
translations: all trots itself near (Bottcher pre-
viously), or: all that bestirs itself (Bottcher
finally^, lack a sure foundation. The same is
true with the explanation : people that bind them-
selves to servitude for gold (Reuss)=crowd of
hirelings. So likewise the explanation: those
who there tread under foot (Luther), or who
tread one another under foot (Koster) for pieces
of silver, that is, for the sake of booty, is untena-
ble ; and the reference of the participle (pros-
ternens sibi) to God as the subject of the follow-
ing clause dispergit (Maurer) would give rise to
a hard construction. This reference to God
may be retained and a suitable sense gained in
two parallel members of the verse by changing
the O into H, the participle into the imperative
(Hupf.). and by changing the vowel points, and
thus partly making the preterite *^0, which is
taken by many (Sept., Ewald, Bottcher, Reuss,
Olsh., Hitzig) as an imperative, into the real
imperative TT3, partly making the substantive
\-^"}3 into the participle \V^5 (De Rossi, Olsh.,
Hupfeld), which is likewise referred to by some
who follow the sense (Sept., Symmach., Pott,
Clauss). It is then said of God: act towards
them stamping (that is, trampling upon them),
who desire silver ; scatter the people who desire
war. These changes are, however, pure con-
jectures, although, as a whole, since, with the
exception of one consonant, they only affect the
vowels, they are easier and more in accordance
with the context than to chanffe DS'lnD into
DS^np, that is, adorn themselves (Hitzig). For
although women, perhaps even men, mean to
adorn themselves with strings of gold and silver
coins, likewise with nose-rings, yet such a de-
coration with pieces or lumps of silver is not
known to be characteristic of the nations referred
to, even if we should overlook the impropriety
PSALM LXVIII.
391
of this designation for the peoples and princes
just characterized as animals.
Ver. 31. Magnates shall come out of
Egypt. — The Q'ilDC'n from which the Macca-
bees claimed the name of Asmoneans are appa-
rently the perillustres, the illustrious. The
usual derivations from the Arabic are untenable
(Fleischer in Delitzsch's commentary). The mean-
ing: couriers (Bottcher) is unsafe, and has little
propriety; that of elders (Sept., Vulg., Arm.)
is without etymological support; that of the
Ghasmoneans as the inhabitants of the Egyptian
province of Ashummim (J. H. Mich.) is without
historical basis or occasion ; that of fat, that is,
rich, strong, distinguished (Hupf.) is possible.
In accordance with the sense and context they
are the magnates (Chald., Rabbins). — Cush
shall send forth speedily his hands to
God. — 'Cush, that is ./Ethiopia, with Egypt as
in Is. xlv. 14, is here used as the name of the
land with the fem. form, and is connected with
Vni^^make to run; but it is immediately treated
as the name of the people by the masc. suffix in
VT, apparently because the " hands " are men-
tioned. Accordingly it is the less necessary to
change the reading into TT_T, as enallage gen.
(Jer. viii. 5 ; Job xxxix. 3, 16) occur as well as
enallage num. (Ps. Ixii. 4). And since as well
the context as the expression "make the hands
run" are better suited to the offering of tribute
than to the lifting up of the hands in prayer,
there is no occasion for changing the reading
into D'^n (Hitzig), in order to get the latter
idea.
[Str. XI. Ver. 32. To Him who drives
along in the primeval heaven of heavens.
— Delitzsch : "The Psalmist stands so entirely
in the midst of this final glory that floating
along in faith above all the kingdoms of the
world, he calls upon them to praise the God of
Israel. 33'^' connects itself with the ruling
idea of H'B^. The heaven of heavens, Deut. x.
14, are designated by Ulp as primeval (perhaps
as according to their origin reaching out far
above the heavens of the earthly world of the
2d and 4th days of creation) ; God drives along
in the primitive heavens of heavens, Deut. xxxiii.
26, since He by means of the cherubim, Ps. xviii.
10 extends his efficiency to all places of this in-
finite distance and height." — See He sounds
with His voice, the mighty voice. — Hupf.,
Delitzsch, et al., regard the mighty voice as in
apposition with His voice, and this seems best.
Riehm, however, would make the mighty voice
the object and translate thus: He makes a
mighty voice to sound with His voice. This
would be more literal, but somewhat tautologi-
cal. — C. A. B.]
Str. XII. [ver. 34. Ascribe strength to
God. — Delitzsch: "Give back to Him in ac-
knowledgment and praise the omnipotence which
He has and proves. His glory rules over Israel
as its defence and confidence. His power, how-
ever, embraces all created things, not only the
earth, but also the highest regions of the hea-
ven. The kingdom of grace reveals the majesty
and glory of His redemptive work (Eph. i. 6),
the kingdom of nature His all-prevalent omnipo-
tence."—C. A. B.]
Ver. 35. Fearful art Thou, God, from Thy
holy places. — Most ancient versions and many
codd. have the singular; but the plural is cer-
tain and, is not merely used poetically (Hupf.),
but either because the one sanctuary embraced
a number of holy places, Jer. li. 61 ; Amos viU
9 (most interps.), or because the reference here
is at the same time to earthly and heavenly
sanctuaries (Hitzig).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In times which threaten danger to the peo-
ple of God, nothing better can be done than to
call upon the heavenly King imploring His in-
terference in behalf of Hi» people. For the rising
up of the A^lmighty is connected with the de-
struction of the power of their enemies, who are un-
able to resist Him, and with the rejoicing of the
pious in the assurance of victory. "This is the
sum of the matter: although God is quiet for a
time whilst the ungodly cruelly and wickedly
afflict the church, yet He finally rises up to
avenge it, and believers have protection enough
in His help, when once He stretches forth His
hand against the ungodly" (Calvin). This is
the "great theme which is repeated again and
again and in constantly new features in the his-
tory of the kingdom of God on earth until finally
the last judgment takes up into itself all the
previous judgments of God and completes them"
(Tholuck).
2. God declares by His names not only how he
would be named and addressed by man, but He
likewise reveals in them His essential nature^ and
He confirms the truth of this revelation by cor-
responding acts, by which the rebellious are
judged and terrified, whilst the obedient and
God-fearing are delivered from their misery and
comforted in their necessities. Therefore this
name of God is to the pious at the same time the
means of thankful adoration and invocation, and
the occasion of strengthening their faith for the
joyous remembrance of the comforting and fear-
ful government of God in history, especially in
guiding His people through a hostile world.
3. Although God condescends from His hea-
venly throne to His people in their pilgrimage
on earth and their wanderings through the wil-
derness and becomes their leader and protector
in personal nearness, yet He does not lose His
Divine power and glory. On the contrary. He
partly makes them known and partly renders
them effective in behalf of His congregation.
And He has not only done this once in passing by
on Sinai and in connection with the march of
the Israelites through the wilderness, the
Almighty God would have an abiding dwelling
among His people on earth, Ex. xxv. 8; xxix. 45.
For this purpose He maintains the covenant re-
lation entered into with Israel on Mt. Sinai and
reveals His Divine glory which is everlastingly the
same, when He as King of Israel And His people's
protector and benefactor establishes His throne on
Mt. Zion, which humble hill He, as the God who
accepts the poor and exalts the humble- in free
grace, has selected as His typical and symbolical
dwelling-place, exalted it above all the lofty
392
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
mountains and proud peaks as the only true
mountain of God, and made it the centre of His
historical revelation to the world as well as His all-
conquering Divine sovereignty (comp. Mic. iv. 1-3;
Is. ii. 11 sq.), since natural advantages must
yield to the gifts of grace, as well as worldly
power to the omnipotence of God, the only sove-
reign and Lord.
4. As God has drawn personally nigh to His
people on Sinai, without giving up His heavenly
glory or Divine omnipotence, so He has again
ascended to the heights of heaven without with-
drawing His presence of blessing and protection
from Hiu people. This latter is, on the one
Bide, only symbolically shown in the Old Testa-
ment, and on the other side mediated by forms
of worship: hence another descent and ascension
is indispensable, which is likewise promised,
believed in, hoped for, and implored. However,
we can trace what is referred to here ; namely,
that all the ways of God, His coming and going.
His descent and ascension, afford to His people,
and through them to the world, acts of deliver-
ance and gifts of blessing. Moreover, with re-
spect to God Himself, they appear as steps of
victory and as marches of triumph, whose spoils
He uses as well for the salvation of the world as
for His own glory.
6. The acta of God in Israel thus gain, on the
one side, a universal historical, and, on the other,
a prophetical character. In the first respect, it
is shown that the God of historical revelation
has the real Divine power and deserves all ado-
ration, that is to say, that Jehovah is Elohim,
and as such has His dwelling in heaven and on
earth. In the latter respect, it is shown that
every victory of Israel over hostile peoples
gained by undoubted help from God is a real
advance towards the end of spreading abroad the
kingdom of Ood over all the world and of the
recognition of His glory among all nations.
6. When now God not only drives thundering
about in the heavens, whose origin is back of
the beginnings of human history, but sends forth
from Zion a terrible judgment upon the enemies
of His people, whereby the mightiest monarchies
are destroyed, the most warlike nations scat-
tered, and voluntary gifts of homage gained from
the most distant lands, whilst elsewhere compul-
sory tribute is removed and the triumphant victor
applies the rich booty tiiken from the conquered
to the good of His people, and bestows upon
them victory and peace after the sorrow of war :
then it is becoming for the congregation to
praise in their assemblies this God whose govern-
ment is alike exalted iu nature and history, in
all their trouble to testify their faith in Him who
glorifies Himself in His people by His grace as
well as by His power, and to make themselves
constantly more and more the willing and appro-
priate instruments of spreading about the blessed
operations of the Divine victory and triumph.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The omnipotence of God is as destructive and
terrible to His enemies as helpful and comforting
to His friends. — The names of God correspond
with His acts: both mutually explain and con-
firm one another and throw light upon God's
being. — In God His people have the mightiest
protector, the most loving provider, the most re-
liable guide. — God not only has His throne in
heaven, but He dwells likewise in the midst of
His people; but from both sanctuaries He sends
forth His grace and truth as well as His power
and glory. — When God marches forth witJi His
people, it may be at first into the wilderness ; but
the goal, ih.Q promised land, will surely be reached.
— We should not only pray God to come to our
help, but, on the one side, prepare the way for
Him, on the other /oZZoii; His guidance. — Whether
God has descended to the earth or gone up on high
again, all is for His glory and our good. — When
God triumphs over all His enemies. He uses the
spoils of victory for the good of His people. —
God conquers all the powers of the world in order
to spread abroad His kingdom among all nations.
— God not only reveals Himself once, but at dif-
ferent times and in different places and in many
ways, but always and above all as the same holy
God. — God helps His people in war, and leads
to victory, but His purpose is peace. — It matters
not how many friends we have and what earthly
means we possess, but that God is with us. — He
who does not voluntarily submit himself to the
gracious God will be compelled to submit by the
power of the Almighty. — No one can hinder
God's ways and will. He knows how to carry
out His will and attain the end of His ways. —
Sinai and Zion are the mountains of God as Israel
is the people of God, not on account of natural
advantages, but the divine election of grace. — The
fairest places on earth are where God draws near
the world for its salvation; the choicest hours
those in which God communes with His people;
the most precious assemblies those in which the
mighty deeds of God are celebrated.
Starke : God regards the enemies of the
church as His own enemies ; therefore if they
continue in their wickedness, utter ruin and
everlasting trembling await them. — When God
espouses the cause of His people, nature must
tremble and melt. — The world, without the gos-
pel, would be a hot hell in which the miserable
would languish ; but by the gospel it becomes a
paradise for the pleasant dwelling of believers
and the strong refreshment of those who hunger
after grace. — The day, the burden, the help and
the praise depend one upon another. — Although
the gospel is proclaimed by weak men, it has a
Divine power. — Spread abroad the glory of
Christ's power wherever you can. — Arndt: No
man can hinder it because it is God's work,
God's power and strength, God's arrangement
and command. — Renschel : It is impossible
that the Christian Church should perish; for
God is not only a guest in it, but He dwells
therein forever as the host.— Baihinqee: The
nations can see God's glory in Israel, His power
in the firmament, but they may mistake the
preaching. — Tholdck: Israel is the scene of
Divine revelation and the people from whom
God's salvation is to come upon all others. —
Gubnther: Zion is the kingdom of God; all
others, even the mightiest, are worldly kingdoms
and must decay. — Diedrich : God is to be
praised as the destroyer of the ungodly and the
d.'liverer of His people; He is the God who will
glorify Himself in the entire race of man.
PSALM LXIX.
393
[Matt. Henry : Those who go on still in their
trespasses and hate to be reformed God looks
upon as His enemies and will treat them accord-
ingly.— Public mercies, which we jointly share
in, call for public thanksgivings, which all
should join in. — Nor is any attribute of God
more dreadful to sinners than His holiness. —
Barnes : Nothing more clearly marks the be-
nignity and the wisdom of God than the ar-
rangement by which men, instead of being soli-
tary wanderers on the face of the earth, with
nothing to bind them in sympathy, in love, and
in interest to each other, are grouped together
in families. — Perowne: God is both the loving
Father and the righteous Judge; and the several
classes of the lonely, the destitute, the oppressed,
the captives, are mentioned as so many instances
of those who have experienced both His care
and^His righteousness, in order that from these
the conclusion may be drawn in all similar cases.
— Spurqeon: When a man has a rebellious
heart, he must of necessity find all around him
a dry land. — Happy people ! though in the wil-
derness, for all things are ours in possessing the
favor and presence of our God. — God's election
is a patent of nobility. They are choice men
whom God has chosen, and that place is super-
latively honored which He honors with His pre-
sence. The Church of God, when truly spirit-
ual, wins for her God the homage of the nations.
— When we are reconciled to God, His omnipo-
tence is an attribute of which we sing with de-
light.--C. A. B.]
PSALM LXIX.
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.
Save me, 0 God ;
For the waters are come in unto my soul.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing :
I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary of my crying : my throat is dried :
Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head:
They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty:
Then I restored that which I took not away.
5 0 God, thou knowest my foolishness;
And my sins are not hid from thee.
6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake ;
Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach;
Shame hath covered my face.
8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren,
And an alien unto my mother's children.
9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up ;
And the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting,
That was to my reproach.
11 I made sackcloth also my garment;
And I became a proverb to them.
12 They that sit in the gate speak against me;
And I was the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord,
In an acceptable time : O God, in the multitude of thy mercy
Hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
894
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink :
Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the waterflood overflow me,
Neither let the deep swallow me up,
And let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16 Hear me, O Lord ; for thy loving-kindness is good :
Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies,
17 And hide not thy face from thy servant ;
For I am in trouble : hear me speedily.
18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it:
Deliver me because of mine enemies.
19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour
Mine adversaries are all before thee.
20 Reproach hath broken my heart ; and I am full of heaviness :
And I looked /o?' some to take pity, but there was none ;
And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me also gall for my meat ;
And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table become a snare before them :
And that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not ;
And make their loins continually to shake.
24 Pour out thine indignation upon them,
And let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate ;
And let none dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten ;
And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity :
And let them not come into thy righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
And not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful :
Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song.
And will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the Lord better than an ox
Or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32 The humble shall see this, and be glad :
And your heart shall live that seek God.
33 For the Lord heareth the poor.
And despiseth not his prisoners.
34 Let the heaven and earth praise him.
The seas, and everything that moveth therein.
35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah :
That they may dwell there, and have it in possession.
36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it :
And they that love his name shall dwell therein.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — A cry of
prayer for help (ver. 1 j) is based upon the
greatness of the danger of his ruin (vers. 1 b, 2),
the exhaustive duration of this peril (ver. 8) and
the number and power of those who are his ene-
mies without cause (ver. 4). It is true he is not
innocent before God (ver. 6), but he may hope
that those who trust in God may not be ashamed
or brought to shame in him (ver. 6), for ho bears
PSALM LXIX.
895
the reproach for God's cause (ter. T). Even his
nearest relatives are estranged from him (ver. 8)
for his burning zeal for the house of God has
brought him into such a position that the re-
proaches of the enemies of God fall on him, (ver.
9), even his weeping, fasting and mourning serve
to increase the scora (vers. 10-12). This, how-
ever, intensifies his supplication (vers. 13-15)
for deliverance from great dangers, whilst God
hears the prayer and graciously turns His coun-
tenance (vers. 16-18) to the sufferer, whose mi-
serable condition He knows as well as the cruel
Bcorn of the enemies (vers. 19-21). They are
given over to the recompensing judgment of God
in a double row of imprecations (vers. 22-24 and
25-28), whilst the singer who has been lifted up
by Divine help from the depths of his misery and
pain, promises his song of thanksgiving, which
is more acceptable to God than offerings (vers.
29-31). He finally refers to the truth, which
springs forth from these facts, to the refresh-
ment and comfort of all the oppressed pious
(vers. 32, 33) and which forms the foundation in
part for calling upon the whole world to praise
God, in part for the promises to Zion and those
who love the word of God (vers. 34-36). — This
Psalm is next to Ps. xxii. the most frequently
cited in the New Testament. The remark, John
xix. 29 sq., respecting the restorative (comp.
Matth. xxvii. 34, 48) refers alike to Ps. xxii. 16,
and Ps. Ixix. 21, their hatred without cause
(John XV. 26) refers to Ps. xxxv. 19, and Ps.
Ixix. 4, Moreover the zeal of Jesus for God's
house in expelling the traders from the temple
is according to John ii. 17 a fulfilment of Ps.
Ixix. 9 a. His willing and representative bear-
ing of reproach is according to Rom. xv. 8 the
fulfilment of Ps, Ixix. 9 6; the imprecations of
Ps. Ixix. ver. 25 a have, according to Acts i. 20,
been fulfilled in the traitor Judas; those of Ps.
Ixix. 22 sq., according to Rom. xi. 9 sq. in the
rejection of Israel for a season. All these cita-
tions, however, are of such a character that they
do not force us to a direct Messianic interpreta-
tion of the Psalm (most of the older interpreters).
This, moreover, is at once excluded by the aa-
mission of folly and guilt (ver. 5). The typical
interpretaiion (Clauss., Stier) takes the true po-
sition, yet it is too general. It is best to regard
the Psalm as typically prophetic "■ in so far as it
is a statement of a history of life and sufferings
which have been made by God into a prophecy in
fact of Jesus the Christ, and in so far as the spi-
rit of prophecy has made this statement itself
into a word .of prophecy of the future sufferer,"
(Delitzsch), Accordingly we are justified in put-
ting ver. 26 in the same connection with Is. liii.
and Zech. xiii. 7, and to think in connection
with ver. 12 of the derision of Jesus by the sol-
diers, Matth. xxvii. 27 sq. This interpretation
holds fast to the historical foundation of the
Psalm, and is more in accordance with its pecu-
liar character than if we should suppose that
David wrote this Psalm not so much in his own
name as in the person of the entire Church, as a
mirror, in which the common lot of all the pious
should be set before us (Calvin), or in the ideal
person of the suffering righteous (Hengst.), the
features which occur separately in individual
sufferers being brought together in a great rep-
resentative martyr. Respecting the historical
person of the Psalmist we can derive no safe re-
sults from the text alone ; yet, on account of the
reference mentioned above we must direct our
view to a prominent and well-known person. If it
is thought necessary to put this Psalm in a later
period, it is easier to think of the prophet Jere-
miah (Hitzig, Delitzsch is doubtful), than of some
prophet at the time of the exile (Ewald) or in-
deed during the period of the Syrian persecution
(Gurlittin Pott.ayZZ, Comment. I. 330 sq.) to which
period Olsh. pushes it down. For the mention
of the mire and the well may be taken historically
in accordance with Jer. xxxviii., and then other
features may be applied very well. But these
expressions may likewise be regarded as figura-
tive ; the time of the exile (Chald., Theod., Flam ,
Cleric, Rosenm., De Wette, Maurer, Hupf.) is
not plainly and undoubtedly shown by the final
clause, ver. 85 sq., or the expression "prison-
ers," ver. 33 {yid. exegesis of the verse) ; more-
over, objections may be made to the supposition
of its composition by Jeremiah, which cannot be
removed (Keil, Kurtz). If now we inquire with
which Psalms the present Psalm is most closely
related, it is unquestionably with Ps. xl. ; and
then with Pss. xxii., xxxi., xxxv., oix. ; thus
constantly with Psalms of David of the time of
his persecution by Saul. This is very much in
favor of the statement of the title. In connec-
tion with the translation of the ancients " of the
roses " with their Messianic interpretation of the
Psalm it was natural to suppose that this part
of the title originated from this reason, because
the Psalm of the white rose treats of the holy in-
nocence of Christ, and that of the red rose of
His most precious blood. Moreover there are
many red lilies in Palestine, comp, Introduct,, g
12, No. 13.
Str. I. [Vers. 1, 2. The waters are come
even to my soul, — A flood is represented as
coming upon the Psalmist, surrounding him un-
awares, rising up about him, even to his mouth,
almost to take away his breath (life-^soul) and
fill his throat and nostrils. This figure is fre-
quent in the Psalms. Comp, Pss. xviii. 4, 16 ;
xxxii. 6 ; xlii. 7. He has sunk in the mire of
the depth, his feet cannot find a firm standing
place in this miry bed of the flood, he has come
into depths of "water, the water becomes deeper
and deeper about him, the flood has overwhelmed
him (Shibboleth, Is. xxvii. 12). From this ex-
treme peril he cries out: Help me, God.
Ver. 3. The figure changes from the external
to the internal peril. He has cried out so long
that he is -weary of calling, his throat is
parched by excessive exertion of voice (comp,
Ps. xxii. 15), His eyes, which have looked so
long to God, melting in tears, have failed, be-
come exhausted, worn out (comp, Pss. vi. 7 ;
xxxi. 9; xxxviii. 10; cxix. 82, 123).
Ver. 4, More than the hairs of my head.
— This comparison used here with reference to
those who Ao^c him is used in Ps. xl. 12, with
reference to his iniquities. — C. A. B.] — Strong
are my destroyers, mine enemies w^ithout
reason, — Since the idea of this noun is else-
where of entire extermination, many interpreters
have found it objectionable, and have proposed
alterations of the reading in order to translate.
8f^6
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
numerous instead of strong, and to get a stronger
parallelism by not regarding the D as a letter
of the noun, but the preposition |D, and thus
getting the comparative, more numerous than.
But then more numerous than what? Than my
bones (Syr., Olsh.), than my locks (Venema,
Hunting., Ewald), than my head, properly: my
foliage (Hupf.) ; thus they guess this and that.
We prefer to abide by the text. At first the
number of the enemies is mentioned, and then
their terribleness (Hitzig). — What I did not
rob I am then to restore. — This clause shows
the groundlessness of their accusations in a dif-
ferent specification from that used in Ps. xxxv.
10, but with a corresponding proverbial form.
The " then" which is not to be changed into
"yet," (Rosenm., Ewald), expresses the tempo-
ral and legal consequences (Hupf.) of the pro-
posed robbery.
Str. II. Ver. 6 sq. Thou know^est about
my folly and my faults, etc. — We would ex-
pect here, in connection with his appeal to God's
omniscience, a protestation of personal inno-
cence. Many interpreters have artificially put
this into the words of the text. The words are
then either regarded as ironical (Calvin) or hy-
pothetical (Dathe, similarly Aben Ezra), or are
limited either with reference to those undertaken
in order to the atonement, and not his own sins
(the Messianic interpreters), or limited to others
than those charged by his enemies (Venema, De
Wette). But it is very evident that the reference
is witnout doubt to his own folly and guilt. So
likewise it is clear and without doubt from ver.
26 that the speaker regards himself as one
stricken by God, and in the class of those who
are pierced through by God, that is, painfully
smitten by His arrows (Lam. iii. 12 sq,), and in-
ternally wounded (Jer. viii. 18; Ps. cix. 22).
Accordingly he finds in the necessities that have
come upon him, and threaten him with peril of
death, not only the abuse of cruel enemies, but
at the same time Divine visitation. Since how-
ever he resigns himself humbly, penitently, and
in faith to God ; he may hope in God's favor and
help (ver. 13 sq.) the more confidently, as on the
one side many of the pious look upon him and
his fate as typical and instructive, on the other
side the enemies show by their conduct that they
are least of all servants of Ood. However it does
not follow from this, that folly and guilt are here
to be taken as ideas which can be interchanged
with sufferings (Hupf.) The state of the case is
rather this, that his sufferings awaken and
strengthen in the Psalmist the feeling of his sin-
fulness and punishableness, his feelings of peni-
tence and desire for salvation, involve likewise
the corresponding expressions of these feelings,
and thus characterize the sufferer as a pious
martyr, whose very piety makes him the butt of
the scoflangs, and the assaults of the ungodly.
Str. III. [Ver. 8. Mothers' children.—
Barnes: "In families where a man had many
wives, as was common among the Hebrews, the
nearest relationship would be denoted by being
of the same mother rather than of the same fa-
ther.''—C. A. B.]
Ver. 9. The house of Jehovah does not mean
at once the congregation, but this at the same
time with the sanctuary. Num. xii. 7 ; Hos. viii.
1. The zeal which consumes the Psalmist as
burning fire, is not the external fire, the perse-
cutions and injuries that have come upon him on
this account, but the internal flame, Jer. xx. 9 ;
xxiii. 9; Ps. cxix. 139.
Str. IV. Ver. 10. And I wept, in fasting
[was) my soul. — It is easy to give this verse
by a simple correction in accordance with Ps.
xxxv. 13, the sense: I humbled my soul by fast-
ing (Sept., Olsh., Hupf., Bdttcher). With the
present reading it is necessary to accept, in ac-
cordance with the accents, two parallel clauses,
and to regard the expression '< my soul " as iden-
tical with *' I." Leaving the accents out of view
we could hardly translate : I wept in fasting, in
my soul (J. D. Mich.), but rather: as regards
my soul, or : my soul, as a second object ex-
plains the I, expressing the heartfelt weeping of
deep fasting (Ewald), or: I wept in the fasting
of my soul, that is, whilst my soul was in fasting
(Chald,, Isaki, Hitzig). An accusative of the
object is inadmissible in connection with this
verb, hence we cannot translate: I made weep,
or I wept away my soul.
[Vers. 11, 12. Sackcloth.— Delitzsch : "The
garment of sorrow as the fasting is an expres-
sion of sorrow for the public necessities, not as
Ps. xxxv. 13, for private injury. On account
of this sorrow, reproach upon reproach comes
over him, and scornful words are coined upon
him ; above all he is satirized in the gates, the
places of judgment and business, as in the drink-
ing bouts (Lam. iii. 14. Comp. t. 14; Job xxx,
9."— C. A. B.]
\^Str. V. Ver. 13. But as for me.— The pro-
noun is emphatic contrasting himself with the
unrighteous scorner. The next clause is very
differently divided. Ewald, followed by Riehm:
connects the " time of good pleasure, " etc.^
with the "ans\Arer me." Hupfeld, Moll, Pe-
rowne, et al., connect it with the prayer, Delitzsch
making the first clause close with " at the time
of good pleasure," Hupf., Moll, and Perowne,
putting these words in the second clause.
Vers. 14, 15. As the same figure recurs here from
vers. 1 and 2, no further explanation is necessary.
— Let not the well shut its mouth to me.
— He passes over from the figure of the flood to
that of a well, the connecting idea being deep
water. These wells were dug deep and covered
with a large stone (Gen. xxix. 2, 3. Vid. Thom-
son, the Land and the Book, p. 589). The mouth
was sometimes sealed up with a stone and mor-
tar, for use in the dry season. — C. A. B.]
[Str. VI. Ver. 16. Thy lovingkindness is
good. — Perowne: "Good, i. e., either sweet, com-
forting, as in Ps. Ixiii. 3, or gracious, xpV0T6g.
Comp. Ps. cxix. 21. This appeal to God's tender
mercy, remarks Calvin, 'shows how great was
the strait of the holy Prophet . . . and of a truth
it is a very difficult matter to be sure that God is
gracious while He is angry, and near while He
is far off.' "— C. A. B.]
Str. VII. [Ver. 19. Thou knowest.— He
appeals to the knowledge of God as in ver. 5.
This is followed by an enumeration of his severe
distresses, and this is the basis for the impreca-
tion which follows.
Ver. 20. Reproach hath broken my heart.
PSALM LXIX.
397
— Barnes: "The reproaches, the calumuies, the
aspersions, the slanders of others have crushed
me. I am not able to bear up under them ; I
fail under the burden. Distress may become so
great that life may sink under it, for many die
of what is called ' a broken heart.' Undeserved
reproaches will be as likely to produce this re-
sult in a sensitive heart as any form of suflFering,
and there are thousands who are crushed to the
earth by such reproaches." — And I waited for
sympathy, and there vrsis none. — Perowne:
" This is the only place in the Psalter where the
yvord translated sympathy is found. Properly
speaking it is not a noun but a verb in the infin.
Hence the periphrasis in the A. V., ' I looked
for some to take pity,' or, as in the margin ' to
lament with.' The word sympathy has nowhere
been employed by our translators, but it exactly
conveys the force of the Hebrew word, inas-
much as it is used of sympathy in joy as well as
in sorrow. See Job xlii. 11; Jer. xv. 5; xvi. 5;
xlviii. 17."*— C. A. B.]
Ver. 21. Gall. — The word B^XT means a poi-
sonous plant .(Hos..x. 4), and is parallel with
wormwood (Jer. viii. 14; ix. 14; xxiii. 15) with
a figurative meaning of the addition and intensifi-
cation of bitter and severe sufiferings. There
are no sufficient reasons for thinking particularly
of water hemlock (Celsius) darnel (Michael.) co-
locynth (CEdmann), poppy (Gesenius), we are
merely led to a plant with a fruit in the form
of a head or umbrella. On this account the word
may likewise mean the gall (Sept.) and the more
as poison and bitterness appear to be inter-
changed, Deut. xxxii. 32 sq. ; Rev. viii. 11. —
Vinegar is in this connection not a cooling
drink which quenches the thirst, but a synonym
of sour wine.f
Str. VIII. Ver. 22. Their table before
them. — The table standing before them, spread,
is to become a net and snare for them. This
figurative designation of ruin is in favor of the
view that, the meaning is not, the poisoned dish
is to poison those who have prepared it (Chald.),
but the dish prepared for their own enjoyment
is to prove the ruin of those who made it impos-
sible for the Psalmist to enjoy the food necessary
to sustain life, by their making it bitter and sour
(Calvin), and indeed at the very time when they
were prepared to enjoy it, that is unexpectedly.
* [These -words fitly express the feeling? of the Messiah
apoQ the cross who bore the shame of an ignoniiniuus death,
the reproaches of violating the l;iw, and the slanders of
wicked enemies, who died broken-hearted, with no one to
pity, alone in his shame and woe.— C. A. B.]
t [Alexander : " Gall and vinegar are here put together to
denote the most unpalatable toima of food and drink. The
passion of our Lord was providentially so ordered as to fur-
nish a remarkable coincidence with this verse. The Eomans
were accustomed to give sour wine with an infusion of
myrrh to convicts on the cross for the purpose of deadening
the pain. This practice was adhered to in our Saviour's
ca<5e (Mark xv. 23). Though in itself not cruel, but the con-
trary, it formed part of the great process of murderous per-
secution. On the part of the Roman soldiery, it may have
been an act of kiodness ; but considered as an act of the un-
believing Jews, it was giving gall and vinegar to one already
overwhelmed with anguish. And so Matthew, in accDrdance
with his general method, represents it as a verification of
this passage (Matt, xxvii. 3). He does not contradict Mark's
account before referred to; but merely intimates that the
wine and myrrh thus offered were to be regarded as identical
with the gall and vinegar of this prediction. And in order
to prevent the coincidence from being overlooked, our Lord,
before He died, complained of thirst, and vinegar was admin-
litered (Matt, xxvii. 48 ; John xix. 28)."— C. A. B.]
They thus receive a judicial recompense. It is
true, but the translation: and for a recompense
(Sept. and other ancient versions, according to
Rom. xi. 9, and therefore Geier, J. H. Mich.,
et aZ.) instead of "and to the careless a
snare " may be obtained by changing the vo-
calization of the Hebrew word, but is against the
parallelism. A reference to the Lord's table
(Luther, Melanchthon, Stier), is even with a
limitation to devotional use, the less admissible,
as there is here not a threatening or warning
proclamation of the Divine judgment, but an im-
precation bringing it about with increased ex-
citement finally passing over into direct cursing.
This may be conceived in the soil of the Old
Covenant and explained in accordance with the
canon of the retaliation of the Old Testament :
eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and finds like-
wise its connection with David, e. g. 1 Sam. xxvi,
19; 2 Sam. iii. 29; but it cannot be justified as
a disposition and finds no place for a typical rep-
resentation " in the behaviour of the sutFering
Saviour on the cross who prayed for his ene-
mies,*
[Ver. 23. Perowne: "The darkening of the
eyes denotes weakness and perplexity, as the en-
lightening of the eyes (see Ps. xix. 8j denotes re-
newed vigor and strength. Similarly, the shak-
ing of the loins is expressive of terror and dismay
and feebleness (Nah. ii. 10; Dan. v. 6.) Or the
first may mean the depriving of reason and un-
derstanding ; the second, the taking away of all
strength for action." — C. A. B.]
Str. IX. [Ver. 25. Their encampment. —
Perowne: "This is properly *the movable vil-
lage of nomadic tribes,' who usually pitch their
tents in a circle. See Gen. xxv. 16, where terah
is joined with chatsar, the former being the
movable and the latter the stationary village, as
Tuch (m loco) rightly explains. The expression
is of course used here figuratively, in accordance
with ' tents ' in the parallelism. "f
Ver. 2G. For him -v7hom Thou hast smit-
ten they persecute, and of the pain of
Thy pierced ones do they tell. — Perowne :
" The reason of the imprecation is given because
of the unpitying cruelty which delighted in add-
ing to the pain and affliction of one whom God
had already brought low, — they tell as if they
counted one by one every blow that fell upon
Him, every cry that He had uttered, only to turn
it into mockery (comp. Ps. lix. 12, Ixiv. 6).";j:
* [Alexander: "The imprecations in this verse and those
following it are revolting only when considered as the ex-
pression or nialigmnt selfishness. If uttered by God they
shock no reader's sensibilities, nor shuuld they when consid-
ered as the laaguage of an ideal person, representing the
whole class of righteous sufferers, and particularly Him, who
though He prayed for His murderers while dying (Luke
xxiii. 34), had before applied the words of this very passage
to the unbelieving Jews (Matth. xxiii. 38), as Paul did after-
wards (Rom. xi. 9, 10). The general doctrine of providen-
tial retribution, far from being confined to the Old Test., is
distinctly taught in many of our Saviour's parables. See
Matth. xxi. 41, xxii. 7, xxiv. 51."— 0. A. B.]
•)• [Wordsworth : " St. Peter applies this prophecy to the
traitor Judas (Acts i. 20), who whs instar omnium, an em-
bodiment and incarnation of those sins which brought
misery on the Jews and who was like a personal representa-
tive of the Jewish nation in wickedness and punishment." —
C. A. B.]
% [Wordsworth: "How much light is shed upon these
words aa applied to Christ, when they are compared with Is.
liii 4; ' Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows ; yet we did < steem Him stricken, smitten of Gud,
398
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 27. Add iniquity, e^c. — Perowne: "Let
it all stand against them in Thy book, one sin
after another, as committed, not being blotted
out, but only swelling the fearful reckoning.
Comp. Jer. xviii. 23. This swelling of the cata-
logue of guilt is in fact swelling the punishment,
but there is no need to render (as French and
Skinner do) : 'Give them punishment upon pun-
ishment.'"—C. A. B.]
Ver. 28. Prom the book of the living.
— Usage and the context show that, the blotting
out from the book of the living not only denotes
ruin in general or death (De Wette, Hengst.),
but exclusion from the kingdom and people of God.
For the reference is to the book of God (Ex.
xxxii. 32), in which God Himself registers every
one (Ps. Ixxxvii, 4-6), who is appointed to life
(Is. iv. 3), and in this book (Dan. xii. 2), as the
citizens of Israel in the genealogical tables, Jer.
xsii. 30; Ezek. xiii. 9; comp. Luke x. 20; Phil,
iv. 3 ; Rev, iii. 5 ; xiii. 8 ; xvii. 8 ; xxi. 27.
[Sir. X. Vers. 29-31, The Psalmist is poor
and miserable but he implores God to set him on
high, in a place of safety, beyond the reach of
his enemies and then he will praise God with
Bongs of thanksgiving, which will be more ac-
ceptable to God than formal offerings. — Better
than an oz, a bullock ^nrith horns and
hoofs. — Perowne : " The epithets are not mere-
ly otiose, as Hupfeld asserts. The first is men-
tioned in order to mark that the animal was not
under three years old, and therefore of the pro-
per age according to the Law ; the last as inti-
mating that it belonged to the class of clean four-
footed animals, parting the hoof, Lev. xi.; and
the meaning is, that the most perfect and valuable
of the sacrifices ordained by the law was not to
be compared to the sacrifice of a grateful heart.
See Pas. 1. li."— C. A. B.].
Str. XI. [Ver. 32. Seekers after God-may
your heart live. — Alexander: "May you be
revived and cheered by witnessing this exhibi-
tion of God's power and goodness I The wish
that it may be so includes a promise that it shall
be, as in Ps. xxii. 26, where the fornj of expres-
sion is the same." — C. A. B.]
Ver. 33. And His prisoners He doth not
despise. — These might very well be bound with
the cords of misery (Job xxxvi. 8), or chained
in torture and iron in general, Ps. cvii. 10 ; it is
here rather to be regarded as parallel with the
expression (ver. 26): Thy smitten ones, Thy
pierced ones. There is nothing to show a refer-
ence to the exiles. It would be easier to find a
reference to these in the closing clause since there
are real points of contact with Jer. xxxii.
Str. XII. Ver. 35. Build the cities of Ju-
dah, etc. — This does not expressly state a resto-
ration of Zion and a repeopling of the cities of
Judah. The words admit of being understood
generally on the basis of the promise contained
in the Law, of continuance and growth (Calvin
et al.) and of our supposing that there is a pro-
phetic glance at the fate of the land and people
in individual experience, as Ps. xiv. 7 ; xxii.
and aflaicted;' and Is. U. 6. 'I gave thy back to tho
tmiters ;' and Zech, xlil. 6 : * I waa wonnded {smitten) In the
bouse of my friends; ' and Zech. xlil. 7 : Smittth^ shepherd
and the sheep shall be scattered.' — In all these pausagea the
■ame word {nacah) is uaed." — 0. A. B.]
30; li. 19. This is justified not only by the
typical prophetical character of this Psalm in
general, but by the position of the Psalmist in
the redemptive economy so strongly em-
ployed in ver. 6. The supposition that the
closing words contain a later addition (Venema,
Seller, Dathe, Munting., Rosenm., I. Koster, Tho-
luck), is therefore as unnecessary as it is arbi-
trary.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The necessity of a pious man may be so
great on earth that he is about to sink, and the
Divine help may be postponed so long that the
afflicted has cried himself hoarse in prayer and
his eyes have become dull and fixed from long
and uninterrupted looking in the strain of wait-
ing. In this case the power of faith is proved and
attested by taking ^rowwrf in God, when the earth-
ly ground slips from under his feet, and then
when the waves of trouble beat together over
his head, he struggles forth on high with a cry
of prayer.
2. Fall and exaltation, ruin and redemption,
suff'erings and how they are received, endured
and overcome — all this has to the congregation
of God not only the significance of personal expe-
rience, but at the same time of Divine guidance
and of typical hist'iry and is intensified in pro-
portion to the importance of the person with
reference to the history of the kingdom of God.
The sufi'erer may apply this to himself to comfort
him and to strengthen his faith. It serves as an
exhortation and instruction to others when they
perceive it and hear of it. He is heard more-
over not because he prays, but because God is
merciful and His omnipotence is efi'ective in ac-
cordance with His faithfulness to the covenant on
behalf of His suffering servants.
3. There is no inconsistency in the fact that
one who has been attacked by men without
cause and persecuted though innocent, should
yet be reminded by his sulferings, of his guilt
before God and awakened to confession of sin,
and at the same time that this sinful man should
be filled with a true and burning zeal for the
house of the Lord and should be persecuted on
account of his zeal and made sport of for his
godly sorrow, so that he suffers for God's sake
and at the same time feels that he is smitten
by God as well as by men. With the more fer-
vency he turns to the mercy of God whilst the
period of grace lasts and trusts in the truth of
salvation.
4. It is certainly better to suffer as an innocent
man than as guilty ; yet it is a very severe cross
to which most men cannot accommodate them-
selves. Even the Psalmist thus gets into such a
carnal excitement that whilst he does not contend
with God or murmur against Him, but on the
contrary relies upon God and calls upon Him,
yet in hungry zeal he calls down the power of
God to the judgment and ruin of those enemies
who ignore it. This belongs to that folly and
guilt, of which the Psalmist is conscious, and is
neither to be extenuated nor recommended. For
there is a very great difference between obliga-
tory jorocZamo/ion of the Divine judgment, moral-
ly justifiable assent to the unavoidable oonse«
PSALM LXIX.
399
quences of this judgment and holy joy in the
yictory of righteousness on the one side, and
passionate imprecation, revengeful cursing and an
evilly disposed supplication for Divine judgment
in order to the temporal ruin and everlasting
destruction of certain persons, on the other side.
In the latter case man does not give over retri-
bution to the all-wise and holy God, but of his
own will and power interferes with the course
of the just government of God, yes really antici-
pates the final judgment. For this reason it is at
least a zeal for God without knowledge even when
no revengeful motives come in play and no per-
sonal interests are involved, but when the refer-
ence is to such men as put themselves in hos-
tility to God and His word, sacraments, house,
glory and congregation. Even Jesus has not
anticipated for individual cases the condemnatory
decisions of the final Judgment, but has merely
proclaimed it as future, and indeed with the pain
of love and in connection with the purpose of
His coming not to destroy the souls of men but
to save them. Accordingly He censured His
disciples for wishing to call down fire from hea-
ven upon those who refused to receive Him.
Luke ix. 53-55. The zeal which consumed him was
very different even from Elias, and it is not well
to confound the ideas of the Old and New Testa-
ment. Moreover it is not the same thing wheth-
er the wish for the ruin and the damnation of
all those who rise up against God is expressed
as a prayer and as the counterpart of the bless-
ing implored for all those who turn to God, as
it was used by Luther and the Reformers, or
whether imprecations of particular persons are
expressed.
5. Even the ritual offerings brought in the per-
fect legal manner, have not the same value with
God as the offering of thanks and the spreading
abroad of God's praise in the proclamation of His
holy name, comp, Pss. 1. li. The latter on the
basis of the blessed experience of God, acts of de-
liverance, which are of grace, of truth and of
salvation gain constantly fuller recognition and
greater compass (Ps. xxii. 24 sq.) in accordance
with the tendency of the theocracy to become
universal, for which cause God w ill never let land
or people fail.
HOMILETICAL AND PBAOTICAL.
When prayer is as earnest as the necessity,
then God's help will not fail, though it be delayed.
— He who prays without ceasing must not put his
trust in his own worthiness, but in his need and
God's grace.— In patient looking to God, the man's
senses may pass away if only hia faith does not
give way. — How is it consistent that one should
be persecuted as innocent and yet punished as a
sinner? All the pious are interested in what
concerns one of them. — It is better to suffer for
God's cause ; than to be punished for sins, but
it is not easier. — Man may act strangely to us and
our neighbors become our enemies if only Ood
remains our friend. — To be on God's side and to
mS^T persecution are for the most part combined.
— Piety has nothing to expect from the world
but hate and scorn. — The best answer of the
pious to the scorn of the ungodly is to resign
ih^iv persons to the mercy of God and their cause
to His judgment. — The hostility of the world can-
not injure us, if it increase our zeal for God's
house and urge us to deeper personal humility,
patience and trust in God. — We have reason to
examine ourselves earnestly, whether in our zeal
for God there is more wrath against our enemies,
than love to His person and care for the glory
of His house. — He who relies in prayer upon the
mercy and truth of God, has the surest foundation
for His salvation and the best pledges of the
hearing of his prayer. — As comforting as it is for
the pious to put themselves in the gracious hands
of God, it is as terrible for the ungodly to fall
into the hands of the living God. — To be de-
prived of communion with God is the most fear-
ful judgment. — To be accepted or rejected by God,
in this consists the decision for time and for eter-
nity: it is important above all to use this time of
grace. — To offer thanks is an offering well pleas-
ing to God.
Augustine: No punishment is more severe
than when sin makes up the punishment of sin.
— Calvin : To suffer shame is harder for a noble
man than to suffer a hundred deaths. — It is cer-
tainly very hard to imagine God as gracious
when He is angry and near when He is afar off.
Starke : The greater the necessity and anxie-
ty of soul into which a Christian has fallen, the
more fervently should he call upon God in ac-
cordance with the example of his Saviour. — If
Christ who deserved so much of the world has
been hated by it to the uttermost, then learn io
bear the hate and unthankfulness of the world
patiently after His example. — Sin is the greatest
folly, because man by it has preferred the
friendship of Satan to the friendship of God. —
A Christian must never leave out of view the
glory of God, but rather be ready to endure all
kinds of reproach than that any reproach should
come upon God. — The favor and friendship of
God make up for all things else. — Who has
known better how to avoid necessities than
Jesus ? and see. He prays ; follow Him. — Those
are not blessings in appearance which are prom-
ised to the righteous ; but as truly as they fear
and love God, they will likewise share in the
blessings of salvation purchased by Christ.
Abndt: Although distress of water is very
lamentable, and distress of fire is pitiable and
distress of war deplorable and great; yet these
only affect the body But there are
other waters which would drown the soul, these
are waters of hell, such as fear, anxiety, terror,
despair, which affect the soul; from this we
should recognise the majesty and greatness of
the sufferings of Christ which transcend all the
sufferings of all men. — Tholuck: Men who can-
not weep over their own sins, how can they un-
derstand the tears shed for the sins of others ! —
It is the curse of sin, that it begets new sins. —
Taubb : Zion, however much she must pass
through the assaults of all times, has the promise
of endurance because of the constant help of
God.
[Matt. Henet : Though we may be jeered for
well doing, we must never be jeered out of it. —
We cannot expect toolittle from men, — miserable
comforters are they all,^ — nor can we expect too
much from God, for He is " the Father of Mercy,
and the God of all comfort and consolation." — It
400
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
is a great comfort for us that humble thankful
praises are more pleasing to God than the most
costly pompous sacrifices are and ever were. —
Barnes : We may feel that we have not wronged
our fellow-men ; yet eveu the treatment which
we receive from them, however unjust so far as
they are concerned, may be regarded as deserved
by us at the hand of God, and as proper on His
part as an expression of His displeasure for our
transgressions against Him, and as a proof th^t
we are sinners. — C. A. B.J
PSALM LXX.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance^
Make haste, O God, to deliver me ;
Make haste to help rae, O Lord.
Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul :
Let them be turned backward, and put to confusion.
That desire my hurt.
Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame
That say, Aha, aha.
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee :
And let such as love thy salvation
Say continually, Let God be magnified.
But I am poor and needy ;
Make haste unto me, O God :
Thou art my help and my deliverer ;
O Lord, make no tarrying.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Title. — For its relation
to Ps. xl. 13 sq., vide the explanations there
given. It is evident that we have here a frag-
ment of that Psalm, for the reason that the im-
perative upon which the i cum infin. depends, is
lacking and must be supplied ; and there is no
example to justify us in attaching it to the im-
perative which closes the verse. The change in
the name of God points to a later and inten-
tional separation. Instead of Jehovah, which is
used throughout Ps. xl. we have here not only
at the beginning. but especially striking is the
substitution of Elohim in ver. 4 6., whilst here
in the closing line Jehovah is used instead of
the nominative Adonai, the latter in connection
with an easier reading, which has been consi-
dered in connection with Ps. xl. The slight
changes in ver. 3 point in the same direction, to
which we may add that in ver. 2 Try as well as
nni3p7 are missing, whilst in ver. 4 6. a 1 is add-
ed, and at the close of ver. 4 ^riJ^ltJ^' is used for
?[ni>1t2?n, and at the beginning of ver. 5 c. "'")tjl?
for 'n^T;;, the forms in Ps. xl. being fuller.
The contents, which are entirely complete in
themselves, admit the Psalm to be a prayer of a
persecuted man, and the title contains a state-
ment of its purpose, which fully accords with
that of Ps. xxxviii. which states that it is for a
special liturgical use (comp. Introduction, g 6, No.
8), as well as general use, which is indicated by
its being referred to the musical director. The
place of this Psalm in the Second Book after
Psalm Ixix. was occasioned by the relation-
ship between ver. 6 and Psalm Ixix. 29, as well
as by the changing use of the Divine name.
The Psalm might be regarded as Davidic on
account of its dependence on Ps. xl. But the
changes that have been made are of such a
character that it is more than doubtful to refer
them to David. The same may be said of the
supposition of those who regard Jeremiah as the
author of Ps. xl. that he made these alterations
(Hitzig). Redding observ.phil. crit. de psalmis bis
editis, p. 61, gives a collection of ancient
opinions. The ingenious attempt to regard this
Psalm as an introduction to Psalm Ixxi., and thus
get a pair of Psalms of the advanced age of Da-
vid (Hengstenberg), lacks sufficient confirma-
tion.*
* [ Yet there are many good reasons to be a'^duced in fa-
vor of this view. These are well stated by Hengstenberg
and Wordsworth, e.g , (I) The fact that Ps Ixxi. has no title
in a book where all the Psalms have titles except i., ii., x.,
xxxil., xliii.; i. and 11. beina; introductory to the Psalter,
and x. and xliii. certainly belonging to the preceding Psalms,
and xxxii. in c^ose relation to its predecessor. (2) The fact
that Ps. Ixx.is taken from Ps. xl., and Ps. Ixxi. likewise is
made np of a " collection of sentences from varions other
Psiilma (xxli., xxv., xxxi., xxxv., xxxviii.. xl.)," and "bfing
formed out of other Psalms, it serves the purpose of showing
that David, at the close of his life, 'gathered up and set his
seal to ' the sayings which he had uttered in the former
Psalms" (Wordsworth). (3) The fact that corresponding
thoughts and petitions run throughout both Psalms, comp.
>'8. Ixx. 1, 6ftndlxxl. 12; Ixx. 2 and Ixxi. 13,24; Ixx. 4 and
Ixxi. 6, 8, 14-16, 24, and especially is Ixxi 24 the believing
confidence in the fulfilment of the petition begun in Ixz. L
2.-C.A.B.1
PSALM LXXI. 401
PSALM LXXL
In ttee, O Lord, do I put my trust :
Let me never be put to confusion.
2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape :
Incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort :
Thou hast given commandment to save me ;
For thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, 0 my God, out of the hand of the wicked.
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For thou art my hope,
O Lord God : thou art my trust from my youth.
6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb :
Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels :
My praise shall be continually of thee.
7 I am as a wonder unto many ;
But thou art my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise
And with thy honor all the day.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age ;
Forsake me not when my strength faileth.
10 For mine enemies speak against me ;
And they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
11 Saying, God hath forsaken him :
Persecute and take him ; for there is none to deliver him.
12 0 God, be not far from me :
0 my God, make haste for my help.
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul j
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
And will yet praise thee more and more.
16 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness
And thy salvation all the day ;
For I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God :
1 will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
17 0 God, thou hast taught me from my youth :
And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not j
Until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation.
And thy power to every one that is to come.
19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high,
Who hast done great things : 0 God, who is like unto thee I
26
402
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
20
21
Thou, whicli tast shewed me great and sore troubles,
Shalt quicken me again,
And shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
Thou shalt increase my greatness
And comfort me on every side.
22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God :
Unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee :
And my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long :
For they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Composition. — The Psalm
is written in a clear and easily-understood lan-
guage, yet with a somewhat uneven rythmical
movement, and a loose structure of the strophes.
It repeats whole passages from older Psalms,
with slight alterations (the beginning is from Ps.
xxxi., the conclusion from Pa. xxxv., the middle
from Ps. Ixx. 2 sq., and likewise some words
and expressions from Ps. xl. ). An Israelite,
whose name is not mentioned, implores deliver-
ance (vers. 1-3) from the hand of wicked, un-
scrupulous and violent men (vers. 4 and 10-12).
According to ver. 9 he is aged, and according to
ver. 21 he seems to occupy an important station
in society, and he is able likewise to assert (ver.
5 sq.) that he has been upheld by Jehovah from
his youth, and that he now likewise (ver. 7 sq.) in
connection with failing strength puts his confi-
dence in Him, and willpraise Him still continually;
for the enemies who consult respecting his ruin
(vers. 10-12) will be put to shame (ver. 13); but he
will praise God (vers. 14-16) as hitherto on the
ground of Divine instruction (ver. 17), so like-
wise now and for his posterity (ver. 18), with a
Bong of praise which already now begins (ver.
19), which rises to expressions of the most beau-
tiful hope of faith (vers. 20, 21), and concludes
with promises of loud and jubilnnt thanksgiv-
ing (vers. 20-24). The lack of definite historical
statements does not justify us any more than
the change of the singular into the plural, in
supposing that the speaker here is the people
under the figure of a man growing old and op-
pressed by enemies (Rosenmiiller, Koster, De
Wette, in part Olshausen), or the Church (Lu-
ther, Cocc), or the righteous suflFerer (Heng-
etenberg). A title given by the Sept. ascribes
the Psalm to David, the sons of Jonadab and
the first captives. This is understood in the
sense that the Psalm composed by David was af-
terwards sung especially by the exiles and by the
Rechabites who were praised by the prophet,
Jeremiah xxxv. 14 sq., over against the citizens
of Jerusalem, because of their obedience to the
command of their aLcestor Jonadab, to continue
in their nomad life. Although this last state-
ment may be referred to tradition, yet it affords
only a weak support for the hypothesis of the
composition of the Psalm by the prophet Jere-
miah (Ilitzig, Delitzsch). Yet it cannot be de-
nied that the contents and style afford many rea-
sons in favor of that hypothesis. Many lin-
guistic phenomena point to a later period of
composition.*
^^7-. I. Vers. 1-3. [This strophe is a reminis-
cence, with slight changes, of the first strophe
of Ps. xxxi. — 0. A. B.] — A rock of habita-
tion.— In the parallel passage, rock of defence
is used. But it is unnecessary and inadmissible
on this account to change jlJ^O (comp, Ps. xc. 1 .
xci. 9) into ?1J?D, although it is very natural and
is supported by many Codd. and the Chald.
For it involves likewise an alteration of the
words which follow. Moreover the supposition
that this verse is a confused ruin of Ps. xxxi. 3
(Hupfeld), or a revival of the faded and de-
faced original text of the Septuagint (Hitzig),
denies the author his peculiarities without any
justification. For there are manifestly some
such in other passages, showing his intention, es-
pecially since ""1)^ (ver. 6 b.) is very appropri-
ately used instead of TIJ (Ps. xxii. 9).
\_Str. II. Vers. 4-6. This strophe was cer-
tainly composed with Ps. xxii. 8-10 in mind, al-
though there is no slavish copying, for there are
many touchingly beautiful variations, e.g., "On
Thee was I cast from the womb " (Ps. xxii. 10),
is here expressed by the correlative idea : Upon
Thee was I sustained from the womb ;f and
the thought : " Thou art He that took me out of
the womb," (Ps. xxii. 9) passes over into that of:
"Thou art my Preserver J from my mother's
* [There are no sufflcient reasons ngnhist the Davidic com-
poBitiun of this Psalm at the cl- se of his life. It is as na.
tural to suppose that the aged David should repeat himself
in familiar phrases of the Psalms of his younger days, as
that Jeremiah or any other poet of later times should use the
words and pVirases of David. Vide remarks on the previouB
Psalm.— C. A.B.J
f [Perowne: 'J his is an expression wonderfully descrip*
tive of what faith is. and of what G .d is to those wlio trust
in llim. He is a father who hears them in His arms and
carries them in His bosom ; they are as children who lean
all their weight upon Ilim, and tind iheir bweetest rest in
His supporting hand. This is the very idea of faith, nccord-
ing to its Hebrew signification. When it is said in Qen. iv.
6 that ' Ab-aham believed God,' it means literally, ' ht Uaned
upon Godf (though the root there is dififerent, it is the s ime
which in the Kal conjugiition means to ftcar or carry a cftiW.
Num. xi. 12, and in Is. xlix. 23 is used of a nursing father'
— C. A. B.]
X [This word, ''T1J, is greatly disputed. Some, after the
Chald. and the Rabbins, derive it from t'|J=H;o pass oyer,
and causative, to cause to pass through or over, to bring
forth, thus like ""n j, of Ps. xxii. 9 ; Delitzsch gets a similai
meaning from the radical meaning of nTJ="to <'"*'> ^^^^*
and renders: metre Enthinder (he who eepftratost me or
PSALM LXXI.
403
bovrels, all being touching variations of the
idea of faith and hope in a faithful God of Pro-
vidence experienced front youth and from birth
till the present advanced age, and reaching out
into a sure future. — C. A. B.]
Sir. III. Ver. 7. I have become as a sign
unto many. — This may be meant in the bad
sense (Kimchi and most interpreters), so that
men are to be regarded as looking upon the suf-
ferer on account of his misfoctune as one
marked by God's justice and made a sign of.
But the many resemblances with Ps. xl. make it
more probable that it is to be taken in the good
sense, that is, a sign of the grace and protection
of God (Aben Ezra, et al.) Then we need not
supply in the second member the adversative par-
ticle.— [My strong refuge. — The construction
of IJ? ""DHp is disputed. It is generally regarded
that this is an example where poetic usage al-
lows the principal noun to take the suffix, in-
stead of the subordinate noun as usual (vide
Ewald, § 291 6.), but Moll and Perowne regard
the nouns as in apposition, and Moll translates
at once: mij refuge, a strong one. — C. A. B.]
[Sir. IV. Vers. 9-11. Compare with this Ps.
xli. 3-8. — In the time of old age. — The faith-
fulness of God to him in youth and maturity
gives him courage to supplicate God in the time
of old age and in sickness. The circumstances
of Ps. xli. seem to be renewed here, or perhaps
they are the same.* — C. A. B.]
[Sir. V. Vers. 12, 13. — These verses contain
familiar expressions of David, comp. Pss. xxii.
11 ; XXXV. 4, 26 ; xxxviii. 21, 22 ; xl. 13, 14.—
C. A. B.]
Str. VI. Ver. 15. For I know no numbers
[thereof). — It is clear from Ps. xl. 5 what is
meant here, and that it is in relation to the pre-
ceding ; all day long. It would be in contrast
to "my mouth," if the word could only mean:
art of writing (Bottcher) ; or if we could trans-
late with the Vulgate : quoniam non cognovi lite-
raturam. The Psalt. Romanum reads instead of
the last word negotiationes, as a translation of the
irpayiiareiag of the Septuagint, which word is
used by Polybius as the title of his history. It
is unnecessary to derive from the Syriae the
meaning of "limits" (Ewald).
[Ver. 16. I will come with the mighty
deeds of the Lord Jehovah. — Alexander :
This phrase might also be translated : I will en-
ter into the mighty deeds, etc., as we speak of en-
tering into the particulars of a subject. But
loosest me from the womb). Meet interpreters, however,
derive it from Hf J, in the other sense of recompenjse, distri-
bute, and translate: my Provider, Protector, Benefactor
(Schalt.,RoBenm.,Ge8en.,Ewald, Hupf.,Riehm, Moll, Perowne,
el al.) Tho latter interpretation is especiallj' favored by the
parallelism ; and the prep, has reference rather to time from
which than to the place of oripn. — C. A. B.]
* [Wordsworth : " David in his old age was tried by great
and sore troubles, by debility of body (1 Kings i. 1-4), and
by the rebellion of Adonijah, his son usurping bis throne
and endeavoring to supplant Solomon (1 Kings i. 6-10), and
by the treachery of Abiathar and Joab (1 Kings i. 18,19).
But God granted his prayer, and did not cast him off in his
old age, but raised hira up for a time by supernatural power
from the bed of sickness, and enabled him to leave his sick
chamber and to go forth in the strength of the Lord God, to
the public assembly which he had convened, of the nob' as
and people of Israel, and to present to them his son and suc-
cessor, Solomon, and to exhibit to them the pattern of the
Temple, for which he had made vast preparations. See 1
Chron. nviii, and xxix."— 0. A. B.J
this is rather an English than a Hebrew idiom.
The common version : I will go in the strength of
the Lord Ood, is at variance with the usage both
of the verb and noun, as the former does not
mean to go absolutely, but either to enter or to
come to a particular place, expressed or under-
stood. The ellipsis here may be supplied from
Pss. V. 7 and Ixvi. 13, in both which places the
same verb denotes the act of coming to God's
house for the purpose of solemn praise, and in
the second passage cited is followed by the same'
preposition, I will come into Thy house with burnt-
offerings, i. e., I will bring them thither. This
sense agrees well with the vow to praise God in
the two preceding verses, and with the promise
of commemoration in the other clause of the
verse. See above on Ps. xx. 7. It also enables
us to give the noun its usual sense of God's ex-
ploits or mighty deeds, see Ps. cvi. 2, and Deut.
iii. 24."— C. A. B.]
IStr. VII. Vera. 17, 18. Compare Ps. xxii. 22-
31, which has many features of resemblance to
this strophe. The motive for his deliverance is
in both cases that he may praise God to his
brethren and posterity even to the ends of the
earth. — Till I declare Thine arm to [the next)
generation, to all that shall come Thy
might. — The arm of the Lord is the symbol of
His executive power and works, comp. Is. Iii.
10 ; liii. 1 ; Ezek. iv. 7. The generation that
has come up in the place of his own generation
which is passing away, first comes before his
mind, and then his vision deepens and widens,
taking in all the coming generations to whom he
would publish the mighty deeds of God. — C.
A. B.]
Str. VIII. Ver. 19. And Thy righteous-
ness, O God, (reaches) even to the height,
that is, the height of heaven, as the highest
place of creation, Pss. xxxvi. 5 ; Ivii. 10. — Thou
who hast done great things, O God, who
is like unto Thee ? — [The punctuation of the
A. V. injures the sense. The middle clause be-
longs with the last clause, and not with the first,
forming only two parallel members of the stro-
phe, as Moll has it. Comp. Ex. xv. 11 ; Deut.
iii. 24; 1 Sam. vii. 22.— C. A. B.]
Ver. 20. [Thou wilt revive us again. — Pe-
rowne : " The sudden transition to the plural
here seems to have given offence to the Maso-
retes, who consequently change it in the K'ri to
the singular. But these fluctuations between
singular and plural are not unusual in the
Psalms, and there is no reason why, in tho re-
cital of God's dealings, the Psalmist should not
speak of them with reference to the nation at
large, as well as to himself in particular." — C.
A. B.] — The abysses of the earth are con-
trasted with the height of heaven. It is un-
necessary to think of those which are full of
water (Gesenius, Olshausen). It is true Dinn
means the abysmal depths of the sea, but as
roaring and threatening ruin, Ps. xxxvi. 6,
hence related in idea to the abyss, Luke viii. 31 ;
Eev, ix. 1, 11. "ij
Ver. 21. Thou wilt increase my great-,
ness, and turn Thyself to comfort me. —
Septuagint has instead of '* my greatness," Thy
righteousness. The Hebrew word in question is
elsewhere used of the greatness of Ood, and the
404
THE SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
great deeds in which this is shown. In the last
sense Ps. cxlv. 6; 2 Sam. yii. 21, 23. To accept
this sense here and express it in the translation :
"Thy greatness " (Hengstenberg), is as inadmis-
sible as it is unnecessary. For this word is
sometimes used of the royal majesty as the re-
flection of the Divine (Esther i. 4), and from
this could be transferred to exalted persons in
general (vi. 3; x. 2) That the poet speaks of
the increase of his own greatnes8=highness,
can only be objectionable (Hupfeld) when we re-
gard a subordinate compiler as the author. This
passage, however, itself points to a man of pro-
minent historical importance, whose highness of
office or position in life was bestowedjx^on him by
God. It is mere arbitrariness to change the
reading into a word with the meaning : Thy
payment (Hitzig).
Str. IX., ver. 22. The designation of God as
the Holy One of Israel is found likewise in
Ps. Ixxviii. 41; Ixxxix. 18; then in Isaiah 30
times; then in Hab. i. 12, and in Jer. 1. 29; li.
5. The original passage may perhaps be found
in Ps. xxii. 3.
[In vers. 23 and 24 the Psalmist promises to
praise God with lips and tongue, with soul and
voice and musical instruments. All combine
in the expression of his holy gratitude. — C.
A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. So long as we live on earth, our sufferings
have no end ; but God's righteousness, power and
goodness likewise never cease to declare them-
selves. Only let our faith never cease to rely
alone on this strong foundation of salvation, and
let it drive us thither with prayer, praise and
thanksgiving I For we will then confess in old age
what we have learned in youth, and sing in evil
days as well as good : I will not leave God, for
God does not leave me.
2. The sufferings whtch God sends upon us
are harder to bear when the scorn of wicked ene-
mies is added to the feeling of our vanishing
strength and our weakness. Yet the hope of the
ungodly is lost. They reckon upon the ruin of
the pious; but it is based upon a mere delusion,
namely, the foolish opinion that the sufi^erings
of the pious are an evidence that they ^r^ forsaken
by Ood, and a sign that they are given up;
therefore their reckoning is false. The believ-
ing know this and act accordingly.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Every new exhibition of Divine benefits gives
the pious new occasion for thankful praise of God.
— Faith helps experience; experience works hope;
hope does not allow us to be ashamed. — Blessed
are those who are accompanied and ^wjrfetf through
life by the experience of Divine help, — God has
not changed; hast thou remained the same? —
In what sense may we wish that our age should
be as our youth? — Confidence in prayer ; (1) upon
what it may 6ase itself; (2) whither it is to be
directed; (8) whence it must flow. — We must not
only begin with faith, but likewise continue to
the end. — The pious show in the school of suf-
fering what they have previously learned of
God.
Caltin: We must descend even unto death,
that God may appear as our Redeemer. For
since we are born without fe&ling and under-
standing, the first beginnings of our life do
not show clearly enough their author. But
when God comes to our help in extremities,
the restoration itself is a glorious mirror of His
grace.
Stabkb : Trust in God is not to be regarded
as meritorious, but as the means or arrange-
ment whereby we may obtain grace. — A good
conscience and a righteous cause make our
prayer powerful and glad, so that we can appeal
to God's righteousness. — Faith gives the heart
wings with which to soar to God in prayer.
But if these are to be ready to move, the heart
must firmly establish itself on God's promises in
His word. — How few are those who in a strict
self-examination can boast of their walk- in
youth as irreproachable! — Faith and prayer
are the two strongest crutches which old j'eople
can use. — We are great before God through the
cross. That is a strange language for the uross-
dreading flesh, but agreeable to the spirit. The
more the cross, the more the increase of grace.
— The heart and the tongue must constantly be
together in worshipping God.
Renschel: Christians learn (1) from day to
day: (2) their best school-teacher is God Him-
self; (3) they begin early, namely, from the
cradle ; (4) they are not perfect very soon, but
must study until they are gray ; (6) they finally
spread abroad likewise what good things they
have learned. — Abndt: Patience is a great spi-
ritual strength and finally conquers, the praise
of God, however, is the victory and the power
of God against our enemies. Thus Jehoshapbat
beat his enemies with a song of praise. — Tho-
luck: If we find little to praise, what other
reason is there than that we have no eyes for
daily wonders ? — Tadbb : It is in the very nature
of the faithfulness of God that He should not let
His work stop, and in His great mercy that He
should gladly accept the miserable and helpless.
Guenther: The earlier the victory is gained,
the more beautiful the prospects of a happy old
age.
[Matt. Henry: If we are shy of dealing with
God, it is a sign we do not trust Him. — All are
not forsaken of God who think so themselves,
or whom others think to be so. — The longer we
live, the more expert we should grow in praising
God and the more we should abound in it, —
Barnes: A man can lay up nothing better for
the infirmities of old age than the favor of God
sought by earnest prayer in the days of his
youth and his maturer years. — Spurqeon: Je-
hovah deserves our confidence; let Him have it
all, — Mercy's gates stand wide open, and shall
do so, till, at the last, the Master of the house
has risen up and shut to the door. — God's bread
is always in our mouths; so should His praise
be. — Old age robs us of personal beauty, and
deprives of strength for active service ; but \i
does not lower us in the love and favor of God,
— Nearness to God is our conscious security.
A child in the dark is comforted by grasping its
father's hand. — How gloriously conspicuous is
righteousness in the Divine plan of redemption 1
It should be the theme of constant discourse.—
PSALM LXXIl. 406
A traveller amon{ the high Alps often feels
overwhelmed with awe amid their amazing sub-
Umities ; much more is this the case when we
survey the heights and depths of the merov
and holiness of the Lord. — C. A. B.J
PSALM LXXIL
A Psalm for SolomoTU
Give the king thy judgments, O God,
And thy righteousness unto the king's son.
2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness,
And thy poor with judgment.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people,
He shall save the children of the needy,
And shall break in pieces the oppressor.
5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure.
Throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass :
As showers that water the earth.
7 In his days shall the righteous flourish;
And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth-
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea.
And from the river unto the ends of the earth.
9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him;
And His enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents:
The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him:
All nations shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth;
The poor also, and him that hath no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy,
And shall save the souls of the needy.
14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence :
And precious shall their blood be in his sight.
16 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba:
Prayer also shall be made for him continually ;
And daily shall he be praised.
16 There shall be a handful of corn upon the top of the mountains;
The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon :
And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure for ever :
His name shall be continued as long as the sun :
And men shall be blessed in him :
All nations shall call him blessed.
4C6
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
18 Blessed he the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who only doeth wondrous things.
19 And blessed he his glorious name for ever:
And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen, and amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Its Contents and Title. — The Psalm begins
with supplication for a king who is at the same
time a king's son, who thus is of a royal race or
birth, that his government may be righteous and a
blessing to the land (vers. 1-4) ; then follows the
wish that his rule may be of everlasting duration
and bloom (vers. 5-7); then it is promised that
his kingdom shall embrace the whole world (vers.
8-11); next the reason for this universal homage
is disclosed in the character of his government
as benevolent, merciful and righteous (vers, lii-
14) ; finally the duration of his gracious activity,
of the blessings which descend upon his land
and the everlasting ^raz'se of his name is implored
in prayer and is predicted (vers. 16-17). The
doxology of vers. 18, 19 did not belong originally
to the Psalm, but is a liturgical addition (comp.
Introd., § 4), with especial reference to the Elo-
hira Psalms of this second book, and it is placed
before the historical remark, ver. 20, in order
to be read in the church service. The contents
of this ver. 20 show that it is older than the entire
collection of the Psalms. Yet it does not follow
from this that David is likewise the author of
this Psalm (comp. Introd., g 2 and 8), and that
we have to regard the title as: about Solomon
(Sept., Vulg., Aben Ezra, et alX or composed
for Solomon (Kimchi; by David on his death-
bed), and designed to be his song (Clauss), as
the mirror of his government (Stier). The 7
must be interpreted here as usual. The usage
of the titles demands this, which excludes the
many references which are in themselves possi-
ble (Stier), among which the most suitable
would be the respectful reference=to Solomon.
Then the contents demand so much the more a
decided advance beyond the supposition of a
poelic congratulation (De Wette) of some king
of Israel. We must at least recognize the fact,
that the Psalm is a prayer whose expressions
flow forth from the ideal character of the Hebrew
monarchy as the kingdom of God (Hupfeld).
Then these expressions are not merely poetical,
but prophetical, and thus have a Messianic cha-
racter, so that the wishes and hopes are not, as
it were, "extravagant" (Hupfeld), but take the
form of definite promises, and that these promises
not only have as their contents the universal ex-
tent and the everlasting duration of this kingdom,
but at the same time the righteous, peaceful and
saving government of the theocratic king as well
as the perpetual blessing of all nations by the
power of hia name. By their personal bearing
they transcend the reference to the kingdom of
Solomon (according to the promise, 2 Sam. viii.
developing itself as the kingdom of God through-
out history) (Calvin), or the Davidic dynasty
(Hofmann), and find in the circumstances of the
time of Solomon a historical support and occa-
sion (most recent interpreters), which is over-
looked or undervalued by the exclusive Messi-
anic interpretation (Chald. and most of the older
interpreters). There is no reason either in the
contents or in the language to put the Psalm in
the time of king Josiah, or even later (Ewald).
The reference to Ptolemy (Olsh.), particularly
to Ptolemy Philadelphus, as the benefactor of
the Jews (Hitzig) is far-fetched and untenable.
The ancient church, on account of the reference
of the Psalm to David, Solomon and the Messiah,
made it the chief Psalm of Epiphany as the
festum trium regum.
Str. I., ver. I. Thy judgments. — These are
hardly the rights transferred by God as king of
Israel to the theocratic king (Delitzsch), the
Messianic authority (Geier, et al.) to rule; for
the exercise of which the righteousness directly
mentioned as the corresponding official endow-
ment is then implored, but in accordance with
the parallelism, the way of judging (De Wette,
Hupf.), the decisions (Hitzig), the latter not in
the sense of the commandments and directions
given to the king, the norm of his judging and
sentences (Olsh.), but as the sentences and deci-
sions flowing forth from the Spirit of God
(Chald., Hengst.), for which Solomon obtained
wisdom for himself, 1 Kings iii. 9, 28; comp.
Is. xi. 2 (Isaki, Kimchi). There is no reference
here to righteousness which avails before God
(Seb. Schmidts
Ver. 2. May he judge Thy people, &o.
— It is better to regard the futures in this and
the following verses as optatives.
[Ver. 8. May the mountains bear peace
for the people, and the hills, by righteous-
ness.— Mountains and hills are mentioned as
the characteristic features of the land of Pales-
tine. They were cultivated in ancient times,
being terraced from top to bottom. Remains of
these terraces are visible and in use at the pre-
sent time not only for the vine and fig, but like-
wise for grain. It is unnecessary to supply a
verb in the latter clause. Righteousness is the
means by which this fruit of peace is to be
produced by the mountains and the hills. —
C. A. B.J
Str. IL, ver. 5. May they fear Thee.— The
PSALM LXXII.
407
Bupposition that here it is not God who is ad-
dressed, but the king (Hupfeld, Hitzig), cannot
be proved from Ps. Ixxxix., and is against the
context, which puts the constantly abiding fear
of God as the blessed effect of the righteous rule
in the closest connection with its other fruits. —
As long as (there is) a sun, and before the
moon {through) generation of generation. —
Q]^ is used of contemporaneous existence as
Dan. iii. 33. Before the moon, as Job viii. 16
=as long as it 8hines=exist3 (comp. ver. 7).
The same may be said of before the sun (ver.
17), to be distinguished from the expression:
in presence of the sun (Num. xxv. 4)^a8 long
as it is day; and from the phrase: before the
eyes of the sun (2 Sam. xii. ll)=in clear day-
light.*
Ver. 6. Let him come dovrn as rain. —
The figure of the rain reminds us of 2 Sam.
xxiii. 4. U is not the fleece of the sheep (the
ancient versions, Luther, ei al.), as Deut. xviii.
4, here with a reference, perhaps, to Judges vi.
87 sq.; so likewise not the mown grass (De
Wette, et al.), as Amos vii. 1, as needing rain
for the after-growth (Kimchi), or in order not
to be dried up to the roots by the heat of sum-
mer (Calvin), still less the meadows eaten off by
locusts (Chald., J. D. Mich.), but the meadows
ready for the mowing (Hupf., Delitzsch).
Ver. 7. Till there be no more moon. —
/? 1J^ might mean: even to the destruction, the
ruin (J. H. Mich.), as Job xiv. 12; Is. xxxviii.
17. The prevailing use of the word 12, how-
ever, is not as a substantive, but as a particle.
Str. IIL, vers. 8-11. From sea to sea. —
Since the reference here is to the extension of
the Theocracy over the earth (Zech. ix. 10) and
already in the time of Solomon the limits of the
kingdom were no longer those of Ex. xxiii. 31,
the meaning cannot be here of its extension be-
tween the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. But
it is not entirely indefinite: from every sea to
every sea (Hengst.); but as the parallel mem-
ber shows, it begins with a well known limit,
namely, the Mediterranean and the stream, that
is, the Euphrates, and from thence to the oppo-
site sea which is parallel with the ends of the
earth (Chald.). Amos viii. 12 mentions as such
far-off regions those from the north to the east,
here at the same time those in the west and
south, and indeed with reference to their riches,
namely, the Phoenician colony in southern Spain
called by the Greeks Tartessos, with the islands,
namely, of the Mediterranean Sea, and H^p in
south Arabia at the same time with K3D in
Ethiopia. Many understand by D"pf likewise,
the Ethiopians after Sept., Aquil., and Sym-
mach., it can only mean Arabic Beduins (Hitzig)
or Nomads in general, unless we should accept
a false reading instead of W'^'H, that is to say,
adversaries (Olshausen., Hupfeld), because
* [Perowne : " The sun and the moou are inentioned here,
and again ver. 7, and in Ps. Ixxxix. 37, aa witnesses to an
everlasting order, and as it were figures of eternity, things
fixed and unchangeable, compared with the fleeting, dying
generations of men, as Jer. xxxi. 35; xxxiii. 20; though aa
compared with God, themselves subject to decay and destruc-
tion, Ps. cii. 26; Is. li. 6; comp. Job xiv. 18."— C. A. B.J
the word of the text elsewhere does not
seem to designate men, but beasts of the wilder-
ness (Ps. Ixxiv. 14; Is. xxiii. 13).
[Str. IV., vers. 12-14. For he delivereth.
— Perowne: "The reason is given why all
kings and nations should thus do homage to him
who sits on David's throne. He has merited
such submission by the exercise of every royal
virtue, by the justice and the mercy of his sway,
by his deep sympathy with and compassion for
the poor, by the protection which he extends to
them against the ministers of fraud and vio-
lence. It is not that he merely covers with the
shadow of his throne all neighboring nations,
and is acknowledged as their political head, buti
that the bright example which he sets, the ma-
jesty of righteousness enthroned in his person,
compels all to bow before him." — Precious is
their blood. — Compare Ps. cxvi. 16: "pre-
cious is the death of His saints." Their life is
precious to God, and He will avenge their blood
upon those who seek to injure them, and He will
ward off injury from them. — C. A. B.]
Str. v., ver. 15. And may he live and
give him of the gold of Sheba, and pray
for him continually, bless him all the day.
— It is disputed whether the subject is the same
in all the clauses of this verse, or whether there
is a change of subject, and in the latter case (in
favor of which Delitzsch appeals to the Oriental
style and his Geschichte derjudisehen Poesie, S. 189),
whether the Messianic king is the subject of
live, and the following verba are to be taken as
impersonal or passive (the ancient versions,
Isaki, Luther, Calvin, Umbreit), or whether the
poor man is to be regarded the subject of live
and bless, and the king as the subject of give
and pray (J, H. Mich.), or yet of give (Maurer,
Hofmann, Delitzsch). In the former case, on
the other hand, it is again disputed whether the
Messianic king is the subject of ail the clauses
(Cocc, De Dieu, Stier, Bdhl), or the protected
subject (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Geier and most in-
terpreters). The last supposition is not in op-
position to the immediate context, even when
the aim of sparing and delivering is not regarded
as directly expressed, (Ewald, Olsh.), but the
consequences of the deliverance, the life and the
expression of thanks. The mention of the gold
of Sheba, however, is diJB&cult. For the delivered
give this, not, as it were, as the most precious
and best (Geier, J. H. Mich.), which would
have been called the gold of Ophir, or because
he was a native of Sheba (Hupf.) as the product
of his land, which does not suit ver. 10 at all.
We might rather suppose that the poor man
(ver. 13) had been again restored by the king
to his possessions (Hengst.) ; or since the singu-
lar then refers back to ver. 12 sq., that here as
there the poor man is parallel to the miserable
in the comprehensive and typical sense of Bibli-
cal usage (Hupfeld). Then we should have, not
a return to ver. 4 (De Wette), but an expansion
of the thought there expressed. But this is, to
a still greater extent, the case if the king is re-
garded as the subject of this clause as of all the
preceding.
Ver. 16. Let there be abundance of com
in the land, even to the top of the moun-
tains, let its fruit rustle as Lebanon. — The
408
THE SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
derivation of HDi) is doubtful. The word seems
to mean not only a crowd (Syr.), but after the
Aramaic XD3 and the Arabic, a spreading out
(Isaki). There is little probability in the deriva-
tion from DD3 in the meaning of: end, that ia
to say, the limits of grain on the top of the
mountains (Hofmann), or: piece, handful (Aben
Ezra, Kimchi, Calvin, Geier, most interp8.)=
there is a handful of corn, yet it will rustle.
Besides the latter is against the accents. Abun-
dance of corn as the sign of blessing (Beut. xi,
14; Jer. xxxi. 12; Zech. x. 17) in connection
with the bloom of the people (Jer. xxvii. 6),
whose increase as herbs of the land or grass, of
the field (Ps. xcii. 8; Job v. 25) likewise be-
longs to the blessings of the Messianic time, Is.
iv. 1; ix. 2; xlix. 20; Zech. ii. 8; Ps. ex. 3;
Sirach xliv. 21. A historical support in the
time of Solomon is given in 1 Kings iv. 20. The
comparison with Lebanon refers to the move-
ment of its trees in the wind. The translation :
its fruits culminate or tower above as Lebanon
(Sept., Ewald), presupposes a different Hebrew
verb.
Yer. 17. Before the sun let his name
sprout. — This hardly refers to his posterity,
through whom his name would transplant itself
(Hupfeld), but to the occasions which would re-
peat themselves in the coming generations for
the breaking forth of the glory of this name, in
which all nations may bless themselves (Gen.
xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4; xlviii. 20). The
subject which is at first general and indefinite is
finally very clearly expressed.
[The doxology which closes this book is fuller
than that of the 1st Book. The use of Jehovah
Elohim instead of Jehovah is characteristic, and
is in accordance with the use of the Divine names
in the two books. — C. A. B.] The predicate of
God, ver. 18 6, is like Ps. Ixxxviii. 6; cxxxvi.
4; Job ix. 8; His name bearing the impression
of glory is as Neb. ix. 5, the construction and
contents of ver. 19 b are from Num. xiv. 21.
[The historical remark, ver. 20, was appa-
rently attached to an original collection of the
Psalms of David made by Solomon, or under hia
superintendence, to which Psalms of Solomon
of a Messianic character formed the introduc-
tion and conclusion. Vid. Pss. i. and ii. This
collection was composed mainly of the Psalms
of the first two books, although changes in
taking from and adding to may have been made
in subsequent times, especially when the Psalter
was completed in its present form. This histo-
rical remark may be compared with Job xxxi.
40.— C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Nothing can be implored for a king more
rich in blessing than the capacity and power for
a righteous and mild government whose fruit is
peace (Is. xxxii. 17) and prosperity throughout
the land. From the righteous king such &. fruc-
tifying effect goes forth that the fear of Ood is
spread abroad through the coming generations
and his rule gains an unlimited extent.
2. Yet this king will not extend his rule by
the sword, but only by his righteousness and
his helping love will he rule and conquer. Vo-
luntarily other kings and their peoples will do
homage to him, uneasy and hostile neighbors
will sink impotent in the dust, those who have
been delivered, protected and blessed by him
will thankfully offer their gifts, prayers and
homage. Thus will his rule endure in the power
of the blessing of piety, his kingdom increase, his
land prosper, his people bloom, and his name be
a means of blessing from generation to genera-
tion, Pss. xlv: 2; cii. 12.
8. Such wishes and hopes as these do not float
in the air like human phantasies or empty
dreams without prospect of realization; they
have their sure ground in the promises of God
respecting the son of David, their historical sup-
port in the Divine guidance of Israel and his
kingdom, their constant type in the Theocracy,
their transient type in Solomon's peaceful rule,
their final fulfilment by the Messiah and his
kingdom of God, their lasting power in the faith
in the blessings, by which God has decreed and
promised to overcome in all generations the
curse resting upon them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Peace as the wholesome fruit of righteousness.
— The /car o/ G'orf as the source of earthly a.uA.
heavenly blessings. — The welfare of nations : a, in
what it consists ; b, how it is gained; c, whereby
it is assured. — The blessing in the name of the
Lord. — When prince and people pray with and
for one another, they are blessings to one an-
other.— Righteous judgment, mild government,
and a, pious mind are the jewels of the king, the
happiness of the people, and are well pleasing to
God, — Willing obedience, thankful love, devoted
trust as testimonies of the sprouting power of the
name of the Lord. — The prayers of believers have
their yea and amen in the name of the Lord. — The
promises respecting the duration, extent, and the
happiness of the kingdom, set up by God's king,
ruled and filled with blessings by him.
Starke : The oflfice of the magistrate is not
only to punish the wicked with righteous judg-
ment, but likewise to protect the poor and mise-
rable.— Since God calls men to His service from
all places and quarters, it is very clear that His
will is that all men should be blessed. — In the
world those are helped who are the least needy,
whilst those who are most needy are often al-
lowed to sink into misery ; but with Christ it is
not so, the poor are the especial objects of His
compassion and deliverance. — God's works have
often to the reason a slight beginning, but after-
wards a wonderful, blessed, and agreeable pro-
gress.— As sure as the true mouth of the Lord
has said, that all the world shall be full of His
glory, it will be fulfilled in the most complete
manner.
Selnekker: 0 thou poor reason, and mise-
rable flesh and blood, what art thou frightened
at, and why dost thou fear death and suffering?
Is my blood precious with God, what wish I
more? — Renschel: The chief subjects of thanks-
giving : 1) That God the Lord has done and still
does such great wonders in the kingdom of
Christ ; 2) that He declares His name and gos-
pel therein; 3) that He spreads it abroad in all
lands; 4) that He will eternally preserve Hii
PSALM LXXII.
409
word and His Church. — Umbreit : The love of
the king is the ground of the universal conver-
bIoq of nations to Him. Because He helps the
poor, all the rich bow before Him. — Tholuok:
As the eternal God wields the sceptre of His
righteousness for the good of His oppressed con-
gregation on earth, He has appointed His an-
ointed to conquer the earth for His meek ones.
— GuENTHEB : Heathendom will have an end, -this
kingdom of sorrow and misery will blossom into
the glorious kingdom of peace. — Taubb : The
kingdom of God comes in its royal glory only at
the advent of the Lord; now are the times of
preparation.
[Matth. Hbnbt: As by the prayer of faith
we return answers to God's promises of mercy,
so by the promises of mercy God returns answers
to our prayers of faith. — Christ is the poor man's
King. — Subjects ought to speak well of the go-
vernment that is a blessing to them ; and much
more ought all Christians to praise Jesus Christ,
daily to praise Him ; for they owe all to Him,
and to Him they lie under the highest obliga
tions. — Spuroeon: Each crystal drop of rain
tells of heavenly mercy which forgets not the
parched plains ; Jesus is all grace, all that He
does is love, and His presence among men isjoy.
We need to preach Him more, for no shower can
so refresh the nations. Philosophic preaching
mocks men as with a dust shower, but the gos-
pel meets the case of fallen humanity, and hap-
piness flourishes beneath its genial power. — If
we can do no more than cry, it will bring omni-
potence to our aid. A cry is the native language
of a spiritually needy soul ; it has done with fine
phrases and long orations, and it takes to sobs
and moans, and so, indeed, it grasps the most
potent of all weapons, for heaven always yields
to such artillery. — Christ's subjects shall be as
plentiful as blades of grass, and shall as sud-
denly appear as eastern verdure after a heavy
shower. — C. A. B.]
THE PSA.LTER.
THIRD BOOK.
PSALMS LXXIII.— LXXXIX,
PSALM LXXIII.
A Psalm of Aaaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
Ev&n to such as are of a clean heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone ;
My steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the foolish.
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For ih&re are no bands in their death :
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men ;
Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain ;
Violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness :
They have more than heart could wish.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression :
They speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens.
And their tongue walketh through the earth. )
10 Therefore his people return hither :
And waters of a full cwp are wrung out to them.
11 And they say, How doth God know ?
And is there knowledge in the Most High ?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who prosper in the world ; they increase in riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed ray heart in vain.
And washed my hands in innocency.
14 For all the day long have I been plagued,
And chastened every morning.
15 If I say, I will speak thus ;
Behold, I should ofiend against the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought to know this,
• It was too painful for me ;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God ;
Then understood I their end.
411
412
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places :
Thou castedst them down into destruction.
19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment !
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh ;
So, 0 Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their hnage.
21 Thus my heart was grieved.
And I was pricked in my reins.
22 So foolish was I, and ignorant :
I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee :
Thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel.
And afterward receive me to r^orj,
25 Whom have I in heaven hut thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth :
But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish :
Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God :
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
That I may declare all thy works.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The firm ac-
knowledgment that God is nothing but good to
those who are truly His people (ver. 1), was to
the Psalmist the fruit of a victory gained by his
faith over personal temptations (ver. 2). These
temptations had arisen from vexation at the
temporal prosperity of the ungodly fvers. 3-5),
and at their presumptuous conduct (vers. 6-9).
Many were hereby influenced to attach them-
selves to that class of men, because they could
not reconcile the prosperity of the wicked and
the suff'erings of the righteous with the doctrine
of God's providence (vers. 10-14). The Psalm-
ist escaped the danger of becoming recreant
himself, and a seducer of others, which might
have resulted from such doubts, not by means
of his own reflections upon the difficult problem
of the course of human affairs, but by the ob-
servance of the duties of religion, by which he
was led to the contemplation of the final lot of
the ungodly (vers. 15-17). This afforded him a
view of their sudden and complete destruction
by the judgments of God (vers. 18-20), and of
the utter absurdity of his former indignation
(vers. 21, 22). Now he becomes strengthened
by communion with God, who leads him in safety
and to glory (vers. 23, 24), who is his only true
and lasting good (vers. 25, 26), and shall remain
his saving refuge and the object of his endless
praise.
The same problems are discussed here which
are presented in Pss. xsxvii. and xlix., and in
the Book of Job; but the solution given here is
the most profound. (Comp. Hupfeld in the
Deutsche Zeitschrifi far chriatl. Wisaen und Leben,
1850, No. 235). [The relative position assigned
to the Book of Job by Dr. Moll and most of the
commentators upon this Psalm is hardly just.
It must be remembered that that record of trial
and doubt and victory constitutes the Book of
Old Testament revelation which was to deal
particularly with this special department of the
mysteries of Providence. And it therefore pre-
sents the question in its inexhaustible variety
of aspects, sounding the depths, not of transient
doubts and perplexities, but of a crushing per-
sonal realization of the utmost consequences of
a conflict waged by a righteous man against the
unrestrained power and devices of Satan. Now
the view of the Book which finds a relative infe-
riority in its solution, proceeds from considering
the discourses, which occupy much the largest
space, as being intended to express all its teach-
ings. The chief place is necessarily given to
the record of the struggle, and when the solu-
tion is given there results what Ps. xxxvii. pic-
tures, a fulness of outward prosperity. But it
was not this for which Job chiefly longed. And
when he received the vindication of his righteous-
ness, even though accompanied by the rebuke
for his presuming attempt to sit in judgment
upon the ways of God, he could feel that in the
favor of God was his life, as its withdrawal had
seemed to him worse than death. The real dis-
tinction would seem to be not that the solution
in this Psalm is the more profound, but that
while in the Book of Job the expression of the
feeling of confidence and triumph is kept out of
view, it is here joyously given forth. This is
the distinguishing excellence of this Psalm, for
which it must ever retain its place in the heart
of the doubting and comforted believer. — J. F.
M.j
PSALM LXXIII.
413
From these facts we cannot infer with certainty
a composition at a late period, especially as the
mode in which the subject is presented is through-
out peculiar. It is also just as unsafe to infer
from the recurrence in Ps. Ixxiv. 3 of the rare
word, meaning ruins, employed in ver. 18, that
these two Psalms were of contemporaneous
origin. The same remark applies to the infer-
ence of a later origin drawn from the occurrence
of Archaic and Aramaic word-forms. It bears
much more heavily against such a conclusion
that the ancient translators failed to understand
many expressions throughout the Psalm, and in
some instances gave such absurd interpretations
that the correct exposition only begins with
Kimchi. This would be inexplicable, if the
Psalm were not composed before the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes, 175 B. C (Hitzig). There
was, it is true, at that time a relapse of whole
bodies of the Jewish nation to heathenism
(1 Mace. i. 11 f.), on one occasion under the co-
operation of a high-priest (2 Mace. iv. 9 ff.).
But leaving out of consideration all such apos-
tasies as that which the prophet Hosea, among
others, denounces and characterizes as whoredom
[see ver. 27], it is evident that ver. 1 introduces
a contrast, not between Israel and heathen nations,
but between two classes in Israel itself. [Alex-
ander : "There is not the slightest ground for
doubting the correctness of the title, which
ascribes the composition of the Psalm to Asaph,
the cotemporary of David and his chief musi-
cian, and himself, moreover, an inspired Psalm-
ist. This last fact, which is a matter of re-
corded history, together with the fact that when
only one name is mentioned in the title of a
Psalm, it is uniformly that of the writer, may
suffice to set aside the supposition that Asaph is
only named as the performer." — J. F. M.]. On
Asaph see the Introd. § 2. Paul Gerhard's
hymn : Sei Wohlgemuth, 0 Christenseel, is an imi-
tation of this Psalm.
Ver. 1. Only good is God [E. V.: Truly Ood
is good, eic.]. — The rendering : kind (De W.) is too
restricted for 31£3, even if modified into a sub-
stantia:: kindness (Hitzig), although this is
more suitable than the notion expressed by the
simple adjective (Sept., Calvin). The explana-
tion: the true happiness and good (Stier), is
in so far correct as it raises the conception above
its usual restriction to the sphere of the purely
ethical, which is also admirably accomplished in
Luther's freer translation : nevertheless Israel
has God as his consolation. It introduces, how-
ever, into the neuter a definiteness which is too
concrete. The essential thought is not affected
if ^i< is taken adver8atively=yet, nevertheless
(most of the ancient translators and Tholuck) ;
or affirraatively=yea, surely (Koster, De Wette,
Hupfeld, Delitzsch) ; or re3t.rictively=only, no-
thing but (most of the modern expositors). But
the application of the "only" to Israel (Aben
Ezra) is wrong. [An allegation has been based
by many upon such passages as Ps. Ixxiii. 1 and
Hab. i. 13 (where see Deliizsch) that the Old
Testament writers were in the habit of describ-
ing Israel, as a nation, &s righteous, and the
heathen as sinners. For the disproof of this
charge see in the Appendix to Hengstenberg's
Comm. on the Psalms, the treatise on the Doc-
trine of Sin, as appearing in the Psalms. — J.F.M.]
Ver. 4. We read, with Ewald and all the
recent expositors except Stier, Hengstenberg
and Hupfeld, DD VJl, and therefore attach the
former word to the first part of the verse, and
the latter to the second. For this slight change
of OniD/ afi^ords a sense which is suitable
T :
throughout; while the received reading would
mean: they have no torments in dying (Sept.,
Kimchi), which does not agree with ver. 18 f.
Again, difficulties that can scarcely be set aside
are involved in any of the following transla-
tions : they have no torments with regard to
death, that is, no fear of death (Targum, Sym-
machus, the older Rabbins); or: they have no
Bufferings causing death, diseases, and the like
infirmities (Kimchi, Calvin, Hengstenberg) ; or :
they have no torments until their death (Isaaki,
Stier, Hupfeld). — The explanation "paunch"
for the word vW, has come through the medium
of the Arabic. The word is also taken by some
(Kimchi, Calvin, Hengst., Hupfeld) in its usual
signification, " power, strength." By the
older translators (Symmachus, Isaaki) it is con-
founded with D/^H, to which is to be traced the
T
erroneous translation: strong as a palace (Lu-
ther). [The author's translation would be :
For they have no torments : their paunch {body)
is vigorous and well-fed [stout). — J. F. M.]
Ver. 6. It is not abundant fulness (Geier,
J. H. Michaelis, Hengst.) that is described ; still
less is it the daily habit of life (Kimchi), but an
ostentatious and vain-glorious exhibition. [The
opinion of Hengstenberg has been here mis-
stated. He agrees very nearly with Dr. Moll
himself. He says: "The reason which led the
Psalmist to speak of pride as a neck ornament
of the wicked, for the purpose of expressing
the thought that they are wholly beset with it,
was in all probability the fact that it was their
manner of carrying their neck that chiefly ex-
hibited their pride." He refers to Ps. iii. 16;
Job XV. 26.— J. F. M.]
Ver. 7. Many since Schnurrer read IDJI^
instead of "iOJ;;?, basing this upon the Septua-
gint, the Syriac Version, and Zech. v. 6 ; Hos.
X. 10. The meaning "then would be : their pride
comes forth or proceeds from their fat. Their
fat then represents either: their affluence
(Schnurrer, Doederlein), or better, as iu Ps.
xvii. 10 : their gross, insensible heart, their soul
smeared, as it were, with grease (Hitzig, Bottcher,
Olshausen, Hupfeld, Delitzsch). Comp. Matt,
XV. 18 f. The following half of the verse does
not mean that they are transgressors, i. e. impi-
ous in their thoughts (Geier and others). Nor
does it mean that their success surpasses all
their expectations (Isaaki, Kimchi, Calvin), or
exceeds all human precedent (Rabbins cited in
Calvin). But the meaning is, that the imagina-
tions of their hearts, the illusions of their un-
bounded self-esteem (Delitzsch), have revealed
themselves. Yet it does not imply that this is
done through the medium of the eyes (Clericus),
or the mouth, in allusion to the succeeding verse
(Delitzsch), but without any more precise indi-
cation and without any restriction, by passing
414
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
from inward feeling to outward expression.
[The explanation of the clause here given seems
the most natural. Alexander prefers this, as also
do Perowne and Wordsworth. Fausset prefers
the translation: they pass over (exceed) the
imaginations of their hearts, thus agreeing with
E. v.— J. F. M.]
[The first clause of ver. 8 is rendered in the
English Version : they are corrupt. This ren-
dering of ^p"'9'' occurs in all the ancient versions
except those of Symraachus [KaTa/iUK6fievot) and
Jerome {irriserunt), which are undoubtedly cor-
rect, and with which most of the modern trans-
lators agree.
The old rendering has assumed a verb, cognate
with ^Vp, and taken intransitively: to melt, run
down, be corrupt. Geier, however, gives it the
causative sense, to cause to melt, t. e., others by
their oppression. Fausset adduces in favor of
this the occurrence of " oppression " in the next
clause, and thinks that there may be a parallel-
ism. But in the first place, if a parallelism is de-
sired it is afforded in the •' speaking," which in
fact is the subject of the whole verse. Then, as
to the true meaning of the word, the cognate lan-
guages seem to settle the question, as the cor-
responding words in Arabic, Syriac, and Chal-
dee (in the two latter, with a causative form
like the Hebrew) have the meaning: to deride,
to mock. The true rendering then seems to be:
they will scoff.— J. F. M.]
Ver. 9. The subject of this verse is probably
not blasphemies against heaven, i. e., against
God (Targum, Isaaki, Geier, Delitzsch, who re-
fers to Jude 16) and evil speaking on earth and
through the country (Aben Ezra, Geier, J. H.
Michaelis). Rather the description of their
speaking down from on high (ver. 8), as though
they had ascended into heaven (Is. xiv. 13),
which is manifested in arrogant self-assumption,
is here continued. The tongue thus appears as
the unruly evil, meddling with everything, Jas.
iii. 8, (Luther, Calvin).
Ver. 10. *• Therefore " refers to these two
causes, the prosperity and the conduct of the
wicked, whose example draws over to their party
those who may be called in more senses than
one, *' His people," and causes them to apostatize
from God. The received* reading 2''p'' would
give the rendering: he causes to turn, and
2M^^ (Jerome, the Rabbins, and almost all the
expositors) would mean: he turns. So ID J.* (all
the Codices) would mean : His people, and ''B^l
(Sept., J. D. Michaelis, Dathe) : My people. But
these variations affect the sense but slightly, and
are to be explained partly from the natural con-
founding of ) and \ and partly from the attempt
to avoid, or to explain as intermediary, the unex-
pected introduction and immediate disappear-
ance of a singular subject instead of the usual
plural. To refer the sufl&x to God (Calvin, Ro-
senmueller, Stier, Maurer) is not justified by the
context. Still this attempt at an explanation
may suggest to us that the rendering : (his, or) :
their rabble (Luther and others) is too restricted
and does not agree with ver. 13, and that it is
rather the faithless Israelites who are spoken of;
that, therefore, both parties, the seducers and
the seduced, the wicked and their hangers-on (Ps.
X. 4; xiv. 1 ; xxxvi. 2, xlix. 14; Is. xlvi. 12)
had constituted one and the same people, before
they had banded together to form this multi-
tude.
The meaning of the second clause of the verse,
however, does not mean that they run to them
in large numbers, comparing them to the run-
ning of water (Luther) or that they are absorbed
by them in large numbers (Sachs). Nor must
we translate : full water {i. e., an overflow, as a
figure of sensual prosperity) is found for them
(the ancient translators, Geier, and others). For
1}f a" does not come from H^D to find, but from
h/d to drain, Ps. Ixxv. 9^ "is. U. 19, Ezek.
T T ' '
xxiii. 34. But it does not refer to a cup of tears
or a cup of sorrow, Ps. Ixxx. 6 (Kimchi), which
has made the pious unfaithful, but to the eager-
ness with which they either grasp at success and
its enjoyments (Hengst., Hupfeld), or catch at
the maxims of the ungodly, (Job xv. 16) thoughts
and words of discontent (Ewald, Delitzsch, Hit-
zig). [The translation of the author, therefore,
is: Therefore his people turn hither, and water
in abundance is drained by them. With this
Perowne substantially agrees. Alexander pre-
fers to retain the causative reading, and takes
the cup to mean draughts of bitterness. He
renders: Therefore he brings back his people
hither, and waters of fulness are wrung out to
(or drained by) them. This he explains thus:
God still suffers or requires His people to survey
the painful spectacle, and drain the bitter
draught presented by the undisturbed prosperity
of the wicked. But in all the explanations based
on the causative reading the words must be
strained in order to get a natural and appropri-
ate sense. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 11-14. The question in ver. 11 is ironical,
and includes its own denial, Job xxii. 13. They
first deny God's aciual knowledge, and then His
attribute of omniscience (Delitzsch). In the bit-
ter : behold ! (Stier) they draw attention to the
apparently manifest proofs of the truth of the
denial. We are not, however, especially since
the article is absent, to translate: behold ! they
are the ungodly (Luther) This would rather
suit the supposition that in ver. 12 ihe poet's re-
flections begin. rivK is then to be taken as
equivalent to tales (Geier) as in Job xviiL 21.
Comp. viii. 19; Is, Ivi. 11 ; and to be understoou
as describing either their moral character (Hup-
feld) or their condition before presented (Heng-
stenberg). Many arguments may be adduced in
support of this assumption, but none convincing.
It is doubtful whether in ver. 12 6 the security
refers to the pleasant (Hupfeld) and undisturbed
(Hitzig) situation of the man who apparently is
always prosperous (the versions and the Rab-
bins), or to his sense of it as being free from care
(Ewald, Delitzsch). — With ver. 13 compare Prov.
XX. 9; xxvi. 6; with ver. 14, Job vii. 18.
[The correct interpretation and mutual re-
lations of vers. 12, 13, 14, have been the sub-
ject of various conflicting opinions. There ap-
pears to be no necessity for assuming that they
are utterances of some third party, a suffering
righteous man. This view seems to have been
suggested by the diflaculties presented by the
PSALM LXXIII.
415
apparently forced connection of the section with
the verses preceding and following. Either of
the other and more common solutions would
meet the diflBculties better. The view which re-
gards these verses as the former words of the
Psalmist himself, is maintained by Hengsten-
berg, Hupfeld, and most of the English commen-
tators. This opinion seems to have in its favor
ver. 15, "if I said: I should apeak thus, etc."
and the exclamation in ver. 12, which would na-
turally introduce such a discourse. But the best
interpretation, in my view, i^ that to which Dr.
Moll gives his sanction, as also do Ewald and De-
litzsch, and to which Perowne inclines. It puts
these words into the mouth of one who had apos-
tatized, selected as a representative of those who
speak in ver. 11. The words employed in ver.
16, where the Psalmist's reflections accordingly
begin, are thus best accounted for. He would
naturally contrast his position not with that of
the avowed and veteran sinners, but with those
who had experienced temptations like his, and
had succumbed to them. As he listens to their
words in which they point to the growing pros-
perity of the " wicked," and recall their own
profitless innocence in former days, which gained
for, them nothing but wounds and stripes, he sees
the results of the very temptation that had en-
tered deeply into his own soul. But what if he
were to speak thus !
The following translation of vers. 10-16 will
thus form a consistent whole :
Therefore His people turn hither.
And waters of abundance are drunk deep by
them.
And they say : How has God known it?
And is there knowledge in the Most High ?
See ! these are the " wicked !"
And, at their ease forever, they have increased
their wealth.
(One of them speaks).
Only in vain did I purify my heart.
And wash my hands in innocence.
And I was being smitten every day.
And my chastisement (came) every morning
(The Psalmist).
If I had said : I will utter such words,
Behold ! I would have trangressed against the
family of thy children. — J. F. M.]
The transition to the first person is to be ex-
plained by the fact that individual feelings and
personal experiences are now to be presented.
To place these words in the mouth of the Psalm-
ist would not agree with our explanation of ver.
16. If we were, however, to consider them as
his earlier utterances, and translate ver. 16 : If
I said, <*Iwill count up. how often, behold! I
betrayed the family of thy children," the Psalm-
ist would then admit the commission of deeds
which go far beyond what he had confessed in
ver. 2. He rather declares. what would happen
if he were to make the language of those who had
been misled his own. tD3 elsewhere usually
equivalent to " as," is here taken most simply
as our adverb "so," (most of the versions and
translators, corap. Gesenius, Thesaurus). And
we are not obliged to change the reading into
[J (Dathe) ; or in order to obtain the sense:
sicut illi (Syriao version, Targum), to assume
that D|7 (Bottcher) or H^N, (Olshausen) has
possibly fallen out, and supply it (Aben Ezra,
Isaaki); or to point 103 (Geier, Rosenmuoller) ;
or disregarding the accents to annex the rUH
which follows and read rUH 1D3, sicut ilia, ac.
verba (Saadias, de Dieu, Doderlein, Ewald),
The generation of thy children (ver. 15)
is here the whole body of those in whom the re-
lation of sonship, which God has constituted be-
tween Himself and Israel, had been spiritually
realized, — the true family (Ps. xiv. 6) the Israel
of God (ver. 1) the name of a distinct class, as
in Deut. xiv. I; Hos. ii. 1 (Delitzsch).
Ver. 17. The sacred things of God are not
God's righteous plans and leadings, nor the se-
crets of His government of the world (Gesenius,
De Wette, Olshausen, Maurer, Ewald, Hitzig) ;
nor God's righteous deeds, Ps. Ixxvii. 14, but the
holy places^ where He dwells and makes Himself
known, Ps. Ixviii. 36. But these &vv> not heaven,
as the end and reward of earthly tribulation
(Kirachi, Bottcher) but the Temple. It is not,
however, viewed as the place of the oracle (Cal-
vin), or as the place where illumination and in-
struction are received through the medium of
God's Word, (Luther), by means of the teaching
of priests and prophets (Aben Ezra), or by means
of its typical regulations and service, (Stier, fol-
lowing the older expositors), or as a place of de^
votion (Delitzsch) where the heart enters into
the presence of God (Hengst.) It is probably
viewed as the seat of the Judge and Ruler of the
world (Ps. iii. 6 ; xi. 4; xiv. 7 ; xx. 3, 7, etc.), conse-
quently as the central point (^penetralia) of God's
government (Hupfeld) ; from which that govern-
ment can be best surveyed, and where the only
authentic information concerning its problems is
to be obtained. It has been supposed that by
marking their " end," the Poet expresses his in-
tention to keep looking for the eventual temporal
ruin of the ungodly, and that this will in the
meantime be his consolation until he shall pene-
trate into the Divine mysteries, while he will,
for the present, continue his severe mental toil.
So Koster, Olshausen, and Baur (on De Wette).
But this does not agree with vers. 4 and 12 f.
He is speaking of a spiritual attentive contem-
plation of God's judgment (Calvin) in connection
with his entering into His holy place. Through
this, light has already fallen upon the problem,
which is insoluble by the unaided labor of hu-
man thought. I
Ver. 18. The construction of ly^ with 7
means really : Thou gavest them their position
on slippery places, without needing to supply
an accusative (J. H. Michaelis, Hengstenberg).
[Hengstenberg hardly says that an accusative is
to be supplied. He says " the object is to be
taken /rom the verb.'' As I understand him, he
means precisely the same as Moll, that is,
that Pi'W means : to appoint a position, so that
the object is included in the verb.— J. F. M.] To
understand the slippery places of the blessings
(Rabb.) which have ruined them, is certainly
too restricted and special. Yet the mere allu-
sion to ihQperils which God has placed in thei*
41b
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
path (Hupfeld) allows the reference to the spe
cial circumstances of those who have been ruined
by prosperity and success in every pursuit, to
fall unduly into the back-ground. This would
be avoided if we could translate with Hitzig :
Thou, by artifice, only settest snares fbr them.
Instead of " to ruins," we can translate accord-
ing to another derivation: into illusions (Doder-
lein, Rosenmueller, Ewald), or: by surprise.
(Hitzig).
Ver. 20. The parallelism shows that 1^3
does not mean : in the city, that is, openly, on
the scene where his deeds were committed
(Hengst., with most of the ancient translators
and expositors), but that it is equivalent to
T'J.inS (Kimchij Calvin and the modern exposi-
tors), that is, in the waking, not that of the dead,
whose shade is terrified away (Bottcher) ; but
that of God when He arises to judgment, Ps.
Ixxviii. 65.
Verse 22. ri1Dn3 is not to be taken as a
plural of majesty, but as the name of the Nile-
horse (Job xl. 15), Egyptian p-ehe-mou equiva-
lent to water-ox. [The Egyptian compound
here cited was probably assimilated to an exist-
ing Hebrew word on its introduction into the
latter language, as was the usual custom. Now,
why was not the singular HDnS used, which
bears a closer resemblance to the Egyptian?
Probably because there was a descriptive word
already in use, "a beast of beasts," Behemoth,
and this just suited the hippopotamus, on ac-
count of its great size and strength. But these
are not to us, nor were they to the Hebrews, the
most prominent characteristic of the "beast"
nature (witness ^J^^), and a large development
of other striking qualities, would entitle to the
same distinction. It would surely be much
more natural for the Psalmist, in view of his
folly and degradation, to say that he was " a
very beast" before God, than to say that he was
a "Behemoth." On the ideas which lie at the
basis of the pluralis mnjestatis see Green, Heb.
Or., \ 201, 2, and Hengstenberg's Beitrage, II.
257 ff.— J. F. M.]
Ver, 24. Afterwards into glory. — "inx is
not here, as in Zech. ii. 12, a preposition, but
an adverb, as in Judges xix. 5 ; Hos. iii. 5.
1133 denotes here not the soul (Hasse), as in Ps.
xvi. 9, according to poetical usage. And it is
scarcely an adjective: glorious (see Hoffman). It
would be better to take it in an adverbial and ge-
neral sense : with honor (Luther, Delitzsch). But
it is best to consider it as the accusative of the end
striven after (Hupfeld), namely, the glory of God
(Ps. viii. 6), into which the Psalmist hopes to be
taken up, Gen. v. 24 ; Ps. xlix. 16. This thought
is weakened by the translation : Thou wilt lead
me, or, bear me along, to the goal of honor
(Ewald, Hitzig). It is quite misrepresented by
the rendering: Thou bearest me after honor,
that is, in its train (Hengst.). The rendering:
at last Thou like glory wilt receive me (Kloste**-
mann), is artificial. It is, to be sure, only since
Qrotius, that we find in some expositors the
limitation of these words to the earthly life.
Yet the germ ( Wurzel) of the belief in unending
personal communion with God is here not so
fully developed as most suppose it to be.
Ver. 26 is by Hitzig understood to express the
ardent longing (Ps. Ixxxiv. 3; Job xix. 27) after
God (Ps. xlii 2). — The Vulgate, after the Septua-
gint, has at the end the addition : In the gates
of the daughter of Zion.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The confession that God stands towards His
covenant people, that is, towards its true mem-
bers, in the relation of the One who is exclusively
good, is the fruit of a true and living faith in
Him, ripened in the heat of temptation. For
when the temporal prosperity of so many is seen
to be disproportioned to their moral conduct,
there is not only excited in the mind of the ob-
server disquietude, vexation and anger, but a
complete clashing of the feelings is also the
result. On the one hand there is suggested a
contradiction between such facts observed and
the promises of God, Deut. xxviii. ; and on the
other hand, the opposition makes itself felt, be-
tween the requirements of God and the corre-
sponding sinful inclinations arising from the con-
sideratipn of such facts.
2. "With the growing prosperity of the wicked
not only do their carnal security and their pre-
sumption increase with it, but their impiety
reaches such a height that they act as though
they themselves were God. And the pious man,
when he sees them as if exempted from the usual
lot of mortals (Job xiv. 1 ff.), easily falls,
through his anger at such a condition of things,
into a false heat, in which envy as well as impa-
tience is aroused. It becomes diflBcult for him
to remain unshaken in his belief in the Divine
government, and hold fast to the truth impressed
upon him from his youth. He begins to doubt
and thus begins to waver. Yet before he falls
he is saved by resorting to God's holy place.
This separates him from the faithless herd who
have lent their ear to seduction, and strengthens
him while he holds communion with God, which
raises his view above the world and all that it
exhibits, and sets him at rest as to those pro-
blems of the course of its affairs, which his un-
aided reflection could not avail to solve.
3. Viewed in relation to the end, the prosperity
of the ungodly is clearly shown to be only an
appearance, and the fabric of a vision, vanishing
before the terrible reality, when God arises to
judgment. It is made manifest also that it is
absurd and unreasonable in the highest degree,
for us to allow ourselves to be irritated and de-
ceived by such a show of prosperity. We thus
learn, too, that everything depends upon our
recognizing God as our true and everlasting
good, upon our seeking, holding fast to, and
proclaiming Him as such. For he whose life is
bound up in the Person of the Eternal can never
perish, but must only rise from one height to
another until he becomes a partaker of the glory
of God.
[Henqstenbeeo : The recompense on this side
the grave should, according to the design of God,
remain as an object of faith. Here also God
conceals Himself, in order that He may be found
by those who seek Him. That this is so seldom
done, even by the well-disposed, that even they
are so much inclined to look upon the righteoua-
PSALM LXXIIT.
417
nes3 of God as inoperative in thi3 life, is a mel-
ancholy proof of the degeneracy of the Church
and of the lamentable preyalence of infidelity. —
J.F.M.]
HOMILETIOAL AND PEACTIOAL.
The apparent prosperity of the ungodly and
the real good of the pious.-— The most diflScult
enigma which life presents: 1. Wherein it con-
sists; 2. Why it is so difficult; 3. How it is
solved. — True piety is not a matter of enjoyment
of temporal prosperity, but of the acquisition
of the eternal good. — That we may win our way
victoriously through the trials of our faith,
through the sorrows of life and through the
allurements of the world, we have need to resort
assiduously and devoutly to God's holy place. —
God's dealings with us correspond to His pro-
mises, but we must know how to wait for them,
and for "this we have need of patience and faith.
— If we would not fall into folly and sin in our
contemplation of the course of human affairs,
we must attach importance not to temporal pros-
perity but to eternal good, not to the progress
of earthly life but to its end, not to the judg-
ments of men but to the decision of God. — Even
the pious man may totter and slide, but he is
secure against falling as long as he holds fast to
God's house, to His hand and to His salvation.
— Prosperity and adversity have opposite effects
upon the pious and the ungodly. — Doubt of God's
Providence, in its folly and in its peril. — The
power and the impotence of the ungodly. — The
confessioQS of the pious over their temptations,
doubts and trials. — The wicked as a people con-
trasted with the children of God as a family.—'
Earthly prosperity is no more an infallible sign
of God's favor than temporal suflFering is a proof
of the Divine wrath. — God's nearness the hope,
help and safety of the righteous. — The temporal
and eteraal reward. — We must not only trust in
God's government, we must yield ourselves also
to His guidance; then we will ever have occasion
to praise Him.
Augustine : The reward which God bestows
is Himself. 0 blessedness! 0 unspeakable
bliss! God is my portion. And how long?
Forever. — Staekb: He who has God, has the
highest wisdom, everlasting consolation, the
true rest and the most blessed delight and joy
of the heart. — Murmuring, which corrupts the
heart, must be banished from it, else we can
have no consolation in God. — In our contempla-
tion of the wonderful ways of God, He calls out
to us: blessed is he whosoever shall not be
offended in me. — Affliction often passes by the
palaces of the rich, because they are not worthy
of so great a blessing; instead of improving it,
they would misuse it ; whereas it visits the poor
and becomes their salvation. — When a man allows
himself to become haughty and insolent by his
prosperity, then there results from so great a bless-
ing a real misfortune.— The most sinful things are
commonly the first to receive applause amojig
men; what wonder is it then, if men seek to
excuse them, yea, even to make them pass for
virtues? — How rarely can men accommodate
themselves to great blessings ! How often they
become a spring whence issues a whole flood of
oriraes against God, their neighbors and them-
selves!— The powerful, who are withal ungodly,
often fancy that the world was made for them
alone. So long as they themselves are in abund-
ance therein, they care not though others starve
and die. — Wealthy transgressors have applause
and a great following in the world, and serve
often to lead men astray. — He who denies the
Omniscience and Providence of God has denied
the faith and is worse than an infidel. — The
conclusion : God takes no care for him who has
much affliction in the world! Entirely false;
for all who would live godly must suflFer perse-
cution.— He who begins to talk like the world,
will soon become accustomed to act like the
world. — He who wishes to be better off than the
upright and pious are, finds fault with the order
of things instituted by God and loses the benefits
of Christ's kingdom of suffering. — Worldly pros-
perity is slippery ice, on which one easily falls.
— If men do not learn from God's word to con-
sider the end of the ungodly, it is not to be
wondered at that they themselves bring grievous
torments into their own hearts. — A much smaller
number of mankind would be brought to lament
their folly, and ignorance of it, and their mad-
ness, along with their disbelief in it, if God were
not able and willing to show compassion. — The
child of God does not know the righteous though
concealed design of God in all and cnch of His
dispens.'itions ; yet he does know in the general
His blessed counsel, and is fully assured of His
Fatherly purpose to bring everything to a happy
issue. — Everything must be injurious and offen-
sive to us, unless we have God also. — To cling to
God gives everlasting peace ; to cleave to the
woi'ld brings endless sorrow : therefore choose
the former.
OsiANDER : The old Adam murmurs sometimes
against God's work and plan ; but we must still it
by assiduous meditation upon God's word. — Men-
ZEL : Good fortune imparts confidence, but it also
produces presumption. — Renschbl : The chil-
dren of God have also flesh and blood, and the
flesh and the spirit contend against each other;
but he who clings fast to God has the victory in
the Spirit. — Feisch : It fares not with men ac-
cording to human ideas, but according to the
word of God. — Arndt: God allows the ungodly
to go free like the wild beast ; but the hunter
will pursue them some time. — Guenther : The
worldly prosperity of the wicked is only danger-
ous ground with pits and falls. — Tholuck: We
all confess it to be the most indubitable article
of our faith that God governs the world, but
how different would our assurance of this be in
time of trouble if we believed it implicitly. —
When our faith becomes sight then all the dreams
of the ungodly are found to be empty bubbles.
— RiCHTER [Haushibel) : By reflecting upon the
glorious deeds, ways and purposes of God, the
faithful find consolation and enlightenment
in all trials and perplexities. — Vaihinger : He
who envies the prosperity of the ungodly, has
not yet gained a clear view of God. — Umbreit:
Distance from God and nearness to Him deter-
mine the woe or the weal of men, their ruin or
their final triumph. — Sohaubaoh (1 Sunday
after Trinity) : We know from God's word, that
the world passes away and the lust thereof:
therefore let not the lust of the world allure us.
418
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
— Diedrich: We owe it to the teaching of God
Himself if we can trust His providence. This
faith is the fruit of all learning and conflict in
God's kingdom. — Taube: The victory of faith,
which struggles through severe doubts with re-
gard to God's government of the world, to a
blessed and simple trust in God. — Nitzsch: The
deepest-laid foundation of Christian content-
ment: 1. Wherein il consists; 2. How it is laid
deeper and deeper in us ; 3. By what kind of be-
haviour we testify our possession of it.
[Matth. Henry: Job, when he was entering
into temptation, fixed for his principle the om-
niscience of God, xxiv. 1. — Jeremiah's principle
is the justice of God, xii. 1. — Habakkuk's prin-
ciple is the holiness of God, i, 15. — The Psalmist's
here is the c/^odness of God ; these are truths
which cannot be shaken, and which we must re-
solve to live and die by. Though we may not be
able to reconcile all the disposals of Providence
with them, we must believe that they are recon-
cilable. Good thoughts of God will justify us
against many of Satan's temptations. — Many a
precious soul that will live forever had once a
very narrow turn for its life, almost, and well-
nigh ruined, hut a step between it and fatal
apostasy, and yet snatched as a brand from the
burning, that shall forever magnify the riches
of Divine grace, in the nations of those that are
saved. — If we make God's glory in us the end we
aim at, He will make our glory with Him the
end we shall be forever happy in. — Bp. Hokjje:
Lord Jesus, who hast so graciously promised to
be our portion in the next world, prevent us from
choosing any other in this. — Scott: We do not
gain a complete victory over the enemy unless
his bufFetings prove the occasion of our deeper
humiliation before God. — Barnes : / am conti-
nually with thee. Well may we marvel when we
reflect in our thoughts about God, that He has
not risen against us in His anger, and banished
us from His presence forever. — J. F. M.]
PSALM LXXIV.
Maschil of Asaph.
1 O God, why hast thou cast us off forever?
Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture ?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old ;
Tlie rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed ;
This mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations ;
Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns
for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up
Axes upon the thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once
With axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary,
They have defiled hy casting down the dwelling-place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together :
They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs :
There is no more any prophet:
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God how long shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever.
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom.
PSALM LXXIV.
419
12 For God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength :
Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,
And gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood :
Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine:
Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth :
Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord,
And that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 0 deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked:
Forget not the congregation of thy poor forever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant:
For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 0 let not the oppressed return ashamed :
Let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, 0 God, plead thine own cause:
Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies :
The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Superscription, Contents, and Composi-
tion.— On Maskil see Introductioa, § 8, No. 3.
This Psalm can be brought into connection with
Asaph in one of two ways. It has been referred
by some to one of the later members of this illus-
trious family of singers (Dathe, Rosenmueller,
Heagstenberg) ; while Delitzsch, holding that
it only bears the old Asaphitic stamp generally,
would understand by the superscription : a poem
after the manner of Asaph. For the attempt to
gain credit for the opinion that it was composed
by the famous cotemporary of David, on the
ground that it contains a prophecy (Clauss, fol-
lowing the Rabbins and the ancient expositors),
contradicts the words of the Text, and mis-
takes the historical situation manifest therein.
The words of vers. 3, 7, and 8, especially, allude
to a destruction of the temple on Zion by tire al-
ready completed, preceded by a profanation (ver.
4), and accompanied by a plain descrip-
tion of the conduct of the enemy (vers. 5, 6).
We cannot therefore assume an event earlier than
the destruction by the Chaldeans in the year 588
recounted in 2 Chron, xxxvi. 19; Jer. lii. 13.
To this the Psalm might be with great probabi-
lity referred (De Wette. Kdster, Maurer, Heng-
Btenberg, Hupfeld). For the Church of the Se-
cond Temple did not experience injuries done to
their sacred edifice, such as are here depicted,
in the interruptions of building immediately af-
ter the return from the exile (Ewald). Neither
did such a destruction appear in the outrages
committed by the Persian general Bagoses
(Ewald formerly), by which the temple was pro-
faned (Josephus, Ant. xi. 7). Nor yet was such
devastation suffered at the hands of the Syrian
oppressors under Antiochus Epiphanes in th^
year 167 (Targum, Rudinger, Venema, Olshaur
sen, Hitzig, Delitzsch) who also profaned the
temple, but only burnt down the gates (1 Mace,
iv. 38; 2 Mace. i. 8; viii. 33). This result con-
tributes so much the more to an historical solu;
tion, when it is taken into consideration that the
closely related Ixxixth Psalm is most readily as-
signed to the Chaldean period, and also that the
assumption of Maccabean Psalms is not only en^
cumbered with grave difficulties of a general
kind (compare besides Hassler, Comm. de Psalmis
Maccabseis, 1827 and 1832, especially Ehrt, ^6/a5-
sungszeitund Abschluss des Psalters 1869) but that
also in the case before us there are distinct pas-
sages such as ver. 3 a, which are unfavorable to it,
while others, such as vers. 4, 8, 9, admit of an
explanation (see below) by which even the sup-
position of a later insertion of a Maccabaean
Psalm in the Canon (Delitzsch) appears to be
unnecessary. The points of agreement with Lam,
ii. 2, 7, 9, may also be adduced in favor of a com-
position during the exile.
On account of the occurrence of many rare
words the sense in numerous passages remained
obscure to the ancient translators, and the iur
terpretation of some of them doubtful to the
modern expositors. The progress of thought,
however, is in the main clear. From the lamenta-
tion over the anger of God expressed in the form
of questions, (ver. 1) there arises (ver. 2) the
prayer for the deliverance of the Church which
passes over (ver. 3) into a picture (vers. 4-8), of
the more particularly described devastations of
the sacred places, and after a reiterated lamenta-
420
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
Hon (vers. 9, 10) over God's long-continued non-
interference (ver. 11), the Psalmist calls upon
Him to punish his enemies. Then after an allusion
to God's continuing sovereignty, as attested by
His mighty deeds in nature and history (vers.
12-17), the opposition to that government with
its ruinous coQsequences (vers. 18-23), is used as
a plea in urging God's intervention for deliver-
ance and for punishment.
Vers. 1,2. \Jastusofif. — Theuse of the Prsete-
rite as distinguished from the i m perfect of the fol-
lovring stich, is not to be overlooked. The action
is first presented and then the permanent rela-
tions. The smoking of the nostrils [j\2ii trans-
lated: thine anger in E. V. — J. F. M.] is a
figurative expression for the manifestation of
anger, Ps. xviii. 9, like snorting, in Ps. Ixxx.
6, after Deut. xxix. 19. It is characteristic of
the period of the Exile to term the Church of God,
the sheep of His pasture (Ps. Ixxix. 13 ; xcv. 7 ;
c. 3; Jer. xxiii. 1). This appellation means
more than that God is the Shepherd and the peo-
ple His flock (Ps. Ixxx. 2). It contains an allu-
sion to the fact, that God had given the faithful
Canaan as a pasture land to this His people
l^Hos. xiii. 6; Jer. xxv. 36) and that the posses-
sion of this land was the question at issue.
Allusion is made besides, in various ways, to the
establishment and maintaining of the favored
relations in which the people had stood to God
since they were purchased (Ex. xv. 17) and re-
deemed (Ex. XV. 13; Ps. Ixxvii. Iti; Ixxviii. 35)
long before in the days of Moses (Ps. xliv. 2).
The prayer in Deut. ix. 26, 29, that God would
not reject His people, is also grounded upon
this. The statement that God had redeemed
His people from Egyptian bondage that they
might be the "rod of His inheritance," brings
out the thought that everything which belongs or
will belong to the people of God, His peculiar
possession, must proceed from this stem or be
ingrafted into it. Consequently the deliverance
and preservation of the Church bear a part in
the fulfilment of the destiny assigned her, and in
the execution of God's purpose in her establish-
ment, and may be urged as a powerful plea in the
prayer before us. This reference of the words
which appears so suitable to the text, loses its
force in some degree, if it is assumed that they
imply merely that the unity of all the stems (Is.
Ixiii. 17; Jer. x. 16; li. 19) constitutes the peo-
ple of God's inheritance (Kimchi, Geier, J. H.
Michaelis, Olshausen, Hupfeld), or represents the
whole people in its ethnic distinction from all
other nations (Delitzsch) as God's peculiar race
(De Wette). These explanations are, however,
more correct than that interpretation which, in
the translation virga hereditatis (Vulgate), is not
intended to express the idea of a sprouting
main-stem but that of a measuring -rod, by which
the shares of the possession or of the inheri-
tance were meted out, and understands this
metonymically for the inheritance iiself (Luther,
Calvin and others, Hengst.). For in Deut,
xxxii. 9, and Ezek. xl. 3, entirely diflFerent words
appear.
Vers. 3, 8. Perpetual desolations are such
as seem as if they might well remain forever deso-
late and therefore point to a destruction, not
lasting (De Wette) nor complete (Gesenius in Lexi-
con, Bbttcher) but so extensive, that it could nof
have taken place in the Maccabean age. If we
follow another etymological explanation, this
rare word would describe endless wickedness
(Ewald) or incessant inwaaio/j by enemies (Hitzig)
or honuAXQi^A presumption (Sept. Vulg. ). Accord-
ing to Ps. Ixxiii. 18, however, this is scarcely
probable. As regards the sense it is unessential
whether we read ^4^1!^ written in the singular
or plural form, and understand it to mean a fes-
tal season, or festal celebration, or fesidX gathering,
.or the place where such a gathering is made.
For the shouting of the enemy creating confu-
sion might be heard under all these circumstan-
ces, and the Temple also, which the context most
readily suggests to us, (similarly Lam. ii. 6.)
had several divisions and courts and is some-
times denoted by the plural number (compare
Ps. Ixviii. 36). The best authorities, moreover,
decide for the singular. [Alexander : "The
word strictly means a meeting by mutual agree-
ment or appointment, and is specially applied to
the meeting between God and His people in the
sanctuary, which was therefore designated in
the law as the tent of meeting. The full sense,
therefore, of the words here used is 'in the
midst of Thy people assembled at the appointed
time and place to meet Thee.' The exclusive
local meaning put by some upon the words is
quite gratuitous. The plural form which some
assume (thine assemblies) varies the meaning only
by suggesting the idea of repeated convocations,
' in the midst of Thy people wherever (or, aa
often as) they meet Thee thus,' but without at
all conveying the idea of numerous or even of
different places." — .T. F. M.] But in ver, 8 b
this word stands in a different relation. There
it is undoubtedly in the plural form and in the
closest connection with IVi. And since burning
is spoken of the sacred edifices alone must be in-
tended. What are we to understand by the two-
fold addition "all" and "in the land?" The
old translators have ingeniously assumed that
synagogues are meant, and since Vitiinga has
made it clear (De Synagoga Vetere I. 2, 12)
that these did not exist until after the Exile,
many expositors have discovered in ver. 8, the
surest proof that the Psalm was composed in the
Maccabean period. But the synagogues are
never denoted by the term here employed, and
with this agrees the fact that the primary idea
of that term is not that of an assembly of men,
but according to Ex. xxv. 22 ; xxix. 42 ; xxxvi.
6, that of a meeting of God with His people, and
it is applied only to the one sacred place which
God established, — at first to the Tabernacle, and
afterwards to the Temple. This circumstance
excites just doubts of the correctness of that
explanation which makes this passage relate the
devastation of the synagogues in the land as the
houses of God — even if we have grounds for
maintaining, against the doubt expressed by
Hupfeld, their existence in the age of the Mac-
cabees, as argued especially from Josephus
(Wars, viii. 3, 3), and Acts xv. 21. But the
same fact decides against an allusion to the sa-
cred places where God manifested Himself during
the patriarchal age (J. D. Michaelis, Dathe,
Clauss), or to the high places of the old Israel-
PSALM LXXIV.
421
itish worship, which had possibly escaped the
efforts at extermlQatioa undertaken by Josiah
(GeseniuB, De Wette, Maurer). And even if the
plural can be allowed to refer to the several di-
visions of the Temple (The Rabbins) it is yet
linguistically impossible that the other sacred
places in the land could be united with it so as
to make one collective term, as Hupfeld assumes.
Just as inadmissible is the opinion of Bottcher,
who supposes that the worshipping assemblies of
the people are described, who perished, as it were,
by the same flames which burnt down the Temple.
The sentence can be most readily explained from
thelsraelitish couception, that in the destruction
of the Temple the one sanctuary of the worship-
pers of the true God throughout the nation per-
ished along with it (Hengstenberg). It is not
to be denied, however, that this explanation is
only an expedient to get rid of the embarrass-
ment caused by the translation " all the places
where God makes Himself known," and effects a
round-about interpretation ofmoedin order to gain
that end. All difficulty would be at an end, if we
were permitted to regard the vexed sentence as
a continuation of the words of the enemy. The Ma-
sorelic text, however, forbids this. The wording
of the sentence opposes its interpretation in this
sense ( Muntinghe, Koster), But is the present text
really the original one ? We have reason to doubt
it from the fact, that the Alex, version not merely
does actually give the sentence as a continuation of
the enemy's words, but that the reading /cnra/cav-
aufiev (let us burn down) appeared first as a
correction of Jerome instead of the original
KarairavaufiEv (let us bring to silence or make to
cease). In it also first appeared the translation
ioprd^. If, now, we assume that the LXX. have
read in3iy we could then make an improvement
by annexing 1 to the following word and reading
"vDI r\3iy. This would afford the most suitable
t: t -
sense: let us destroy them all at once, the Sab-
bath and all the sacred feasts in the land. In
this way also the form Uy2 with the suffix of
the third person plural would be fully explained
and the closest connection restored. Compare
Ehrt., p. 18 f., where reference is also made
to Lam. ii. 6 f. Is. i. 13 f. 2 Chron. viii. 13.
[Upon this emendation of the text proposed
by the author, I would remark. 1. That the
words which we obtain by adopting it are scarce-
ly suitable in the mouths of the invaders. The
Chaldeaus were not urged at all by religious
motives in their attacks, nor was there any evi-
dence of religious animosity iu their triumph.
They would agree much better with the spirit of
the Syrian invaders, but Dr. Moll is opposed to
the view which would make these the subject of
the verse. 2. The word )n2\if seems an unlikely
one for the LXX. to have assumed. It varies
very greatly from the word which has come
down to us. The radicals, besides, cannot give
a causative sense. The Kal is never transitive ;
the Piel does not exist. I would suggest that
the LXX. had in view the form lonn. This ne-
cessitates the change of only one radical and
gives the causative sense. The meaning natu-
rally suggested by the words of the verse, seems
after all, to be the best. All the others, that of
Hengstenberg not excepted, are forced and un-
natural. From other considerations, also, we
would be inclined to hold the early existence of
places of public meeting for God's worship
"throughout the land." It would be the expe-
rience of God's people then, as it is now, that
religion must utterly decay without such privi-
leges and exercises. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 4-1 1 . Signs for signs. — E. V.: Ensigns
for signs]. If we were to assign the composition
of the Psalm to the Maccabean period, we
would have to refer these words to the profana-
tions of the Temple, ^1 Mace. i. 45 f.). But the
expression itself deciaes against this. It is not to
be generalized so far as into "insolent deeds and
practices " (Hengst. ) ; but it is also incorrect to
make it describe special religious monuments, as
idol-images (Luther) which were put in the
place of the Israelitish Cherubim, ver. 9 (Ewald).
Still less proper is the supposition of military
ensigns (Jerome, Calvin and others), and alto-
gether unsuitable is that of the oracles (Kimchi,
J. H. Michaelis) which Nebuchadnezzar em-
ployed (Ezek. xxi. 26). The signs are, in general,
tokens of supremacy, at the same time political
and religious (Geier, J. H. Michaelis, Venema,
Hupfeld), which might even consist of regula-
tions and ceremonies, for the word before us is
in Ex. xxxi. 13 employed expressly of the Sab-
bath and of circumcision. This word also in
ver, 9, suits the Chaldean period. We must,
however, assume that the author was one of
those who remained behind in the desolated,
prophetless land, and that he could not hear the
prophetic strains of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and
could therefore gain no answer from revelation
to the anxious question: Until when? or, how
long? Only upon this hypothesis can the ex-
pression in ver. 9 b, which otherwise must be
connected with 1 Mace. iv. 6; ix. 27; xiv. 41,
be connected with the Chaldean period. For
the complaint that there is no prophet, is to be
distinguished from the complaint that God gives
the prophets, no revelation. But the destruction
by fire mentioned in ver. 7, alludes decisively to
this period, which we can neither restrict to the
shattered carvings (Hesse, De Fsalmis Maccabxia
1837) nor interpret as a hyperbolical expression
(De Jong, Disquisitio de Pss. Mace. 1857), nor
confine to the buildings and porticoes which
surrounded the Temple itself (Rudinger, Ols-
hausen and others). The Sanctuary itself was
made level with the ground and thereby dese-
crated. God's restraining Himself from inter-
ference in the course of human affairs (Lam. ii.
8) is represented in ver. 11 as the drawing back
of the hand into the bosom (Ex. iy. 7). Hence
the pregnant expression of the following stich.
[[ subjoin the correct translation of this verse,
as given by Dr. Alexander. It is the same as
that of Moll, except that the ellipses are sup-
plied : Why wilt Thou withdraw Thy hand and
Thy right hand ? From the midst of Thy bosom
(draw it) and consume (them). The sense of
ver. 5 also, and its relation to ver. 6, have been
completely misunderstood by our translators.
The following rendering seems to be the most
correct. It is substantially that given by most
of the recent commentators. Our version fol-
lows Calvin. " He " (the subject of ver. 3)
" exhibits himself as one who raises axes on
422
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
high in the Ihicket of the woods, and now," etc.
Moll prefers to take the first verb impersonally :
"An exhibition is made," etc. Perowne's trans-
lation is rather free: "Heseem3as,"e<c. — J. P.M.]
Vers. 12-14. In the midst of the earth. —This
is equivalent to saying, on the theatre of the
world (Ex. viii. 18; Ps. Ixxvii. 15), not in a
corner (Isa. xlv. 19) at the ends of the earth
(Ps. Ixv. 8). To restrict it to the thought: in
the land (Geier, J. H. Michaelis, De Wette,
Hengst. ), is inadmissible, since allusion is made
first to the passage through the Red Sea, next to
the displays of God's power in Egypt, and then
to the wonders wrought in the march through
the wilderness (Ex. xvii. 6; Numb. xx. 8; Josh,
iii. 13 f.). The sea-monsters, whose carcasses
become a prey to the wild beasts of the desert,
are emblems of Egypt (Isa. li. 9; Ezek. xxix.
3). Instead of the wild beasts of the desert
(Ps. Ixxii. 9), which are repeatedly used to re-
present a nation (Joel 1. 6; Zeph. ii, 14; Prov.
XXX. 25), many expositors assume, against the
usage of the word, that human inhabitants of
deserts are referred to ; either Ethiopians (LXX.,
Aben Ezra, Ewald) or Ichthyophagites (Bochart,
Clericus, Muntinghe), or the Israelites in the
wilderness (Kimchi, Calvin, Geier, and others).
Vers. 15-17. The ever-floTAring streams [E.
v.: mighty rivers] — that is, those streams which
do not dry up in summer, do not denote numer-
ous brooks which empty into the Jordan (Kim-
chi), but describe graphically the fulness of that
river, and at the same time generalize the idea,
since the Jordan is intended, though not men-
tioned. The light-giving [E. V., light], ver. 16,
may either denote the general, employed in con-
nection with the special, which is here the sun,
as in Ps. cxlviii. 9, trees and cedars (Hupfeld), or
mean the moon as the light of the night (Hitzig,
Delitzsch). [The former is to be preferred. As
analogous examples Hupfeld cites the expres-
sions, Judah and Jerusalem, Ephraim and Sa-
maria, "^"XXrjvtg T£ Kol ' A.f)T]valoL. Alexander :
Light and sun are related as the genus and the
species, like hand and right hand in ver. 11, signs
and prophet in ver. 9. — J. F. M.]. The estab-
lishment of the bounds of the earth [E. V.,
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth, ver.
17] brings into view the ordinances of nature,
if we may understand the limits imposed upon
the sea (Gen. 1. 9) which it must not pass (Job
xxxviii. 8 f. ; Jer. v. 22 ; Prov. viii. 29) to be
meant; or the patural limits which serve for the
boundaries of nations (Deut. xxxii. 8 ; Acts
xvii. 26).
Ver. 19. To the band [Germ.: dem Haufen,
E. v.: To the multitude of the wicked]. — We em-
ploy this rendering on account of its perspicuity,
and because it expresses most simply the force
of the word, which first describes the gathering
together of the enemy and then the gathering
together of the oppressed people of God, and in-
deed in both connections in allusion to the liveli-
ness of their movements. [Heb. n'n. We have
no single English word which conveys all these
ideas. — Tr.] The expression was possibly sug-
gested by the appellation turtle or dove, applied
to the Church (Ps. Ixviii. 14), and is employed
as in Ps. Ixviii. 11. [This is another of the many
passages in this Psalm about which there has
been much dispute. But much discussion would
be saved if the attempts at solution were to be
kept within the limits imposed by the following
conditions, which sefm to be necessary. First,
the word nTl is used in both members of the
TT
verse in the manner mentioned above. We mu'Jt
credit the author of the Psalm with such good
taste as would forbid him to use the same word
in different senses in such a relation. This
would lead us to discard such translations as
that of Perowne, who in the first member ren-
ders "beast" and in the second, "life." Heng-
stenberg's attempt in his rendering of 1^33 ri"!!
"greed-life," only makes the first member ob-
scure. Alexander translates both "herd," and
is certainly correct, as he retains the idea of
animal and makes it collective. But the render-
ing " band " is more directly applicable to hu-
man beings (comp. 2 Sam. xxiii. 11, 13), though
it is less literal. The English Version fails only
in the want of a felicitous term. Secondly, We
must translate ITn in the first member as a con-
struct. This has been disregarded or disputed*
by many, but only by unwarrantable violation
of the laws of the language. The most natural
way is to connect it with K/3J. This Hupfeld
opposes, but his objection, that nephesh never
occurs as a circumlocution for greedy, is of no
force; if we can only^ain for it the meaning:
greed, the common construction witli the con-
struct is quite admissible. This meaning is fre-
quent. His other objection, that it wculd be
against the accents, is of more weight, as I'hay-
yalh has the disjunctive Tiphha Initial. But the
necessities of the case force us to conclude that
the accents are wrong. Hupfeld himself pro-
poses a much more violent change, namely, to
transpose the words and translate: Give not to
rage the life, etc. Though the translation of
Hengstenberg is grammatically right, his ex-
planation of the first member of the vei'se is
obscure. So far as I know Alexander is the
only expositor who has given a rendering both
correct and perspicuous. Our translators savy
the necessity of rendering hayyath as a con-
struct, and therefore supplied the words in
italics. Dr. Moll has disregarded this. He
translates : Give not to the band the life of Thy
turtle-dove. I would offer the following render-
ing of the verse :
Give not to the blood-thirsty band the life of
Thy turtle-dove,
The band of Thy meek sufferers forget not. —
J. F. M.]
Vers. 20-23. The Covenant might, as in Dan.
xi. 28, 30 ; comp. vers. 22, 32, mean the cove-
nant-people (Hitzig), but it is probably to be
taken here in its usual application. That the
darknesses, ver. 20 b, mean the hiding-places, 1
Mace. i. 53, to which the persecuted confessors
fled and in which they were discovered and
slain (1 Mace. ii. 26 f. ; 2 Mace. vi. 11) is not
* [Ewatd considers HTI to be a play on the word, so as to
make it correapond to the same form in the second member.
See liis (?r., g 173 rf. Bbttcher (<?r., § 8:^2 a) regards it as
though for a form ^D^H. " a genitive termination," of which
he finds many examples. It is written defectively, and then,
on account of the pause, the Hhirik is dropped. But see
Green, Gr. g 196 6.— J. F. M.]
PSALM LXXIV.
423
necessarily contained in the expression. This
is the more probable, since the following words
appear to allude to Gen. vi. 11, 13, which may
be understood as describing the dark places of
suffering which are to be fouad on earth, Ps. xxiii.
4; comp. Ixxxviii. 8; cxliii. 3; Lam. iii. 6 (J. H.
Michaelis, Hengst.), A lurking-place of rob
bers (Calvin, De Wette, et al.) is scarcely to be
thought of. Neither is there any occasion to
change the ]Aunctuation in order to gain the idea
of an asyluoa (Ewald). [Ewald proposes to
read Oi^nD, thus forming a derivative, which is
nowhere found, of "jtyn in its rare sense of pre-
serving. He supposes that these asylums corre-
spond to the nj^lO of ver. 8 b. This alteration
is marked by the characteristic ingenuity of
Ewald and his characteristic disregard of autho-
rity. The explanation given by Moll is the one
generally received. — J. F. M.]. — The appended
words in ver. 22 b : the whole day, describe the
uninterrupted continuance of the reproaches.
[The Eng. Vers, has: reproaches thee daily,
which conveys the same idea of continuance.
Comp. Prov. xxi. 26.— J. F. M.]
DOOTRIlSfAL AND ETHICAL.
1. When men are weighed down by long-con-
tinued and severe sufferings, the thought is apt
to occur to them that these may never come to
an end. And when they perceive in them the
traces of God's wrath, the thought of its endless
duration is wont to fill them with anguish. An
inquiry into the cause of God's dealings towards
them, which seem fraught with such destruction,
then naturally begins. But the character of
this inquiry is determined by this : does it, as it
were, accuse God and include reproaches against
His government of the world? Or does it only
lament that God restrains Himself from action ?
If the latter, does it arise more from human
short-sightedness, impatience, faint-heartedness,
and want of faith, than from a desire for release
from God's wrath, from a longing for manifesta-
tions of His compassion, in a word, from a
yearning after holiness ? Finally, do the ques-
tioning and lamenting end in uncertainty, doubt
and despair? or does there arise from out of
them a prayer full of faith in God's mercy, and
inspired by the hope of being heard ?
2. There befall'sometimes God's Church on earth
also, afflictions so severe that they seem to imperil
its very existence. Then it is of vast moment to
recall the relation between God and His people
which He has Himself established, and to keep
in mind their Divine election, their miraculous
founding, and their preservation until the pre-
sent moment, along with the part which they
must ever play in the history of mankind. A
prayer which gives all of these their due place,
is both an evidence of faith and a means of
strengthening it.
3. The enemies of Go'-'I nnd of Plis Church may
indeed destroy her outward sanctuaries, abolish
her sacred seasons, forbid the assembling of the
faithful, prevent and interrupt the service of
God; but they cannot annul the covenant which
God has ordained, nor prevent the outward re-
storation of the Church, when the day of her
trial is over. So long, however, as danger, dis-
tress and persecution last, the tried ones must
not give up their faith, but must, while the enemy
continually revile their God, continually resort
to Him in prayerful confession. Yet to them
also may be afforded the consolation which is to
be derived from the displays of God's love and
omnipotence, as discovered in His doinga both
in history and in nature. On the connection
between the order of nature and the covenant
of grace,compare Jer. xxiii. 21-25 ; Isa. liv. 10.
HOMILETICAL AN.D PRACTICAL.
The Church's seasons of distress as times of
trial and awakening. — Injuries inflicted upon
the Church from without are not so baleful as
distractions within. — The persecuted yet victo-
rious. Church. — There is great consolation in
the reflection that the faithful covenant-keeping
God is at the same time the Almighty Lord of the
world and the righteous Judge of all. — Nothing
is yet lost while the Lord is our Shepherd and
we are still the sheep of His pasture. — God's
grace the salvation of believers ; sins unre-
pented of the destruction of men. — God remains
still the Lord of the world, even when sacrile-
gious men are not willing that He should re-
main Lord in His own house — Many do not learn
to value what they possess in God's house and
word until they are deprived of both. — The
darker it is on earth, the more let us long that
God would make it laright. — God may be angry
even against His own people, but He does not
cast them off forever. — There is ever before us
an evil day of need, when it is not permitted us
to hear God's word; but it makes a vast differ-
ence whether we cannot hear or whether we will
not hear. — Respect unto the covenant which God
established with us [see ver. 20 in the original],
to what it entitles us, and what it binds us to do.
— The true cause of our misfortunes is the wrath
of God against our sins ; the ground of our con-
fidence is the acts and tokens of mercy of the
Covenant God. — God's doings in nature and in
history as warnings and as a ground of consola-
tion.
Calvin: We know how difficult it is to rise
above all doubts so as to continue free and joy-
ful in prayer.' Therefore the faithful recall to
their recollection the memorials of the compas-
sion and power of God, by which He has shown
them in all ages that He is the King of His
chosen people.
Starke: In seasons of persecution we are not
to have so much regard to our enemies as to
God, for without His permission they cannot in-
jure a hair of our heads. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. The
strongest pillars of consolation to support us in
all tribulation, temptation, and despondency,are
the blessings of God already bestowed, and the
gracious assurance that at all times and in all
places He will be present with His own (Is. xliii.
1, 2). — Though all human help is often removed
from the children of Qod, there yet remains to
them this support, that they can always appeal
to God for a just decision, which will assuredly
not be a favorable one to their enemies. (Ex.
xxii. 23). — The enemies of the Church are also
the enemies of God, who will know how to
give His cause a glorious triumph at last (Is.
424
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
xxvUi. 29; Acts ix. 4, 5). — Those who pray in
failh, bring their troubles before God, not as
though He knew them not, but in reliance upon
His truth and with the certain expectation, that
He will fulfil His promises, (Ps. Ixix. 20).— If
God did not spare His own temple and people
when they stirred Him up to anger, we also need
expect no better treatment, unless we repent
sincerely of our sins, and amend our ways. —
God employs both hands at once, when He would
help those who trust in Him; the right to up-
hold the pious, the left to punish the ungodly. —
In the sorest trials it is found to be a delightful
source of consolation to contemplate God as our
King. — We can surely cast ourselves upon the
gracious covenant which God has made with us;
for on His part it is an eternal one. — The pre-
sent is not the first time that the pious have been
loaded with the despite, abuse, and contempt of
this world; thus has it been from the beginning
until now. Why does it then seem strange to
thee, dear soul, that thou must also endure the
same? Matt. v. 12.
Osiandee: No tyrant is so mighty that God
cannot bring him so low as that he will become
a spoil and object of contempt even to those
that are poor and despised. — Selneckbe : He
who possesses the true religion and remains
firmly by it, enjoys the favor of God and may
rejoice even if he has to lay down his life for it.
— Renschel: Since God cannot allow His own
glory to pass away, neither can He forsake His
Church; the whole cause is His. — Frisch : Aa
great and precious as are God's mercy and the
treasure of His word, so great and dreadful will
be the punishments He will inflict, if men abuse
His mercy and pay so little regard to His word.
— Rieger: Here we are taught how, when the
Church is in distress of any kind, believers
should pour out their hearts before God and
maintain their trust in his covenant. — Arndt:
That is the season of the most severe chastise-
ment and distress of soul, when there is no word
of God or prophet in the land, as the enjoy-
ment of His pure word is its greatest consola-
tion, Jer. XV. This is not felt until God and the
priceless treasures have departed. — Tholuck :
The Psalmist prays that even in the deepest igno-
miny of his people, the eternal claims of that
Omaipoteace, which rules in history and pre-
scribes to nature her laws, may be made known.
— Richter [Hausbibel) : Alas how unbelief ia
laying in ruins the edifices of our pious ances-
tors reared in faith! Yes, even the temple of
the word of God itself! It is permitted us to
remind God, how He has helped His people in
former times, and plead before Him the inno-
cence of His little band, their weakness and
helplessness; and the honor of His own name
and of the covenant of grace. — G uenther : Mis-
fortune comes from God as chastisement, it is
becoming then to inquire after the wherefore
[See ver. 1.]. — The children of God are the ac-
cusers, the wicked are the accused, God is the
Judge. — DiEDRiCH : God must often remove from
us all external sources of comfort, in order that
our spiritual sense may be quickened, to dis-
cern the power of His mercy even in death.
When the visible is swept away from before us,
His kingdom of grace will not long be out of
reach, for only then shall it be really renewed,
and that by these very means. — Taube : The
sum of the consolation and support of God's
people is His gracious election and His gracious
power. How much is comprised in these few
words. My King of old! All these at once — the
testimony to His almighty majesty, the testimony
to His unchangeable faithfulness towards His
people, the testimony to the believer's certain
experience of them all. — With God's glory and
in His cause are bound up the prosperity and
salvation of His own.
[Heney: The concerns of religion should be
nearer our hearts and affect us more than any
worldly concern whatsoever. — The desolation of
God's house should grieve us more than the
desolation of our own houses, for the matter is
not great what comes of us and our families in
this world, provided God's name may be sancti-
fied, His kingdom may come and His will be
done.
Scott: The true Church is as pleasant and
amiable to the Lord as a turtle-dove, though
poor and despicable in the world's estimation.
Barnes: The thought here is of a people dear
to God, now timid and alarmed. It is the prayer
of a people beloved by God that He will not
deliver them into the hand of their enemies. —
J. F. M.]
PSALM LXXV.
To the chief Musician, Al-iaschiih, A Psalm or Song of Asaph,
2 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks ;
For that thy name is near
Thy wondrous works declare.
3 When I shall receive the congregation
I will judge uprightly.
PSALM LXXV.
426
4 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved ;
I bear up the pillars of it. Selah :
5 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly :
And to the wicked, Lift not up the horn :
6 Lift not up your horn on high :
Speak not with a stiff neck.
7 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor &om the west,
Nor from the south.
8 But God is the judge :
He putteth down one, and setteth up another.
9 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup,
And the wine is red ; it is full of mixture ;
And he poureth out of the same :
But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth
Shall wring them out, and drink them.
10 But I will declare for ever ;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
11 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off;
JSw< the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. Id the super-
Bcription, compare Introd. g 12, No. 15; § 8, Nos.
1 and 2, The whole Psalm is pervaded by the
confident assurance of help against arrogant and
impious enemies through God's judicial inter-
vention. This assurance, however, flows from
reliance on a promise of God received just be-
fore, and is so strong and lively that the Psalm
begins already with the thanks of the Church
(ver. 2), and not till then is God's declaration
announced (vers. 3-5), after which (ver. 6)
the warning to the enemies is repeated. This is
based upon the two truths realized by faith, that
Israel's deliverance does . not proceed from those
who were situated round about them on earth,
but from God as Judge (vers. 7, 8), and that God
as Jehovah compels all the wicked of the earth
to be the instruments of their own righteous
punishment (ver. 9). The Psalmist finally de-
clares, with the joyfulness of faith, that his
praise shall never cease, and that the triumphant
power of the righteous shall ever increase (vers.
10, 11).
No convincing arguments can be adduced to
justify us in connecting this and the following
Psalm with the victory of the Maccabean princes
over the Syrian Gorgias,! Mace. iv. (Rudinger)
or with that of the Maccabean general Judas
over the Syrian Apollonius, 1 Mace. iii. 10 f.
(Hitzig, who refers Ps. Ixxvi. to the defeat of
Seron). There is no reason even for going down
to the age of the Exile, (Hupfeld) or to the
times after the Exile generally (Kdster, Olshau-
Ben). On the other hand there is nothing to
contradict the supposition announced already
in the superscription of the following Psalm
in the Septuagint, which connects it with
the Assyrians, that is with the overthrow of
Sennacherib before Jerusalem (2 Kings xix.).
Many arguments may even be adduced in sup-
port of it, n&mely, not only the points of resem-
blance with Pss. xlvi. and Ixxvi. but especially
ver. 7, and the prophetic declaration of Isaiah
xxxvii. along with the exhortation correspond-
ing thereto, addressed to king Hezekiah, 2
Chron. xxxii. J, 8. "Our Psalm is accordingly
to be viewed as the lyrical accompaniment of the
prophetic utterances which Isaiah gave forth in
view of impending destruction by the Assyrians,
as an evidence also of the lively faith with which
God's people then received His promise, and as
an exhortation to the Church of all ages, through
like faith, to seek a share in a like deliverance."
(Hengstenberg).
Ver. 2. And Thy name is near. — [E. V.: Fop
that ihy name is near.] Since it is not permitted to
translate 1 by "for" (De Wette), the verse does
not formally present the ground of thanksgiving,
though it is really contained in the nearness of
God's revealed presence and in the might of His
name (Deut. iv. 7; Is. xxx. 27), by which His
salvation comes nigh (Ps. Ixxxv. 10). The sub-
ject is continued and has a deeper meaning than
when it is said that God is near the heart and
the mouth, (Jer. xii. 12, comp. Deut. xxx. 14).
The view of the passage, according to which a
colon is put after "and," and the nearness of
God's name is regarded as that which His won-
drous works declare (Hupfeld) personifies the
latter in a manner hardly admissible. [The for-
mer construction would necessitate the render-
ing: We praise thee, O Lord, we give praise;
and thy name is near ; they recount thy wonders.
In favor of this view I would urge further that
"recounting God's wonders, etc." was the most
usual kind of praise or thanksgiving, as the as-
pect in which God was viewed by the Israelites
was largely that of a Wonder- Worker. The
connection with the first member of the verse,
then appears natural. The change of person is
usual, and as the verb has the masculine termi-
nation, the necessity of assuming a neglect of
agreement is avoided. — J. F. M.J
426
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
Vers. 3-0. Occasion, — [Ileb.l^^ia. E,V.: Con-
gregatiou]. la Hab, ii 3; Dan. viii. 19, xi.
27, 35; Ps. cii. 14, the time appointed in God's
counsel for the execution of His judgment, is
expressed by this term IJ^^i^, that is, Kaipdg.
This shall arrive when God shall have finished
His work in the Church (Is. x. 12). And God
gives the assurance that He will not allow this
occasion to pass by disregarded, but that He will
seize upon it, and then judge according to the law
of right. Accordingly it is not the earthly king
David who speaks (Geier and others) but the
heavenly King, as in Ps, xlvi, 11. The only
question is now, how far this declaration con-
tinues; whether to ver, 7 inclusive (Ilitzig) or
to ver. 6 (Tholuck, Delitzsch) or to ver. 6 (Kos-
ter) or only to ver. 4 (Kimchi and most). In
any case the diflferent parts of such prophetico-
lyrical utterances flow easily into one another,
and in ver. 10, though the Church does not
speak (Hengst.) yet it is in her name and as her
exponent that the Psalmist does, since the Psalm
begins with we, and therefore the use of the first
person decides nothing. The musical mark Selak
throws no more light upon the question. An-
nouncements from God are given by Isaiah, in
which threatenings against His enemies occur,
and which bear also the character of warning
and exhortation, but such utterances concerning
the Assyrians in the mouth of the Psalmist, are
admitted by none. Besides, the sudden change
of tlie speaker introducing himself with "I,"
would not be without harshness. We are there-
fore at all events justified in including ver. 5 as
part of God's declaration. With regard to ver.
6 we have more ground for hesitation. For if
we were to consider it as a continuation of the
words uttered by God, it would appear to dero-
gate from the conciseness, pregnancy, and force
which are conspicuous in them, and render it
difficult to assign the true position of ver, 7. If,
on the other hand, we regard ver. 6 as a lyrical
response to God's declaration, in the mouth of
the Psalmist, prophecy and poetry would run
naturally into one another, and ver. 7 be united
in conformity to this by the causal ''3. Even in
ver. 3 this particle is capable of the same mean-
ing. It would in that case introduce the transi-
tion from the lyrical to the prophetical style.
But a translation, which, beginning with "for,"
must insert a colon immediately after it for the
sake of clearness (Delitzsch), is harsh. It is
however unnecessary to change the confirmatory
into an affirmative: yea (Baur in De Wette). The
construction of O as a particle of time^Sfav
(Sept.) is quite correct and expressive; the am-
biguous wenn (De Wette and others) is, however,
to be avoided. The words scarcely mean that God
will "choose" the proper occasion (Ewald, Mau-
rer, Olshausen), but that He will "seize upon "
an occasion already chosen. Gen. ii. 15 ; Ps.
xviii. 17 (Kimchi, Calvin, and others, Hupfeld,
Delitzsch), In ver. 4 it is doubtful whether the
dissolving is to be understood of internal melt-
ing from fear, while quaking before God as He
appears for judgment (Olshausen, Hupfeld) or
before the violence of the wicked (Ilitzig) or
whether it is to be understood of the disturbing
influence of the prevailing violence, unrighteous-
ness and sin in the disarrangement of monil
forces, symbolized by physical ones, in political
confusion and the like events, comp. Ps. xlvi.
7 (Geier, Hengst., Del.) In like manner it is
doubtful whether the setting upright of the pil-
lars is to be taken in a preterite sense, and re-
ferring to God's original creative acts, from
which an assurance of God's preserving and de-
livering may be drawn (1 Sam, ii. 8; Job
xxxviii, 4 flf. ) or whether it is to be taken in a
present sense with direct reference to the latter.
The diff"erent allusions merge into one another,
and so, to a certain extent, do the expositions of
the same. — The horn, employed already in Deut.
xxxiii. 17; 1 Sam. ii. 1, as an instrument of vie-
torious aggression, and in Ps. xviii. 3, trans-
ferred to Jehovah as the Horn of salvation, is ap-
plied in the present Psalm in ver. 116 to the
righteous. In ver. 11 a, on the contrary, and in
vers. 6 and 6, it is applied to the impious enemy.
It occurs in such a connection that it is plain
"horn," does not mean head (Hupfeld) but de-
notes an instrument of force. And to lift up the
horn is not to raise the head, but, according to
the context, to display the instruments of force,
to brandish them for attack or defense, to in-
crease, or to strengthen them. It is also to be
decided by the context alone, whether the ac-
cessory idea of confidence and courage, or that
of insolence and presumption is to be understood
(comp. Ps, Ixxxix. 18, 25; xcii. 11; cxii. 9;
cxlviii. 14; 1 Mace, ii, 48). The meaning "bear
up " given to T^Jjn in ver. 4 in E. V., is proba-
bly not exactly correct. So with the explana-
tion " estimate " taken from the same sense of
weighing. The idea of setting upright is most
readily suggested by the context, and is really
as near the primary meaning of making levels
even, as the other renderings. — J. F. M,].
Ver. 7. Prom the desert of the moun-
tains.—[Heb. Dnn III^D. Eng. Ver., Pro-
motion . . . from the south]. This translation
is demanded by the present text, and refers to
the Arabian desert, bounded by mountains,
which lies to the south of Canaan. The sen-
tence which, from the course of thought, is
easily completed, means that the foes who op-
press God's people have to expect the Judge nei-
ther from the East, nor the West, nor the South,
but from heaven. This appears to intimate that
the enemy is viewed as approaching from the
North, and therefore applies to the Assyrians.
A number of good MSS. and editions, and even
the Targum, read midhbar, however not with
Pattahh, but with Kamets. The question then
is, how, according to this word, thus standing in
the absolute state, the following W^T^ is to be
understood. Most of those who adopt this read-
ing (Hupfeld also) take it with Kimchi as Hiphil
Inf., with the substantive meaning: elevation.
It then is understood to mean that exaltation
comes from no quarter of the world, that there
is no earthly source of power. But even if with-
out any addition the desert can be used to de-
signate the south, it would justly be felt neces-
sary for the full expression of the thought thus
presented, that the north should be mentioned.
It has been attempted to gain this end, by al-
lowing harim to retain its usual meaning, while
the mountains are understood to mean the fertile
PSALM LXXV.
427
mountain region of Lebanon and Herraon
(Ewald). But this fails in this respect that the
repetition of the preposition can scarcely be dis-
pensed with if the thought "from the moun-
tains " is to be brought out, and the word not
be capable of being considered as in apposition ;
and this is especially necessary if the need of
completing the unfinished sentence is taken into
account. The words are more suitable in the
mouth of God (Hitzig), or of the enemy (Geier,
Rosenmiiller), than in that of the Psalmist.
Vers. 9-11. A cup is the cup of wrath (Is. li.
17fF.) with the intoxicating wine (Ps.lx.S) which
God Himself by mixing it prepares for drinking.
He reaches it forth Himself while fermenting,
that is, foaming, and full to the brim, and forces
the guilty to drain it without intermission and
with constrained eagerness, even to the dregs
(Job xxi. 20; Obad. 16; Hab. ii. 16; Ezek.
xxiii. 34; Jer. xxv. 15 f.; xlviii. 26; xlix. 12;
li. 7). It is not necessary to change "^4< ver, 9 d
into 'IX (Olshausen, Baur) for the sake of the
thought: even its dreg.s, instead of: only its
dregs (Hengst., Hitzig). The latter rendering
is, it is true, the prevailing one, and the sense
might be that the heathen who hitherto had not
drunk of this cup, receive nothing but the dregs
to drain (Hitzig). But this is less suitable in
the connection than the thought: there is no-
thing left, etc. And the particle "^X leads us di-
rectly to this, for it expresses not so much limi-
tation as contrast, and therefore gives sometimes
to an expression the sense of certainty and in-
dubitableness (Ewald, I 105 rf, § 354 a). Its dregs
are not those of* the cup, but of the mixture.
This reference is favored by the feminine suffix.
D13, indeed, occurs sometimes as feminine, but
usually as masculine, and so here. Since "ijon
is in the accusative, VI is likewise so to be
taken, and the rather that the article is absent.
Then it is not red, that is, good wine, that is
spoken of fKimchi, Calvin, J. D. Michaelis, Ro-
senmueller), nor is it wine, conceived as still
fermenting, and therefore turbid (Aben Ezra and
others), nor that in which roots have been put,
and which has begun . to ferment again (De
Wette), but it is a cup foaming from a full draw-
ing (Gesenius, Thesaurus). The concluding
words, in ver. 11, are taken by most as the
words of God, and in form and meaning corres-
pond to this view. The change of speakers
would, however, be harsh, and there is no suffi-
cient reason for placing the verse immediately
after ver, 4 (Olshausen). The word "all," in
vers. 9 and 10 has at all events a strong em-
phasis.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is good for us not only to listen to the voice
of men, but also to give ear to God when
He speaks. All His words, however, cluster
round the Law and the Gospel, and have as their
central point His revelation of Himself for man's
salvation, or the bringing near of His name.* The
*[" According to the biblical, and especially the Old Testa-
ment mode of conception the connection generally between
the name and the object is very close, differing greatly from
that held in the modern consciousnesi, in which the name
has been weakened by a mere conventional sign. The name
Law shows us chiefly God as Judge ; the Gospel
God as Saviour. The two aspects, however, are
presented in both. It is our part to divide
rightly the word of God, and sincerely appro-
priate it.
2. If we can appropriate in faith God's gracious
word of promise, we will gain that joyful as-
surance of help and salvation, which cheers us
in suffering, makes us courageous in dangers and
valiant in temptations, and, through the assu-
rance of Divine intervention, begets that certainty
of final victory, before which complaining is
stilled, and for which prayer, thanksgiving, and
praise resound.
3. The promises which God has given to His co-
venant people, every believer may appropriate
to himself. This is not accomplished, however,
with equal success at all times. Through vari-
ous causes it is sometimes easy, and at other
times difficult. It becomes difficult especially
through the pressure which in circumstances of
extreme distress the thought of God's tarrying
exerts upon the soul. If we were to yield to this
pressure, the fear of neglect and the anguish
of abandonment by God would take possession
of the soul. It is therefore well that, to counter-
act it, we recount betimes the former wonders
and mighty acts of God, and then we will be
taught to rely with greater confidence upon the
trustworthiness of God, that is, upon His truth
and faithfulness, and to be more assured of His
power, righteousness, and goodness.
■ 4. God not only knows the right occasion, but
avails Himself of it, and His intervention pre-
serves from destruction the world shaken to its
foundations, while He maintains, as He has es-
tablished, in force, efficiency, and due influence,
the moral as well as the physical order of the
world. Therefore judgment and deliverance are
to be expected from Him alone, and not from the
world. The attention therefore, both of the
Church and of the world, must be earnestly
given to serious reflection upon the justice as
well as upon the love of God. For God is equally
in earnest in both, and none can hinder their
complete manifestation at the fit time.
5. When one is nbased and another exalted, it is
not to be regarded as the sport of fortune, nor
as an event of blind necessity, whether it be
called nature or destiny, but the controlling hand
of God is to be discerned therein, which, accord-
ing to men's conduct, punishes and blesses, deals
out and presents to every one the portion allot-
ted to him. By this men themselves are made
to further the execution of the Divine judgments.
Yet even so there is an essential difference not
to be overlooked. The wicked perform their
part by constraint ; the righteous willingly.
Hence arises the distinction between the instru-
ments and the servants of God.
6. The wicked do not at first perceive that they
themselves must bear a part in the execution of
judgment upon themselves, and when they do
perceive it while exchanging the sweet and in-
toxicating cup for the bitter dregs, they cannot
is the thing itself, in ao far as the latter is manifested and
known— the expression of the nature of the object compre-
hended in the word." Konig, T/ieologie der Fsalmen, p. 266 ;
quoted in the origmalin Liddon's Bamjiton Lectures, p. 60. —
J. F. M,]
428
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
prevent it. They must drain it without inter-
mission, even to its sediments, and that they all
must do without exception. The final ruin of
all the ungodly as well as the complete triumph
of the righteous and their endless praise to God
is a Messianic expectation, theme of announce-
ment, and hope.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The distresses of the pious do not prove that
they are forsaken by God, but that the time
chosen by Him beforehand has not yet arrived.
— When the righteous praise God they make
known, I, that God's name has come nigh them;
2, that they have to talk of His wonders ; 3, that
they are mindful of His word. — God's word and
man's faith bear constantly an intimate relation
to each other, therefore the word must be pro-
claimed, and faith tried. — There are commotions
in which the world might be crushed and the
Church might despair, if God did not preserve
the one and comfort the other. — God is indeed
omnipresent, preserving and governing the
world which He has created, but there are times
and places in its history in which the presiding
hand of the Eternal is clearly displayed, or is
veiled from human sight. — When distress is the
most severe, then is help nearest, but it lies not
in us to determine this extremity of need. — Be-
fore God judges He attempts to save. He therefore
not merely threatens to punish, but warns also
the presumptuous and secure. — The announce-
ment of God's coming has the power to cheer or
to terrify, just according to men's conduct. — It
is better to take the cup of sorrow from God's
hand than to be obliged to drink the intoxicating
cup of His wrath which follows the cup of sin
and its pleasures. — Not from the powers of the
world, but from God in heaven are judgment and
deliverance to be expected. — God's judgments
come irresistibly, but they may be escaped by a
genuine repentance. — God's judgments upon the
unconverted sinner are inevitable; let no one
deceive himself: what is delayed is not revoked.
— Through God's delaying nothing is lost; but
many may be saved thereby, for space is given
them for repentance. — Which do you prefer, end-
less praise or endless groaning? One of the two
is thy allotted portion, and God's hand cannot
err. — The triumph of the righteous is as certain
as the ruin of the wicked, and both of them
through God's judgment, but many find it hard
to bide the time.
Luther: God measures out to every one his
draught of suffering ; but it is the dregs that
are left for the ungodly. — Starke : The heart
of a believer so overflows with gratitude in the
contemplation of God's blessings, that it cannot
find words sufficient to express it. — The troubles
of the righteous last long, as it seems to us, yet
they have a certain limit appointed by God,
which they cannot pass. — When God touches a
land everything trembles and melts like wax at
the flre. — 0 that men would fall betimes in true
penitence at the feet of this Judge! — Presump-
tion is the mother of all sins and the road to
destruction, and self-security is the strongest
chain of hell, Isa. xxviii. 15; Prov. xvi. 18. — The
troubles of the Christian are like the foam of a
liquid, which lasts but a short time, but the
plagues of the ungodly are like the dregs, which
will cause them endless torment. — Here the won-
derful ways of God are often concealed to us ;
but there we shall discover that they have been
only goodness and truth ; what then can they
evoke from us but unceasing praise to God ? —
The fall of one must often be the means of the
exaltation of another. — Synesius (Bp. of Gy-
rene) : There is a life-giving pleasure worthy
of being the gift of God, and there is a tumultu-
ous rejoicing. When thou art enjoying the
bounteous repast, think of God \ For then
comes the greatest enticement to sin, and most
slip and fall. — Osiander : The judgments^ of
God against persecutors we are to await with
patience. — Selneoker : The world could not
last a moment, if God did not preserve it for the
sake of His chosen. — RENSCttEL: God's word is
the Christian's strength, by which he acts' in
faith as with the strength of God. — Frisoh :
Security is the strongest chain of hell, the
largest net of Satan, by which be hunts best
and catches the most prey. — Arndt : The hope
of relief is given to tribulation, and, for all that
we know, God may have many means of deliver-
ance.— RiBGEE • It is a great work to strengthen
the hands of ourselves and others for good in
evil times as Asaph does in this Psalm, so that
we testify (1) to the source of our good hope ;
(2) to our good aims flowing from this source ;
(3) how we have realized these and maintained
at the same time our good hope. — Tholuck:
God alone is to be Judge and Hiding-place. —
RiCHTER [Hausbibel) : The Revelation of John
is the key to and conclusion of all the prophe-
cies of the Old Testament concerning this " last
time," and they have been given as a warning
and consolation, not for carnal abuse. — Vai-
HiNGER ; The judgment of God cannot follow at
all times, but man's freedom must have room for
exercise, in some cases as hardening into sin,
and in others as growing preparedness for Divine
help, in order that the actual final decision of
God may be emphatic and convincing. — Quen-
ther; The higher a man holds himself, the fur-
ther is he from God. — Schaubach (20th Sunday
after Trinity) : As the Church of the Lord made
herself ready to receive Him, so must thou too,
0 Christian, worthily prepare thyself. For in
His own time will He, who now so kindly and
lovingly invites thee, become thy Judge, and all
the world shall tremble before Him. — Taubb •
We perhaps call often upon God in the hour of
anguish and distress, but there scarcely ever
goes forth simple, much less frequent, thanks-
giving after deliverance. — God is Judge ! That
is the great fact which underlies the history of
the world, which pervades in a thousand mani-
festations all the ways and works of God. — K6-
oel (Thanksgiving service after the battle of
Koniggratz) ■ 1. We remind each other of the
sustaining pillars ; 2. We feel all of us together
the trembling of the land , 3. We adore the sup-
porting hand of God.
[Matth. Henry (vers. 6-10) : Two good prac-
tical inferences drawn from these great truths:
1. He will praise God and give Him glory for
the elevation to which He had advanced him.
2. He will use the power with which he is en-
trusted for the great ends for which it was put
PSALM LXXVI.
429
into his hands, (1) He resolves to be a terror
xmto evil-doers ; (2) He resolves to be a protec-
tion and
J. F. M.]
praise to them that do welL—
PSALM LXXVL
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph,
2 In Judah is God known :
His name is great in Israel,
3 In Salem also is his tabernacle,
And his dwelling place in Zion.
4 There brake he the arrows of the bow,
The shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
5 Thou art more glorious and excellent
Than the mountains of prey.
6 The stout hearted are spoiled,
They have slept their sleep :
And none of the men of might have found their hands.
7 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,
Both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
8 Thou, even thou, art to be feared :
And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry ?
9 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven ;
The earth feared, and was still,
10 When God arose to judgment,
To save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
11 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee :
The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain,
12 Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God :
Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
13 He will cut oflf all the spirit of princes.
He is terrible to the kings of the earth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — On the super-
Bcription compare § 12, No. 4. The close rela-
tionship of this Psalm to Ps. Ixxv. is universally
acknowledged. What is to be said as to its occa^
sion and composition has been given already
under that Psalm. Without assuming this rela-
tionship we might, especially with a peculiar
interpretation of ver. 6 (see below), be led to
bring it into connection with the defeat of the
allied neighboring nations, in the reign of Je-
hoshaphat, foretold by the Asaphite JebazieL
It is now, with greater certainty, held to relate
to the execution of that Divine judgment upon
the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah, which in
the foregoing Psalm was considered as in pro-
phetic prospect. [So the commentators gene-
rally approve of the superscription of the Sept. :
TTpdf TQv Aaahpiov. — J, P. M.]. It is first brought
into view how God has again made His name glo-
rious in His chosen dwelling-place in Jerusalem,
by the annihilation of the forces of the enemy,
which before His rebuke sunk down into the
sleep of death (vers. 2-7). From this the infe-
rence is drawn (vers. 8-10) that God, in the
terribleness of His wrath, is irresistible when
He arises to judgment for the deliverance of His
suffering ones. To this, after presenting God's
truthfulness in support of this declaration, the
Psalmist adds an exhortation to a course of con-
duct in agreement therewith (vers. 11-18).
[Hengstenberg: "The enthusiastic feeling, the
courageous tone, which characterize the pro-
phecies and also the Psalms of the Assyrian
period (comp. besides Ps. Ixxv., especially Ps.
xlvi.) meet us here also."— J- P- M.]
430
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
Vers. 2-4. Known. — J^l'U, as parallel to the
following stich, is not to be taken as a prseterite
but as a participle. Judah is the more restricted,
Israel the wider conception. Salem is evidently
• Jerusalem, and so named in allusion to Gen.
xiv. 18. Comp. Josh. x. 1. By choosing it as His
dwelling God had made Zion the place of His self-
revelation by which He became known in Israel,
and especially in Judah, TVi)U does not mean:
thither (Hengst.), but like Ql^ simply: there
(Hupfeld). The breaking in pieces of the ene-
my's weapons is to be compared with Ps. xlvi. lO ;
Hos. ii. 20. In the latter passage also Tvar is
put for weapons of war. The lightnings of
the bow are the arrows.
Vers, 5-7. Thou art shining fprth, glori-
ous OuQ, from the mountains of spoil.
[E. v., Thou art more glorious and excellent
than the mountains of prey]. — Comp. Dan. ii. 22 ;
1 Tim. vi. 16. It is unnecessary to change "11XJ
into N"11J (Sept., Targ.). The latter is found in
the text only in vers. 8 and 13. The mountains
(plural also in Ps. Ixxxvii. 1 ; cxxxiii, 2) of
spoil here denote Mount Zion. From thence
God, triumphing as the Glorious One in His
ronjesty (Ps. viii. 2; xviii, 13 f. ), shines forth
as a victorious Hero, over His disarmed enemies,
sinking into the sleep of death (Jer. Ii. 39, 57 ;
Nahum iii. 18), and unable even to raise a hand
any longer for possible resistance (Jos. viii. 20;
2 Sam. vii. 27), and thunders down, crushing
and stupefying them (Isa. xxix. 6; xxx. 30).
But the use of this figure is not based so much
upon the comparison of God to a lion (Kimchi,
Venema, and others), although His dwelling-
place (ver. 8 b) is denoted by the usual word
for a lion's lair (Ps. civ. 22; Amos iii. 4). The
illustration is rather employed because spoiling
is an accompaniment of victory^ Isa. xlix. 24
(Hupfeld). The Sept. has "everlasting moun-
tains" (approved by Hitzig), which is based
upon another reading. [Hitz-g's opinion is that
the original reading was IJ^, and that this am-
biguous word has been misunderstood and ex-
plained by ^TD. — J. F. M.]. They, however,
as also Aquila and Syramacbus, have taken the
|D=/>offi. If it is taken as the sign of the
comparative (as the Targ. and others), then the
mountains of prey are to be understood either
as the predatory villages of the hostile moun-
tain-tribes or as the high-handed and rapacious,
powerful (kings or giants) and wealthy (Isaaki,
Delitzsoh). Yet there is nothing to recommend
the feeble thought that God is more bright and
glorious than these, nor the unexpected form of
expression employed in the comparison.
Ver. 11, The w^rath of man praiseth
Thee. — This does not mean that those who once
contended with God and set themselves in oppo-
sition to Him will afterwards praise Him, but
that all the raging of men against the will of
God, His people and kingdom, must serve, in its
own despite, to show forth ' God's glory, while
then will be made manifest, on the one side, the
feebleness and worthlessness of man, and on the
other, the majesty and glory of God, especially
by the punishment of the guilty and the defence
of the righteous. In this almost all expositors
agree. But the sense of the other member of
the verse is doubtful. Many think that the
wrath of man is referred to also here, and under-
stand by the remainder of it, the greatest, ut-
most (Luther), or the last (Flaminius and
others), remaining efforts. God arms Himself
to overthrow these, or decks Himself with, them
as trophies of victory (Venema, Muntinghe,
Hupfeld). Or it is viewed as though the wrath
of the enemy even to its last effort were to serve
God only as a weapon for their destruction
(Hengst, ), [See the various meanings of "^JPI. —
J. F. M.]. Linguistically it is a more forced
interpretation still to understand, the rest of the
enraged men, that is, the rest of the wicked,
whom God hems about and restrains (Isaaki,
Kimchi, Calvin, and others). But if we take
girding in the sense of arming (Isa. Ii. 9; lix. 17 ;
Wisdom of Solomon v. 21), which is most appro-
priate to the context, then it is more natural to
understand God's wrath. And by " the re-
mainder " we would understand the store of
wrath not yet exhausted for the completion of
the overthrow (Targ., Geier and others), or
" that store of inexhaustible fulness of wrath
yet remaining with God and now discharging
itself, when the rage of men is exhausted and
God calmly and derisively (Ps. ii. 4) lets the
Titans work their will" (Delitzsch). An apt
remark in the Midrash (in Delitzsch, I. 579):
" Man is controlled by wrath, God controls wrath.
He restrains it when He will, and lets it work
when He will." [Dr. Moll therefore renders:
With the remainder of wrath Thou girdest Thy-
self. Perowne follows Hupfeld's view given
above. Alexander prefers that of Hengsten-
berg.— J. F. M.]
Ver. 12. All that are round about Him.
— This expression is not in the vocative, as
designating the Israelites, Numb. ii. 2 (Koster,
Hengst.), but, as the accents and the mention
of gifts (Ps. Ixviii. 30) demand, the subject of
the following words, and describes the neighbor-
ing heathen nations, which must pay tribute to
God the Fear-inspirer (KIIQ as in Isa. viii. 12),
while the Israelites bring to Jehovah, their,
God, thank-offerings in fulfilment of their vows
(Deut. xxiii. 22). [Hengstenberg: Ver. 11 is
in accordance with the narrative as given in
2 Chron. xxxii. 23, that the heathen actually
did honor God by presents, in consequence of the
destruction of the Assyrian army. — J. F. M.].
In ver. 13 n^T is certainly not to be understood
as boldness, pride (De Wette, Hupfeld) ; nor
scarcely as spirit, breath of life (Hengst.), but
as in Judges viii. 3; Isa. xxv. 4; xxxiii, 11, as
the breathing of wrath (Hitzig), or as snorting
(Del.). Nor must we give to the verb the mean-
ing of plundering, robbing (Geier and others),
or that of cutting 8hort=reducing (Targ.), but
that of cutting off=taking away (Sept., Symm,),
as the vine-dresser does to the wild vines, Joel
iv, 13 ; Isa. xviii. 6 ; Rev. xiv. 17 ff.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God has not only set up His dwelling in Zion
and made Himself known to His people; He
makes Himself appear glorious there by His
mighty deeds. By them also He defends His
p
PSALM LXXVII.
431
city and people and destroys the plans of their
enemies as well as their resources, life and
power. Thus He appears at once glorious and
dreadful.
2 God needs only to arise to judgment and all
the might of the rebellious world recoils upon
itself. Therefore have believers every reason to
thank God, and the heathen every reason to
submit themselves to Him. For none can stand
before God's anger, and the wicked, even in
their overthrow, must contribute to His glory.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God is shown everywhere to be Lord and
Master, on fields of battle as well as in spiritual
warfare. — All that we know of God results from
His making Himself known. — It is better for
us to serve the Lord voluntarily than to be com-
pelled to submit ourselves to Him. — Where God
dwells, there He lets something of Himself be
heard and seen. — God employs His power for
deliverance and for judgment. — ^God is as glori-
ous in the shining of His favor as He is dreadful
in the lightning of His wrath. — A single word
of God and all the world's commotion comes to
nothing. — How diiferent is God's wrath and the
world's rage.
Starke : The greatest honor which a nation
or place can have is to possess the knowledge
of the true God, and to be able to glory in His
gracious presence (Deut. iv. 7, 8). — God often
employs feeble means when He subdues His foes,
that all the world may know that He Himself
watches over His own and defends them. — God
observes the law of retaliation very strictly.
See in the ruin of most tyrants, whether the
mode of their death has not been in accordance
with their wicked lives. Ex. xiv. 27 ; Acts xii.
23. — Our best and first gift to God must be our
heart (Prov. xxiii. 26). From this there will
result of itself a desire to contribute something
of our means to advance His kingdom.
OsiANDER : The more tyrants rage against the
Church of Christ, the nobler victory does God
bring therefrom, when He casts them to the
ground, and preserves His Church, even though
some of its members are taken to heaven by deaih
and martyrdom. — Selneckee : These are the
three great blessings which God alone affords
His Church : 1. That He may be rightly known
and invoked in His Church. 2. That He dwells
in the midst of His faithful ones as in His tem-
ple in presence and power. 8. That He pre-
serves His Church against all the gates of Hell
— Friech: He who has no judge in the world
need not think that he will leave it without one.
When all human help ceases and passes away,
then the heavenly begins. — The tardiness of
God's judginents is compensated for by their se-
verity. The wounds are therefore the more
painful, the help more efficient, desirable, and
opportune, the comfort the sweeter, and the
praise to God the more delightful. — Eieger :
The whole Psalm insists upon the glorifying of
God, that He alone is to be feared. With this
in view, therefore, 1. The mercy is praised with
which God has brought Himself so nigh to His
people. 2. The judgments are praised which
God has undertaken for the deliverance of Hia
own. 3. Good instruction is given, how we are
to regard all this, and to adore God with faith,
hope, and confidence. — Tholuck: Let there be
displayed unmistakably out of heaven the bared
arm of God, and the ungodly will be still. — Dib-
x>rich: As God has in His mercy defended His
own against all opposing hosts, they must, in re-
turn therefor, surrender themselves entirely io
Him, henceforward to wait patiently for Him
alone. — Schaubach (25th Sunday after Trinity) :
In the midst of the universal destruction will
the Lord preserve His little band, and His name
shall appear above the desolation, and be for all
the faithful a rock and mountain of refuge. —
Taube : The dreadful majesty of the God of Zion as
the defence of the distressed in sudden judg-
ments upon their enemies. — We see how a mis-
sion-call rings out through all the Lord's judg-
ments at the present time, and that He who
judges i.L(3 nations out of Salem, shall by these
judgments, lead them back to Salem.
[Scott; Puny mortals dare madly, through
their whole lines, to defy the vengeance of that
God one of whose angels in one night destroyed
185,000 men ! But if temporal judgments ex-
cite such consternation, what will be the case
when God shall arise to judgment at the last
day?
Barnes: The princes of the earth are under
God's control. — He can defeat their plans. — He
can check them when He pleases.— He can and
will make their plans — even their wrath — the
means of promoting or carrying out His own
purposes. — He will allow them to proceed no fur-
ther in their plans of evil than He can make them
submit to the furtherance of His own. — He can
cut down the most mighty of them at His plear*
sure, and destroy them forever. — J. F, M.]
PSALM LXXVIL
To the chief Musician, to Jeduihun A Psalm of Asaph.
I cried unto God with my voice,
\Even unto God with my voice ; and he gave ear unto me.
In the day of my trouble 1 sought the Lord :
My sore ran in the night and ceased not :
My soul refused to be comforted.
432
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 I remembered God, and was troubled :
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
Selah.
5 Thou boldest mine eyes waking :
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
6 I have considered the days of old,
The years of ancient times.
7 I call to remembrance my song in the night :
I commune with mine own heart : and my spirit made diligent search.
8 Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will he be favorable no more?
9 Is his mercy clean gone forever?
Doth his promise fail for evermore?
10 Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ? Selah.
11 And I said, This is my infirmity:
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
12 1 will remember the works of the Lord :
Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
13 I will meditate also of all thy work,
And talk of thy doings.
14 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary :
Who is so great a God as our God ?
15 Thou art the God that doest wonders :
Thou hast declared thy strength among the people,
16 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people.
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
17 The waters saw thee, O God,
Tb d waters saw thee ; they were afraid :
The depths also were troubled.
18 The clouds poured out water :
The skies sent out a sound :
Thine arrows also went abroad.
19 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven :
The lightnings lightened the world :
The earth trembled and shook.
20 Thy way is in the sea,
And thy path in the great waters,
And thy footsteps are not known.
21 Thou leddest thy people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition.— On the super-
scription compare Introd., § 12, No. 6 In three
strophes, of which the first and third end with
Selah, we have presented to us a prayer of one
in deep distress It begins with the earnest de-
claration that he is sighing and crying to God
unceasingly (vers. 2-4), and, after recounting
his sad reminiscences of happy days that were
past (vers. 5-7) it lets us hear his anxious ques-
tion (vers. 8-10), whether God's mercy had for-
ever forsaken him In three strophea, of which
the second ends with Selah, a growing calmness
is exhibited. The Psalmist first finds consola-
tion in reflecting upon God's controlling hand in
this affliction as well as in 'His former deeds
(vers. 11-13) and then extols (vers. 14-16) God
the Holy and Almighty One, as the Deliverer of
His people even until now, and finally gives a
poetical picture of the deliverance from Egypt,
(vers. 17-20). A concluding verse (21) repre-
sents this Divine guidance of the people under
an image frequent in the Asaph-Paalms, in
such a manner that it excites an expectation
of its continuance, and yet the thought which
is presented is here developed no further.
PSALM LXXVII.
433
There is no sufficient ground, however, for the
conjecture that the Psalm is incomplete (Tho-
luck), or that we have it in a mutilated form
(Rosenmueller, Olshausen) or that it forms a
part of Ps. Ixxx. (Pareau, Instit. interpr., Vet.
Test., p. 330). Such an abrupt termination can
he explained on the ground of a poetical pur-
pose (De Wette), nor is it without other example
in the Bible (Hupfeld). The attaching of the
verse to the lyrical strophe, vers. 17 ff., which
itself varies from the regular rhythmical struc ■
ture, is unexpected. The contents of the pas-
sage resemble Ps. xcvii..4, but especially Ps.
cxiv., and Hab. iii. 10 f. It is doubtful which
of these passages should be regarded as the ear-
liest. With reference to Ps. xcvii. 4, at all
events, the resemblances are quite general, and
therefore only casual (Philippson), but in the
case of the other two passages the whole man-
ner of expression declares the opposite. Ac-
cording to Hupfeld, a comparison favors the
supposition that the one before us is the latest.
We need not however assume that a later addi-
tion was made to the Psalm (Koster) perhaps by
the Psalmist himself (Hupfeld). Neither have
we sufficient reason to refer the whole Psalm to
the age of the Syrian oppression (Venema, Ols-
hausen) and to bring it into special connection
with 1 Mace. iii. 38 (Hitzig). The period of the
Babylonian exile might be thought of (Ewald
and most). Since, however, the destruction of
the temple is not mentioned, and strong evidence
can be adduced to show that the prophecy of
Habakkuk presupposes this Psalm (Delitzsch,
Hengst., Caspari) ; it appears also admissible to
bring the latter into connection with the destruc-
tion of the Ten Tribes. More definite indications
fail us. Even the mention of Joseph along with
Jacob, ver. 16 b, might be due to the recollection
of the deliverance of the people in Egypt (Targ.,
Calvin, Geier, and others). But it is still more
natural to assume that Ephraim, the tribe se-
cond iu importance (Ps. Ixxviii. 67) and the
kingdom of Israel (Ps. Ixxx. 2 ; Ixxxi. 6) are al-
luded to. Nothing more definite aids us to dis-
cover the affliction which is here bewailed,
which, though experienced personally, and ex-
pressed as that of an individual, clearly repre-
sents a national calamity. [Dr. Moll seems un-
decided as to which of the passages above dis-
cussed has the priority in copiposition. If the
Psalm can be shown to have been prior to the
prophecy, we have a limit on one side, for it is
generally acknowledged that Habakkuk wrote in
the days of Josiah. For a full presentation of
this side of the question, see Delitzsch's Comm.
on Hab., pp. 118-125, or the extracts made
therefrom in his Comm. on Psalms, and in that
of Hengstenberg. He uses two arguments which
appear to most to be satisfactory. 1. That the
acknowledged principle of Hab. in the structure
of the 3d chapter was to imitate the Psalms, and
that the presumption is therefore in favor of his
being here the imitator and not the originator.
2. That it is improbable that the Psalmist
*• would have described a past deliverance in lan-
guage borrowed from the prophetic description
of a deliverance yet to come." The arguments
of Hupfeld on the other side are mainly based on
his own subjective taste, and proceed chiefly
28
upon the assumption that those of the corres-
ponding expressions which are more natural and
correct as to conception and diction are the ear-
lier. This, therefore, assumes that the Psalmist
in copying changed for the worse. Is it not at
least as likely that the prophet, in imitating, al-
tered for the better ? Alexander favors the po-
sition of Delitzsch. Perowne feels that there is
some force in Hupfeld's arguments, and is there-
fore undecided. If the Psalm is the earlier it is
therefore not later than the reign of Josiah. It
is naturally brought into connection with the
perplexing and harassing thoughts that filled the
minds of the pious at that time in the contem- •
plation both of the present and of the future. —
Perowne and Barnes regard the speaker as re-
cording his own personal experience. Alexan-
der regards the Church as speaking through the
Psalmist. The view of Dr. Moll, as above, me-
diates between these, and is most probably the
correct one. For the feelings are all personal,
while the recollections of the past, which are
contrasted with the present, are all of national
blessings. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 3, 4. My hand is stretched out in the
night. [E. v.. My sore ran in the night]. This
expression [Heb. mjJ] usually employed of
water (2 Sam. xiv. 14) and of tears (Lam. iii.
49) is here transferred to the hand. [German
hingegossen. The two ideas cannot be rendered
into English by one word, as is done here by
Dr. Moll. — J. F. M.] But this mode of expres-
sion is not chosen because the hand is bedewed
by tears (old expositors in Geier), or because it
lies exhausted and powerless, and as an image
of the decay that consumes the whole body
(Hengst.) ; but, as the sequel shows, to describe
the constant turning to God as an unchangeable
inclination of the soul amid the ebb and flow of
the tides of feeling, [The Rabbins understood
n2 to mean the stroke of the hand, and therefore
the wound, but did not connect it immediately
with the verb. Our translators obtained the
meaning " sore " from this, and construed di-
rectly with mjl3. Hence, "My sore ran in the
night." The next verb primarily means to be
cold, next to be numb, stifi", still, to cease. The
true rendering is : My hand was stretched forth
in the night and was not still, Delitzsch : "The
Psalmist toils in the time of his trouble to force
his way to God, who has withdrawn Himself as
though wishing to know nothing of him ; his
hand is stretched forth in the night time, with-
out being relaxed, it is unbent, does not fall
back while directed heavenward." — J. F. M.]
The praeterites also in ver. 3, which many of the
old translators have transferred to the whole
strophe, express what is long since begun and
still continues. The translation : eye, instead
of: hand (Targ.) is not due to another text, but
to a false effort at explanation. [Ver, 4, should
be translated, not as in our version, but : I re-
member God and groan. I think and my spirit
is overwhelmed. — J. F, M.]
The eyelids, ver. 5, are here' described as
guards, or still better as shields. The transla-
tion: night-watches (Hengst., Hupfeld) cannot
be proved either by the similar word, Ps. Ixiii
7 nor by Lam ii. 19. [Hengst, and Hupf. as-
sume that nT^DE^ is for nT^p^X. *' ''"-
• 1 •- •
Alexander
434
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
differs from both views, and retains the view
that it is a participle, giving it the passive sense :
" my eyes kept," that is, kept fast. But to take
it in the active sense, as is done in E. V., and
thought possible by Perowne, is incorrect. — J.
P. M.]
Vera. 11, 17. This is my infirmity. — Others
translate (with the Targ.) : my entreaty is this.
But the meaning: sufifering, or more strictly:
disease, wound, is rendered certain by Jer. x.
19. In the next sentence expositors differ very
greatly. But there should really only be hesi-
tation between the translation: changing, or:
years. In favor of the latter it may be urged
that already in ver. ti this explanation is indis-
putably to be given to the same word-form, and
that the following thought is a more natural se-
quel to it. Then the assurance that God's hand,
and not the wickedness and power of men, had
brought this season of humiliation (1 Pet. v. G),
inflicts, indeed, a wound in the heart. Yet it
suggests also the comforting thought that every-
thing is ordered duly and rightly, and therefore
the sufferer, though still unrelieved, can win
hope from the recollection of God's former acts
of help and deeds of mercy. And he gains it
the more fully, the more willingly he humbles
himself under the hand of such a God, and re-
signs himself to His holy will. If the transla-
tion : changing (Sept. and most of the ancient
versions) is preferred, then it must be observed
that the active sense : the hand of God can
change everything (Luther) is linguistically not
admissible, but only the passive, that the hand
of God has been changed (Maurer, Hupfeld, Hit-
zig). But even then it is difficult to connect
with what follows : and the thought itself is un-
intelligible and ambiguous. Then, the explana-
tion that the supposition of a change in God's
actions and government is only a delusion, and
that the Psalmist acknowledges this fancy to
have been his former infirmity, is only gained by
importing it into the words of the text. [ Perowne
translates : This is my sorrow, that the right
hand of the Highest hath changed. Hengsten-
berg, with whom Alexander mainly agrees, ex-
plains by saying that the years are years of suf-
fering inflicted by the hand of God, and so agrees
with the explanation given above. The words
in italics in E. V. are to be omitted. In ver. 17
instead of: " they were afraid," render: they
trembled.— J. F. M.]
Ver. 19. In the whirlwind.— [E. V., In the
heavens]. The rendering: wheel (the ancient
versions and Isaaki) is here so much the less
applicable, as galgal does not denote the form of
the wheel when at rest, but its whirling motion.
The rendering: splisera, arch of heaven (most
of the older translators after Kimchi) is there-
fore unsuitable. We must consequently under-
stand either the whirlwind accompanying the
thunder-storm (most of the moderns since J. D.
Michaelis) or the rolling of the thunder (Aben
Ezra, Maurer), and not introduce the idea of the
wheels of Jehovah's chariot (Rosenmueller, Hup-
feld), but that of the rapid succession of thunder
peals (Hengst., Bbttcher). [Perowne translates:
in the rolling, and explains it of God's chariot,
or of the whirlwind, though in his critical note
he denies that the latter meaning can be sup-
ported. Alexander approves of the rendering
whirlwind, and, in opposition to Hengstenberg,
refers to Isa. xvii. 13 as showing that that idea
may be deduced from it. — J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. There are times when the recollection of
God's former help, does not alleviate the pangs
of present suffering, but only increases them.
We experience, then, not only deep anguish,
sleepless nights, disquieting thoughts, which toss
us to and fro, but amoi^g the blows and shocks,
which make us at onetime shriek out, at another
lose our breath, so that we cannot speak, scru-
ples will arise, which grow into temptations,
and, by the contrast of former and present cir-
cumstances, experiences, and feelings, doubt is
excited as to our state of grace, and we hesitate
as to the attitude of God towards us. Deliver-
ance from such anxieties and dangers is effected
by an unceasing wrestling or struggling on our
way to God through all barriers, by prayer, and
even with sighs and groans. Then we must not
merely call to mind the hand of God, which
rules in all events, but also resign ourselves
truly to it in humble self-surrender, and ground
our hope anew also upon the actual deeds of His
might and grace, which have established and
preserved the Church.
2. And thus lamentation is soon exchanged for a
song of praise. The pious soul thinks no longer
of itself and of its transient suffering, but of
God's eternal glory. The evidences of that shine
out before him with comforting power from the
history of revelation and redemption, even if
God's footsteps are not presented visibly to him
as He marches through the world. And God is,
and remains, even when through the instrumenta-
lity of human servants, the safe and trustworthy
Leader of His people to the promised goal. Yes 1
He not only leads them through the sea and the
desert. He tends them, too, as the Shepherd of
His flock.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Those who are under suffering like to think
about themselves, and brood over their situation.
It were better for them to meditate upon God's
doings. — The events of history not only a waken re-
collections, they excite also hopes. — God's ruling
in the affairs of the world we should not merely
recognize and admit, we should also be willing
to be subject to it ourselves. — Remain thou with
the flock of God, and then He will never fail
thee in need. — God is and remains Comforter,
Leader, and Provider for His Church and each
of her members. — God's ways conduct surely to
the goal, but all do not recognize them, nor all
walk in them. — We must toil after God until we
find Him, and after we have found Him we must
not leave Him. — To surrender ourselves into
God's hands is the surest means of being lifted
above even the deepest sorrows. — God has means
and ways enough to help His people, but they
are usually other than men expect. — By praising
and extolling the glory of God, we soonest for-
get our earthly suffering and personal affliction.
Luther: If God were to be present with Hifl
PSALM LXXVIII.
435
help jast when we think He should, all would
be wrong. Let us learn that well. And there-
fore this Psalm will show God to us, and teach
us His way of helping, namely, that we are not
to despair of God when it goes ill with us, but
just then expect help most certainly, and not
trust our own thoughts.
Starke : It is a glorious attribute of faith that
it does not cease in prayer and supplication till
God at last causes His gracious countenance to
shine, and appears with His comfort and help. —
Gather for thyself in good days a treasure of the
comforting words of Scripture; times of drought
are coming when no comfort holds, — Trust no-
thing but God's mercy, and thou wilt certainly
never be betrayed by false consolation. — It is
better for the heart to pray without the mouth
than the mouth without the heart. — In tribula-
tion much is learned, and more in an hour than
at other times in many years, for then is expe-
rienced in deed and in truth all that God's word
says. — God is Lord of nature ; therefore can He
create help when the help of nature fails. — Those
who fill ecclesiastical and civil positions should
cultivate brotherly unity after the example of
Moses and Aaron, and then the discharge of
their duties will be so much the more blessed.^
Frisch: Let God's word and the glorious and
marvellous redemption of His children therein
recorded be precious to thee, and then thou
wilt be better contented with what He ordains
for thee. Thou wilt ever discover more of God,
how wonderful He is in His ways, holy in His
works, unsearchable in His wisdom, immovable
in His righteousness, and inexhaustible in His
mercy. — Rieger: It is the crowning excellence
of all God's ways that He so unites the revealed
and the concealed together as at once to strengthen
and to exercise our faith. — Richter [Hausbibel) ;
Here learn how the thought of faith, that Jeho-
vah is, in all changes, the same unchangeable
God to-day as He was in the most remote ages
and events, when He proved Himself to be the
inscrutable Saviour of His people, can calm and
bless a soul which grieves over Israel's troubles,
and is tempted in utter darkness. — Tholtjck:
Shall God, to whose nature it belongs to be gra-
cious, and faithfully to keep His promises, make
an exception in my case? Impossible. — Dib-
DRicH : Our God must ever remain our support,
even if we had only His deeds in the past to con-
template with delight. He will, however, again
manifest His glory when He beholds us seeking
consolation in Him. — Taube : S.leepless, help-
less, speechless, comfortless, this is a clear and
true picture of the condition of our poor hearts,
when God closes the veil, and we are left alone
abandoned to ourselves. — The obscurity and
darkness are not in God's heart, words, and
ways, but upon our eyes and hearts.
[Barnes : Even in shallow waters, when one
wades through them, the path closes at once,
and the way cannot be traced, but God's ways
are like those of one who should move over a
great ocean — over a boundless sea — where none
oould hope to follow Him. — J. F. M.]
PSALM LXXVIII.
Maschil of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my law :
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable:
I will utter dark sayings of old :
3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children.
Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which he commanded our fathers.
That they should make them known to their children :
6 That the generation to come might know <Aem,
Even the children which should be born ;
Who should arise and declare th&ni to their children :
436 THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 That they might set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation ;
A generation that set not their heart aright,
And whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God,
And refused to walk in his law ;
11 And forgat his works,
And his wonders that he had shewed them.
12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through ;
And he made the waters to stand as a heap.
i4 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against him
By provoking the Most High in the wilderness.
18 And they tempted God in their heart
By asking meat for their lust.
19 Yea, they spake against God ; they said.
Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?
20 Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed ;
Can he give bread also ?
Can he provide flesh for his people ?
21 Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth :
So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also came up against Israel ;
22 Because they believed not in God,
And trusted not in his salvation.
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from abore,
And opened the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat,
And had given them of the corn of heaven.
25 Man did eat angels' food :
He sent them meat to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven :
And by his power he brought in the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust.
And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea :
23 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp.
Round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled :
For he gave them their own desire ;
PSALM LXXVIII. 437
30 They were not estranged from their lust :
But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
31 The wrath of God came upon them,
And slew the fattest of them,
And smote down the chosen men of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still,
And believed not for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days :dfid he consume in vanity,
And their years in trouble.
34 When he slew them then they sought him :
And they returned and inquired early after God.
35 And they remembered that God was their Rock,
And the high God their Redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth.
And they lied unto him with their tongues. •
37 For their heart was not right with him.
Neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not i
. Yea, many a time turned he his anger away.
And did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh ;
A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,
And grieve him in the desert !
41 Yea, they turned back, and tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand,
Nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy :
43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt,
And his wonders in the field of Zoan :
44 And had turned their rivers into blood ;
And their floods, that they could not dVink. ^
45 He sent divers sorts of flies amoog them, which devoured them ;
And frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar,
And their labour unto the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail.
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail.
And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
Wrath, and indignation, and trouble.
By sending evil angels among them.
50 He made a way to his anger ;
He spared not their soul from death.
But gave their life over to the pestilence ;
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt ;
The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham :
52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep,
Aud guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not :
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. - * v.
438
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
Even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
55 He cast out the heathen also before them,
And divided them an inheritance by line,
And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God,
And kept not his testimonies :
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers :
They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 When God heard this, he was wroth,
And greatly abhorred Israel :
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent which he placed among men ;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity,
And his glory into the enemy's hand.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword ;
And was wroth with his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men;
And their maidens were not given to marriage.
64 Their priests fell by the sword ;
And their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep.
And like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts :
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph,
And chose not the tribe of Ephraim :
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
The mount Zion which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,
Like the earth which he hath established forever.
70 He chose David also his servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds :
71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him
To feed Jacob his people,
And Israel his inheritance.
72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart ;
And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The superscrip-
tion (comp. Introd., ^ 8, No. 3) and also the in-
troduction (vers. 1-8) give us to understand that
the history of God's dealings with His people are
to be narrated in apophthegmatic style for the in-
struction and edification of succeeding genera-
tions, and that, especially. His judgments, inflict-
ed upon Israel for their ingratitude and unfaithful-
ness, are to serve as a warning to them. The several
examples of these, which are presented, sometimes
in epic style, with a certain diffuseness, are divided
into two groups. The former (vers. 9ff.) relates
events wTaioh transpired after the Exodus during
the march through the wilderness, and concludes
with a general reflection upon them (vers. 34-39).
The latter begins wi^h an exclamation over
the frequency of Israel's transgressions, and
places them in sharp contrast with God's acts of
deliverance from their residence in Egypt, until
the people were led like a flock by His chosen ser-
vant David. In both of them the rejection of the
tribe of Ephraim is brought strongly out in con-
trast with the choice of that of Judah, and the re-
moval of the sanctuary from Shiloh to Zion. We
cannot, however, infer anything from this in
favor of the assumption that the Psalm presup-
poses the schism of the kingdoms, or indeed, con-
PSALM LXXVIII.
439
tains hostile allusions to the Samaritans, and
that it is therefore to be dated as late as possi-
ble. For the discord between Ephraim and Ju-
dah is much older than the separation, and there
is so little to be determined from hostile side-
glances, that Ephraim's sin is rather to be re-
garded as representing that of the whole people.
To go back to the time of David (Muntinghe) and
to ascribe the composition to the celebrated
Asaph, is impossible only for those who assign
the Pentateuch to a later age, for the latter, with
the exception of Leviticus, is made use of in all
parts of the Psalms. We can certainly conclude
nothing from the circumstance that the Psalm
closes with the leading of the people by David,
for the preceding one concludes with a reference
to the leading of Moses and Aaron. But the
opinion is just as untenable that such events
were not recognized as marking great epochs un-
til long after (Calvin). The expressions in ver.
69 need not be referred to the lofty magnificence
of Solomon's temple, much less to a later time.
The literal agreement of ver. 64 with Job xxvii.
15, alluding to mourning for the dead, Gen. xxiii.
2, decides in general nothing, and makes as little
against the priority of ver. 41 as the Divine title
*' Holy One of Israel," so frequent in Isaiah does
(Compare Caspari, Zeitschrift far luth. Kirehe und
TheoLogie, 1844, No. 3). The application of ver.
2 to Christ's manner of teaching, Matth. xiii. 35,
which does not, at any rate, prove that God or
Christ speaks in the person of the Psalmist (Stier
after the ancients), agrees well, on the other
hand, with the circumstance that Asaph is termed
already in the Old Testament the Seer (2 Chron.
xxix. 30). Neither is this, indeed, decisive ;
for the name Asaph does not occur in Matthew,
the citation being only made as the words of a
prophet generally, on which account some MSS.
with the Clementine Homilies ascribe this pas-
sage to Isaiah. In all points there is here want-
ing certain historical ground. Even the strong-
est argument against so early a composition, that
all of the historical literature which was written
for practical ends, was an offspring of later re-
flection in the unfortunate times in which the
destruction of the kingdom was either threatened
or accomplished (Hupfeld), is not altogether in-
contestable, for the whole biblical conception of
history is not merely religious, and therefore
practical, but is moulded in the spirit of the The-
ocracy and its Messianic aspect. [The hypothe-
sis of the composition in the time of David and
by Asaph " the seer," is defended by Hengsten-
berg. He is followed by Alexander and most
commentators. Perowne inclines to the suppo-
sition of a later origin on account of the tri-
umphant tone employed in the conclusion, when
speaking of Ephraim. All that can be said is
that the probabilities are very strongly in favor
of the view generally maintained. The subject
is of more than ordinary interest as an argument
for the genuineness of the Pentateuch is directly
deducible from this hypothesis, if well esta-
blished.— There is properly no strophical division
as suits the semi-narrative style adopted.— J. F.M ]
[In ver. 1 the word translated law in our ver-
sion should have its original meaning, instruc-
tion. In ver. 8 instead of: stubborn, should be:
faithless or disloyal. — J. F. M.]
Ver, 9. The sons of Ephraim. — The whole
of this verse has something strange in this con-
nection. The expressions would lead one to un-
derstand an actual flight, perhaps an act of
treachery in battle. Some therefore refer this
(comp. Scbnurrer in Comment, theol. ed. Velthu-
sen, I. 76 ff.) to the defeat under Jeroboam (2
Chron. xiii.) But this is unsuitable because
there it is a defeat, while here it is a crime that is
described. Others understand some flight of
Ephraim to be here adduced as an example of
defection. But the supplying of the particle
" as " of comparison before the sentence (Luther,
Geier, and others) is linguistically impossible.
The sentence could, logically, be better com-
pleted thus: Ephraim's sons (were like) archers
armed with bows, who turned back (Venema,
Koster, Olsh., De Wette). We would then have
a figurative designation of desertion and unre-
liableness like the deceitful bow in ver. 67. But
even so there is felt the need of the particle of
comparison and then of the relative. And with
what event is the defection to be connected ? Is it
that of the ten tribes (De Wette and others) when
they separated from Judah ? This is untenable,
because it is the sins of the people against God
in times before David that are spoken of. Let
this be admitted, and the figurativeness of the
expression relating to the turning back of those
armed with bows be still maintained. Then the
thought is clear, that the Ephraimites, in spite of
their supply of arms, and eflBciency in their use,
proved themselves recreant and cowardly in de-
fending and leading the cause of God (Delitzsch).
But how comes the Psalmist to mention Ephraim
in this place, where he has been speaking of the
unfaithfulness of ih& fathers ? Is Ephraim viewed
as representing the whole people, perhaps on
account of their predominance in the time of
the Judges (Hengst.)? Or on account of the
presumption with which Ephraim was upbraided,
Judges viii. 12 [xii. 3 ?— J. F. M.] (Geier)?
This is possible neither according to the words
employed nor according to the facts. For the
rejection of Ephraim and the choice of Judah
form just " the cardinal point towards which the
whole historical retrospect is directed," ver. 67 f.
If we are not, therefore, to regard these words
and those that follow as a later insertion (Hup-
feld, Hitzig), which is somewhat arbiirary,
then we have only to hold the opinion that the
verse contains a pragmatic preparation for the
rejection of Shiloh and Ephraim as mentioned
later (J. D. Michaelis) and at the same time to
bear in mind how much the Asaph-Psalms have
to do with the tribes of the sons of Joseph.
Ver. 12. Zoau. Ancient Egyptian Zane, called
by the Greeks Tanis, on the eastern shore of the
arm of the Nile afterwards named, a very ancient
(Numb. xiii. 23) residence of the Pharaohs. It
is often mentioned by the prophets in the later
occasions of contact with Egypt, not merely be-
cause it was the most easterly portion of that
country, and that which lay nearest to the He-
brews, (Is. xix. 11, 13; XXX. 4; Ezek. xxx. 14),
but because it came directly into view as the
residence of Pharaoh before which Moses
wrought his miracles. Brugsch (Aus dem Orient
ii. 45), has no doubt that Moses directed his
glance at the colossal sitting-statue of Rameses
440
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS,
II. now in the pillar-court of the Royal Museum
in Berlin, which was consecrated to the Baal-tem-
ple at Tanis after the expulsion of the Hyksos-
djnasty and was set up before its entrance.
Ebers {^Egypten und die Backer Moses I. 274) says :
"In ancient times this country, cleared by the
Phoenicians, the best agriculturists of the world,
irrigated by the Egyptians, the most skilful of
all canal-makers, was the granary of half the
world, and even under the Arabs, a golden mea-
dow interspersed with villages and covered with
broad fields of. corn." Ifc is yet, for the time,
uncertain, whence the Hebrew appellation of
Egypt (Mizraim) is derived, whether it comes
from an Egyptian root, (Reioisch, Sitzungsbe-
richte der Wiener Akad. 1859, p. 379), or has a
Shemitic origin rEbers, p. 71 ff.). The Nile
valley itself (thougli not its inhabitants) is called
on Egyptian monuments, c/iaw=black. This
refers to the color of the ploughed land. For
the same reason Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine
are called in the hieroglyphics iesr^red (Ebers,
p. 55 f.).
Vers. 24 f. Manna is in Ps. cv. 40 after Ex. xvi.
4callcd "bread "here "corn" ofheaven: the latter
scarcely without allusion to its form, and "bread
of the strong," for which the ancient versions
put directly " angels' bread," as in Wisdom of
Solomon xvi. 20. This does not mean that it is
the food of the angels or prepared by angels
(Stier after the old expositors) but that it de-
scends from heaven (Chald.), the abode of the
angels. The angels are called, as in Ps. ciii. 20,
the strong heroes. This explanation is to be
preferred to the other : bread of the great, the
nobles (Schnurrer, Rosenmuellei", De Wette, Ge-
senius). The sense of every one is recommended
for W\'^ by Ex. xvi. 16 ff. But on account of
the contrast this word may also mean: Man
(Chald., Delitzsch, Hitzig).
Vers. 38, 41. And he, full of compassion.
This verse, and before it, Deut. xxviii. 58, 59;
xxix. 8, were recited when there were being
administered to criminals the forty stripes save
one which Paul according to 2 Cor. xi. 24 had
received five times (Delitzsch). According to the
Rabbinical numeration this verse is the middle
of the 6896 stichs of the Psalter, and ver. 36 the
middle one of its 2527 verses (comp. Buxtorf,
Tiberias 1620, p. 133). [Ver. 41. Perowne:
^iriri; "theHiphil occurs again in Ez. ix. 4, in
the sense of putting a mark on (the forehead).
So it was taken by the Chald. here, and this has
been explained in two ways (1) They put limits
(marks) to the power of God, or (2) as Hengst.,
Del. and others, they branded with reproach.
But it is better to connect it with the Syriac,
meaning :"jt)a2m7w«7, eum doluit.'" Perowne, there-
fore, translates " troubled." So Dr. Moll in his
translation, "grieved." — J. F. M.].
Ver. 47. Vines — Tt is still remarked alto-
gether erroneously by many expositors (by
Hupfeld and Hitzig last) that the vine is named
before other natural productions, according to
a Canaanitish and not an Egyptian point of
view. It is even said that Egypt had but little
vine-culture — since none were permitted to
drink wine (De Wette). It is just in Egypt that
wine stands in the first rank of the liquors pre-
sented to the divinity (Ebers, p. 323). And
there is a distinction made between the different
sorts, choice and common, red and white, domes-
tic and imported. The temple inscriptions at
Dendera show also that a festival, the "full-
drinking feast," was celebrated in honor of
Hathor, the goddess of lust and love, the
"mistress of inebriety" (Diimichen. Bauur-
kunde von Dendera und Tempelinschriften, p.
29 f.). That wine was regarded as a ne-
cessity, even of the lower classes, appears
from a note which an officer of Rameses II. in
the fifty-second year of his reign, made on the
back of a papyrus, and which gives the amount
of rations of bread and wine distributed by him.
to the workmen. (Ebers., p. 326).
Ver. 49. Evil angels. — Strictly: angels of the
evil, that is, angels bringing misfortune (De-
litzsch). Linguistically it is admissible to trans-
late : angels of the wicked=wicked angels
(Sept., Targ., Symmachus, Rabbins and most).
Hengstenberg cites a sentence of Jac. Ode
{de angelis p. 731 f.) deum ad puniendos malos
homines mittere bonos angelos et ad castigandos pioa
usurpare malos. But even Hupfeld, who contends
against this, as being too strict a distinction,
referring to Judges ix. 23; 1 Sam. xvi. 14: 1
Kings^ xxii. 21 f ; 1 Chron. xxi. 1 ; Job i. 7,
acknowledges finally that they have their name:
bad, not from their dispositions, but from their
influence. The death of the first-born was (Ex.
xii. 13, 23), effected by the destroyer (Heb. xi.
28). The word in question may denote the
Angel of Jehovah in His attribute of Avenger
(2 Sam. xxiv. 16), but may also be taken as a
collective (1 Sara. xiii. 17).
Vers. 54-61. To this mountain.— This ex-
pression, in accordance with its position as being
in apposition, and according to Ex. xv. 17, is to
be understood of the Holy Land a.s a mountain-
ous country. Deut. i. 7, 20; iii. 25; Is. xi. 9.
(Aben Ezra, Hitzig, Hupfeld, Delitzsch), but is
not to be explained as a prophetic allusion to
Zion (Hengst), la Ver. 59. Israel is to be
taken in the narrower sen8e=Ephraim. This is
proved by the parallelism with Shiloh, ver. 60,
and the contrast to Judah, ver. 67 (comp. Jer.
vii. 12 f. ). Shiloh was in the time of the Judges
the chief seat of the Sanctuary (Josh, xviii. 1 ff.;
xxi. 2; 1 Sam. i-iv.) After the Ark of the Cove-
nant had fallen into the hands of the Philistines,
the tabernacle was not brought back to Shiloh,
but was taken at first to Nob (1 Sam. xxi. 2) ;
and after Saul had placed that city under ban
was brought to Gibeon (1 Kings iii. 4), while
the ark after its restoration to Israel was deposi-
ted in Kirjath jearim (1 Sam. vii. 2). The ark
is called in 1 Sam. iv. 21, as here, 1133 [glory,
ver. 61, M.] as the place where God manifested
His majesty and glory, Comp. Ps. cxxxii. 8.
Vers. 65 f. That shouteth by reason of
■wine. This cannot allude to the battle-cry of
a warrior (Hupfeld), when he is roused up from
intoxication (Chald,), for intoxication is not
spoken of in the text and wine is not parallel to
sleep. The allusion must therefore be to the en-
kindling of the fire that animates the breast
of the warrior, to his rapid change from a slate
of rest to action, and to the increased elasticity
of his frame from the use of wine (J. H. Mick-
PSALM LXXVIII.
441
aelis, Hengst., Del.). Following another deri-
vation and comparing with Prov, xxix. 6,* we
might tranalate : who allows himself to be over-
come by wine (Schnurrer, De Wette, Stier, Hit
zig). Yet this meaning existing in the Arabic
is not established in Hebrew, and is less suitable
in this connection. Bottcher explains : who recol-
lects himself. In ver. 66 there is no allusion
make to striking back (Geier, Hengst., Hupfeld)
but to the disgrace inflicted upon the Philistines
and recorded in 1 Sam. v. 6 (Targ., Sept., Vulg.,
Luther, Del., Hitzig).
Vers. 69 ff. Like high, etc. In the Hebrew we
have only an adjective=high, elevated. The
following explanations have been given : Like
high palaces (Aben Ezra, Kimchi), or mountains
(Calvin, Koster, Hengst.,) or the heights of hea-
ven (Isaaki, Stier, Hupfeld, Del.). The latter
seems most natural=exceZ5a (Job xxi. 22), and
there is no need of uniting the two Hebrew
words, and reading D'DnjpS in order to gain
this meaning (Hitzig). But on account of the
general nature of the expression and the absence
of the article it is still doubtful whether heaven
and earth are parallel, and that with reference
to their firmness and duration, surviving all
changes even to the end of the world. It ap-
pears, however, as if that were only ex-
pressed in the second member, while in the first
there is presented the pre-eminent exaltation,
the grandeur of the sanctuary as established by
God. At all events the mode of expression favors
the hypothesis of the early composition of the
Psalm, because the threatening of the destruc-
tion of the Temple appears already in the ear-
liest prophets. [In ver. 71 Pifiy means literally
the suckling ones, that is the ewes. It has been
misunderstood in Is. xl. 11, in the same way. —
J. F. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The history of former times, especially of
God's dealings with His people and their conduct,
ehould serve to instruct and warn succeeding
generations, and should, therefore, in accordance
with God's will and word (Ex. x. 1, 2) be handed
down by the parents to their children. "The
terms parable and enigma applied to these
events have reference to the fact, that every-
where in sacred history there lies a concealed
background of instruction ; that it is prophecy
turned backward, that throughout it the mutato
nomine de te fahula narratur prevails; that be-
tween all the lines are the words "let who-
soever reads understand," which call upon
us to penetrate through the shell to the kernel,
from the grapes of history to press out the wine
of instruction" (Hengstenberg). "The highest
view which can be taken of history is that in
which its events are regarded as parables of God
addressed to men" (Novalis).
, 2. Many things occur in the world which are
as unexpected, and appear as strange, as once to
God's people appeared the rejection of. Israel
and the exaltation of Judah. And yet in the
one case as in the other there is a visitation of
God to be recognized. But there are many who
will not be warned. They may hear recounted
the judgments of God upon those of old, and con-
cur in the opinion that they were inflicted justly.
Yet none the less do they follow their footsteps ;
and thus there is perpetuated an ungrateful
and faithless generation, concerning which God
has to complain, that He has displayed His won-
ders to it in vain.
3. The more exalted the position, and the more
signal the privileges which God confers upon a
man or a nation, the greater is the responsibility
and the more heinous the guilt, if the influence
thereby gained leads other men also into false
paths and brings them into conflict with God's
commands and promises. And there follows
thereupon also a more dreadful punishment.
For God will not abandon His design because
those called first do not walk worthy of their
vocation. He rejects the faithless and chooses
tor Himself other servants and in this He mani-
fests the same ways of dealing as when He took
David from tending his father's flock, that he
might feed the flock of God.
4. He who will ask something of God, must see
to it that it be done in faith. For even the un-
believing and disobedient ask many things from
Him and the Lord does not deny them. But the
fulfilment of their wishes proves their destruc-
tion, for God's judgments are thereby executed
upon them. God also will be entreated, but
will not be tempted. "To tempt God, means:
to doubt whether He is God. It is characteris-
tic of unbelief that it is wilfully ignorant of that
by which God had before made proof of His Di-
vinity, and acts towards Him, as though He
now for the first time were giving evidence of
it." (Hengstenberg). Tempting God, therefore,
is no less a falling away from faith than it is
discontentment with and murmuring against
Him. "Biblical History is a prophecy which
in all ages is fulfilled in every man's soul."
(Hamann).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
*[The reference to Prov. xxix. 6, is hardly justifiable aa
MT" there also is to be taken from JJ1— J. F. M.j
God teaches us even by His actions ; but we
are to understand, apply, and proclaim tbem. —
The problems of history are solved when we
contemplate the dealings of God. — We should
always and in all things have regard both to the
severity and to the goodness of God.— Forgetful-
ness of God's goodness and the ungrateful re-
ception of His favors are the causes of many
sins. — God punishes unbelief and disobedience
not only among the heathen but also among His
own people. — The making known of God's deeds
is (1) A good custom of God's people of old.
(2) The will of God enjoined upon us. (3) The
best means of glorifying Him.— God endures the
proof well, when He is tempted, but it fares ill
with those who undertake to do it. — He who
would truly trust in God, must from the heart
believe on Him ; for he who believes thus, does
not doubt. — Murmuring against God is as much
opposed to faith as tempting God is.
Starke: How pleasing it is to God, that we
hear His word, take it to heart and live in ac-
cordance with it ! for it saves us from all that
would harm the soul.— The best inheritance
442
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
which parents can leave to their children, and
the best art which they can teach them, is the
knowledge of the glorious deeds of God and
how to glorify His majesty. — It is an unadvised
demand, that God should perform still more of
His wonders, as if men would then have more
faith, Luke xvi. 27 f. The example of Israel
testifies to the opposite. — When God manifests
His name especially in renowned cities and
countries, He does it not because He slights
other places, but because the outward splendor of
such places is a fitting means of spreading His
glory far and wide. — Unbelief is the denial of
God, yea, the greatest. sin of all, because from it
result all other sins. — All creatures are ready
at all times to execute God's commands. Man
alone contends against His Creator. Is that not
to be deplored? Is. i. 5; Jer. viii. 7. — To seek
God in distress is right and necessary, but if we
do so that we may be freed from trouble, and
are unwilling to forsake sin, we then dishonor
God and lead ourselves the more deeply into sin.
— If God punishes others, it should stir us up to
repentance. He can find us out too, and visit
us. — God sends not only exalted spirits or angels
when He would punish men. He can do it also
by means of feeble worms. — God proceeds gra-
dually in the inflictions of His judgments, so
that when men will not amend their ways after
more gentle punishments. He keeps sending
them more severe ones, which touch them more
closely still. — Where God's v^ord is taught in its
simplicity and purity, there let men hold fast to
it and live according to its hcly precepts, that
He may not remove it from them. — What God
has erected for His dwelling, shall stand forever
according to His purpose. — He who is faithful
in lesser matters, is employed by God in greater
ones: experience confirms this not only in things
temporal but in things spiritual also. — Luke
xvi. 10.
Selnecker : Contempt of God's word, pride
and arrogance have never been of any benefit,
and have always resulted in evil. — Menzel : God
will not have these histories forgotten, but will
have parents impress them well upon their chil-
dren ; and they will learn from them, (1) To
recognize God's glory and power, (2) to fear
that God and trust in Him. — Frisch : To tempt
God is nothing else than to demand from Him an
exhibition of His utmost power, or an indication
of His purposes with regard to us. — Renschel:
God tries us with both hands, the hand of mercy
and the hand of anger and punishment, and
when men will not follow the one, He urges them
with the other . — Oetinqer : How obedience or
disobedience were always attended by God's
blessings or iudgments, and how He did not
punish according to its desert, the greater sin
that always followed great blessings, but so
ordered Ephraim's punishment that the whole
nation came to enjoy new blessings on Zion un-
der David's reign. — Tholuck: Unbelief is so
deeply rooted in men's hearts that when God
performs wonders on earth they doubt whether
He does the same in heaven, and when He per-
forms them in heaven, they tauntingly ask
whether He can perform them on earth too. —
Guenther: God can punish even by riches and
affluence. — In faith in the word of prophecy let
us diligently search that great Book of God, the
history of the world, that we may discover the
signs of the times, and that the Lord may en-
lighten our eyes unto eternal salvation! — Schau-
BACH : The righteous judgments of God re-
peat themselves in the world's history. Can it
be that we have a reprieve, so that the punitive
justice of the Lord shall not be inflicted upon
us? — Taube: In the description of the plagues
we gain a twofold view of God's government,
first, that everything subserves God's plans in
His ways and judgments; secondly, that God
proceeds gradually in the severity of those judg-
ments.
[Matt. Henry: Those cannot be said to trust
in God's salvation as their felicity at last, who
cannot find in their hearts to trust in His provi-
dence for food convenient in the way to it. —
Those hearts are hard indeed, which will neither
be melted by the mercies of God, nor broken by
His judgments.
Scott : Severe afflictions have been necessary
to recover us from our backslidings, and though
we were not mere hypocrites in returning to the
Lord, yet we soon forget the salutary lesson, if
our hearts have perhaps been sincere, they have
not been steadfast with Him. — J. F. M.].
PSALM LXXLX,
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O GOD, the heathen are come into thine inheritance ;
Thy holy temple have they defiled ;
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. •
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to he meat unto the fowls of the
heaven,
The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
PSALM LXXIX.
443
3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem ;
And there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, Lord ? wilt thou be angry forever ?
Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee,
And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
And laid waste his dwelling-place.
8 0 remember not against us former iniquities :
Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us ;
For we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name :
And deliver us and purge away our sins,
F.or thy name's sake.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say. Where is their God ?
Let him be known among the heathen in our sight
By the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee ;
According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed
to die ;
12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom
Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture
Will give thee thanks forever :
We will show forth thy praise to all generations.
EXEGETICAIi AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalm be-
gins by a complaint addressed to God, that Je-
rusalem has been destroyed amidst the profana-
tion of the Tetnple, and the pouring out of the
blood of His servants (vers. 1-4). Upon this
there follows, based upon the question as to how
long God's anger was to continue, a prayer that
this wrath might be turned against the heathen
(6-7). This prayer then takes the form of a sup-
plication for God's favor and aid (8, 9), that He
would avenge upon the heathen the dishonor
which they had inflicted upon His name and His
servants (10-12), and passes over into a vow
that the Church shall offer up to Him thanks-
giving to the praise of His glory (13). The
points of resemblance to Ps. Ixxiv., and to Jere-
miah, are so numerous that they have always
been the subject of remark. This Psalm is, how-
ever, usually (Delitzsch in his last edition also),
«onnected with the devastations in the times of
the Seleucidae, regarded either as a prophecy
(many of the old commentators) or as recording
actual events (most of the moderns since Ru-
dinger). But against this there is especially the
circumstance that in the first book of Maccabees
already translated from the Hebrew, the mas-
Pacre described in chap. vii. ver. 17, is re-
garded as a fulfilment of a passage of Scripture,
and that vers. 2 and 3 of our Psalm are cited as
the passage in question. For the objections to
the force of this circumstance, see Ehrt, Abfas-
sungszeit und Abschluss des Psalters, 1869, pp. 13
ff. The desecration mentioned is not indeed to be
directly taken as a process of destruction (Heng-
stenberg, Hupfeld) and yet Ezek. xxv. 3 does not
exclude the latter. But just as in Ps. Ixxiv. 7,
the emphasis is laid upon the profanation on ac-
count of the religious feelings of the Israelites,
The circumstance, however, that vers. 6 iind 7
stand in manifest dependence upon Jer. x. 26
must be admitted not to be against a composition
in the Chaldean period. • [English commentators
usually favor the earlier composition. Perowne
is as undecided in this case as he is with regard
to Ps. Ixxiv. Yet he says: "It has not, I be-
lieve, been noticed, and yet it appears to me al-
most certain that the prayer of Daniel (ix, 16),
contains allusions to the language of this Psalm."
— J. F. M.] The Jews read Pss. Ixxix, and
exxxvii. on the 9th of Abib, the day on which
they call to remembrance the Chaldean and
Roman destructions of Jerusalem.
Ver. 1. Inheritance usually means the holy
people, Pss. Ixxiv, 2; Ixxviii. 64, 71, but here as
in Ex. XV. 17 it means the Holy Land, including
the City and Temple. The circumstance that the
corpses were not buried, is not merely mentioned
on account of their great numbers, but also on
account of the disgrace connected with such an
444
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
indignity, in accordance with Deut. xxviii. 26.
This was still further heightened by the circum-
stance that it was the heathen who were pouring
out the blood of God's servants like water (Deut.
XV. 23), as though it were worthless and un-
worthy of regard, and that they were blas-
pheming the name of God, whom they did not
know, by deriding Him as impotent, since they
had laid in ruins the city which was known as
His dwelling-place (Micah iii. 12; Jer. xxvi.
18).
Vers. 7 f. Instead of the scarcely tolerable sin-
gular iDH between unmistakable plurals, 16 co-
dices of Kennicott, and 9 of De Rossi, have the
plural ^IDX, which is also found in Jer. x. 25.
Is the singular a mutilation ? Or are the enemy
thus intentionally made prominent as a collec-
tive ? However this may be, nothing decisive as
to the priority of the passages can be inferred
from this difference. This difference consists in
these points: (1) in Jer. x. 25, the /)[ which
alone agrees with the construction, is here re-
placed by ?ii. (2). The prayer for vengeance
in Jeremiah is more clearly united to the con-
text, and in a connection of thought which is
found also in Jer. xxx. 11 ; xlvi. 28. In ver. 7
b it is not the sanctuary (Targ.) that is referred
to, nor iheplace generally (Sept., Vulg.) nor the
pasture specially (J. H. Michaelis and others),
but the resting-places of the Shepherd with an
allusion to the name " flock" of God applied to
Israel in ver. 13. In ver. 8 mention is not made
of former sins (the ancient translators, Luther,
Geier), nor the sins of former days (Aben Ezra,
Kimchi, as an alternative) but of the sins of the
forefathers (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, J H. Michae-
lis, and the recent expositors), Jer. xi. 10; Ex.
XX. 5; Lev. xxvi. 39. It is a genitive of posses-
sion. The masculine adjective termination could
not agree with the feminine noun. Their own
sins are not thereby denied, for in ver. 9 they
are .expressly mentioned. But the weakening
mentioned in ver. 8 c is not moral deterioration
consequent upon guilt (Aben Ezra) but want of
physical ability to rise from their defeat. The
preventing mercy, ver. 8 b, was implored for the
help of those who confessed that their punish-
ment was deserved.
Vers. 10 ff. The first stich of ver. 10 is taken li-
terally from Joel ii. 17, after Ex. xxxii. 12; Numb-
xiv. 13 f.; Deut. ix. 28. The wish expressed in the
following verse is based upon Deut. xxxii. 43 ; the
seven-fold retribution upon Gen. iv. 15, 24 as the
•'exhaustion of judicial punishment, seven be-
ing the number of the completed process" (De-
litzsch). Instead of the expression, "children
of death," 1 Sam. xx. 31 ; xxvi. 16, there are
used here the words : children of slaughter (Hit-
zig) ; not: children of one who dies =: the dying
(Hengstenberg).*— [E. V., Those who are ap-
pointed to die].
* [Both of these explanations of nr\1Dn appear to me to
be wrong, and the common rendering " death " to De correct.
The former meaning is entirely wjthout a parallel in similar
cases in the formation of nouns. That given by Hengst.
supposes that the word is formed from the 3d sing. fem. pi!
This arbitrary method of assuming a distinct principle of
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is, as it were, " an inversion of the order
of nature" (Calvin) when God's inheritance falls
into the power of the heathen, and when men
who know not God, nor honor His name, tread
under foot the sanctuary devoted to His worship
and profane it, make the city of God a heap of
stones (Sept. wrongly: "a lodge of the garden-
watcher," comp. Isa. i. 8), and give over to dis-
honor and death its inhabitants, who have been
called to life and to a participation in the Di-
vine glory.
2. In such appalling calamities we are to recog-
nize the avenging wrath of God, in which the sins
of the fathers are punished together with the sing
of the children. For the sins of the forefathers
are visited (2 Kings xxiii. 26 ; Lam. v. 7) not upon
their innocent descendants (Deut. xxiv. 16 ; 2
Kings xiv. 6) but upon those who are guilty
like themselves (Ex. xx. 6). The destruction
which ever keeps increasing by united trans-
gressions, breaks forth at last, and makes it ma-
nifest that only a heaping up of wrath for the
day of judgment is to be expected by those who
will not be led to repentance by God's patience,
long-suffering, and goodness.
3. Yet in this there is included also the possibi-
lity of a change of destiny. For God does not
desire the death of the sinner, but that he should
turn and live. The infliction of His judgment
upon His people has for its ultimate aim not
their destruction, but their purification, that
they may be saved. His punishments are to be
a chastisement for them for righteousness. If
they were regarded and received as such by the
Church, then they would lead to confession of
common and personal guilt and sinfulness ; and
likewise to a search after and apprehension of
the mercy which comes forth to meet them. But
those whose part is to aid in the execution of
God's judgment, and yet have neither known Him
nor honored His name, nor spared His people,
will be condemned to taste, in its unrestrained
intensity and fulness, that wrath, whose blind
instruments they had chosen to become (Jer. x.
24 ; xxx. 11 ; xlvi. 28).
[Hengstenberg: The people of God have, in
every time of need, the joyful privilege of dis-
cerning in former deliverances the pledges of
those yet to come, and thus possess a sure
ground of confidence. The world, when it prays,
prays only tentatively, and is dissevered entirely
from the lessons of history. — J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God does not desire the destruction, but the
return and deliverance of His people, when He
visits them with the punishment of His wrath. —
No one need presume to feel secure on account
of mercy before received : yet none need doubt
its reality on account of his sin. — The punish-
formation for each special case is not to be recommended.
It may be taken as a rule that words of this form are ah-
stracis, and this will, I believe, be found to be true of all the
cases when their primary signiiicHtions are considered. Al-
exander here compares H^ID and nniDP to '"'<"■* ''"^ moT'
talitas, agreeing with E. V. See Qieen, Heb. Qr., §192, 2,
Kwald, Heb. Gr., g 161 a.— J. F. M.J
PSALM LXXX.
445
ment which attends sia, and the mercy that
comes forth to meet the repenting. — If tho judg-
ment upon the house of God is already so awful,
how will it be with the unconverted world?— It
makes a great difference whether we desire to
avenge ourselves and our sufferings, or whether
we are concerned for God's honor and the sanc-
tifying of His name. — When our own sins and
those of others conspire together, then there
comes a deep and awful fall. — The sins of our
forefathers may indeed increase our misfortunes,
but they cannot lessen our own guilt. — It is true
that God is the Shepherd of His people, but it is
for this very reason that He needs not only the
staff of comfort, but that of pain. — God will not
be contemned, either by friend or foe.
Stahke: The primary source of all wars is
God's anger. — The heavier the thunder and the
greater the storm, the sooner are .they over. —
The pious deplore the sins of their fathers, as
well as of their cotemporaries. — It is no good
sign when God allows the number of the pious
and upright to decrease. Over such a place His
judgments are surely impending. — It would be
a foolish thing to expect mercy and help from
God and yet not to become converted ; but it
would be presumptuous to make boast of a con-
version by one's own strength, without the pre-
venting mercy of God.
Arndt: The corruption and adulteration of
the true service of God is the great calamity of
the country, and the beginning of all misfortune.
— Feisch: Supplication against the cruel perse-
cutors of God's Church: (1) Lamentation over
the woes inflicted by the cruelty of her enemies:
(2) earnest prayer to God for mercy and the
turning away of the punishment, that He may
hear, and help, and take vengeance upon those
en^jraies; (3) promise of the gratitude that is
due. — Renschul: The Church of God, though it
has been already sorely troubled, yet remains His
people. His servant. His flock, and his inheri-
tance.— Rieger: The distressing circumstances
of our Church proclaim to ourselves, that no-
thing but judgment is before us, and that in no
other way cau room be made for what is good.
Let us therefore continue ever to know God's
name, and to exercise the joyful privilege of
keeping it before Him, — Vaihinger: Sins are a
dam which obstruct the flow of God's river of
mercy, and only when that is cleared away can
His help and blessing be made to appear. —
Guenthbr: The prayers of the righteous can
turn away God's anger from them like a stream
of water, and cause it to pour forth upon the un-
godly. But understand it well ; it is the pray-
ers of the humble and peaceable, not the impre-
cations of the revengeful and presumptuous. —
Diedeioh: Let this be our consolation, that af-
ter our enemies have done with us they have
still to do with God. — Taube : The cry for help
is natural for us in distress, but not the shriek
for mercy ; this is the reason why so many acts
of God in behalf of the sinner are received with-
out a blessing. — The Lord, who is the God of our
salvation, has given, in the honor of His name,
the strongest weapon into the very hands of His
people.
PSALM LXXX.
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of AsapTi.
2 Give ear, 0 Shepherd of Israel,
Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ;
Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth.
3 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh
Stir up thy strength.
And come and save us.
4 Turn us again, O God,
And cause thy face to shine ; and we shall be saved.
5 0 Lord God of hosts,
How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
6 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears ;
And givest them tears to drink in great measure.
7 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours :
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
8 Turn us again, O God of hosts,
And cause thy face to shine j and we shall be saved.
446
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
9 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt :
Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
10 Thou preparedst room before it,
And didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
11 The hills were covered with the shadow of it,
And the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
12 She sent out her boughs unto the sea,
And her branches unto the river.
13 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges.
So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
14 The boar out of the wood doth waste it,
And the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
15 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts i
Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine ;
16 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,
And the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
17 It is burned with fire, it is cut down :
They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
18 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand.
Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
19 So will we not go back from thee :
Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
20 Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts.
Cause thy face to shine ; and we shall be saved.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — On the Buper-
scription compare Introd, § 12, No. 13. The fun-
damental thought of the Psalm, the prayer for the
restoration of the former relations to God, and
for the help to be obtained thereby, is expressed
in a refrain, wliich vers. 4, 8, 15, 20 repeat in
such a manner that the prayer advances by suc-
cessive additions to the names applied to God, and
in ver. 16 presents a change of expression cor-
responding to the thought. The first time that
this refrain appears, it is introduced in an invo-
cation of God as the Helper; the second time, by
a lamentation over the deplorable situation of
the people caused by God's anger; the third time
by two strophes, the first of which represents the
former prosperity of the people under the image
of a vine planted and tended by God, while tlie
second describes the present desolation by re-
lentless foes ; when it occurs for the fourth and
last time, it is accompanied by a prayer for the
destruction of the enemy, and for the protection
of God's chosen. Beyond all dispute the histo-
rical occasion of the origin of this Psaln^ was a
season of oppression by foreign nations (Rosen-
miiller, De Wette). It remains to be determined
whether the text furnishes grounds for assuming
it to be the Syrian (^Olshausen, Hitzig) or the
Chaldean (Geier and others), or the Assyrian
(Calvin, Hengstenberg, and others) oppression,
or whether it justifies us in going still further
back to the period of the distresses occasioned by
the Philistines (J. D. Michaelis). The Alex, ver-
sion has in its superscription to this Psalm, which
le in other parts somewhat absurd, an addition
which alludes to the Philistines. With this best
agrees the circumstance that here, after God is
invoked as the Shepherd of Israel (compare the
blessing of Joseph by Jacob, Gen. xlviii. 15;
xlix. 24) tribes are mentioned which are plainly
northern, even if the kingdom of the ten tribes is
not directly indicated. Benjamin, it is true, is
in 1 Kings xii. 21 reckoned with the kingdom of
Judah. The capital city Jerusalem, also, was
within the limits of this tribe (Josh. xv. 18), and
the land of Benjamin is (Jer. xxxii. 44 ; xxxiii.
13) distinctly mentioned as a part of Judah. Bat
several Benjamite cities (Bethel, Gilgal, Jericho)
belonged to the northern kingdom, even if their
possession was not undisputed, as was the case
with Ramah, 1 Kings xv. 21 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 19.
Benjamin is probably named here, therefore, for
another reason than the fact that he and Joseph
were children of the same mother. In that case
how should he have been named between Eph-
raim and Manasseh? The boundaries of the
kingdom were, as is well known, unsettled,
(comp. Ewald, Geachichte des Volkes Israels, 8d
edition, p. 439 ff. Hitzig, Geschichte, 1869, I,
168 ff.) It must not, however, be overlooked
that sometimes Joseph, together with Israel, (Ps.
Ixxxi. 6, 6) or Jacob (Ps. Ixxvii. 16), denotes the
whole nation, as in Obadiah 18, the house of Jo-
seph, along with the house of Jacob, is con-
trasted with the house of Esau (ver. 10). More
than this, in Amos vii. 9, 16, /saac appears in
place of the designations Jacob and Israel which
are usual elsewhere. We may even perhaps as-
sume that a preference for famous names of old
influenced the choice of names (Ewald). It is
scarcely a mere geographical mode of desig-
nating the northern, southern, and eastern coun-
PSALM LXXX.
441
try that is intended (Olshausen) ; and certainly
not a mere random poetical selection of names
(De Wette). The expression "restore us," re-
peated in the refrain, could, if viewed by itself,
certainly allude to the Babylonish exile. But it
does not force us to such an hypothesis. It may
also mean a restoration to a state of favor with
God, and the change in ver. 15 leads to this con-
clusion. Moreover the expressions employed in
vera. 7 and 13 f. allude to oppressions during
the residence in the Promised Land.
[The review given above of the various opi-
nions held as to the time when this Psalm was
composed, will afford an idea of the difficulties
which surround the subject. I would offer an-
other attempt at approximation. It cannot have
been composed so late as the destruction of the
kingdom of the ten tribes, which is the period
defended by Hengstenberg. The burden lying
so heavily upon the Psalmist ia evidently not the
Bufferings of any one portion of God's people, but
the desolation of the whole. All Israel (or Jo-
«cpA, Pss. Ixxvii. 16 ; Ixxviii. 9) was conducted
safely from Egypt, and planted like a goodly
vine in Canaan, when it took root and filled the
land. The nation then formed one flourishing
vine. What was the cause of the sad change ?
The disunion of the tribes. The Psalmist evi-
dently has the whole number of the tribes in
their individual integrity before him. He prays
that God may shine upon them all with His favor
as He was wont to do of old, and mentions some
of them by name. In this he seems to have
chosen from the kingdom of Judah, the tribe of
Benjamin, which contained Zion and the Temple,
and which suffered more than did the tribe of
Judah from the incursions of Syrian or Assyrian
invaders, whom the discord among the tribes
brought upon the land. For the last named rea-
son also he mentioned Ephraim and Manasseh,
taking also into consideration the favorite name
Joseph, and the prophecies relating to them made
in Egypt. It is natural to suppose also that
greater prominence was given to the northern
kingdom on account of its waywardness and re-
jection of God, and he prays that they too may be-
hold flis face shining from the Cherubim, and have
His favor in their hearts. The contiguity of these
three tribes to one another may also suggest an-
other reason for the selection. The order in
which they are named is strange at first sight.
Perowne thinks that it was adopted because it
was the order of march through the wilderness.
This is too remote from the line of thought and
imagination followed in the Psalm. I would
venture to suggest a reason which seems to me
more probable. The Psalmist having before him
the tribes to be mentioned and yearning for their
union as part of God's own people, places Ben-
jamin between the others, embraced, as it were,
by these northern tribes, thus expressing his de-
sire that such a union should be realized. Then,
that most touching refrain, with its emotion inten-
sified by each repetition, would also express a de-
sire for re-union. *< Restore us again to what we
were once, when Thy face shone upon us ; only
Bo can we be saved." This view of the origin
of the Psalm gives to the latter a fulness and
beauty of meaning of which it is otherwise
shorn. If it is correct, we must assume that the
composition took place between the reigns of Re-
hoboam and Hezckiah, and at some period when
foreign foes, taking advantage of the distracted
and unsettled state of the whole country, in-
flicted upon it those blows whose sad effects are
preeented in the poem. The reign of Ahaz be-
fore the captivity of the ten tribes furnishes a
period when both Israel and Judah were ha-
rassed by both the Syrians and Assyrians whose
devastations forcibly suggest to us the figurative
language employed in the Psalm. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 2-6. Appear, strictly : shine lortti. — The
expression refers to a Theophany (Ps. 1. 2). On
the Cherubim see on Ps, xiii. ] I. Ver. 5. Until
when [E. V., how long], with the praeterite,
must be explained either by an aposiopesis (Olsh.)
or as being a combination of the question: how
long wilt thou, etc. ? with the complaint: how
long hast thou, etc. ?* (^Geier, Hupfeld). During
the praying, that is : without heeding the
prayer (Sept. and most) others : against the
prayer ; the incense of prayer (Ps. cxli. 2 ; Rev.
V. 8; viii. 3) being overpowered by the smoke
of wrath, instead of overpowering it. Numb. xvi.
13 (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Michaelis, Stier, Heng-
stenberg). But it is more correct to conceive
the prayers as not being able to pierce through
the smoking clouds of wrath with which God
had enshrouded Himself. — Ver. 6. Bread of
tears means the bread which consists of tears,
(Ps. xlii. 4) ; not bread wet with tears. In ac-
cordance with this, the second member of
the verse does not say that God gives to
them the usual measure for drinking (literally :
the third ; the third part of a larger measure,
Isa. xl. 12) filled with tears for them to drink
(Lud. de Dieu, De Wette, Von Ortenberg), but
that tears constitute their drink as well as their
food. We must therefore render either: a mea-
sure full of tears (Hitzig), or : with tears by the
measure ; that is, not in a threefold measure
(Jerome, Rosenmiiller) but : in great measure
(Sept., Hengst., and others) since this one-third
measure, however small it might be thought for
other purposes, is a large one for tears. The ac-
cusative is therefore that of closer definition,
(Gesenius, Olshausen, Hupfeld, Delitzsch).
Ver. 7. A strife does not mean: object of
contention, (most), or the object for which
the neighboring nations contend with one an-
other; but: the object against which they di-
rect their upbraidings, taunts, and warlike ef-
forts (Muntinghe, Hupfeld, Delitzsch). [It would
better accord with the tone of the whole Psalm
to understand this verse in the former sense.
The country had been brought so low by fratri-
cidal war and strife that the tribes around it
were quarreling for its possession. The picture
is thus made much more affecting. Besides, this
is more in accordance with the primary mean-
ing of jno. It also agrees better with the se-
cond member of the verse. If the people were
an object of rage and enmity of the heathen, the
* [This method, generally adopted in all the cases where
this phrase occurs, is grammatically incorrect. To give to
the words the sense of an inteijection would require that IJ^
should be treated as an adverb of quantity, which of course
it cannot be. It is better to give the praeterite the force of
past time continuing through the present, whose termina-
tion is not seen. — J. F. M.J
418
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
latter would hardly make merry over them, as
in the other case they might do. — J. F. M,] These
neighbors are the smaller tribea in their imme-
diate vicinity (Geier, J. H. Michaelis, Hengsten-
berg, Hupfeld), rather than the great kingdom of
the world (De Wette, Olsbausen, Hitzig). The
last word of ver. 7, iO^, is not to be changed
into ?jS after Ps. xxii. 8; Neh. ii. 19 (Baur), or
with a like purpose to be explained as;=over us.
(The ancient translators, Clericus, Venema, and
others) ; but is the so-called dat. commodi = for
sport to themselves,
[Ver. 10. Instead of " didst cause it to take
deep root," should be, " and it struck its roots
deep." In ver. 11a literal rendering of the last
words would be : " cedars of God." Alexander :
'Some interpreters suppose the southern range
of mountains west of Jordan, sometimes called
Mount Judah or the Highlands of Judah, to be
here specifically meant and contrasted with the
Cedars of Lebanon, the northern frontier of the
Land of Promise, just as Lebanon and Kadesh
are contrasted in Ps. xxix. 6-8. That Lebanon,
though not expressly mentioned, is referred to,
appears probable from the analogy of Ps. xxix.
6; xeii. 13; civ. 16. The literal fact conveyed
by all these figures is the one prophetically stated
in Gen. xxviii. 14; Deut. xi. 24; Jos. 1. 4." De-
litzsch : "The ' cedars of God ' are the cedars of
Lebanon, as monuments of the creative power of
Ood."— J. F. M.]
The Tvild boar (ver. 14, comp. Jer. v. 6), is
regarded by many as an emblem of the Assyrian
king, like the fly (Isa. vii. 18), or as the Nile-
horse, sea-serpent, and crocodile are those of
Egypt (Ps. Ixviii. 31; Isa. xxx. 6; Ezek. xxix.
3), and the eagle that of Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek.
xvii.) This, however, is not certain. The Rab-
bins refer the expression to Seir-Edom, and the
wild beast (or : stirring thing) of the field, to the
Arabs dwelling in tents, according to Gen. xvi.
12. The suspended ^ in the word "l^^P (out of
the forest), is so explained by some Rabbins as
to show another reading, namely TX''D =out of
the river, comp. Judges xviii. 30 ; but it belongs
to the category of large and small letters, and ac-
cording to tract. Kidduschin 30 a, is intended to
mark the middle letter of the Psalter (Geier, Ur-
schrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel, 1867, p. 269)
as in Lev. xi. 42, a ) marks the middle letter of
the Pentateuch. But the Agin stispensum may be
merely the result of a later correction (Delitzsch),
since a Phoenician inscription has T" = forest-
wood (Levy, Phoniz. Worterbuch, p. 22. Schro-
der, Die phoniz. Sprache, 1869, pp. 19, 98) and
the 3 written large in ver. 16 appears to be the
consequence of a necessary erasure. On the dif-
ferent mystical meanings attached to this sus-
pended letter by the Jews, see Buxtorf, Tiberias,
e. 16, p. 172.
Vers. 16 fl". Protect what thy right has
planted.— [E. V., The vineyard which thy right
hand hath planted]. The Hebrew word ri52i
might be a noun (many old expositors, alec Ro-
senmiiller, Stier, Ewald, Hitzig) = its slip, twig,
or better: its stem (BoLtcher) depending upon the
verb of the preceding verse. But if it be taken
as an imperative (Sept., Luther, and others),
then it is to be taken from a verb jJD, cognate
with JJJl = to cover, protect (Hupf., Delitzsch).
This is better than to take it from J12 =: to set
upright, to uphold (Hengst.) since verbs of caring
can be construed both with the accusative and
with ^p_ (here with both).— Th.e son [E. V,,
branch']^ ver. 16 b, is probably not the vegetable
branch, as in Gen. xlix. 22 (Kimchi, Ewald, and
others), but as in ver. 18 the people of Israel,
in the same sense as Ex. iv. 22 ; Hos. xi. 1.
The transition from the figurative to the literal
mode of designation is however, first prepared
in this verse. In ver. 17, they are intermingled
as is often the case in strongly emotional passa-
ges ; for the fem. participles refer back to |3J
while in the second member of the verse, the
Israelites, who in their totality constitute the
vine, are mentioned in the plural, and that ia
an expression which describes their condition
more literally than figuratively. Then in ver.
18 the foregoing circle of images is dropped.
The people are first termed ^J"p'_~li^''N in allu-
sion to the name Benjamin, and then mx~13 ag
members of the helpless human race. The
former designation may bear reference to God's
having with His right hand gained them for
Himself, (Kimchi, Luther, Rosenmiiller,) or
planted and reared them (Calvin, Stier, De Wette,
Hupfeld and others). But possibly it alludes to
Israel's standing at God's right hand (Abeu
Ezra, Geier, J. H. Mich., Hengst., Del., Hitzig)
as his favorite (Gen. xliv. 20 ; Deut, xxxiii. 8,
12). [Alexander: "^Acma/i of thy right hand
may either be, the man whom thy power has
raised up or the man who occupies the post of
honor at thy right hand. That the words were
intended to suggest both ideas, is a supposition
perfectly agreeable to Hebrew usage. A more
doubtful question is that in reference to the first
words of the sentence, let thy hand be upon him,
whether this means in favor or-in wrath. The
only way in which both senses can be reconciled
is by applying the words to the Messiah as the
ground of the faith and hope expressed. Let
thy hand fall not on us, but on our substitute.
Compare the remarkably similar expressions
in Acts V. 31."— J. F. M.J
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Even in the midst of the direst calamities we
can trust ourselves to God's guidance, and com-
mit ourselves to him with full confidence as soon
and as long as we are persuaded of His watchful
love and faithfulness as our Shepherd, and of His
supreme power exalted above all earthly and
heavenly might. But it is above all important
for the sufiFering and oppressed that God should
manifest such a guidance by changing their con-
dition which is so bitter and distressing. And
he who belongs to God's Church knows right
well how much such a change is hindered by
the sins of men, and how little the sinner is en-
titled to it. Accordingly the most urgent and
important need is that of the shedding forth of
God's favor. Only by this can the true relation
to Him be restored. And that may be gained
by prayer.
PSALM LXXX.
449
2. The contemplation of the Divine nature helps
ue greatly in our strivings after greater delight
and increased support in prayer. The abundant
manifestations of that glory with the many com-
forting aspects of each can never be sufl&ciently
kept before the soul. In this exercise there can
be no tedious verbosity, no useless superfluity
of words, no heathenish or childish babb^ng.
"It is all-important in prayer, that God appear
before the soul in the full glory of His nature.
Only by pouring out into the bosom of such a
God as this our complaints and entreaties, can
requital be found." (Hengstenberg).
3. Not less important and consoling is the reflec-
tion, that God is not disposed to destroy or
abandon the work, begun out of mercy, in and
with His Church, but remains ready to complete
it, in so far as her welfare depends upon the
manifestation of His favor, and according as she
places herself penitently and believingly under
the protection and care of God, whom she cannot
cease to praise as her Founder and Preserver,
but to whom she has ever cause to render thanks
for what He has planted, reared, and blessed in
her. Thus feeling and acting, she can, even in
the troubled present, draw lively hope of future
aid and fresh deliverances from the recollection
of former experiences of blessing and seasons of
mercy.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
If thou wouldst have God for thy Shepherd,
keep close to His flock. — To crave God's assist-
ance and to strive against His will, are acts
which do not agree. — ^He upon whom God's face
is to shine must iurraAz/nseZ/" towards it. — So long
a3 men are without a reconciled God, the whole
world cannot give them the least help. — Tears
are not the worst food; let them only not* be
food for ever. — God has not only planted His
vine ; He protects it too, and makes it grow.
Staeke: We can indeed thrust ourselves into
misfortune, but it is not in our power to bring
ourselves out. How good it is for us to have
a God, who can and will bring us back to pray-
ers of penitence ! — It is ingratitude that we
should have God near to us, as He is indeed near
at all times and in all places, and that we do not
implore His help. — If God appears to be angry
with the prayer of His people, because He does
not give heed to it at once, must He not be angry
indeed with a prayer, which is off'ered without
repentance or faith ? — The violence of our ene-
mies harasses us, but God strengthens us; afflic-
tion makes it dark for us but God's mercy makes
it bright; men destroy us, but through God's
goodness we are revived and preserved from
despair. — From a yine, that we have planted,
we expect not only leaves, but grapes; so it is
not enough that Christians have the leaves of
good works to show ; God seeks also good fruits,
0 that He might find them in all ! — So long as
God keeps over a place His protecting band all
goes well: but, if for the siiis of the inhabitants
He draws it away only a little, then everything
tends to ruin. — We live that we may worship
God, and He who does not call upon His name is
not worthy to live — If God did not perform the
chief part in nurturing and perpetuating the
vine, all the care of the husbandman would be
in vain. — Aendt: The Shepherd of Israel — how
we are to trust ourselves to His protection and
presence, and worship Him in His holiness. —
Feisch : Where the spiritual vineyard is pre-
served in bloom and luxuriance, there the tem-
poral vineyard will flourish too. — Riegee: Wo
are to mark with special care the names which
are given to God in His word and by which we
are to call upon Him in all our troubles. — Guen-
thee: The Church of God has many more times
of distress, than years of glory upon earth. —
DiEDEiCH: The ungodly do not ask for the help
of God, but the righteous Cannot live without it,
and keep asking day and night: how long? how
long? — Taubb- Light, love, life, these are es-
sential attributes of the Divine nature which
mutually repose upon one another. When He
comes forth clothed with them, and manifests
Himself, it becomes bright, we feel His love, we
live. But when He retires within Himself, it is
night, we feel His wrath, we die. — Appuhn
(At the Reformation festival) : We observe to-
day (1) a thanksgiving, for we call to mind the
establishment, the prosperity and extension of
our German Evangelical Lutheran Church, (2) a
day of humiliation, for we have to recall forsaken
confession, mournful divisions and lamentable
insubordination ; (3) a day of prayer, for we
take our stand upon God's honor, power, and
mercy.
[Matt. Heney: (1) No salvation but from
God's favor, (2) no obtaining favor with God
unless we are converted to Him, (3) no conver-
sion to God but by His own grace. — We cannot
call upon God's name in a right manner, unless
He quicken us; but it is He who puts life into
our souls, who puts liveliness into our prayers.
Scott: The vine cannot be ruined nor any
fruitful branch perish: but the unfruitful will
be cut oflF and cast into the fire.
Bishop Hoenb : The end of our redemption is
that we should serve Him who hath redeemed
us and "go back" no more to our old sins.
That soul which has been quickened and made
alive by Christ, should live to His honor and
glory ; that mouth which hath been opened by
Him, can do no less than show forth His praise,
and "call upon" His saving "name." —
J. F. M.].
2»
450 THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM LXXXL
To the chief Musician upon Oittith, A Psalm of Asaph.
2 Sing aloud unto God our strength :
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
3 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel.
The pleasant harp .with the psaltery.
4 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon,
In the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
5 For this was a statute for Israel,
And a law of the God of Jacob.
6 This he ordained in Joseph /or a testimony,
AVhen he went out through the land of Egypt:
Where I heard a language tJiat I understood not.
7 I removed his shoulder from the burden :
His hands were delivered from the pots.
8 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee ;
I answered thee in the secret place of thunder :
I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken
unto me;
10 There shall no strange god be in thee;
Neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
11 I am the Lord thy God,
Which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
12 But my people would not hearken to my voice;
And Israel would none of me.
13 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust :
And they walked in their own counsels.
14 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me,
And Israel had walked in my ways !
15 I should soon have subdued their enemies,
And turned my hand against their adversaries.
16 The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him:
But their time should have endured for ever.
17 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat :
And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
second of which, moreover, has been mutilated
at the beginning and end. But the first section,
vera. 2-6, forms the introduction to the second,
vera. 7-17, which in the form of a declaration
from God Himself, contains an exhortation ad-
--- ..- dressed to the Church bidding them celebrate a
ters, that Olshausen has been led to assume the certain festival in a manner pleasing to Him.
existence of two poems originally distinct, the For after a demand for joyful celebration, with
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. On the super-
Bcription see Introd. g 12, No. 7. The Psalm
falls into two divisions of such distinct charac-
PSALM LXXXI.
461
music of all kinds, which in ver. 2 is directed to
the whole people (Ezra iii. 11,) there follows in
ver. 3, one addressed to the Levites (2 Chron. v.
12); and lastly, in ver. 4, one to the Priests
(Numb. X. 10; 2 Chron. vii. 6), while in vers.
5 and 6 this summons is supported by an allu-
sion to the Divine institution of the festival.
Then begins the exhortation placed in the
mouth of Jehovah Himself, attention being called
to the blessings which the festival was designed to
commemorate (vers. 7, 8). Upon this is based a
demand for His exclusive worship in Israel (vers.
9-11). A complaint of former disobedience is
then introduced, (vers. 11, 13), which is followed
by a desire for present and future obedience, en-
forced and impressed upon the minds of the peo-
ple by the promise of abundant blessing (vers
14-17).
The reference to the historical circumstances
attending the establishment of the festival is
favorable to the supposition that the Passover is
intended, as the one which begins with the full
moon of the month Nisan (Venema, De Wette,
Hengst., Delitzsch, Hitzig). For ver. 6 does
not speak of the Exodus from Egypt (The an-
cient translators, Aben Ezra, Luther, Geier,
Koster) or of the march of Joseph=Israel
through the land of Egypt, that is, through the
midst of the country before the eyes of the Egyp-
tians while they were unable to prevent them,
(Calvin, Rudinger, Hengstenberg), but of the
passing of God against or over the land in con-
nection with the slaying of the first-born (Kim-
chi and most of the recent commentators).
"Without this historical reference, we would be
inclined to think of the feast of Tabernacles
(Hupfeld and most of the ancients after the Tar-
gum and Talmudical tradition) for this was
celebrated during the full moon of the month
Tischri, whose new moon began the civil year of
tlie Jews, the day of the sounding of trumpets,
(Lev. xxiii. '■24c; Numb. xxix. 1), to which ver
4 a seems expressly to allude But it is to be
remarked, against thiSj supposition, that all the
new-moons were distinguished as sacred days
not only by sacrifices (Numb, xxviii. If) but
also by trumpet blowing (Numb. x. 10). Hence
there are no better means of deciding aflForded by
the latter, than by the expression : " day of our
feast." For, though the feast of Tabernacles is
frequently named simply " the feast" ( JnH) yet
this expression denotes also the Passover (Ex.
xii. 14; Numb, xxviii. 17, comp. Is. xxx. 29,
and Hitzig on Ezek. xlv. 21), and the assertion
of Hupfeld [De primitiva et vera festorum apud
Hehr. raiione 1851), that the solemn character
of the Passover-festival excluded the manifesta-
tions of joyfulness, and that what is said on the
subject in 2 Chron. xxx. 20f. is to be rejected
as unhistorical, has not been allowed to pass
uncontradicted (comp. Delitzsch on the pass-
over-rites during the period of the Second
Temple in the Zeitschrift fur luih. Kerche und
Theologie 1855). The original significance of
the festival spoken of, lying, as it does here, be-
yond the field of the historical retrospect, does
not come into view as bearing upon the obser-
vance of the feast, or the reference of the Psalms
to the latter generally. There is therefore no
importance to be attached to the remark of De-
litzsch that the feast of tabernacles appears in the
earliest giving of the law (Ex. xxiii. 1(3; xxxiv.
22), as the feast of the ingathering of the har-
vest, and that it did not receive its historical
connection with the journeying through the
wilderness until the addition was made refer-
ring to the celebration of the festival in Canaan
(Lev xxiii. 39-44). But the fact that the great
day of Atonement fell upon the tenth of Tischri
is certainly of importance. For if the Psalmist
were speaking of the feasts of that month it
would surely be surprising that no allusion was
made in the Text to this day, which fell directly
between the new and the full moon. It is also
in favor of Nisan, that the rejoicing, which be-
gins on its new-moon as the first day of the sacred
new year, could be united without any interrup-
tion to that of the full moon and its festival.
This connection between the two would be dis-
tinctly expressed, if the words "at the full
moon" could be placed at the end of the verse
(Hupfeld). But such a transposition would be
too violent. The juxtaposition, however, of the
new and the full moon does not compel us either
to assume, that this Psalm was intended to be
sung at both feasts (Muntinghe, Rosenmiiller),
or to explain the words which denote the new
moon, as referring to the month generally, (Ve-
nema, Hengstenberg) It is only the blowing at
the new and the full moon that is spoken of, and
the former could, without prejudice to its special
meaning, be mentioned here also as the formal
proclamation (Maurer) of the great festal day
which fell in the same month. For the usual
rendering: "in the day of our feast," is wrong.
Because 7 is used and not 3 it must mean:
against, or, for (Gen. vii. 14 ; job xxi. 30). Nor
are we instead of, "in the full moon" (after the
analogy of the Syriac since De Dieu) to trans-
late indefinitely "at the appointed time"*
(Sept. Vulg., Aben Ezra and others), or even
"in the new moon as in the day of the moon's
being covered" (according to the Talmudical
explanation).
[The explanation of K^IH in ver 4 given by
Hengstenberg and referred to above, namely,
that it means the month, and that consequently
" the month is first named, and then the parti-
cular part of it" seems to me to be more natural
than Dr. Moll's supposition. The verse seems
to have been an imitation of the formula, em-
ployed in Lev. xxiii. 5, and frequently in the
designation of any particular feast day. This
view is also adopted and defended by Alexander.
An additional reason may b-J given for this sense
of the word. The historical allusions plainly re-
quire that the Passover be understood as the
feast in question. All the various opinions
and needless discussions thereon have arisen
from the assumption that the word must mean
" new moon," which naturally suggests, as shown
above, the feast of Tabernacles. — J. F. M.]
On the instruments comp. Introd., g 11. The
time of the composition can only be inferred ap-
proximately from the fact that essential points
of agreement with Pss. Ixxvii, and Ixxviii. lead
* [So the Engl. Vers. In this the root is supposed to be
cognate with DD3 to divide out. But the Syriac Keto
(comp. HDD), the full moon, as being covered furnishes the
key to the right meanine.— J. F. M.]
452
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
us to refer them all to one and the same author.
The desultory character of the poem, and the
circumstance that God addresses the Church in
the declaration concerning the feast, are both
conditions which suit the prophet-singer Asaph.
According to Talmudical tradition this Psalm
was also the Jewish new-year Psalm, and in the
weekly liturgy of the Temple was to be sung on
Thursday as Ps. Ixxxii. on Tuesday.
[The following is Dr. Alexander's rendering
of ver. 4, on which compare the remarks above :
♦' Blow, in the month, the trumpet at the full
moon, on the day of our feast." — J. F, M.]
Ver. 6. I heard a language that I under-
stood not. — In this Psalm as in many lyrico-
prophetical utterances of the Old Testament God
and the poet are alternately the speakers. It
would be altogether unnatural to introduce be-
tween them, without any notice whatever, the
people, first designated Joseph, as here speaking
also, and to make them say that they had heard
a language spoken in Egypt, which they did not
understand. (The form ^DliT is used poetically
after the analogy of compound names beginning
with in"'). It is true indeed that in other places
(Dent, xxviii. 49; Isa. xxxiii. 19; Jer. v. 15;
Psalm cxiv. 1) great importance is attached to
this in order to set forth the blessings of deli-
veraoce from the oppression of a strange-speak-
ing people and of the possession of a home freed
from foreign occupation. It is also allowable to
give a turn to the sentence, by connecting it
with the foregoing infinitive (Ewald), which is
unassailable on grammatical grounds, instead of
supplying, incorrectly, the adverb of place:
♦'where" (Hengstenberg and most of the an-
cients) which owes its origin to the false refe-
rence of the " going forth" to the people of Is-
rael. But even if the people could be considered
as the subject, the language heard and unknown,
that is, strange to them, when God went forth
against the land of Egypt, could not have been
the Egyptian language, which they had listened
to for 430 years. With this connection of the
clauses it would be much more correct to under-
stand the language of God (Lud. de Dieu, Kos-
ter) in the judgment inflicted upon Egypt heard
by the Israelites and not understood by them.
But if we assume that it is God's speaking that
is mentioned, and consider the Psalmist as the
one who hears, it is then most natural to take
the sentence as independent, and to understand it
of the language of revelation. But the Psalmist
does not say that he is now hearing the unknown
voice uttering what follows (De Wette). God
does, it is true, utter what foUowd, and His
words are the contents of what is heard. But
tliis utterance is neither cited as being His, nor
introduced as a revelation made suddenly (Doder-
derlein, Muntiughe, Olshausen). It is rather
presented in such a manner that the prominence
is not given to what is sudden, unexpected, or
overpowering in the communication, on account
of which the recipient of it is unable to tell how
it is made, but to the character of the language of re-
velation, as not coming within the range of human
acquirement as other kinds of speech do. For
nsiy denotes neither a special declaration nor the
voice by which it is pronounced, but primarily
the lips, then (as also the tongue), dialect, idiom,
language in its special signification (Bottcher,
Proben, p. 50) ; and J^T expresses knowing by
investigation, proof, or study. By this expla-
nation: "language of such a kind, as, e^c," we
avoid the difficulty which results from supplying
a genitive of the person, which is certainly ad-
missible linguistically. For, in the present con-
nection, the language or kind of speech of one
not known by the Psalmist (or by the Israelitish
Church) would only suggest again to us a spirit-
voice, or that speaking, or the sound of a lip was
heard, while the form could not be distinctly
seen, nor the face be recognized (Job iv. 12).
For there is no ground given in the context for
maintaining, by referring to Ex. vi, 2, that God
Himself is meant, who in His name and nature
is both known and unknown (Delitzsch). The
context rather refers to the " testimony " given
by God, which is authentically explained by Him
in the sequel (Hupfeld). [Perowne: "The in-
terpretation which regards the language here
spoken of as the voice of God, and as virtually
given in the following verses, is now that most
commonly adopted." To express this we must
omit the italicized where of the English Version,
and make the words form an independent sen-
tence.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 7, 8. Carrying-basket [E.V.: pots]. Si-
milar baskets are not only found represented on
Egyptian monuments, but there are also inscrip-
tions which mentipn the Aperin (D'lJJ^) who
dragged stones to the great watch-tower (Papy-
rus Leydeusis, I., 346) or to the treasure-house
(id. I., 349, following Lauth) of the city of
Rameses. But the translation: pot, is also al-
lowable (many following Isaaki and Kimchi) with
reference to the work of the Israelites in clay,
(Ex. i. 14).— The veil of the thunder [E.
v., secret place of thunder] is not the clouds ge-
nerally, which in several theophanies (Ps. xviii.
12; Hab. iii. 4) are mentioned as veiling the ma-
jesty of God, and.at the same time manifesting
it; but the cloudy and fiery pillar (Ex. xiii. 21),
from out of which God wrought His wonders
against the Egyptians in the passage of the Red
Sea, Ex. xiv. 19 f. (most, following Kirachi).
For along with the first great miracle of the
journey the second is mentioned, the water
smitten from the rock (Ex. xvii. 17). By era-
ploying the local designation " water of Meri-
bah " = water of strife, as well as by the words
" I proved thee," the way is prepared for the re-
proach which follows (Hengst.), and the unbe-
lief and ingratitude of the Israelites at that time
pointed out (Luther).
Vers. 11, 12. Open wide thy mouth.— -It is
against the context to refer this expression to
hunger for God's word, and to the desire to ap-
propriate God's laws as the bread of life and the
food of the soul, Ps. cxix. 131; Jer. xv. 16;
Ezek. ii. 8 (Targum., Schnurrer). For the
words serve as -a poetical momentum to raise
into prominence the idea of God's readiness to
satisfy all needs (Hupfeld), but have their real
ground in this truth, that the feeling of need and
desire for its satisfaction must be accomplished
by a confession of our own inability to accom-
plish this end. [Ver. 12. Perowne: *' So I gave
them up. The word is used of the letting go of
too
captors, slaves, etc., of giving over to sin, Job
viii. 4. This is the greatest and most fearful of
all God's punishments. Comp. Ps. Ixxviii. *29. —
Stubbornness. The word occurs once in the Pen-
tateuch, Deut. xxix. 18, and several Limes in Je-
remiah. The English Version renders it here
lusts,^ and in all the other passages, imagination,
but wrongly."— J. F. M.]
Vers. 16 f. Their time is not the evil time of
the haters of God (Theodoret, Isaaki, Aben Ezra)
but the lifetime of the Israelites (Kimchi) and
that as ti people (Hitzig), Ps. Ixxxix. 30, 37. The
last verse has an unmistakable allusion to Deut.
xxxii. 13. In that passage there follows besides:
"oil out of the flinty rock." Honey out of the
rock is probably not wild honey, as an emblem
of good things obtained without labor, or as de-
scribing the fertility of the country. But the
laiter, which is frequently mentioned as a type
oi:' the Divine blessing, is distinguished as some-
thing extraordinary and preternatural by this hy-
perbolical expression. A change of 1^]f into
^1}f after Prov. xvi. 21 (Olshausen) is conse-
quently unnecessary. But the slight change in
the pointing by which the vav conversive be-
comes vav copulative (Olshausen) is quite natu-
ral. In this ca.se the promise is continued, and
this continuation was not merely to be expected,
but the transition to the third person (occasioned
by the naming of Jehovah in the preceding
verse) and the immediate return to the first per-
son become hereby intelligible and agreeable.
The present pointing, on the contrary, which
arose, perhaps, from considerations of euphony,
(Hupfeld) requires us in strictness to separate
the last clause from the preceding, and to regard
it as an account of an actual event (Sept., Sy-
riac, Ewald, Hitzig, Delitzscb). But it has an
altogether diflFerent position and significance from
those of the historical pictures, with which Pss.
Ixxvii. Ixxviii. abruptly conclude, and is fol-
lowed bv no further utterances from God. We
can hardly assume that the narrative portion has
been transferred from the end of ver. 8 to the
end of the Psalm, and there is the less reason
for this assumption, as in that case there would
be no occasion for the change of the personal
pronouns. [Alexander: "The English Version
refers these four verses all to past time, had
hearkened, had walked, should have subdued, should
have submitted, etc. This is in fact the true con-
struction of Isa. xlviii. 18; but there the condi-
tional or optative particle is construed with the
preterite, and not with the future tense, as here,
which makes an essential difference of syntax.
See Nordheimer's Heb. Gr., | 1078."-J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Church has atall times to give to God the
Lord the honor and acknowledgment which are
His due ; but especially must it manifest to the
whole world its sense of this obligation by its
observance of the sacred seasons appointed spe-
* [The meaniug hardness (transferred by Hengatenberg to
wickedness) is established beyond dispute. The Syriac and
the Hebrew derivatives from the same root show this. The
rendering " lusts " probably arose in this way. The LXX.
being ignorant of the true meaning followed the parallelism
and translated ejrtnjfieujLta in both clauses, which our trans-
lators adopted in the first.— J. F. M.]
cially for this end, and, by maintaining these sa-
cred ordinances, contribute to their preservation
in the world, and show themselves to be, and
build themselves up as, a Church of God. This
is most effectually done, partly by solemn pray-
ers, psalms, and hymns, to the praise of the
Lord, partly by proclaiming His mighty deeds,
and especially those which have served to found
and maintain His Church in the world, and by
a practical meditation upon them ; partly by ap-
propriating in God's worship the blessings,
means of grace, and salvation, offered and sup-
plied to the members of the Church through
God's special ordinances.
2. The obligation of the Church to honor and
serve God is based upon His right to the Church
which He has redeemed and purchased from
bondage as His own inheritance. Thus all the
sacred days of the Church of God have an actual
and historical foundation, which on one side
stands related to the revelation of God, and on
the other to the salvation of its members. The
feasts of the Old Testament receive in this way
a typical significance, and their celebration, a
moral character essentially distinct from heathen
worship, and divested of the sensuousness which
marks the rites of many forms of religion.
b. Faithfulness to the only true God is mani-
fested, on the one hand, by obedience to His
commands and ordinances, and on the other, by
trusting to His promises and gifts. In both as-
pects we have examples of warning and encou-
ragement in the history of our forefathers. But
it is of paramount importance that we do not
study these examples merely as the subjects of
a narrative, but that we make them subservient
to practical wisdom in life. For, accox'ding
to men's desires, and according to their conduct,
will there be measured out and allotted to them,
what will cast them to the ground, or preserve
them in life ; and God deals out with no sparing
hand, nor does the covenant relation protect the
unfaithful, ungrateful, and disobedient. He
who will not hear must feel. But if the sinner
is converted from the error of his way, God gives
him to taste renewed mercy, and to experience
the transcendent power of His salvation. And
He attracts and invites him in His compassion to
this course by holding out to him His promises.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The mighty deeds of God, which we celebrate
in our solemn assemblies have their significance,
not merely in the history of our forefathers, but
also for the life of the Church even to the end of
the world. — In the sacred seasons of our Church
let us not only praise God with joyful song and
grateful prayer, let us also seek to be edified by
the preaching of His word. — The solemn services
of our sacred days are not founded upon human
will, but upon the command of God. — True praise
to God does not consist in outward actions and
ceremonies, but in a personal consecration to God
in order to more confirmed fidelity to His cove-
nant.— God va^j prove us, but let us not dare to
tempt Him. — As unfaithfulness to God bears its
bitter fruits, so does faithfulness its sweet fruits
of promise. — When we hear of the sins of the
fathers, it is not enough that we deplore them,
we must avoid them too.
464
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
Starke : Let him who will sing, sing to God's
glory. — Sabbaths and sacred days are nothing
but monuments of Divine blessings. If men
would but bear this in mind, many acts of dese-
cration would be unperformed. — In the first com-
mandment lies the ground-work of all the others ;
for to him who does not fear, love, and trust in
God, there is no sin so great as that he cannot
fall into it. — God is much more willing to bestow
upon us His mercy than we are to receive it.
OsiANDER : Let us bear in mind, that it is not
human devices, but true godliness, that makes
us secure from our foes. — Menzel : It is the na-
ture and custom of the world to let God say what
He will, and then to do as it wills. — Frisch :
Let the world follow its ways, but keep thou
firm to the ways of God's children, who seek
their happiness in Him. — Rieqer: What the
Lord can arouse in the conscience of every one;
with what powerful leadings and gracious offers
He can encourage a heart, when He appears be-
fore it with these words : Hear, I will testify. —
RiCHTER (Hausbibel) : God loves specially in us
the ever-open mouth of the soul. It is no trou-
ble to Him to feed and revive us. But he who
despises His willing goodness and mercy is an
abomination to Him. — Tholuck: Such is man!
He laments that prosperity has forsaken him,
and in departing from the way of his God, he
leaves the way of happiness. — Guenther: We
are and shall be the people of God Do we
hearken to His voice ? Do we long after com-
munion with Him ? — Why is it so ill with thee
here below? Because thou dost not hearken to
God , because thou dost not walk in His ways.
How well it might be with us if we would only
have it so ! — Taube : What God by His Divine
right has ordained for a testimony to His peo-
ple, is now Israel's sacred duty and rich bless-
ing.— The excellence of God's love is displayed
in three of its attributes. It rebukes, it com-
plains, it allures.
[Matth. Henry : God's grace is His own, and
He is debtor to no man ; and yet as He never
gave His grace to any that could say they de-
served it, so He never took it away from any but
such as had first forfeited it. — God would have
us do our duty to Him that we may be qualified
to receive favor from Him. He therefore de-
lights in our serving Him, not because He is the
better for it, but because we shall be.
Scott : As the giving of the law from Mount
Sinai, and the trials of Israel in the wilderness
were proofs of the Lord 's peculiar regard to that
people, so humiliating convictions of sin, and
sharp afilictions, are generally, and the law
written in our hearts, always, evidential of the
love of God to our souls. — J. F. M. ]
PSALM LXXXII.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty ;
He judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly,
And accept the persons of the wicked ? Selah,
3 Defend the poor and fatherless :
. Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy :
Rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand ;
They walk on in darkness :
All the foundations of the earth are out of course,
6 I have said, Ye are gods ;
And all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But ye shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth :
For thou shalt inherit all nations.
455
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The last verse,
with its Messianic coloring, shows that this
Psalm does not present as a warning, in poetical
dress, the general truth that unrighteous judges
and princes are worthy of punishment, but that
the Psalmist implores the actual fulfilment of
ihat Divine judgment, whose certainty as a Di-
vine decree he, as a prophet, beheld in spirit,
and which he announces as a revelation from
Cod. The strong emphasis given to the person
of the speaker in ver. 6, leads to the supposition
that in that place it is not the Psalmist that
speaks (Calvin, Hitzig) but that God continues,
and that His words beginning with ver. 2 are
not interrupted in ver. 6 by a remark inserted
by the poet as to the fruitlessness of the Divine
warning and admonition (Dathe). In that verse
God's own opinion (that is. His estimate of the
real conduct of the judges) is declared with a
significant change in the mode of address, and
this estimate is distinguished from the declara-
tion given in the words which follow, that their
final destiny will not all correspond to the ex-
alted position assigned them by Him. The -text
contains no threatening of any particular pu-
nishment whether of a sudden and violent or
early and dishonorable death (Hengstenb. and
others), or that the penalty of death would be
inflicted on beings who previously were not sub-
ject to death (Hupfeld). It only says that the
lot of mortal men, and the fate of ruined princes
should overtake all those who had borne nothing
but the name and title of that dignified and ex-
alted position conferred upon them by a com-
mission from God. Most regard this authoriza-
tion on the part of God to be the declaration of
Scripture, Ex. xxii. 8 (comp. xxi. 6, but less xxii.
27) which appears to describe the rulers of Is-
rael in their judicial capacity as God's repre-
sentatives by applying to them the name Elo-
him.* We must assume that these are meant here
also, and not foreign kings (Gesenius and many
of the more recent expositors) nor angels (Bleek
in Rosenmiiller's bibl. Repertorium, I. 86 fF., and
Hupfeld). For foreign princes are never desig-
nated " sons of God " in the Old Testament. The
word has a theocratic idea at its basis (Ex. iv. 22)
and a Messianic reference (Ps. ii. 6 ; Ixxxix, 27)
when mankind SiTe spoken of. Angels are indeed
called sons of God (see on Ps. xxix.) but never
Elohim, Gradations of rank, also, like those of
an army, are mentioned with reference to angels
(Josh. V. 14 f. ; comp. Eph. iii. 10); likewise a
judgment of God upon '* the host of the high
place on high" (Isa. xxiv. 21 f.), and upon
the idols of Egypt as inflicted upon their
kings (Jer. xlv. 25 f.). Also in later times two
classes of angels are mentioned; one consisting
of protecting angels over the several nations,
through whom God carries on the government
of the world (Dan. x. 13, 20 f.; xii. 1; Sept.
* [These passages are not decisive, for it is perhaps more
correct to understand there God Himself, as deciding through
the court. In xxii. 8, indeed, this is necessary from the ab-
sence of the article. In xxi. 6, although the article is used,
it might very well be regarded aa indicating the Kpir^piov,
aa the Sept. renders, "the place where judgment is given
in the namt of God."— J. F. M.j
in Deut. xxxii. 8), the other of those who. in the
name of God, pass judgment upon men (Zech,
iii. 1 f.) and execute the Divine sentence (Dan.
iv. 14, 20), and who yet are themselves not pure
before God (Job iv. 18; xxv. 5). But all these
statements and allusions do not, as Hupfeld him-
self confesses, explain the description before U3
in vers. 2ff., which relates indisputably to an
administration of justice on earth, which is un-
righteous and contrary to the very idea of jus-
tice. Pss. Iviii. and xciv. are closely allied to
this Psalm, but especially so is Isa. iii. 13, 15.
John X. 34-36 also favors this view, when Jesus
argues e concessis with the Jews for His divinity,
and draws a conclusion a minori ad majus. In
this case the utterance of God in ver. 7 is not
the declaration of creative power as in Gen. ii.
7 (Hupfeld) nor an ironical turn given to the
discourse ^= I thought ye were gods (Ewald),
but a clear setting forth of the want of corres-
pondence before indicated. On the ground of
the authority of God's word, and not in accord-
ance with heathen conceptions, 2 Mace. xi. 23
(Hitzig) does the Psalmist in ver. 1 designate by
the term Elohim with equal severity those whom
God, in ver. 7, addresses by the same title, Ver.
1 therefore does not refer to God's sitting as
Judge in the midst of His heavenly court, 1 Kings
xxii. 19 (De Wette), which might be regarded as
an image and poetical mode of representation,
replete with anthropomorphic expressions of
the desired judgment upon the administration
of justice on earth (Hupfeld). Nor is it a theo-
phany that is here presented as in Ps. 1. (Heng-
stenberg). There is presented, it is true, a special
act of God's judicial government. But this act is
in the first instance only described as in concep-
tion, in a poetico-prophetical mode of presenta-
tion. Upon this, then, the prayer is based aiid
uttered that God would bring to universal realiza-
tion what He had granted to His servant to be-
hold in the Spirit, and that in accordance with,
its universal significance in the world's history.
In these representations there is contained no-
thing which can compel us to pass over the age
of Asaph and seek the composition of the Psalm
in the later times of oppression generally (Hup-
feld), or in those of the dispersion specially
(Ewaldj or of the Maccabees (Hitzig). But the
history of Israel has here a typical significance
(Stier) ; and God's judgments are not confined
to one special case or single cycle, but only be-
gin at the house of God in actual execution (1
Pet. iv. 17). This justifies the application of
this Psalm to analogous conditions.
Ver. 1. Assembly of God [E. V., Congre-
gation of the mighty]. — This cannot mean:
assembly of gods (Sept.). In that case we would
have had C 7^. This expression certainly does
not denote an assembly convoked and conducted
by God, which He appoints, and over which He
presides (De Wette) in which He himself ap-
pears (Hitzig). Least of all can it be one con-
nected with God, standing in essential relation
to Him ; more definitely, one invested with a
Divine character (comp, Ewald, ^ 287 f.). It
prepares the way for the following statement,
that this assembly consists of persons who are
designated gods. We are not to assume that the
466
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
■vrord relates to angels (Syrian V.) Compare
the explanationa given above. Even if in ver.
7, D1X5 could be rendered : like Adam (Job
xxxi/3:i ; Hos. vi. 7), a transition from immor-
tality to mortality would not be indicated. It is
certainly not to be translated: like other men
(most), or: inasmuch as ye are men, but simply :
like men, that is, after the manner of men. It
stands parallel to the following Dn^n "inNO
that is : just as one of the princes. There is no
occasion for a change of pointing in order to ob-
tain the sense : all at once, O ye princes !
(Ewald). That would describe the suddenness
and completeness of the Messianic judgment ;
but according to the connection in which the
words stand," the usual reading is more suitable
as alluding to the warning example of fallen
princes recorded in history. The expression sa-
rin suggests directly the idea that it is not
kings precisely, nor simply members of the
Church, but influential persons, invested with
magisterial, especially judicial authority, that
are addressed, which, as representing God, could
be designated by the name Elohim. Since now
these Elohim in ver. 1 b are not distinguished in
80 many words as objects (Sept.) of the Divine
judgments, but yet are identical with those who
are censured, and since it is said, further, that
God holds judgment in the midst of them, it is
more natural to understand the assembly of God
ver. 1 a, to be the assembly of those persons
clothed with Divine authority (Geier, Hitzig),
than that they are the congregation of Israel,
(Nutnb. xxvii. 17; xxxi. 16; Isa, xxii. 16)
which God had purchased for Himself from the
midst of the natious, Ps. Ixxiv. 2 (Hengst., De-
litzsch). [All the English expositors whom I
have consulted agree that the first clause of ver.
1 refers to the congregation of Israel. The ren-
dering " mighty," given to 7X in E. V., and re-
tained by most of those expositors, is without
meaning as applied to the Israelites. The rend-
ering " God " should ba adopted. Dr. Moll's
view of the meaning of the clause seems to me
to be the most tenable. Most agree that the se-
cond clauso refers to the judges. On this point
Alexander says: "The parallel expression, ia
the midst of the gods, superadds to the idea an
allusion to a singular usage of the Pentateuch,
according to which the theocratic magistrates as
representatives of God's judicial sovereignty,
are expressly called Elohim, the plural form of
which is peculiarly well suited to this double ap-
plication. Even reverence to old age seems to
be required upon this principle (Lev. xix. -^2)
and obedience to parents in the fifth command-
ment (Ex. XX. 12) which really applies to all the
offices and powers of the patriarchal system, a
system founded upon natural relations, and ori-
ginating in a simple extension of domestic or
parental government, in which the human head
represents the original and universal parent or
progenitor." And on ver. 2 : " The combina-
tion usually rendered respect persons in the Eng-
lish Bible, and applied to judicial partiality
means, literally, to take up faces. Some suppose
this to mean the raising of the countenance, or
causing to look up from deep dejection. But the
highest philological authorities are now agreed
that the primary idea is that of accepting one
man's face or person rather than another's, the
precise form of expression, though obscure, be-
ing probably derived from the practice of ad-
mitting suitors to confer with governors or
rulers face to face, a privilege which sometimes
can only be obtained by bribes, especially
though not exclusively in oriental courts." — J.
F. M.]
In ver. 1 a observe the use of the Niphal par-
ticiple; the use of the Hithpael in ver. 6 b; and in
ver. 2 a, the frequent expression "judge un-
righteousness" [E. v., judge unjustly] instead
of " exercise unrighteousness in judging," (Lev,
xix. 16, 35; comp. Ps. Iviii. 2).— The founda-
tiona of the earth or of the land in ver. 5 6,
are not the persons of the judges (Aben Ezra),
whose moral vacillation would then be rebuked ;
nor merely the foundations of the State (Knapp,
Stier) on which the prosperity of the land de-
pends. They are, in general, the fundamental
conditions of the preservation of the entire order
of things in the world (Ps. xi. 3; Ix. 4; Ixxv.
4; Job ix. 6; Ezek. xxx. 4 ; Prov. xxix. 4) and
their being out of course is the prelude and har-
binger of the Messianic judgment, — All na-
tions, ver. 8, are not mentioned as the place
where, that is, those amongst whom (SKjpt., Vulg.),
but as the object to which God has tiie right of in-
heritance and possession, and this claim He ia
called upon to make good.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God, while conferring upon rulers the right
of sovereignty, and investing them with full
power to speak righteousness on earth in His
name, has not withdrawn Himself from the go-
vernment of the world, nor resigned its supreme
control. He rather exercises personally, as the
Highest Majesty, His Divine power in His go-
vernment, and that to the fullest extent. And
He makes known His efficiency as supreme and
impartial Judge, by not merely taking oversight
of the administration of justice, but also by call-
ing to account those entrusted with it, and deal-
ing with them according to their conduct. He
awakes and maintains in the Church through the
mouth of His prophets and servants a due secse
of this relation.
2. The magisterial and judicial functions, which
possess a legal power over even the life and
liberty as well as over the reputation and pro-
perty of men, should be discharged not only
under the authority but also after the example
of God, and therefore especially in righteousness
and mercy. For they have been invested with
the prerogatives of their high positions not for
oppression, self-aggrandizement or illegal prac-
tices, but that they may execute, further, and
defend justice, and all this from the favor of God.
3. The greater the power committed to rulers
and judges the more blessed is its righteous em-
ployment for the restraint and punishment of
the unrighteous, as well as for the defence and
encouragement of those, who either have no
means of aiding themselves, or scorn to redress
their injuries by violent means. But the more
dreadful and destructive is its abuse, for it
shakes the foundations of the order of hu-
PSALM LXXXII.
457
man affairs established by God aad thereby im-
perils the existence of the whole world.
4. Yet since God alone is really God, He can de-
prive unrighteous judges and princes of the
powerj which is only lent by Him, if they allow
to pass unheeded the warnings and exhortations,
which He sends before punishment, and neither
understand nor lay to heart the tokens of the
coming judgment. When this judgment breaks
forth upon them, then no earthly power can give
them succor.
[Perowne: Men cannot .see God with the
bodily eye, but He is present with the king on
his throne (hence Solomon's throne is called the
throne of Jehovah, 1 Chron. xxix. 23), with the
judge on the judgment-seat, and with all who
hold authority delegated to them by Him —
J. F. M.]
HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL.
Those who misuse the name of God, cannot
use it as their protection ; He will condemn
them all the more surely for it. — God's judgment
may begin when and where it will, it always
bears and retains the character of a judgment
upon the world. — Prince and people are bound
together by a sacred tie, namely, the law of God
with the mutual rights and obligations springing
therefrom. — He who lays claim to the title: by
the grace of God, must perform the duties of his
position according to God's word and will. — He
who would judge rightly must decide (1) ac-
cording to God's law, (2) without respect of
persons, (3) as God's servant. — Rulers have
their power from God that they may further
righteousness, but no privilege to aim at power.
— Conscientiousness is as indispensable for the
intervention of official power in behalf of the op-
pressed, as fidelity to duty is, against the temp-
tations to abuse power against justice. — Violence
and injustice disturb the order of the world, and
thereby the divinely established conditions of
prosperity ; but God by His judgment sets them
right again. — God can cast down him, whom He
has raised on high; let the mighty therefore fear
God and those in high places humble themselves
beneath His powerful hand. — Let princes con-
sider that they also are but men, and therefore
let them so fill their high office that they need
have no fear of death, but be ever mindful of
their responsiblity to God, and be ready to pre-
sent their account before Him.
Luther: When the rulers are rebuked as
well as the people, and the people as well as the
rulers, as is done by the prophets, neither party
can upbraid the other, but must suffer mutually,
and take it in good part, and be at peace w^ith
one another. — The office of preacher is neither
a court-minister, nor a farm servant; it is God's
minister and servant, and its commission reaches
to both masters and servants. — Not according to
our own likes or dislikes, but according to the
law of right, that is, according to God's word,
which makes no difference between or respect
of persons. — My command and word (sa'ith the
Lord) constitute and ordain you gods, and
maintain you as such, not your word, wisdom
or power. Ye are gods made according to my
word like all creatures, and not essentially di-
vine or gods by nature as I am. — Christ rightly
exercises the three god-like virtues (of a true king
and ruler) : He sends forth the divine word and
its preachers; He creates and maintains jus-
tice for the poor, and defends and delivers
the distressed; He punishes the wicked and
tyrants. — So we see that besides earthly justice,
wisdom and power, though these are Divine
works, another kingdom still is necessary,
wherein we may find another kind* of juttice,
wisdom and power.
Starke: If God honors magistrates with His
own name, they should rightly consider their
duties, and perform them in His fear with great
circumspectness. — A ruler must have two
arms; the one to help those who suffer injustice,
the other to restrain those who commit deeds of
violence. — The heart of a man becomes vain of
his advancement quite too easily ; what is then
more necessary than that he even when raised
to the highest dignity, should remember that he
is man? — Since unrighteousness in these last
times is gaining mightily the upper hand, let
pious hearts pray, that Christ as Judge of the
quick and the dead would hasten His coming. —
Selnbcker: Love and friendship make many a
flaw and breach in justice. — Menzel : To be
called " the Church of God " is a sure consola-
tion to subjects in two ways; first, they know
who acts in their behalf; and secondly, they know
that he who sits under God's rule has the privi-
lege of serving Him. — Rieger: How we are to
view the ways of God with rulers, and take
heart over the government of the world and be
still. — Tholuck: Death, which makes all alike,
is the sermon which still produces the strongest
effect on the powerful of the world. — Guentuer:
Every act of injustice in a judge, a ruler, or any
person in power, is a nail in the coffin of State.
— Let not the sacred profession defend wicked
officers. — DiEDRiCH : The unrighteousness which
is done by the great and under the name of jus-
tice, brings the world to ruin. — Taube : Only
with conversion do a judge and all rulers re-
ceive discernment and understanding to dis-
charge their duties according to God's design
and will. — The examples of punishment which
God makes of those who bear His name and
office, are visible proofs that He still holds at all
times and in all places the office of Magistrate
and Guardian and Protector, and that He still
abides in His Church. — L. Harms: Unrighteous
rulers dig their own graves. — Pray for the king
and magistrates that God would grant a pious
king and pious magistrates, and then for the
people that they may be converted and become
pious.
458
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM LXXXIII.
A Song or Psalm of Asaph.
2 Keep not thou silence, 0 God :
Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
3 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:
And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
4 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,
And consulted against thy hidden ones.
5 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;
That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
6 For they have consulted together with one consent :
They are confederate against thee :
7 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites ;
Of Moab, and the Hagarenes ;
8 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek ;
The Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
9 Assur also is joined with them:
They have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
10 Do unto them as unto the Midianites ;
As to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kison :
11 PFA-ic/i perished at En-dor :
They became as dung for the earth.
12 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb:
Yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
13 Who said. Let us take to ourselves
The houses of God in possession.
14 O my God, make them like a wheel :
As the stubble before the wind.
15 As the fire burneth a wood,
And as the flame setteth the mountain on fire ;
16 So persecute them with thy tempest,
And make them afraid with thy storm.
17 Fill their faces with shame ;
That they may seek thy name, 0 Lord.
18 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever;
Yea, let them be put to shame, and perish :
19 That men may know that thou, whose name alone w JEHOVAH,
Art the Most High over all the earth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. The first half
of the Psalm, marked by Selah, contains a prayer
to God that He would not remain inactive against
attacks of those tribes, which, armed with
strength and cunning, had risen up to destroy
Israel until its very name should become ex-
tinct, (vers. 2-5). These are then enumerated a9
leagued together (vers. 6-9). The second half
gives a positive turn to this prayer, namely that
God would prepare for these enemies of Israel
the same overthrow and disgrace which He had
inflicted upon similar foes of former times (vers.
10-13) ; that He would utterly disperse them and
bring them to shame, so that they might learn to
seek God (vers. 14-17). This thought is eX-
PSALM LXXXIII.
459
pressed again (vers. 18, 19), and presented in a
Messianic aspect. With regard to the time of
composition, the following difficulty meets us.
The ten nations who are here enumerated as be-
ing combined against Israel, are never mentioned
elsewhere as enemies allied at the same time
and for the purpose of annihilating Israel. And
yet the expressions are of such a nature, that
we cannot be inclined to consider this enumera-
tion as only a poetical individualizing of the ge-
neral idea: enemies from all sides (De Wette,
Hupfeld). The position of Assyria as an auxili-
ary of the sons of Lot, that is, of the Moabites and
Ammonites, is especially unfavorable to this view.
The same circumstance, alluding as it does to a
special historical instance, opposes also any at-
tempt to refer the composition to the age of the
Maccabees (for which many since Van Till de-
cide, referring to 1 Mace. v. and Josephus, Ant.
xii. 8). For even if it be admitted that the
name Assyria could be transferred to Syria un-
der the Seleucidse, we must remember that the
latter country had assumed a position of promi-
nence in history just in the age of the Macca-
bees, and formed the chief power against which
the Asmonaaan princes contended. We cannot
reconcile with this fact the subordinate position
assigned in the Psalm to the power designated
as Assyria, if respect be had to the predominant
character of that age, so well known in history.
But if we turn to the special case 1 Mace. v. we will
find that the Syrians are not mentioned there at all,
any more than the Amalekites, who had disap-
peared from history. We are therefore compelled
to go back to a time, when Assyria had not yet be-
come the great world-power that threatened Is-
rael. Accordingly the Persian period Neh. iv. 1 f.;
vi. 1 (Koster, Maurer, Ewald) is to be excluded, as
also the Chaldean (Hassler). We would there-
fore be disposed to assume one of the wars of
David with the neighboring nations leagued
against him, 2 Sam. viii. or x. (Grotius, J. H.
Michaelis, Clauss). But the enumeration given
in the text does not correspond with sufficient
exactness to any of them. It agrees best with
the alliance formed against Jehoshaphat, at the
head of which were the Moabites, Ammonites
and Edomites (since Kimchi, especially Venema
and most of the recent commentators). Yet it
must be confessed that even under this assump-
tion there is much to be supplied and left to pure
conjecture. For Josephus (Ant. x. 1, 2), gives a
multitude of Arabs instead of the Meunim
mentioned by the Chronicler. These may
possibly be identical with the Ishmaelites and
the Ilagarenes here mentioned. The latter
pitched their tents from the Persian Gulf as far
as the country east of Gilead towards the
Euphrates (1 Chron. v. 10), while the former
spread themselves (Gen. xxv. 18), through the
Sinaitic peninsula over the Arabian Desert as
far as the countries under the sway of the As-
syrians in the remote north-east. Now, since in
2 Chron. xx. 2, we must read DlXi3 instead of
DlKD, as itidicating the place of departure of
these hordes, Edom appears to have been their
place of rendezvous, and is given the first place
by the Psalmist for this reason, unless we prefer
to assume that the hostile nations were enumer-
ated according to their relative geographical posi-
tions (Delitzsch). Further we can find a place
for Gebal, which is not to be sought to the east
of Jordan (Rosenm., De Wette), but south of the
Dead Sea, (Gesenius) among the inhabitants of
Mt. Seir mentioned by the Chronicler. We can
certainly assume also, that Amalek, which was
still existing in his time was included by him
among the Edomites in the same way as Jose-
phus (Ant. ii. 1, 2), reckons A/jtah/Klric as part
ofldumaea. In Amos i. 6, too (comp. Joel iv.
4,) the tribes along the Mediterranean coast, the
Philistines and Phoenicians, appear as combined
against Israel. Nor, if the same event is referred
to as the one dwelt upon in the Psalm, does it ap-
pear in this instance also why the Chronicler omit-
ted them as well as Assyria in his enumeration
of the allies. If we assume, then, the identity
of the events, the conjecture is at least worth
mentioning, that the Levite and Asaphite Jaha-
ziel named in 2 Chron. xx. 14, was the author
of this Psalm. (Dathe, Hengst., Delitzsch).
[Alexander :" To the general description (Miz-
mor) there is here prefixed a more specific one
(shir) which designates the composition as a
song of praise or triumph. The same combi-
nation occurs above in the title of Ps. xlviii. a
composition which as we have there seen, was
probably occasioned by the victory of Jehosha-
phat over the Moabites, Ammonites and their
confederates as described in 2 Chron. xx. This
agrees well with the hypothesis, conclusively
maintained by Hengstenberg, that tho Psalm
before us has relation to the same event, and
that as Ps. xlvii. was probably sung upon the
field of battle, and Ps. xlviii. after the tri-
umphant return to Jerusalem, so Ps. Ixxxiii.
was composed in confident anticipation of the
victory."— J. F. M.]
Ver. 10. As Midian. That is, as Thou hast
done to Midian by means of Gideon (Judges vii.
8, comp. Is. ix. 3; x. 26; Hab. iii. 7). Sisera
was the general of Jabin, king of Hazor, whose
army was smitten by Barak and Deborah so that
the river Kishon was strown with the dead
(Judges iv. 5, 21). Endor lay in the midst of
the battle-ground not far from Taanah and
Megiddo mentioned in Judges v. 19, (Robinson,
III. 468, 477). Oreb, mentioned in Is. x. 26, and
Zeeb were D'''}iif and therefore probably gene-
rals of the Midianites (Judges vii. 25) ; Zebah
and Zalmunneh their kings (Judges viii. t)if).
On the signification of these names, comp, N61-
deke, fleher die Amalekiter, p. 9. [In Is, x. 26 it
is the rock Oreb that is mentioned, so called from
the death of the Midianite lord in that place.
See Judges vii. 25 also. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 14 fF. Whirlwind [E.V.: wheel].-Comp.
Ps. Ixxvii. 19; Isa. xvii. 3. Wheel (Hupfeld
with the ancient versions, Calvin, and others) is
unnecessary here also. The fire, because it is
the fire of God, devours not the covering of tho
mountains (most), but the mountains themselves
(Hupfeld) which melt away before God like wax
(Ps. xcvii. 15; Micah i. 4; comp. Deut. xxxii.
23, where the earth, and Ps. Ixxviii. 21, 63; cvi.
18, where men are devoured by it). The image
is more highly colored in Isa. x. 16-19. — The
knowledge spoken of in ver. 19 is, it is true, a
460
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
practical knowledge gained by actual painful
experience of God's power. But, still, as re-
lated to the design of the chastisemeilt expressed
in ver. 17 (that they may seek God's name) it is
not compulsory recognizing, submitting, and be-
stowing homage (Calvin, Rudinger, Clericus,
Hengstenberg), but an acknowledgment of the
exclusive divinity of Jehovah, to which the na-
tions seeking mercy and help shall be brought.
We are not to translate: Thou, whose name is
Jehovah (Geier, Rosenmiiller) or: Thou, accord-
ing to Thy name (J. H. Michaelis, Hengst.) The
subject is repeated, and, as in Ps. xliv 3 ; Ixix.
11, the repetition makes the reference more
clear. [T'^® ^*^*' ^i^w is undoubtedly correct:
" Thou, Thy name is Jehovah," etc. The sense,
however, remains unchanged by the first-men-
tioned rendering. The second is forced and un-
necessary to the elucidation. Calvin has ex-
plained the object of the repetition of the sub-
ject, laying emphasis, as it does, upon the di-
vinity of Jehovah. He says that a comparison
is made between that God and all false gods.
" Lord, make them feel that the idols which they
have made for themselves are nothing." — J. F.
M.] As an illustration of the meaning of the
passage, comp. Isa. xxxvii. 16-20 ; 2 Kings
xix. 19.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Church of God on earth has many ene-
mies, and powerful and cunning ones among
them. Sometimes they band themselves toge-
ther, and th -n their purpose is to destroy the
Church. But God has reversed the relation of
aflFairs more than once. He has preserved His
Church, but put her enemies to shame. For her
enemies are His enemies. And even if God
seems to look on for a while, to observe the con-
duct of men, He does not remain an idle specta-
tor ; but if He lets loose the storm and the fire
of His wrath, then are felt the severity and the
power of His judgment.
2. The recollection of the Divine judgment in the
history of the world is to be no less frequent and
lively than the remembrance of His dealings of
mercy. For in both of them does God manifest
His incomparable majesty, and make it clear to
the whole world, that men have equal reason to
fear His name and to confide in it. For this
name Jehovah has a significance in the history
of redemption, and a power in the history of
the world.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The designs of men and the purposes of God.
— If our enemies are God's also, then we need
not fear either tbeir number, craftiness, or
strength. — God proves Himself to be God alone, by
glorifying His name in friend and foe. — God will
not merely overthrow His own enemies and those
of His Church; He will subdue them also: and
80 He causes them not only to feel His might,
but also to know His name. — God not only rules
the world, but He will be acknowledged also
throughout its bounds as the Supreme Majesty,
Calvin: God's punishments do not always ef-
fect a change in men for the better, but they do
in the end compel an acknowledgment of His
supremacy to the glorifying of His name among
those who are justly condemned.
Staeke: If God keeps silence, do not thou:
but keep crying to Him until He ceases to be si-
lent.— Let tyrants say what they will, they do
not gain what they would; the hope of the
wicked must perish. — Combinations which are
formed without God, yea, against God and His
Church, cannot last. — Members of God's Church
have, from the beginning, found enemies even in
their blood-relations, Abel in Cain, Isaac in Ish-
mael, Jacob in Esau. — It is far better for men to
be brought by God's blessings to a knowledge of
Him, than to be only compelled by His punish-
ment to confess that God alone is the Lord.
Renschel: Strength, counsel, and craft are
of no avail ; when God begins to smite, then fall
c'.iariots, horses, and men. — Arndt: God often
conceals from our sight the tokens of His help
and counsel, and yet is helping wondrously,
though secretly, and preserving His own. — If
God alone is called Lord, and the Highest in the
universe, it is good to rely upon Him alone, and
it is right that we should fear, and stand in awe,
and humble ourselves before Him, and that we
call upon Him, honor Him, love Him, and praise
Him. — Frisch: The less the world knows thee,
the better is it for thee, and this alone is suflS-
cient for thee : God knows His own. — Hidden,
yet not lost, is the emblem of the Christian. —
Roos: It is indeed a great advantage, when the
enemies of a nation or of an individual are also
enemies of God, provided also that the pretext
or primary cause of the injury does not lie with
ourselves. — Tholuck: Israel has a God who
has spoken to His people, not only in words, but
also in deeds. — Guenthee : Thy impatience must
not proceed from unwillingness to bear the cross
any further, but from thy zeal to prove to thy
enemies the vanity of their attempts. They
would destroy the children of God from the
earth. — Diedeich: We, the feeblest creatures,
triumph if we have God with us, and the mighti-
est are dashed to the ground, if they have God
against them. — We are so well shielded and cared
for in God, that we can wish even for our bit-
terest foes the highest good at last, the know-
ledge of God Himself. — Taubb : He whose vital
breath is God's word and ways and works, of-
fers his prayers also from out of this atmosphere.
And God is ever the same, as He was of old,
disposed, just as He had ever been, towards His
friends and towards His foes.
[Barnes : What it is right for men to attempt
it is right for them to pray for ; what it would
be right for them to do if they had the power, it
is right to ask God to accomplish ; what is far
from malignity in the act and in the design, may
be far from malignity in the desire and in the
prayer ; and if men can carry with them the
idea that what they are endeavoring to do is
right, they will have very little difficulty in re-
gard to the so-called imprecatory F8altM.--J.
F. M.]
PSALM LXXXIV.
461
PSALM LXXXIV.
To the chief Musician upon Gittiih, A Psalm for ike sons ofKorah,
2 How amiable are thy tabernacles,
0 Lord of hosts I
3 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord :
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
4 Yea, the sparrow hath found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King, and my God.
5 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house:
They will be still praising thee. Selah.
6 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee ;
In whose heart are the ways of them.
7 Who passing through the valley of Baca
Make it a well ;
The rain also filleth the pools.
8 They go from strength to strength,
Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
9 0 Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer :
Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
10 Behold, O God our shield,
And look upon the face of thine anointed.
11 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.
1 had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
12 For the Lord God is a sun and shield :
The Lord will give grace and glory :
No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
13 0 Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — On the super-
Bcription see lutrod. § 2 and § 12, No. 7. The
three strophes are connected in such a manner
that the first sentence of each takes up the
thought, though not the words, of the last sen-
tence of the preceding one, and develops it. A
solemn tone of joyful courage, the fruit of faith,
and of praise flowing from the assurance of sal-
vation,pervades the 'whole. The house of God
and those who dwell therein are first the object
of praise. It is then bestowed upon those be-
lievers in God who, under His blessing as the
God of the covenant, perform their pilgrimages
to Zion where they can find Hira. Lastly, God
Himself and those who trust in Hira are praised.
Inferences have been falsely drawn from
the feeling of gentle melancholy, and pious long-
ing remarked by most of th e recent commentators.
For the suppliant knows and loves the house of
God, longs after it and its worship, praises the
happiness of those who dwell in it, and of those
who walk thither, even though through the wild-
erness, in order to appear before God. Does
this indicate that the Psalmist is personally not
in a position to satisfy his longing for the sanc-
tuary ? The text gives no intimation of it ; and
least of all is anything hinted at which would be
likely to prevent him. Not a syllable gives the
indication of sickness, or imprisonment, or flight
before enemies, or exile. Nor does ver. 11 say
that he was forcibly detained in the tents of
wickedness. Not even is any ground afl^orded for
the inference that he was locally absent from
Zion. For the second strophe (see the exposi-
tion below), does not describe a festival-journey
or a pilgrimage to Zion, by which a longing
might have been awakened or strengthened, to
462
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
take part in it also ; but it employs expressions
borrowed from the features of such journeys,
while describing a different relation. And what
makes this usage so much the mere significant is
the fact that a parallel instance is to be re-
marked in the first strophe where dwelling in
God's house is spoken of, while going to God is
now placed beside it in order to complete the
picture. The confidence exhibited in the prayer
recorded in the third strophe agrees also with
this supposition. We need not therefore press
into the argument the points of agreement with
Pas. xlii. and xliii. in order to discover here
again David'a situation of flight before Absalom,
which is acknowledged to be represented there.
In this view of the relation of the Psalms the
author has been identified with David himself
(Clauss, Stier, and most of the older commenta-
tors), or with one of the Levitical singers of the
family of Korah, either speaking as from the
soul of David (Rosenmiiller, Hengst.) or praying
for him as the anointed, and expecting his own
return home with the king's restoration (De-
litzsch). We can only say that the "tents " in
ver. 11 c, as contrasted with the house of God,
do not prove the latter to have been the stone
Temple, especially as the expressions used in the
first strophe (see the exposition below) do not
necessarily lead to any such conclusion. Nor
do they permit us to assume the period in Da-
vid's life when he fled before Saul, as the men-
tion of " Zion," ver. 8, cannot possibly be ac-
couated for on the supposition that the Psalm
was committed to writing at a later date (Cal-
vin). Hupfeld maintains that terms such as:
dwellings, courts, altars, threshold, in the house
of God, and the longing expressed in connection
with them, presuppose a long-existing Temple-
worship, already deeply seated in the feelings,
and entering into the common language of the
people. But this cannot be conceded unless we
deny at the same time the antiquity of the Mo-
saic writings upon the subject of such worship.
For the same reasons the expressions used with re-
ference to the festival journeys to the Temple,
throw no light upon the question, leaving out
of consideration the fact that there is no clear
indication that the Psalm is a pilgrim song (Her-
der, Muntinghe), or that vers. 2-5 are a hymn
sung by pilgrims who had arrived at the sanc-
tuary, and vers. 6-8 the reply of those who
dwelt in it (Olshausen), Again, it is not inti-
mated that the Temple was in ruins, in which the
birds built their nest, but the house of God is
Bpoken of as being resorted to for religious wor-
ship. We are therefore forbidden to assume the
period of the exile (Isaaki, Kimchias an alterna-
tive). The period following the consecration, 165
B. C, would be much more suitable than this
(Hitzig), if it were necessary for us to seek the
composition at so late a date. The '* anointed "
in ver, 11 would then naturally not be the king
but the Jewish people. But it is a mere asser-
tion, destitute of proof, that we are to attach this
meaning to the same terra in Ps. Ixxxix. 39,
Hab. iii 18; and Ps. xxviii. 8. Nor is a late
date of composition to be argued from the fact
that only here and in Sirach xlii. 16 is God called
a Sun, and at the same time designated by the
term denoting a round and glittering shield.
Vers. 1-5. How amiable, etc. — The Heb. word
includes the two meanings; belovedjand: worthy
of love. The use of the plural: tabernacles,
perhaps has allusion to the numerous divisions
of God's house. Yet these divisions themselves
are not meant, for God dwelt in the Holy of Ho-
lies alone. Nor is it to be explained as a poeti-
cal (Hupfeld) plural (Pss. xliii. 3; xlvi. 5;
cxxxii. 6, 8; comp. Ixviii. 36). It is directed
against the sensuous conception of God's local
residence, and yet does not entirely abandon it,
so that we are not justified in understanding the
whole strophe to relate to spiritual residence,
hunger, and thirst (Hengstenberg). But the
mention of the courts and altars as the place for
which the poet longed, in which he would dwell
and find a home as the bird in its nest, confirms
the absence of the naturalistic and sensuous
idea, while it also exhibits the more restricted
conception of God's dwelling-places, in distinc-
tion from the places where the people and priests
assembled for the performance of their religious
rites: and this distinction was suggested by the
consciousness of the places of worship having
necessarily a local habitation. Both orders of
the congregation had their separate courts, as
well as their established places and ceremonies
in sacrifice and prayer; none of them, however,
dwelt in these places. Yet it is not to be inferred
from ver. 3 that the post was a layman (Ewald,
Olshausen). Nor do vers. 4 and 5 refer to
Priests and Levites, who with their families lived
by the altar. Nor are the residents of God's
house the inhabitants of Jerusalem, or those
who lived round about the Temple (Olshausen)
and certainly not the constant resorters to the
Temple (De Wette, Stier). But the words con-
tain the Old Testament idea (Jer. xx. 6) corres-
ponding to that in the New Testament : members
of God's house (Eph. ii. 19). The idea rests
upon the conception of filial relationship, and is
here imaged forth in the emblem of brooding
birds. This figure not only serves this purpose,
but also leads the way to the literal presentation
of the idea in the following verse. The form of
the sentence does not show a literal comparison
of the nests, which contain even the smallest
birds to be found anywhere, to the altars, which
are the homes of the pious, and of which the
Psalmist was, for the time, deprived, and after
which he longed. It only shows that it is to be
understood in one of the following ways : Either
the poet in an agony of passionate longing
breaks off the sentence with the sigh: alas!
thine altars! (Calvin, Muntinghe, Stier), or we
must supply and prefix the words: So I have
found (Mendelssohn, Knapp); or: should I not
find (Rudinger, Clericus, J, H. Michaelis, Dathe,
Rosenmiiller). But the passage is not merely a
figuratioe one, in which the poet by a bold meta-
phor represents himself as the sparroTT and swal-
low who found their nest, that is, a secure place
of refuge, and an unmolested, protected, peace-
ful home within the precincts of the sanctuary
(Geier, Venema, Burk, Clauss., Hengst., Del.).
The sentence does not begin with : for (Luther),
but with- also; and this particle is not united
to the verb (Hengst. ) bat to the name of the bird,
in a clause which by the use of the perfect tense
alludes to a determinate occurrence. This fact
PSALM LXXXIV.
463
is the one well-known in history, that small birds
lived undisturbed within the precincts of the
Temple. We could therefore render directly :
beside, or: close to thine altars (Sept., Vulg.,
Syr., Arab , and many of the older and recent
expositors) without needing to assume that the
Temple was in ruins (Isaaki, Kimchi). But, in
the first place, nx is more readily construed
grammatically, not as a preposition, but as the
sign of the accusative, and in apposition (Heng-
stenberg, Del., Hitzig), only that we need not
insert: namely (Luther) [or even, Engl. Vers.];
in the second place the intermediate thought
would be wanting, which prepares the way for
the idea of man's home-fellowship with God.
This fellowship in a spiritual sense was shared
by the Psalmist. As on Old Testament ground,
however, he cannot grasp the idea in its ripened
fulness of meaning, and feel that he can exercise
and exhibit his right of home and filial compa-
nionship in any other place than in the Temple on
Zion. He therefore felicitates in general terms
and in a comprehensive sense those who ever dwell
in God's house (Comp. xv. 1 ; xxvii. 4). The
proposal of Hupfeld either to supply the words :
"but I" before "thine altars" or to insert the
whole passage after ver. 5 a. is accordingly un-
necessary. We must not, however slight so
superficially as is usually done the objections
adduced against the current explanations, espe-
cially by Hupfeld. The expression: ray King and
my God (Ps. v. '6), must especially receive due
attention. [Alexander: "The address, Jehovah
(God) of Hosts has the same sense as in ver. 2.
One suggests the covenant relation between God
and the petitioner, the other makes His sover-
eignty the ground of a prayer for His protection.
The same essential notions of supremacy and
covenant right are conveyed by the parallel ex-
pression: my King and my God." — J. F. M.]
The particular meanings of the names of the
birds, which also occur together in Prov. xxvi.
2, are a matter of dispute; for the swallow has
a difi^erent name. (Is. xxxviii. 14; Jer. viii. 7).
The same is true of the wild or turtle-dove
(Sept., Targiim, Syr., Hitzig), and it is an un-
supported conjecture to suppose that these are
onomatopoetic words representing a flock of
medium-sized birds like crows, choughs or star-
lings, 8creeching«and high-flying and separately
undistinguishable (Bottcher). We may there-
fore hold to the Rabbinical explanation of derdr.
Should it, however, correspond to the word dUri
now employed in Palestine to designate the
sparrow (Wetzstein in an Excursus in Delitzsch),
then instead of the sparrow (Sept.) there must
be understood here by Tsippdr some small twit-
tering bird like the finch (Tobler, Denkblaiter
aus Jerusalem 1853, p. 117), which in particular
is denoted by this onomatopoetic word.
It is not to be inferred from ver. 3 b, that
God's praise is only to be sounded forth in the
future, when it will certainly be proclaimed,
while the present is still dark. This is the ex-
planation given (Hengst., Ewald, Del.), after
Ps. xlii. 6, according to the hypothesis that a
like situation is described in these Psalms. But
we have seen how uncertain the grounds of this
assumption are. And besides, the primary sig-
nification of 11J7 is iteraiiOf so that it is much
better to adhere to it in this place. The praise
that resounds through God's house is to reach
still further, stretching from the past through
the present into the future. Most therefore
render directly: ever. The Selah also sufts
this view better ; the music here strikes in,
leading the service of praise.
Ver. 6. Ways in their hearts. [E. V. In
whose hearts are the ways of them]. The plural
suffix is to be explained by the fact that "the
man" was just before used as a collective term.
But what is the meaning of the sentence?
Is it as it stands, so meaningless that JTlvipp
[roads) must be given up, and fil 7p3=n7p3 (con-
fidence, Hupf.) be read in its place as the Chald. has
already paraphrased it ? Or should we rather
insert Hw^D, because the Sept. has here as in
2 Chron. ix. 11, rendered avafSaaeigt Neither.
The word expresses a meaning that is contrasted
with side-paths or by-ways (Jer. xviii. 15 ;
Prov. xii. 28; Ps. cxxv. 6). We might there-
fore think of the straight paths of Jehovah (Ps.
xvii, 5), which Israel was careful to follow,
while the heathen wandered away from them in
their erring courses (Is. liii, 6) : the paths that
were laid down by the statutes of the law (Hit-
zig). We have presented according to this view
either the thought that the righteous have con-
stantly before their minds these ways of God or
His commandments, ponder them in their hearts
and earnestly strive to walk in accordance with
them (Isaaki, Kimchi, Luther, and others) ; or
that the hearts of the pious are no longer a
trackless waste, but a well-beaten path of right-
eousness, Prov. xvi. 17 (Venema, Mendelssohn,
Hengst.). The latter explanation is more readily
attached to the form of the words and the usage
of the terras employed, but it makes too little ac-
count of the context and passes over too quickly ^
into a spiritual application, as we find also in
the exposition of the following sentences that
the actual and historical ground of the expres-
sions has been needlessly abandoned by many.
It is quite true that it is a forced interpretation
of the disputed clause which makes it mean that
the pilgrim-routes to Jerusalem (Aben Ezra,
Knapp, Bottcher, Delitzsch), or the common
streets in Jerusalem leading to the sanctuary
(Grotius), were constantly in their thoughts.
And ver. 7, corapletes the picture of blessedness,
set forth before in general terms, that is, the •
blessing of trust in God, by a figure which is
borrowed from a wandering or journeying as a
common emblem of human life (Hupfeld). But
it expresses more. For in ver. 8 b the travellers
are described as appearing before God in Zion.
The Psalmist has in mind a pilgrimage or festival
journey; not indeed as apparent to the senses
as though the spectacle of a band of pilgrims
had given occasion to the words of longing
(Muntinghe), nor yet as an emblem of the toil-
some life-journey of the righteous which has yet
very many seasons of refreshing and blessedness.
Here as in the preceding strophe there is a
mingling of expressions drawn from the spheres
of the external and the spiritual, as ver. 7 es-
pecially shows. Ver. 6 felicitates those who
have in God their strength (not their defence or
464
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
their glory). And ver. 8 says that they go, not:
from band to band (Grotius and Rosenmuller
following the older expositors), but from strength
to strength, until every one of them (transition
to the singular) appears before God Himself. This
last phrase takes the place of the usual "before
God's face." and yet with the local distinction,
in Zion. It is, however, most natural to take
the roads mentioned, without the article, in ver. 66,
not in a concrete and special application, so as to
refer them generally to the ways to God and
His house, whether in the sensuous or in the
spiritual sense, but to understand them, as indefi-
nitely as they are expressed, of the means and
ways by which in the sphere of the heart the
supply of strength vouchsafed by God to men is
conveyed. It is therefore better not to compare
Is. xl. 3; but in particular Ps. 1. 13. This view
is confirmed by the words which immediately
follow.
Vers. 7f. Travelling through the vale of
tears. [E. V. Passing through the valley of
Baca]. The participles here and in ver, 5, are
parallel and have a mutual reference. They de-
note however, either diflFerent persons or the
same peri-ons in different circumstances, at first
as being companions of God in His house,
and then as being on the way thither as
pilgrims to Zion. Now Zion lay upon a moun-
tain,and the surrounding country is very much
cut up by ravines and in some parts poorly sup-
plied with wafer. The pilgrims would therefore
have a toilsome ascent from the valley-ground
below. Many of the valleys, also, had signifi-
cant names, easily convertible into symbolical
expressions. Such were Rephaim:=shadows,
and Hinnom=wailing, which lay close together
between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In the
former, there grew, according to 2 Sam. v. 23 ;
2 Chron. xiv. 14f., trees called {<33. The rab-
TT
bins have explained these to be mulberries, but
later writers, more correctly (see Faber on
Harmer's Beobachtingen ilber den Orient, I. 400)
have referred it to a plant resembling the balsam
called by the Arabs baca, because when it is
wounded, a tearlike liquid exudes (Winer, Real-
worterbuch). There were undoubtedly several
of these ifaca-valleys : and being employed here
as a play upon HJU (=weeping) in allusion to
the property just described, they could very
readily receive a symbolical application, and the
more so as the shrub is very common in the arid
valley of Mecca. Burckhardt found such a val-
ley in the neighborhood of Sinai (Travels in
Syria, etc., p. 977). And since it is evidently
not a special route of any particular band of
pilgrims that is described in our text, for the
pilgrims in general did not march in companies
upon (he same road, it would be altogether op-
posed to the spirit of the passage and would de-
stroy the idea and the expectation which the poet
has awakened, to seek an actual Valley of Baca,
The valley Rephaim is the less suitable, as, ac-
cording to Is. xvii. 5, it was very fertile, while
a conversion into a valley of fountains is
spoken of here. It is therefore preferable
to suppose a barren region to be referred to
(Gesenius, Ewald, Olshausen), or valley full of
thorns (Koster). But it is unnecessary to iden-
tify the valley here mentioned either with the
Valley of Achor (Hos. ii. 17), between Jericho
and Bethel (Jos. vii. 24) which contained a
place called DOS (Sept. K'Xavdficbv), Judges ii. 1,
which again might properly have been 003=
D''><D3 (Hitzig) ; or with the last station upon
the road from the north, where in a narrow and
gloomy valley dark water drops from a rock
(Renan, Vie de Jesus, Ch. IV.). For apart from
the fact, that the dropping from the rock called
"weeping" in Job xxviii. 11, is there called
■'33 and not N33, it is not said here that the
• : TT
pilgrims made that valley a V}^D=bivouac, be-
fore Jerusalem (Knapp), but J\J^D^place of
fountains. Now this does not mean that they
dug wells (Luther), or found fountains miracu-
lously prepared. Is. xli. 18, (Kimchi, Calvin), or
through their piety converted the toils of the
journey into occasions of spiritual refreshment
(Geier and others), or that they made God Him-
self the fountain of their salvation (Venema, by
a false reference of the suflBx). The words are
a figurative expression of the thought that the
Divine blessing accompanies them everywhere
and supplies the means by which they are re-
freshed on their journey, and so strengthened,
that they become neither faint nor languid, but
ever stronger as they advance. The valley through
which they are marching, becomes green mea-
dows and pastures and fruitful fields, by springs
and rain. For nVlD denotes also in Joel ii. 23,
as n^V does elsewhere, the first fertilizing rain
after the heat of summer, which in the East
clothes the parched ground in an incredibly short
time with vegetation of the most varied kind,
(Sept., Kimchi, Calvin and all the recent exposi-
tors but Hengstenberg). For it is against the
context to suppose that allusion is made to the
guide of the caravan (Herder) or to the teacher
who instructs the travellers in the law of God,
(Hengst. following the Chald. and the Rabbins,
Luther and most of the older versions) who is
covered with blessing (HDj? as Kal in the pas-
sive sense). Although it gives a sense too re-
stricted to translate : Baca-valley (Hitzig, Del.)
and to understand by this a desolate and barren
region at that time in ill-repute (Olshausen)
noted for its resinous trees which derived their
names from the resin which exuded from them
(Bbttcher), yet the nature of the discourse,
which passes over immediately into the figurative,
and the allusion contained in the name of the tree,
make it also quite correct to render : Valley of
weeping or land of tears. (The ancient versions,
the Masorah, which has the remark that N33
here stands for 7133, and the Rabbins except
Aben Ezra and Kimchi, and after them many
expositors, Hengstenberg and Hupfeld last).
Luther altered his translation in many ways, but
generally did not improve it. His view of ver.
8 c, was founded upon the rendering of the Sept. :
bfd^aerai 6 6eb^ rav detjv. Exception was made
to the unusual combination of 7N instead of
US-nx with TMiT ; the allusion to S'TI S« imme-
... .. VT"' II • - V
diately preceding and to vN /K in verse 3, was
overlooked ; and it was suggested that the true
reading was CrlSx 7K.
PSALM LXXXIV.
465
Vers. lOflf. Our Shield.— This is in the voca-
tive, as being an address to God; not, as in Ps.
Ixxxix. 19, an accusative denoting the king,
and depending upon the verb (Aben Ezra).
Against the latter are the terms Sun and Shield
applied to ^od in ver. 12, and changed by the
Sept. into the sentence : God loves mercy and
truth. God is called a shield also in Ps. lix. 12.
"See" stands absolutely as in 2 Chron. xxiv. 22;
Ps. Ixxx. 15, parallel to " hear " in ver. 9 c.
"For," in ver. 11, does not confirm the foregoing
supplication (Hengst.) but the whole Psalm
(Aben Ezra, Geier and others). The verse says
nothing about door-keeping, which was an honor-
able office. Nor about a long-continued residence
(Luther). A comparison is made between dwell-
ing and lying upon the threshold, the former re-
lating both to the house of God and to the tents of
wickedness. The latter is not employed in the
sense of being despised (Augustin) nor as being
the conseqjience of violent treatment (Sept.) nor
as lying before the door as Lazarus did (Hengst. ).
It expresses a personal experience of the exalted
good, happiness and value of belonging to God's
house, and the smallest measure of and most
remote contiection with this privilege were more
esteemed and loved by the Psalmist than the
greatest abundance supplied from other sources.
The psalmist has in his mind's eye a worshipper
lying upon the threshold, but utters only his own
conceptioa and appreciation of this relation, not
his actual condition and posture. Any reference
to his humility and modesty (Calvin, Hupfeld), is
as unsuitable as an allusion to the position and
employment of the Korahites in the temple-
service (Del.). The plural number courts, in
vers. 3 and 11, do not necessarily indicate a
late date. The original Tabernacle had, to be
sure, only one court. But intimations are found
of an enlargement and alteration in that of
David's tiine. (See Knobel on Ex. xxv.-xxxi. p.
255).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who loves the house of Go(i must ever
experience nothing but the most ardent longing
to be there, whether he be far from it or near
it; he would never be found absent from it,
he would even as God's child forever live in His
house. He therefore felicitates those who abide
there; and they praise God continually. They
have there what the bird has in her nest. " God
is 80 kind and condescending that He leaves not
unrewarded the fervent love and holy desire
which men feel for Him, but so gladdens men as
to revive them in body and soul. And thus
from an ardent longing after God there results
an all-pervading sense of happiness" (John
Arndt).
2. The earthly house of God, however, is only a
type of the heavenly, and therefore in the pil-
grim's longing for and journeying to the former,
is imaged forth the relation of the children of
God to the latter. If they have their strength
in God, their longing is not in vain and their
journeying not without result as it is not with-
!0Ut an aim. In their hearts are paths, upon
iwhich strength from God is conveyed to them,
and ia their toilsome course God provides the
1 means of their support and success, so that they,
30
raised up out of faintness and exhaustion, go on
from strength to strength until they appear be-
fore God. Such men clothed with strength from
Him are indeed to be counted happy, as they in
their march through the desert, gladdened by
His blessing, change it into a garden of God.
3. But it is a necessary accompaniment of such
experience of mercy, that we do not rest satis-
fied with such longing, wishing, and desiring,
but that longing becomes prayer, wishing trust,
and desire the possession of salvation. There-
fore must we not, in a false spiritualistic feel-
ing, lightly regard or despise the means of grace
offered and provided in the visible Church, but
duly avail ourselves of them. Thrice blessed are
they who act thus.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who loves from the heart what is God's,
has as much reason for rejoicing as for longing.
— Man must seek at God'a altars what he cannot
well be without on earth, and what he can find
nowhere in the world. — The happiness of those
who dwell with God in His house: (1) wherein
it consists ; (2) how it is obtained. — Communion
with God is neither to be gained nor preserved
without a due use of the means of grace — He
who loves God's house, walks in God's ways, and
trusts in His aid, is to be counted happy even on
earth. — Our pilgrimage upon earth as a journey
to the house of God. — The praise of God the
joy of the righteous. — The transformations
which true piefy effects in this earthly vale of
sorrow. — God not only defends His own, He
blesses them also with gifts from on high. — He
who would enjoy God's blessings must open his
heart to God, and prepare the way for His
coming. — Progress in the ways of God is effected
only through the strength of God ; it is made
from step to step, but is made surely towards
God; it is not gained without much sorrow, but
the end is abiding joy.
Starke : If God shows every little bird a place
to build its nest and hatch its young in peace,.
He will also grant to souls longing for salvation,
means of instruction and sources of happiness. —
If the soul once gains a true appreciation of
God's word, its desire for intimate converse with
it will grow day by day. — He who would call
God his King must do Him homage, and yield
himself up to Him by faith ; and, by so doing,
he will become not only His subject, but also an
inmate of His own house. — 0 blessed dwelling!
In God's house will everything be granted to the
soul, and nothing be asked of it in return but to
praise Him. — The path in which we are to walk
to heaven, must not only be in books ; not lie
only in the ear or on the tongue ; it must be in
the heart; the heart must learn to delight in
God's ways. — A Christian need not languish in
this barren vale of sorrow, for he has every-
where beside him the fountain of life. — Is God
the Sun of believers? He must enlighten them,
warm them, and make them fruitful. Is he
their Shield ? He must protect them against all
enemies. Well for those who enjoy these bless-
ings !
Osiander: The happy results of the preach-
ing of the gospel show that the true, eternal, and
466
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
only God, is present with His church, and blesses
that ordinance, that it may bring forth much
fruit. — Selnecker : There is nothing better
than to be a member of the true Church, and to
have God's word pure and simple, for with these
the Lord of hosts is and abides. — Rieqee: A soul
seeking God displays : (1), its desire for this
blessed communion, (2), its actual arrival before
Him whom it seeks and finds: (3), its worship,
wherein it testifies to God its love for Him, its
joy and trust in Him and dependence upon Him,
and whereby it wins its way into His presence.
— God's praise in heaven is sounded forth in per-
fect strains ; on earth we are training ourselves
to bear a part in them. — Tholuck: How much
is necessary, in order to realize the highest joy
of life in God's praise ! — Guenther : First, the
longing after God's house and communion with
Him ; next, an indication of the way to the ob-
ject of desire ; thirdly, the reward of residence
in God's house, or in communion with him. —
Umbreit: It is not the word of praise outwardly
sounding which brings blessedness and peace to
man; but he alone finds the highest happiness
whose heart is fixed in God as his only strength
And glory, and who not merely knows the well-
trodden paths of God, but in whose heart they
are and live. — Schaubach: It is not a bodily
stay and residence in the Temple as they were
granted to the priests and Levites in Jerusalem,
that makes us blessed ; but the constant sojourn
of the heart with the Lord, which makes the
Christian an inmate of His house. — Diedrich:
The blessedness of those who enjoy unobstructed
communion with the living God, the God of
mercy. — Schapper (at the unveiling of the sta-
tue of Melanchthon in Wittemberg, Oct. 21st,
1865): With what right and in what sense do
we honor the memory of the blessed Reformers ?
(1) They, as true children of God and living
members of His Church, desired to dwell in His
house and praise Him forever. (2) As true he-
roes they took the Lord as their strength, and
from the heart walked in His ways. (3) As
true teachers in the kingdom of heaven they
passed through the vale of sorrow and made it
fountains of water, and have been crowned
with blessing. (4) As true Reformers of the
Church, they have achieved one victory after
the other, so that men must see that the true God
is in Zion, where they abode and whither they
have directed us.
PSALM LXXXV.
To (he chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah,
2 Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land :
Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
3 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people ;
Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
4 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath :
Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
5 Turn us, 0 God of our salvation,
And cause thine anger toward us to cease.
6 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations ?
7 Wilt thou not revive us again :
That thy people may rejoice in thee ?
8 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord,
And grant us thy salvation.
9 I will hear what God the Lord will speak :
For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saintfi:
But let them not turn again to folly.
10 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him ;
That glory may dwell in our land.
PSALM LXXXV.
46i
11 Mercy and truth are met together ;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
12 Truth shall spring out of the earth ;
And righteousness shall look down from heaven.
13 Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good ;
And our land shall yield her incre jse.
14 Righteousness shall go before him ;
And shall set t*s in the way of his steps.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. After a retro-
spect of the former mercy bestowed upon the
people, (vers. 2-4), there is uttered a prayer for
a renewed manifestation of the same mercy
during present sufferings from the anger of God
(vers. 5-8). The intention is then announced
of listening with gladness to God's pledge of
peace to His people, because its fulfilment in
their deliverance was certain to those who really
feared Him (vers. 9, 10). This fulfilment with
its wealth of blessings is finally described in
strains of poetic rapture (vers. 11-14), which
bear a great resemblance to Is. xxxix. 16 f.; xlv.
8 ; lix. 14. We receive an impression from the
Psalm which compels us to assign its composi-
tion to the period succeeding the return from
the Exile. There is no suflBcient ground for con-
necting it with the peace concluded with Antio-
chus III (Hitzig). It is more than doubtful
whether we are justified in inferring from ver.
13 a season of the year long before harvest.
The assumption is altogether arbitrary that the
first part contains the prayer of the Church, and
the second a hymn of exhortation and promise
by the priests in response (Ewald, Olshausen,
De Wette). The construction of the perfects in
vers. 2-4 as pluperfects (Ewald, Olshausen,
Baur) is unnecessary, [These commentators
suppose the reference to be to a period long past,
and hence their view of the force of these verbs.
— J. F. M.] The opinion is unfounded, that vers.
5f. recall the former prayer of the people (Hitzig),
or that they contain that of those who remained
still in exile as distinguished from those who
had returned (Venema). If the whole psalm be
viewed as prophetic (the older commentators)
or as having no historical back-ground (Hengst.,
Clauss.), the exposition is modified accordingly.
The expressions indicate a national judgment,
not in conception as in Ps. xiv. 7, but in reality ;
and ver. 9 b, hints that the present misfortunes
of the people were the deserved consequences of
their folly (Delitzsch). This idea is lost in the
text of the Sept. where we have the rendering:
and to those who turn their hearts to Him.
[This rendering is due to a wrong conception of
the word n7D3 and to a false construction of the
clause. This word was supposed to be capable
of the same meaning as the form 703 which
once means inward parts. — Most of the English
commentators agree with the view defended
above. Dr. Alexander does not feel justified in
referring it to any particular period. He says:
"The idea that the benefit acknowledged was de-
liverance from the Babylonish exile has arisen
from a false interpretation of the last clause of
ver. 1, the true sense of which may be illustrated
from Ps. xiv. 7. Captivity is a common figure
for distress and God's revisiting the captives
for relief from it." And again: " It seems to be
appropriate to every case in which the fulfilment
of the promise in Lev. xxvi. 3-13 was suspend-
ed."—J. F. M.].
Vers. 11 ff. Mercy and truth are met toge-
ther (praeterite), and therefore appear as united
and co-operating harmoniously, in consequence
of God's glory or majesty again dwelling in the
land when the people should become converted to
His fear. It is opposed to the context to change
the compassion and truth of God into the human
virtues of "kindness" and "faithfulness" (Hup-
feld), or " love and faithfulness," (Hitzig). So
also is the change of glory into " honor " (most).
A like harmony exists between righteousness
and peace, of which it is said literally that they
are joined together. [It is more correct to say
that it is said literally : they have kissed each
other, the word being onomatopoetic, and then
to present the idea of union as conveyed by that
figure. — J, F. M.] They do not appear here as
gifts of God, and consequences of His mercy and
truth (most). Still less are they represented as
human righteousness and earthly peace (Hitzig),
but as heavenly attributes in their Divine union.
They are rightly personified in this sense, and
represented frequently in works of art as angels
or messengers of God kissing each other (comp.
Piper's evangel. Kalender, 1859, p. 24 ff"., 1867, p.
63). It is this righteousness thus united with
peace which the Psalmist beholds as looking
down from heaven well-pleased with the land,
in which God's glory dwells, and from which it
causes to spring forth from Divine seeds united
truth and mercy. In the next verse the deal-
ings of the Covenant God answer to this looking
down, and the grateful conduct of the nation to
the merciful dealings of God. The fruit of the
land, therefore, according to the context, cannot
be the fruit of harvest (Hitzig) but the blessed
results of reconciliation, that righteousness which
walks before God and follows in His train when
He manifests His presence in the land. This
sense is found in the words, whether we render
the last clause : and set (their steps) upon the
way of His steps (Olshausen, Delitzsch in his
first edition), or: make His steps a way, that is,
walk in His footsteps (Hupfeld), or: conform to
the ways of His steps (Ewald), or : mark, regard
attentively the way of His steps (Delitzsch now),
or: designate, make known the way of His
steps (Hitzig). It is, at all events, wrong to
translate: make their steps a way (Hengst.), or
sets its steps upon the way, that is, sets out upon
the way, has its course, is really and truly^
468
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
(most of the older expositors until De Wette).
For the suffix in VDUJ must refer to God, on
TT : *
account of the parallelism with VJ37. [The
rendering of Hupfeld is probably the' correct
one, representing the most natural construction
of the words. The apocopated form mingles an
aspiration with the declaration, and does not
justify us, as Perowne supposes, in giving to the
whole verse the force of a desire. — J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God does not only forgive the special sins of
individuals, He blots out also the common trans-
gressions of a whole people, and removes their
common guilt in the dispensation of His mercy.
This gracious dealing does not, however, make
provision for ih.Q future transgression of the same
people. But the compassion before experieuced
encourages to prayer for a repeated turning
away of His anger, and strengthens the hope of
renewed blessing. And therefore must God's
people be mindful of the one when they are re-
minded of the other, and make both subserve the
building up of the Church.
2. But, in order to realize this aim, it is above
all necessary, that they be intent upon hearing
what God says. For this purpose they do not
require any new revelation from Him, but can
resort to His words, familiar as they have so long
been to His people, and expound and apply them
for the instruction and consolation and warn-
ing and exhortation of themselves and others.
For His word as a testimony to His truth not only
agrees in all its parts with itself, it satisfies also
the needs of His people, and answers perfectly
the purposes of God. For it reveals His thoughts
of salvation and peace, and announces their ac-
tual fulfilment in the world by the advent of
righteousness, which it shows to be caused not
merely by His general dispensation of favor and
mercy, but specially by His glory dwelling upon
earth. And thus the history of revelation be-
comes a history of redemption, and all of a Mes-
sianic character.
HOMILETICAL AND PRAOTIOAL.
It is good to hear the word of God, but His
people must also govern their lives thereby. —
We cannot meditate upon the mercy of God, with-
out being reminded of the sins of ourselves and
others ; may both of them urge us to true peni-
tence and to lively faith! — In spite of all the
tokens of God's mercy, sin has not yet disap-
peared from the world ; but mercy is still stronger
than sin. — The well-being of a nation is derived
from the dwelling of God's glory in it. — God has
thoughts of peace in relation to His people, and
fulfils them in conformity with His truth, but al-
ways in harmony with His righteousness. — Many
ask to be spared from the anger of God, and
most dread the consequences of sin, but salvation
is nigh only to those who fear God. — God must
bless the land if it is to yield its fruit ; but the
best fruits are those of righteousness, which are
pleasing to God, and are the results of His work-
ing.— Whatever we have on earth that is good
comes down from heaven.
Staeke : The nearer men are to repentance
the nearer are they to mercy ; but the further
away they are from conversion, the less do they
receive of this treasure. — God's mercy makes a
joyful heart. — Honor paid to God results from
His fear, and is largely increased by surpassing
tokens of His help, — Righteousness is a fair or-
nament in a land, and a strong pillar upholding
the government, the country, and the people;
but righteousness and^eoce must stand together.
— Feisch : God's anger and displeasure will be
averted in accordance with the conditions laid
down by Himself, if men seek first in llim the
grace of conversion, and not till then tee alle-
viation and removal of punishment, — Tholuck:
The sense of mercy must ever be as abiding aa
the feeling of guilt is deep.
GtJENTHEE : Let us leam at last what pro-
motes the peace of a country, and cease seeking
in the clouds and in the soil the causes of death
and public calamities, and discern above the
clouds the chastening hand of God, who visits in
His merciful anger for our conversion the sins
which are committed upon earth by His human
children. — Taube : The cry of faith in distress
is prompted by a knowledge of the former mercy
of God towards His people ; the look of faith and
hope is inspired by listening to His word. — Det-
LEFSEN : Let us honor our God (1) by humble
gratitude for His help, (2) by firm reliance upon
His promises, (3) by a pious walk before Him.
[Scott: Having spoken unto the Lord in
prayer we should compose durselves to hear Him
speak to us by His word; and to expect an an-
swer by His Spirit or in His providence. He
will certainly speak peace to His people whom
He has separated and sanctified to Himself.
Baenes : Those wha have been afflicted and
restored should feel themselves eihorted not to
return to their former course of life, (1) by ihcir
obligations to their Benefactor, (2) by the le-
membrance of their own solemn vows when in
affliction, (3) by the assurance that if they do
return to their sin and folly, heavier judgments
will come upon them, — J. F. M.j
PSALM LXXXVI.
469
PSALM LXXXVL
A Prayer of David.
1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me :
For I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul ; for I am holy :
0 thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord :
For I cry unto thee daily.
4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant :
For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive ;
And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee,
6 Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer ;
And attend to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee :
For thou wilt answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord ;
Neither are there any works like unto thy works.
9 All nations whom thou hast made
Shall come and worship before thee, O Lord ;
And shall glorify thy name.
10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things :
Thou art God alone.
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord ;
1 will walk in thy truth :
Unite my heart to fear thy name.
12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart :
And I will glorify thy name for evermore.
13 For great is thy msrcy toward me :
And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
14 0 God, the proud are risen against me.
And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul ;
And have not set thee before them.
15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
Long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
16 0 turn unto me, and have mercy upon me ;
Give thy strength unto thy servant.
And save the son of thine handmaid.
17 Shew me a token for good ;
That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed :
Because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — We have first
presented to us in this Psalm a succession of in-
vocations and entreaties to God, supporting them-
s'^lves on one hand upon the need of the suppli-
ant and His covenant relation, and on the other
upon God's compassion and accessibility (vers.
1-7). There next follows the joyful acknow-
ledgment of God's incoinpavable exaltation, to
which as well as to His power the heathen will
470
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
submit themselves (vers. 8-10). Then comes a
prayer for direction in the way of God, which
the poet promises to follow out of lasting grati-
tude for the deliverance vouchsafed to him,
(vers. 11-13). Finally we have an entreaty pre-
ceded by a complaint against godless enemies,
spared by God's patience (vers. 14, 15), which
implores help for the offerer, so that his haters
may be ashamed and know that it is really God
who has helped His pious servant (vers. 16, 17).
The whole Psalm gives the impression of a
pretty late composition. Familiar expressions
and phrases from the words of the Law, the
Psalms, and the Prophets, loosely connected, are
found throughout, and yet not altogether with-
out evidences of a peculiar treatment. It is re-
markable that in ver. 14, in the passage taken
literally from Ps. liv. 6, Dni is found instead of
D'"}?, and yet the acknowledgment of God in
the nations of the world as the Supreme God is
spoken of in ver. 9. It is quite uncertain to
what event the deliverance mentioned in ver. 13
refers. We have no grounds afforded us for
supposing the return from exile (Olshausen), or
for connecting the verse with 2 Mace. xiii. 21,
(Hitzig), not to mention the deliverance of Da-
vid from the plans contrived by Saul (Koster and
Clauss last), since we have no reason to assume
that David was consoled by the Korahites by a
Psalm constructed out of his own words (Heng-
stenberg). It is even questionable whether it
was a past event, and whether the prseterite,
though not to be taken as prophetic prseterite,
and therefore as future (De Wette), may yet not
be regarded as conveying an optative sense,
and therefore be rendered by the imperfect,
(Ewald, Baur). It is to be remarked that the
appellation of God, Adonai, is here used seven
times, and three times in Ps. cxxx. It seems,
however, too rash an opinion to consider this
circumstance as indicating a tendency to a later
adonaic style of Psalm-poetry, in imitation of the
Elohim Psalms (Delitzsch).
[The superscription of this Psalm presents a
curious phenomenon. It ascribes the author-
ship to David, being the only instance in the
whole of the Fourth Book. It occurs also in the
midst of a group of Psalms of the sons of Korah.
The opinion that David himself was the composer
is now almost universally abandoned. But is it
necessary to assume that it was composed in Da-
vid's lifetime? Hengstenberg, who maintains
rightly the originality of the superscription, feels
bound to maintain that it was. But he is will-
ing to depart from the literal application of the
language, as he supposes that it was composed
by the sons of Korah for David's benefit. The
character of the Psalm suggests that we may use
the same freedom of interpretation in another
direction. For the looseness of connection and
the liturgical rather than poetical form, as De-
litzsch has remarked, seem to bespeak a late
origin. It may be called "a prayer of David"
because it expresses the spirit of a number of
his Psalms which are of a predominantly sup-
plicatory character, and are indicated by the same
title nvSri, and chiefly, because his sayings con-
stitute a large portion of it. Among English
commentators Ferowne abaudoua the idea of a
Davidic composition, and maintains a late date.
Alexander appears undecided, though he consi-
ders the circumstances described suitable to Da-
vid's frequent situations of suffering. Words-
worth thinks that a Psalm of David is inserted
in the midst of the Korahite ones, to confirm the
equal authority of the latter. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 2-12. I am holy. — The expression has re-
ference to the covenant-relation (Hupf ) and not
to piety as a virtue. The accusation that the
Psalmist makes a boast of the latter (De Wette)
is unfounded. Geier already has had occasion
to combat it, and translated : beneficiarius ; and
the Dutch Bible : gunstgenoot. [In ver. 8,
D1''n~73 is capable of being translated either :
daily, as E. V. has it, or : all the day, as it is
given in the margin. The latter as indicating a
depth of need which the former fails to do is to be
preferred. On ver. 9 Alexander says; "The
common relation of Jehovah to all men as their
Maker shall be one day universally acknowledged,
not in word merely, but in act, the miost ex-
pressive part of worship, involving a recognition
of the previous display of God's perfections, in
the language of Scripture, His name. This pros-
pective view of the conversion of the world to
its Maker, shows how far the Old Testament
writers were from cherishing or countenancing
the contracted nationality of the later and the
less enlightened Jews. Corap. Ps. xxii. 27, 28;
xlv. 12, 16; xlvii. 9; and Jer. xvi. 19; Zeph.
ii. 11; Zech. xiv. 9, 16."— J, F. M.] The ex.
pression: unite my heart, in ver. 11, is pecu-
liar. It is equivalent to: unite all my powers
and impel them towards one object (Calvin,
Geier, and others). It is the whole, undivided
he»rt which is demanded in connection with love
in Deut. vi. 5; x. 12, and in connection with the
fear of God it appears here and in Jer. xxxii.
29, as nnx 21. The contrast is exhibited in
James iv. 8. It is a less tenable explanation
which understands a heart one with God (J. H.
Michaelis following older expositors). The
whole heart is also mentioned in connection with
thanksgiving in ver. 12. The translation of the
Vulgate: Isetelur (after Sept., Syr.) rests upon a
false derivation from mn.
Vers. 13 ff. The underworld [E. V.: lowest
hell] is employed as in Deut. xxxii. 22, to de-
note the world beneath in the bowels of the
earth (Ezek. xxxi. 14 f.), under the earth, Ex.
XX. 4, comp. Phil. ii. 10, not as the lowest
(Sept., Vulg.) or deepest (Koster, Ewald). There
is nothing to indicate any allusion to different
degrees of descent. Deliverance from a position
in which life was endangered is the subject of the
verse. — Son of thine handmaid may allude to
the servants born in the house. Gen. xiv. 14;
xvii. 12; Ex. xxiii. 12 (Geier, Olshausen, Hit-
zig, Delitzsch) so that the Psalmist does not de-
scribe himself as the servant of God in general
(Hupfeld), but as being 6orn into this relation. —
Token for good in ver. 17 is not a miracle
which the Psalmist implores in order to effect
his deliverance (De Wette, Olsh.), but an evi-
dence of the Divine favor (Geier, Hengst., De-
litzsch, Hupfeld), a token of good intentions, not:
for good fortune, or: " that it will be well with
PSALM LXXXVII.
471
me," (Luther), but one from which it will be
clear that God purposes good with regard to
him. [Hengstenberg: " What the Psalmist speaks
of, according to the preceding context and the
conclusion of the Psalm, is simply help and com-
fort, by which all his enemies may see that it is
not without good ground that he calls God hia
God."— J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The hope that our prayers will be heard by
God is grounded partly on our misery and help-
lessness (Ps. XXXV. 10; xxxvii. 14; xl. 18;
Ixxiv. 21) ; partly upon our covenant relation to
Him. With regard to the latter, we have not
only been able to receive most competent testi-
mony of the goodness and placability of God (Ex.
xxxiv. 6), of His incomparable exaltation (Ex.
XV. 11), and of His power (Deut. iii. 24), but have
also made actual proof of the truth of these de-
clarations, and of the credibility of these attes-
tations.
2. A true servant of this Almighty Lord not
merely bears in his heart the hope that many yet
in the world will be converted to Him TPs. xxii.
18; Jer. xvi. 19), but, as included in the terms
of the covenant of grace (Ps. iv. 4 ; xvi. 10),
he labors earnestly for his own sanctification.
He prays therefore especially for direction in
the ways of God (Pss. xxv. 4, 8, 12; xxvii. 11),
and for strength to enable him to walk in con-
formity therewith. And in this he includes a
prayer for a heart single to God's fear, so that
the whole heart may be yielded up in true gra-
titude. The help implored and received thus
gains a significance beyond his own experience,
and becomes a token for others also.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is well for men to complain to God of their
distress ; it is better to confess their own inabi-
lity to relieve it ; it is best for them to rely upon
God's mercy, and to entreat mighty proofs of
His goodness. — Believers must not become pre-
sumptuous or secure on account of their cove-
nant relation, but find in it reason both for hu-
mility and for reliance upon God. — Let him who
knows God ever learn of Him, and let him who
loves God please Him better day by day. The
more deeply true piety is stamped upon our own
lives, the more distinctly is it made a token for
others. — It is of no consequence to us, that our
enemies are put to shame, unless they, at the
same time, give glory to God. — How little do we
regulate our conduct in view of the incomparable
power, goodness, and faithfulness of God !
Stakke: The righteous have to suffer much,
therefore they must pray much. — How useful is
affliction ! It forces us to pray; it excites us to
ardent importunity in our prayers; it supports
and strengthens faith. — The anguish of guilt and
the sense of God's anger are a deep hell, from
which none but God can rescue us. — There is
need of great self-denial in refraining from ask-
ing a sign from God for our own sokes, which
would be to tempt God; but we must ask for
the sake of God's glory.
OsiANDEK : As it is the duty of the servant to
obey his master, so is it the part of the master to
defend and protect his servant. — Arndt : When
God does not lead and conduct men they wander,
and God has His own peculiar way. — Frisch :
The more thou givest God the honor, and show-
est thy reliance upon Him, the readier will he be
to help thee, — Richter [Haushibel) : The best
and most indispensable token of mercy which a
believer can have is the witness and seal of the
Holy Spirit. But God also vouchsafes to them
a special token, namely, deliverance from the
snares of the world, so that even unbelievers
themselves must acknowledge : God is with them!
PSALM LXXXVn.
A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.
4
1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of thee,
0 city of God. Selah.
4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon lo them that know me :
Behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia ;
This man was born there.
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
6 And of Zion it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her :
And the Highest himself shall establish her.
6 The LoKD shall count, when he writeth up the people,
That this mmi was bom there. Selah.
7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall he there :
All my springs are in thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — In the intro-
duction, the glory of Jerusalem is praised as that
of the city founded by God, loved by Him with
especial affection, and blessed with a glorious
promise (vers. 1-3). The promise is theu pre-
sented in its Messianic aspect (vers. 4-6) ; and,
finally, in one concluding verse, expression is
given to the grateful joy which the promise
excites. It is peculiar to this Psalm, that the
conversion of nations previously strange and
hostile to Israel, and their union with God's
people, are described, not as the homage of sub-
jected foes, Ps. Ixviii. 30 ; Ixxii. 9, &c. in agree-
ment with the prophecies of the second part of
Isaiah, but as an entering into the relations of
children and citizens, resembling in many points
Is. ii. 2, 4; xi. 10-18; xix. 24 f. ; xx. 23. But
our Psalm cannot be older than these passages,
and therefore cannot be assigned to the time
of David, as alluding by the idea of founding
to the removal of the sanctuary to Jerusalem
(Clauss). In ver. 4, Egypt is designated by the
symbolical name Rahab, which occurs first in
Is. XXX. 7, and that as alluding to vain-glorious
presumption, while the word itself denotes a
mythical sea-monster, Job ix. 13 ; xxvi. 12
(Sept, KTJToq), and is thus employed as an emblem
of Egypt (Is. li. 9; Ps. Ixxxix. 11), as the beast
of the reeds in Ps. Ixviii. 31. The modes of
expression, condensed even to obscurity (Flami-
nius, Olsh.), bear in their pregnant conciseness
and imagery a great resemblance to Ps. xxi. ;
xxii. 14; xxx. 6 f . The time of Hezekiah has
therefore been fixed upon (Venema, Dathe, Tho-
luck, Hengstenberg, Vaihinger, Delitzsch). For,
after the destruction of the Assyrian army under
Sennacherib, Assyria appears no longer along
with Egypt as a representative of the world-
power ; but Babylon has already stepped forth
into the theatre of history (Is. xxxix. ; Micah
iv. 10 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 33). We have no con-
vincing ground for fixing the date of composition
as late as the return from exile (Calvin, Ewald,
Hupfeld), or still later in the days of the Mac-
cabees (Hitzig) from a supposed reference to the
Jews, who dwelt in large numbers in the coun-
tries named, and to their pilgrimages to the
great feasts in Jerusalem. We can say no more
than that a date must be assigned at which the
power of Babylon was not immediately felt,
because the language does not reveal the excite-
ment and bitterness which are to be found in
Is. xiv. and xlvii. — The Rabbins have quite mis-
understood this Psalm, and Luther also has
given many false renderings. The denial of the
Messianic character (Hitzig) is at the opposite
extreme to the opinion that there is n6 historical
back-ground, but that the glory of the Church
is all that is referred to.
Ver. 1. His foundation. — The form of the
word, and its union with the sufBx, make it
probable that it is not a passive part. = His
founded (city) as Hengst. and others maintain.
But the masc. suflBx is undoubtedly to be referred
to God ; for Zion, as the name of a city, occurs
afterwards as feminine. We must neither sup-
ply a verb: is (De Wette), or: consists (Baur),
or, by repeating the principal idea : is founded
(Hengst.) ; nor can we assume gratuitously that
an introductory clause has fallen out (Ewald,
Olshausen). It is just as improbable that this
verse of a single stich belongs lo the superscrip-
tion and announces the subject of the Psalm
(Chald., Kimchi, and others) Nor is it a voca-
tive, as most suppose, but an accusative, pre-
ceding its subject, depending in thought (J. D.
Mich.) on the verb of the following verse. Nor
is it necessary, in order to make the formal
arrangement of the whole sentence regular, to
complete the sense by uniting it t o the first words
of the next verse (Schnurrer, Hupfeld, Hofmann
[so Perowne. — J. F. M.].
Vers. 2, 3. The gates of Zion are mentioned
with reference not to the invincible security newly
assured by God ( Hengst. ), but to their accessibility
to the many new Inhabitants promised to the holy
city. — That which is spoken of or in Zion, is not
God's word proclaimed in the Church generally,
but the promise relating to Zion's increasing
glory. As this promise is cited in the form of
a declaration of God, it is not proper to take (he
part. pass, impersonally =they speak (Ewald,
Maurer, Olsh., Hengst.). The use of the part,
in the sing, and that in the masculine, though
construed with a fern, plural, is due either to
the singular meaning of the plural form em-
ployed as an abstract, or to the conception of
the part,, as being a kind of noun-neuter
(Hupfeld). [Alexander: "Instead of in thee,
some read of thee, but the former is entitled to
the preference; first, because it is the strict
sense, and therefore not to be rejected without
reason ; then, because it really includes the
other, but is not included in it; lastly, because
it suggests the additional idea of the holy city
as the scene, no less than the theme of the pro-
phetic visions." — J. F. M,]
Vers. 4-6. I will proclaim Rahab and Ba-
bylon as those that knoAv me, — [E.V.: I will
make mention of Riliab and Babylon to them that
know me,] The first word denotes a public
and solemn acknowledgment. This, probably,
is not directly an announcement to or among
those who know the name of Jehovah already,
that/ a new accession is made to their numbers,
PSALM LXXXVII.
il'6
but it is the two world-powers to the north
and south, hitherto hostile, who are mentioned
as knowing Him. Jehovah will name them
publicly, and acknowledge them as belonging
to those who know Him. And the Church is
further directed to look at other nations, near
and far, who are made conspicuous in the
world as examples of this relation by the point-
ing finger of God, and upon whom, successively,
God fixes His gaze, as He declares them one
by oae to be children of Zion. As the nations
are to have appellations with the forms of per-
sonal proper names, it is better not to limit
the term "this" to individual men in these
nations (Ewald) who became proselytes "there,"
that is, in the countries named (Hitzig.) It
brings these nations before us as individualities,
and their separate existence as nations is indi-
cated by their being pointed out, and also by
the representation that these individualities are
regarded, "man by man," as 6orra in Zion, the
city preserved for ever by God Himself. The same
thing is also indicated by numbering up in a
record (Ezek. xiii. 9). They are thus made Zion's
citizens. Zion does not lose her peerless pre-
eminence, no matter how great this accession may
be, or how dissimilar the natural characteristics
of her new citizens. There is here a forecast
of the New Testament idea of the second birth.
Yet it is not this idea itself, and it is very differ-
ent from the conception according to which Zion
should regain her dispersed inhabitants (Is. Iz.
4), and thus become the mother of a countless
people (Is. liv. 1, 3; Ixvi. 7). No contrast is
drawn here between Zion and the other places
peopled by descendants of Jacob, the settlements
of Jews in all parts of the world. According
to this view, only individuals, "this man" and
"that man" belong to the church of Israel,
whether by birth or conversion, while in Jeru-
salem all the inhabitants, man by man, are
designated Jews (Hitzig). The interpretation
which assumes that for the other nations the
enumeration was made collectively, but in Zion
by individuals (Hofmann), is equally false.
Ver. 7. Singers as -vcell as dancers.— [E.V.:
As well the singers as the players oninstruments.]
The forms of the words do not indicate pro-
fessions or positions, but actions. There is no
occasion for doing away with the dancing as an
expression of praise (2 Sam. vi. 16; Ps. cxlix.
8 ; cl. 4). It destroys the connection to trans-
late: pipe-players instead of: dancers (Sym-
niachus, Theodotion, Kimchi, Flaminius, Cal-
vin, and others). The rendering: The singers
as in rows (Aquila, Jerome, Luther), is incorrect.
It is possible to resolve the participles into
finite verbs (Isaaki, Dathe), but it is unsuitable,
and only necessary if the pointing of the last
Btich is changed with the following sense : all
thy inhabitants (Schnurrer, Bdttcher) or neigh-
bors (Hupfeld) sing as well as dance. It is
undoubtedly a procession of the Gentiles, who
offer their thanksgiving to God and the Church,
as Israel once did after the passage through the
Ked Sea (Hengst.). There is no reason why
the concluding words should not be placed
in the mouths of those who, according to the
custom of the orientals, give a lively expression
to their joy. Only we must not restrict the
sense, and understand by springs specially the
fountain of salvation (Is. xii. 3). The expres-
sion all my springs is itself opposed to this
restriction, and includes all means of refreshment.
Yet we may be specially reminded of the pro-
phetic representation of a fountain rising in the
house of God, from which flows the water of
life (Ps. xxxvi. 9; Joel iv. 18; Ezek. xlvii. 1;
Zech. xiv. 8).
[Hupfeld, following a line of conjecture begun
by the Sept. rendering KarocKca, assumes that
the word is the Hiph. put. from |1j;=dwellers.
This is the best of all the emendations proposed;
but against it. there is not only the traditional
reading, but also the tact tliat the natural
sense: all (are) dwellers with thee, would re-
quire an unusual construction of the construct.
If a suffix of the,l sing, be attached, the sentence
is wanting in simplicity. Yet the conjecture ia
worthy of consideration, from the altogether
unexpected thought afforded by the received
reading. — J, F. M.]
The explanation: all my eyes, that is, glances
or thoughts, are on thee (Calvin and others), is
against the form of the words. The interpreta-
tion according to a supposed Arabian cognate
form: my whole heart is in thee (Isaaki) is un-
necessary. An arbitrary conjecture, with still
more violent changes in the text, gives the fol-
lowing sense: masters as (numerous as) servants,
all my eyes (overseers) are in thee (Hitzig).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God is bound by lasting love to the city in
which He has His earthly dwelling, and from
which grows the kingdom which He erects
among men. He has, for this reason, an essen-
tial interest in those foundations, upon which He '
has established the city, and by means of which
He extends His kingdom, and makes this Hig
zeal in their behalf known by word and deed in
the world's history. By His word of promise,
He maintains among His people the remem-
brance of His choosing them, keeps alive the
thought of their calling, and gives them a wider
view of their destiny. And by deeds of deliver-
ance He strengthens the faith of His Church,
excites its love, directs its hopes, pledges and
secures, in general, its preservation in the world.
Yet its particular condition depends upon the
conduct of its members.
2. The praise of Zion is justified because of the
God's beloved city, built upon the rock which He
has made the foundation of His dwelling,
wherein those fountains are opened by which
the powers of the world to come are afforded to
believers from the wells of salvation, that they
may prove themselves in this world to be the
children of God. But these believers shall be
gathered out of the whole earth, both far and
near. And therefore will God open the gates of
His city, that access may be afforded to those
fountains, so that children may be born to Him
in His city from all nations. And these are
acknowledged by Him to be of the number of
those who know Him, though before they were
ignorant of Him, and they now rejoice with those
who praise Him. But if Zion would remain
God's city and enjoy His protection, she must a>s
474
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
established by God, ever build herself up on
this foundation, and prove herself a mother to
His children by her administration and use of
those fountains. " It happens often that cities
which rise the most rapidly to a conspicuous
place in the world, are the most rapid in their
fall. In order that the prosperity of the Church
may not be thought to be so frail as this, the
prophet adds that she is established by the
Higliest, As if be had said: It is no wonder that
other cities nod to their destruction, for they
are shaken with the world's commotions, and
have none who can be their everlasting guar-
dian." (Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is one and the same God, who has estab-
lished the Church upon earth, who maintains it
as a peculiar institution, and rules it after His
holy and loving will. — The foundation which God
has laid for the Church, the end to which. He has
appointed her, and the way which He has
pointed out to her. — The destiny assigned the
Church as the city of God for all the nations of
the earth. — What does the present condi?Lion of
the Church seem to be, when we consider her
Divine founding, and the part assigned her in
the world? — The house of God among the dwell-
ings of men; (1.) its origin; (2.) whither it di-
rects us ; (3.) how it realizes its aim. — The ac-
knowledgment which God demands, and the
acknowledgment which God vouchsafes, are
mutually related and mutually conditioned. —
The missionary work of the Church: (1.) accord-
ing to its Divine institution ; (2.) in its actual
extent; (3.) with the means ordained. — The con-
version of the heathen: (1.) as God's will; (2.)
as the work of the Church ; (3.) as the delight
of the pious. — He who is not a child of God
need not expect to be reckoned among the citi-
zens of His kingdom. — God opens to men in the
city in which He dwells, three fountains: (1.)
that of the true knowledge of Him; (2.) that of
eternal salvation ; (3. ) that of blessed joy. — The
Church founded by God, and His dwelling, as
the mother of His children. — The best security
for the prosperity of a city is the piety of its in-
habitants.— There is nothing better for men than
to have God as their Defender, Guardian, and
Father. — God, the Founder and Master-builder
of His city, is also the Father and King of His
children.
Starke : If the Church ia the city of God,
who would be so neglectful as not to seek to ob-
tain its citizenship ? — God is the Master-builder
of His Church. Well for him who helps to build ;
but ill for him who seeks to injure or destroy
that structure. — He who is taught the language
of the Holy Spirit, is learned in the things of
God. — The mutations and increase of languages
have become, under the New Testament, a bless-
ing ; though under the Old, at the Tower of Babel,
they were a punishment.
Sblnecker: God's people are united to God's
word ; where, therefore, that word is, the Church
of Christ is. — Renschel: A description of the
Church of the New Testament, after the type of
the earthly Jerusalem. — Riegeb, : In building
the city of God, let us not think so much about
the present feeble beginning and the difficulties
still to be overcome, but rather upon the sure
ground of the Divine promises and the great
Master-builder, who has in His own hands the
plan of the city. — Gunther : It is only those
who are born there that are in the city of God ;
and it is the Highest who has founded that city.
— ScHAUBACH : Would that the Lord in His
mercy would keep us true to His Church, His
word, and His sacraments, kindle this lamp for
those among whom it has expired, and in His
mercy supply the needs of those that have it,
until at last there be one flock and one Shepherd.
— Diedrich : Zion, out of which proceeds the
word of grace, is the fountain of many nations,
and the birth-place of a new humanity. — Tadbe:
It is God's hand, and no partial human hand,
that writes down in the book of life those who
are born in the city of God ; and just for that
reason sharp tests are employed to decide the
right to a place there. — Moller : The firm foun-
dation of the Evangelical Church, her sure
covenant, and her joyful words.
[Scott: It should especially be remembered
here, that almost all the sacred writers belonged
to Zion, or to that despised nation which met to
worship at Zion ; and no nation on earth, or
part of a nation, has been preserved or delivered
from idolatry, except through the revelations
which God made through the prophets and
apostles of Israel.
Bishop Horne: In the book of life, that reg-
ister of heaven kept by God Himself, our names
are entered, not as born of fl.esh and blood by the
will of man, but as born of water and the Spirit
by the will of God ; of each person it is written
that he was born there, in the Church and city
of God.— J. F. M.]
PSALM LXXXVIII.
A song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoih^
Maschil of Reman the Ezrahite.
O Lord God of my salvation,
I have cried day and night before thee:
Let my prayer come before thee :
Incline thine ear unto my cry :
PSALM LXXXVIII. 475
4 For my soul is full of troubles :
And my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
5 I am counted with them that go down into the pit ;
I am as a man that hath no strength,
6 Free among the dead,
Like the slain that lie in the grave.
Whom thou rememberest no more:
And they are cut off from thy hand.
7 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit.
In darkness, in the deeps.
8 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
9 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me ;
Thou hast made me an abomination unto them :
I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
10 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction :
Lord, 1 have called daily upon thee,
I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
11 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? ■ <,fa /.li ' r
Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. ,,5^^.,
12 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave ?
Or thy faithfulness in destruction ?
13 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark ?
And thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ?
14 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord ;
And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
15 Lord, why castest thou off my soul?
Why hidest thou thy face from me ?
16 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up :
While I suffer my terrors I am distracted.
17 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me,
Thy terrors have cut me off.
18 They came round about me daily like water ;
They compassed me about together.
19 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me,
And mine acquaintance into darkness.
y
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. The super-
scriptiou is a double one, the two parts of which
are mutually contradictory, for Heman theEzra-
hite was no Korahite. See Introd. g 2, The
first part seems to have been inserted after the
other, since the direction, " to the leader " ic
elsewhere found at the end. The explanation :
to be performed mournfully with subdued voice,
(Delitzsch) agrees with the mournful contents,
whose tone is even more gloomy than that of Ps.
Ixxvii. It is only the exclamation: Jehovah,
God of my help, or of my salvation (ver. 2 a)
which shows that the last cord, uniting the sup-
pliant to God, even if worn down to the last
thread, is not entirely severed. All that fol-
lows is a complaint as though from the depths of
hell. (Lam. iii. 55). For it is a lamentation
which after long and painful suffering under the
oppression of the weight of God's anger, sees
nothing before it but death and hell (Flaminius,
Hupfeld). The prayer of anguish arises from
the greatness of the distress (vers. 2-4), which
has brought the sufferer near to death (vers. 6-
6), and is the effect of God's wrath (vers. 7-8),
and has cast him out from his acquaintance as
an object of abhorrence (vers. 9-10). There
then follows a succession of lamentations as to
the condition after death (vers. 11-13), in con-
nection with which is uttered the question which
agitates him most deeply, why God should then
turn away from him in the midst of his supplica-
tions (vers. 14-15). A return is then made
to the lamentations over his miseries, which
476
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
surround him like billows and darkness (vers.
16-19).
It is not, however, to be inferred from this
that the conclusion of the Psalm has been lost
(Muntinghe, Olshausen), or that it is to be
united to the following so as to form one compo-
sition (Hengstenberg). Expressions of hope are
not uttered, because the suppliant had not yet
reached the victorious issue of the conflict. There
is still less ground for putting these words in
the mouth of the Messiah (the ancients). Nor is
the particular kind of calamity here deplored
definitely indicated, whether sickness (Aben
Ezra, Ewald), or a particular form, leprosy
(Venema, Kbster, Delitzsch), or imprisonment
(Venema as an alternative, Hitzig). And yet
the expressions indicate personal experiences,
thus opposing the notion that they form a national
psalm of complaint of the period of the Babylon-
ish Exile (Syriac, Rosenmiiller, De Wette), or on
account of its long continuance (Chald., the Rab-
bins) or of the approach of that catastrophe
(Hengst.). Nor should any more weight be at-
tached to the attempt to connect the Psalm with
the prophet Jeremiah when in the pit (Venema)
or during the captivity, Ps. Ixxxvi. being as-
signed to the same author and period. Nor
is it more probable that the composition was
contemporaneous with that of the Book of Sirach
(Hitzig), or with the plague in the time of Heze-
kiah (J. D. Michaelis), or with the leprosy of
King Uzziah (Iken), or of Job, (Kbster, De-
litzsch). Yet it must be admitted, that we hear
resounding through this psalm tones which are
familiar in others, while some expressions are
most strikingly similar to phrases and words
occurring in the book of Job, and that the Ezra-
hite Heman was among the wise men of the age
of Solomon (1 Kings v. 11).
[Hengstenberg has advanced and defended at
length the hypothesis alluded to above, that this
Psalm and the following one constitute one dou-
ble psalm. To this he was led by the length of
the title, its composite appearance, and the title
"song" prefixed. The supposition at first ap-
pears to be reasonable, but" the conjectures and
assumptions which it needs for support give it,
when examined, a different appearance. For
each of these psalms has a complete title, assign-
ing it to an author different from the other.
Hengstenberg, therefore, is led to assume that
these so called authors were not the composers,
but that the Korahites affixed their names to
psalms of their own composition, in order to give
weight to them, and also to honor the memory
of the ostensible authors themselves. But apart
from the above objection, there is this other,
that the psalms are not only different in tone and
feeling, but are evidently also distinct composi-
tions; for, while the former records individual
feelings, the latter records national ones. It
would certainly have been much more natural to
have combined the two titles. The idea of an
actual Korahite authorship might not then be
readily suggested, but an intimation of the unity
of design would be given, which other circum-
stances certainly do not indicate. But it is not
necessary to maintain that the superscription of
this Psalm is not genuine, for there is no diffi-
culty in supposing that after its composition by
Heman the Ezrahite of the tribe of Judah (not
the Korahite), for (7) the Korahites, it was com-
mitted to their especial charge for its musical per*
formance, or that it was in some other way con-
nected with that body of singers, so as to form
a part of their special literature. — The opinion
of Delitzsch as to the authorship seems to me to
be the most probable. Unless Heman was a
Korahite adopted by an Ezrahite, as Hengst.
supposes, which seems very unlikely, it is cer-
tain that the author was the wise man of that
name at Solomon's court. The date is thus fixed
also. For a full view of the expressions in the
psalm resembling passages in the Book of Job,
which is now almost proved to belong to the
same period, see besides Delitzsch on this Psalm,
the introduction to his Comm. on Job and his
article Hioh in Herzog's Real-Encykl. — Among
Anglo-American commentators, the view of
Hengstenberg as to the form of the Psalm is con-
sidered probable by Alexander. For the opinion
of the latter as to the date of composition, see
the introduction to Ps. Ixxxix. Wordsworth
believes that this and the next psalm form a
pair. He regards both as referring to some
great affliction of David, probably the rebellion
of his son Absalom. Perowne says that all the
conjectures as to the author and the circum-
stances under which he wrote are worth nothing.
And yet he claims in his critical note that Heman
the Ezrahite was also the Levitical singer. Why
then, on this supposition, might he not have been
one of the Korahites, and the genuineness of the
whole title, which Perowne denies, be thus estab-
lished? In view of this coincidence, the anom-
alous position of H^fjfp 7 would not be sufficient
to prove the spuriousness of either part. But
the hypothesis given above affords a more satis-
factory explanation. — J. F. M.l.
Ver. 2. In the day of my crying.
[E. V. I have cried day]. As DDf is not used,
but Dr, closely connected hy Makkephyiiih. the
following word, there cannot be two parallel
clauses : In the day have I cried, in the night
am I before thee. Nor is it necessary to alter
the division of the verse and render : 0 God of
my salvation, on the day when 1 cried. Nor can
we strike out Dl" as a later gloss (Hupfeld).
Instead of a contrast between day and night, it
is allowable to consider the former as an indefi-
nite mark of time (Hitzig, Del.) as in Ps. Ivi. 4;
Ixxviii. 42, cf. xviii. 1. [Dr. Moll accordingly
renders : In the day of my crying — in the night
before thee, let my prayer come, etc. The ren-
dering of the Engl. Vers, is defective from
a false arrangement. The following extract
from Hengstenberg seems to present the true
view: "The two clauses are to be supplemented
from each other; in the first, before thee • in the
second, I cry. The fundamental passage is Ps.
xxii. 2, 'My God, I cry in the daytime and thou
answerest not, and in the night season and am
not silenced.' According to this passage the
Di' must here stand for DDV or Dr2. It cer-
T :
tainly does not occur in any other passage, but
there are manj analogies in its favor, and the
short form might the more readily be used here,
as n'?''73 follows." The true rendering is
PSALM LXXXVIII.
477
therefore : "la the day-time I cry, in the night
before Thee." The Makkeph does not aflfect the
connection of the words. — J. F. M.].
Ver. 6. My couch {is) among the dead.
[E. V. Free among the dead.] This rendering
IS in accordance with Ezek. xxvii. 20, comp.
Job xvii. 13 (Hitzig, Ewald, Bottcher, Koster
and Maurer), following a kindred verb in Arabic
meaning, to be stretched out (Iken, J. D. Mich.).
It is possible also to view it as an adjective :
prostrate (De Wette, Hupfeld), or according to
another derivation: free, at large (Sept., Sym-
machns and other versions) ; not abandoned,
neglected, (Luther, Venema and others), or shut
out from human society and the enjoyments of
this life (Q-eier, Clericus, Stier), but released
from the performance of legal duties as one de-
funcius (Job iii. 19; xxxix. 5; Rom. vii. 2), from
the primary idea of release from a master, Ex.
xxi. 3; Deut. xv. 12; Jer. xxxiv. 9. (Chal'd.,
Isaaki, Aben Ezra, Calvin, J. H. Michaelis,
Hengst., Del., Hupfeld as an alternative). But
against these derivations, there is especially the
term applied to a hospital for lepers in 2 Kings
XV. 6. [Dehtzsoh: "In this passage (2 Kings
XV. 5) the place to which the leprous king with-
drew might mean a house for the convalescent
as well as the sick, a sans souci as well as a laza-
retto." The common rendering as given in our
version, as followed by most, and as ex-
plained above, is probably the most correct. —
J. F. M.].
Vers. 8, 9. The words, "all thy waves" need
not be separated from the following so that the
verb be understood from the preceding clause
(De Dieu), and the remaining words of the
verse be construed as a relative clause by asynde-
ton (Hupfeld), according to which we would have
the rendering : by which thou hast afflicted me.
As the suffix is absent, it is, of course, not to be
translated ; with all thy waves thou afflictest me
(Syramachus and the most). The accusative pre-
cedes the verb. [" All Thy waves Thou dost
press down" (upon me). For the thought and
fundamental passage see Ps. xlii. 8. — J. F. M.].
3o all the ancient translators but Symmachus,
Aben Ezra, Ewald, Delitzsch. There is no
ground for a substitution of JT^V for n^^^ (018-
hausen). Ver. 9 c. need not be understood of
imprisonmeht (Symmachus, Luther. Hitzig), or
the seclusion of a leper (Del.). Still less, as the
expression is passive, is it to be regarded as de-
scribing the condition of a man who withdraws
of his own accord from mankind, who shuts him-
self up in his house, and will not show himself
in public, whether from shame, or in order not
to excite abhorrence (Clericus, Ewald, Hengst.,
Hitzig). It is quite sufficient to regard it as a
figurative and biblical conception of distress, as
a prison from which no way of escape is to be
found, Lam. iii. 7, 9 ; Job iii. 23 and frequent-
ly (most).
Ver. 11. The designation of the dead as
Ci'KSl, is not the name of the Rephaim, a race
of Canaanitisii giants, transferred to the de-
parted, as appearing to the imagination in
gigantic forms, 1 Sam. xxviii. 13 (Hengst.). It
comes from a root which expresses what is weak
and languid, and at the same time stretched
out and long-extended, and which can accord-
ingly be employed to describe the shadowy
forms of the under world as well as the giants
and heroes of the olden time. There is no refer-
ence here as there is in Isa. xxvi. 14 to a rising
from the grave, or simply (Hengst., Hupfeld) to a
rising from the recumbent position which results
from prostration. For the expression include?
the thought of a return to life, and therefore
that of a reappearance, at all events, in the
under world, which is here characterized (ver.
12) as destruction, [Abaddon) as in Job xxvi. 6 ;
xxviii. 22 ; Prov. xv. 11 ; xxvii. 20, as darkness,
ver. 13, (comp. ver. 7), and as the land of for get-
fulness. These last words must be taken in a
double sense : that God ceases to think of the
dead (ver. 6), for they are forgotten (Ps. xxxi.
13), and that in the dead memory is extinct (Ps.
vi. 6; XXX. 10, et al., Eccl. ix. 5, 6, 10), for tney
forget.
Vers. 16 ff. In ver. 16 we should perhaps read
n:ii3« (Olsh., Hupf.) instead of HJ^flK. For the
former indicates the cessation of physical and
mental life, torpor, stupor (Ps. xxxviii. 12). The
latter does not occur elsewhere, and is not quite
satisfactorily explained from the Arabic as
mental weakness, helplessness. The optative is
used to express inner necessity. [I am dis-
tracted (and cannot regain my powers), in the
first member of the verse the rendering of the
E. V. would be improved by substituting the
words " dying away," instead of " ready to
die." The former expresses better the
force of continuance conveyed by the active
participle, and describes better the condition of
the sufferer. — J. F. M.] In ver. 17 the form
■•JinnDy occurs, which is neither to be corrected
according to Ps. cxix. 139 (Hitzig), nor to be
regarded as a monstrosity, an impossible form
(Olsh., Hupfeld), but is an intensive form, em-
ployed intentionally (Del.), similar to those in
Hos. iv. 18; Ps. cxlix. 6 (Ewald), with a play
upon Lev. xxv, 23 (Hengst.). The rendering of
Heidenheim is probably correct : their terrors
have made me inalienably their own. [Delitzsch
expresses the design of the form well: vemichl —
nichtigt. Our version retains the rendering
which it usually gives to this word: hath cut me
off. The idea is that of utter destruction. — J.
F. M.] The last sentence of the Psalm could
mean : my trusted friends are darkness, that is,
an object which is not seen, Job xii. 25 (Hitzig),
therefore: invisible (Chald., the Rabbins, and
most expositors). But the explanation accord-
ing to Job xvii. 14; xix. 14; Isa. liii. 3; Prov.
vii. 4, is more expressive, namely : that dark-
ness has become his companion, in the place of
his former companions, (Geier, J. H. Mich.,
Schnurrer, Hengst., Hupfeld, DeL). "With
this cry the harp drops from the poet's hand.
He is silent and waits until God shall solve the
enigma of his suflFering." (DeL).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Members of the Church of God have not only
to share here below the troubles and trials of
this earthly life; they may also, by repeated sor-
rows, by an accumulation of afflictions, by an
478
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
ever-rising deluge of cares, become outwardly
and inwardly so distressed that they are utterly
without prospect of escape. Avoided by their
acquaintances, forsaken by their friends, aban-
doned by all the world, tortured in body, tempted
in spirit, with nothing but darkness about their
souls, they are driven to the verge of despair,
and have before their eyes nothing but death,
heart-rending destruction, and utter ruin. They
should remember this, partly as a warning
against security, when they are surrounded with
peace and joy and prosperity, partly as a sup-
port for their souls in the hour of suffering and
temptation.
2. For there is this difference between the peo-
ple of God in their sorrows and other sufferers,
that the former are united to the living God as
the God of their helpandsalvation, by atiewhich
no temporal suffering, no earthly calamity, no
outward power in the world can break, which,
in a word, cannot be destroyed from without,
but only loosed from within. But this cannot
happen as long as the tempted one can pray,
and raise his petition, not merely as a cry of
anguish, by which, day and night, he makes
his distress known unto God, but as an expres-
sion of his belief that God alone is his Helper
and Saviour. "In so naming God, he puts a
bridle and bit upon the attacks of insupport-
able pain, shuts the door in the face of despair,
and strengthens himself to endure his cross."
(Calvin.)
3. As long as the assurance of immortality was
not held fast by the soul, and the resurrection of
the dead was not revealed to the Church, so long
were death and the under-world not only the
last but also the worst of enemies. And there-
fore in those times of old the prayers of believers
were not poured forth for worldly treasures,
earthly good, and carnal delight, but for the
preservation and improvement of life, during
their earthly pilgrimage, and for the manifes-
tation of God's glory within the sphere of the
temporal, since they knew not how man could
praise Him after death. The deliverance of
the believer's life, therefore, and the preserva-
tion of Israel, were not matters of individual
interest and selfish desire; but the perpetuity
of the Church in the world, and the salvation
of the believer, were bound up with a righteous
concern for God's honor and His acknowledg-
ment among men. "Although at first sight
these complaints seem to evince suffering de-
prived of any consolation, yet they contain sub-
dued tones of prayer. For the Psalmist ad-
dresses no proud recriminations to God, but,
while he complains, asks for a remedy to heal
his sorrows," (Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
A pious man may lose everything, and yet be
not lost. — How difficult soever it may be not to
cease praying when God vouchsafes no answer,
it is yet the best safeguard against despair. —
Men may be overburdened with sorrow, and yet
more still be laid upon them. — Where do we
have our lasting residence after death? And
what becomes of us then ? — There is no greater
calamity than the sense of abandonment by God.
— Well for him, whose fear of death increases
his fear of God. — The conflict of suffering in
the case of a pious sufferer a wrestling in prayer
with the prospect of the final victory of faith. —
The night of trouble may be very dark, but as
long as the man, who is pressed down by the
chastening hand of God, can rise at once again to
prayer, his lamp is not yet gone out. — Though
the hand of God lie ever so heavily upon us,
yet, as long as we can invoke God as our
Saviour, we can never lose our last hope, or
fail of help at last. — Death seems to many to be
a deliverer, but it brings into still more dreadful
straits those who will feel themselves shut out
from the hand of God.
Starke : To cry and moan night and day
racks body and soul ; but remember, when thug
oppressed, that God who brings down to hell,
brings up again, — Grievous temptations are not
to be viewed as tokens of God's anger, but of
His mercy. — Now is the time to pray. In hell
it will be too late. — There is a difference between
the anxious fear of believers in suffering, and
the despair of the ungodly: the former cry to
God in their fear ; the latter cast all hope away,
nor seek any help in God. — It is a double suffer-
ing, when a child of God is outwardly tormented,
and has nothing but children of darkness around
him, who aggravate by actions and words his
inward suffering.
Arndt : How God brings, in this life, His
children down to hell, and takes away all com-
fort from them, before He raises them to heaven,
and satisfies them with eternal consolation. —
None belong to the ranks of the saints in heaven,
who on earth have not fought under the banner
of the cross of Christ. — Frisoh : The night of
anguish is the time to pray. Prayer drives
away distress from the heart, and God comes and
takes its place. — Scrivee : Temptations of the
soul are the greatest aflB^iction; for then the
.mind feels its darkness, the will seeks languidly
after God, and is utterly dismayed, and the
memory can give neither joy nor comfort. In-
stead of these the feeling of God's anger over-
spreads the soul. — Tholuck : The darker the
night of sorrow is, and the more its veil over-
spreads the sight, the more worthy of honor is
that faith, which in the midst of the darkness
does not cease to pray. — Guenthee : It must be
with us sinners as gloomy as this ; no less
strongly must we feel the depth of our ruin, no
less truly recognize that God's wrath, in the
eternal death of our soul, is the due desert of
our sin, before we can grasp in firm faith the
hand of our Saviour who comes to redeem us. —
DiEDRiCH : It is indeed something great that we,
in all distresses, have free access to the supreme,
eternal, and only blessed God. Let no depth of
suffering then keep us away from Him. — Taubb:
The midnight of distress is the soul's time of
trial. — That may be called faithful continuance
in prayer, which, though the anguish of the soul
lasts far into the night and returns with the
morning, sends forth with every new day, the
old complaint to the heart of God.
[Calvin : All men complain in their grief,
but this is far from pouring out their woes in the
presence of God ; nay, they must seek some
hiding-place, where they may murmur at God,
PSALM LXXXIX.
47&
and find fault with His severity ; others utter
openly their clamorous words. Hence we see
what a rare virtue it is to place God before us,
and to direct to Him oar prayers.
Matth. Henry : Nothing grieves a child of
God so much as His hiding His face from him;
nor is there anything ha so much dreads as God's
casting off his soul. — If the sun be clouded, that
darkens the earth ; but if the sun should
abandon the earth and quite cast it off, what a
dungeon would it be ! — God often prevents our
prayers with His mercies ; let us prevent His
mercies with our prayers.
Scott : If we are free from such dreadful trials,
let us bless the Lord for it, and sympathize with
and pray for our aflB.icted and tempted brethren.
Bishop Horne : In the solitary and awful
hour of our departure hence, let us remember to
think on the desertion, the death, the burial, and
the resurrection of our Redeemer.
Barnes : It is well that there is one such de-
scription in Scripture of a good man thus suffer-
ing, to show us that when we thus feel, it should
not be regarded as proof that we have no piety.
Beneath all this, there may be true love to God ;
beyond all this, there may be a bright world to
which the sufferer will come, and where he will
forever dwell — J. F. M.]
PSALM LXXXIX.
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
2 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever :
With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
3 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever :
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
4 I have made a covenant with my chosen,
I have sworn unto David my servant,
5 Thy seed will 1 establish for ever,
And build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
6 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Loed :
Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
7 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord ?
Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?
8 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be had in reverence of all them thai are about him.
9 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee?
Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
10 Thou rulest the raging of the sea:
When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
11 Thou hast broken Kahab in pieces, as one that is slain ;
Thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
12 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine : - , , ,
Asjor the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them
13 The north and the south thou hast created them:
Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
14 Thou hast a mighty arm:
Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
15 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne :
Mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
480 THE THIRD BOOK OP PSALMS.
16 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound :
They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.
17 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day:
And in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
18 For thou art the glory of their strength :
And in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
19 For the Lord is our defence :
And the Holy One of Israel is our King.
20 Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One,
And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty ;
I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
21 I have found David my servant ;
With my holy oil have I anointed him :
22 "With whom my hand shall be established :
Mine arm also shall strengthen him.
23 The enemy shall not exact upon him ;
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
24 And I will beat down his foes before his face,
And plague them that hate him.
25 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him ;
And in my name shall his horn be exalted.
26 I will set his hand also in the sea,
And his right hand in the rivers.
27 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father,
My God, and the Rock of my salvation.
28 Also I will make him my firstborn,
Higher than the kings of the earth.
29 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore,
And my covenant shall stand fast with him.
30 His seed also will I make to endure for ever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
31 If his children forsake my law,
And walk not in my judgments ;
32 If they break my statutes.
And keep not my commandments ;
33 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
34 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him,
Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
35 My covenant will I not break.
Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
36 Once have I sworn by my holiness
That I will not lie unto David.
37 His seed shall endure for ever,
A nd his throne as the sun before me.
38 It shall be established for ever as the moon,
And aa a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
PSALM LXXXIX.
4<il
39 But thou hast cast off and abhorred,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
40 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant:
Thou hast profaned his crown hy casting it to the ground.
41 Thou hast broken down all his hedges ;
Thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
42 All that pass by the way spoil him. :
He is a reproach to his neighbours.
43 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries,
Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
44 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword,
And hast not made him to stand in the battle.
45 Thou hast made his glory to cease,
And cast his throne down to the ground.
46 The days of his youth hast thou shortened :
' Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
47 How long, Lord ? wilt thou hide thyself for ever ?
Shall thy wrath burn like fire ?
48 Remember how short my time is :
Wherefore hast thou made all men m vain?
49 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death ?
Shall lie deliver his soul from the hand of the grave ? Selah.
50 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses,
Which thou swarest unto David in thy truth ?
51 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants;
How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people ;
52 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord ;
Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
53 Blessed he the Lord for evermore.
Amen, and Amen.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. On the Buper-
scription see Introd. § 8, No. 3 and No. 2. The
Psalmist begins (vers. 2, 3) with the assurance
that he will never cease to praise the mercy of
Jehovah which had been promised inviolably to
David and his house, (Is. Iv. 3), and at the same
time (vers. 4, 5) gives the essential contents of
the promise after 2 Sam. vii. 8 flf. He then shows
the ground of his assurance and purpose (vers.
fi-19) in a description of the exaltation, of this
God of promise, who is praised in heaven and
on earth for the manifestations of His power
and goodness, righteousness and faithfulness, by
which He has glorified Himself as the God and
Protector of the people and of their king. This
is followed by a lyrical unfolding of the fulfil-
ment of the promise (vers. 20-38). The situation
of the reigning king, standing in such contrast
to the promise, is next depicted (vers. 38-46)
by the Psalmist. He then asks (vers. 47-49),
how long this outpouring of God's wrath, which
none could escape by their own strength, was to
continue ; and finally (vers. 60-62) he offers the
31
prayer that this contrast between the promise
and the actual condition of affairs would cease
to exist. In ver. 53 is sung the closing doxology
of the Third Book.
The speaker is not David (Clauss), but one who
lived later and who here treats Messianically
the promise given to David (comp. on Ps. ii.)
He writes at a time when the position of David's
descendants corresponded but little to that prom-
ise, but when the reigning monarch was still of
that house, and for him he prays that he may be
raised up from his prostration. For the
"anointed" (ver. 39) is not the people, but the
king, and he is dependent upon God as the Holy
One of Israel, and belongs to Him (ver. 19). The
interpretation which assumes that the king is
this holy one of Israel, and that the people bear
the name of anointed, is a consequence of the
assumption that the Psalm belongs to the Mac-
cabean period. (Hitzig). For this there is no
ground. Nor is there any indication given
which would lead us to connect it with the
closing years of the Persian rule (Ewald). The
same is true of the defeat of Josiah, 2 Chron.
XXXV. 20 ("V^enema): for the death oi the king
is not mentioned here. We have no occasion to
4«2
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
adopt in general (Hupfeld) the times shortly-
preceding the Babylonian Exile (De Wette,
Hengst.) or during it (Syr., Grotius). The oc-
casion of the composition was most probably
the defeat of Rehoboam 1 Kings xiv. 25 ff. 2
Chron. xii. 1 fF. (Calvin, Delitzsch) by Shishak,
that is, Sheshonk I, (comp. Zeitschrift der deut-
schen morgenldnd. Gessellschaft, Vol. xv. p. 233
ff.)' From this is perhaps to be explained the
prominence given here to Egypt under the name
Rahab (see on Ps. Ixxxvii.) in allusion to the
former overthrow of this presumptuous and de-
fiant enemy by the judgment of God. At that
time the Ezrahite Ethan could have been still
living. [The view of those who suppose that
this Psalm forms with the preceding a double-
psalm has been given in the introduction to
the latter. Perowne, following a conjecture of
Tholuck, thinks it not improbable that the king
of whom the Psalm speaks was Jehoiachin, who
after a reign of three months was deposed by
Nebuchadnezzar, and of whom it was said that
no king should " prosper, sitting on the throne
of David." He thinks at all events that there is
little doubt that it was written in the latter days
of the Jewish monarchy. Of course the super-
scription is completely ignored, as that commen-
tator does not even think with Hengstenberg
that the name was attached for the sake of giving
greater authority and weight to the composition.
Alexander, while adhering to Hengstenberg's
hypothesis of a double psalm, differs from him
entirely as to the time of composition and thinks
it most probable that both parts were composed
almost contemporaneously with the promise re-
corded in the latter one — and were *' intended to
anticipate misgivings and repinings, which,
though they existed even then in the germ, were
not developed until the period of decline ap-
proached its catastrophe." The opinion favored
by Dr. Moll above is also that of Wordsworth.
It was, as he remarks, defended by Dr. Water-
land (see his Scripture Vindicated, p. 204). It
is in every way the most probable view. To it
we are led by the superscription, from which
there is no reason to depart. Only it is not ne-
cessary to assume that the Ethan here (1 Kings
V. 11 ; 1 Chron. xi. 6) is the same as the Ethan or
Jeduthun (1 Chron, xv. 17), who was of the tribe
of Levi and a Merarite. That his name heads a
Korahite psalm need occasion no difficulty. See
the addition to the introduction to Ps. Ixxxviii. —
The remark of Wordsworth is hardly just that this
psalm is the Allegro to the Penseroso of the preced-
ing, for here also the tone of melancholy, though
not unmixed, still predominates. — J. F. M.]
This psalm, which may be applied to the his-
tory of the afflicted servants of God in different
ages of the Church, is often transferred from this
use to an interpretation with special reference
prophetically to the suffering Messiah (the an-
cients), or to the miseries of the Jews since the
prevalence of Christianity (the Rabbins) or to
the afflictia ecclesia (Calvin) the mystical Christ,
inasmuch as He lives and suffers in His followers
(Stier). [Alexander: " The particular promise
insisted on here, is that in 2 Sam. vii., which
constitutes the basis of all the Messianic Psalms."
The application to the life of Christ has been
carried to extreme lengths, not only by older
English commentators, but by Wordsworth and
others among the more recent. Connecting with
the last verse of Ps. Ixxxvii. Wordsworth says ;
"All the springs of life, hope and joy to the
Church are in the incarnation of Christ, of the
seed of David and in the Divine promise of a
perpetual and universal dominion to Him." The
psalm has a Messianic application, only in so far
as it was intended to set forth the necessary con-
flict which was to be waged before the great
fundamental promise could be realized. The
struggle was most intense when Christ Himself
was the King of the promise. — J, F. M.].
Vers. 2-4. I will sing of the mercies of the
Lord forever. According to the accentuation,
Dn]^ is to be construed with the verb. It is
therefore not said that (he mercies of Jehovah
are eternal, but the Psalmist announces his de-
termination never to cease praising them. The
meaning of dlam is, at all events, not the modern
abstract idea of the negation of time, nor the
concrete Christian idea of eternity, but that of a
period of time unknown and therefore indefinite,
and of the course of human affairs within that
period. This idea has been transferred by the
Rabbins to the idea of the world itself, but in
Biblical Hebrew it occurs only in the original
sense. [From this use many false translations
have occurred in the Septuagint, some of which
have found their way into modern versions.
The only passage on which there can be any doubt
is Eccl. iii. 11, where E.V. renders " world." But ,
there, also, there is no necessity of departing from
the Old Testament meaning. On this word see
the note of Dr. Lewis in Zockler's Commentary
in the Bible-Work. — J. F. M.]. It is to be de-
cided by the connection whether the view is
directed backwards into primitive or older times,
or forwards into the future, whose end cannot be
seen, and which runs out into eternity. The
Psalmist, however, does not say that he will sing
praises for all coming time or for eternity, but
only, always. The assertion, therefore, that this
expression is not suitable in the mouth of an
individual, except as speaking for the Church
in the assurance of her endless duration (Heng-
stenberg) is utterly groundless. It is only in
the following stich thai the singer says he will
make known with his mouth, loudly and public-
ly, for coming generations, the faithfulness of
God. By comparing ver. 3 with ver. 6 it is
plain that 1 need not be supplied with 61am in
the previous stich. For the former verse does
not mean that mercy is established forever
(most of the ancients), as an indestructible
building, but that it is ever heijig built up, (J. H.
Michaelis and most of the recent expositors), that
it does not stand still, nor come to a stop, nor
fall in ruins, but rather continues, upon a
foundation which is not laid upon anything
earthly, temporal, or transitory, but in heaven,
that is, upon the foundation of the promises of
mercy which have their support in the credibili-
ty, the truth and faithfulness of God (Ps. cxix.
89). — The declaration of God, introduced unex-
pectedly in ver. 4, is taken not merely in sub-
stance, but also literally in many expressions,
from the prophecy in 2 Sam. vii. 6 f. The words
covenant and swear, however, which so frequently
PSALM LXXXIX.
483
recur in Ihe psalm in connection with the faithful-
ness of God, are not found in that passage, but
are justified by the theocratic relation of God to
His people. (Hupfeld). So Ps. liv. 9 views the
promise of God (Gen. viii. 21) as an oath. (Del.).
Vera. 6-19. Thy -wonder [E. V. wonders]
does not here denote a work or a deed, but the
nature qf God (Geier, J. H. Michaelis, Del.) as
distinct from that of all created beings, or sepa-
rated from their sphere of action (Hupfeld)
Judges xiii. 18 ; Is. ix. 5 ; Ps. iv. 4, xxii. 4. The
assembly of the holy ones [Ver. 6, E. V.
saints] is here not the people (most) but the
angels as in Job v. 1, xv. 15; Prov. ix. 10, xxx.
3, the sons of God, Ps. xxix. 1. [In ver. 7 where
E. V. has "sous of the mighty," the literal ren-
dering is: sons of God; that is, the angels.
See Delitzsch on Job xv. 15. It is parallel to
the expression considered in the last verse. —
J. F. M.] — Ver. 13. Since the north (Job xxvi. 7,)
denotes the northern heavens and as Tabor and
Hermon, being well known mountains on each
side of Jordan, are employed to represent the
land of Canaan (Venema) or the earth (Geier),
especially in joyful passages (Is. ^Iv. 12; Ps.
xcviii. 8) and when national blessings are re-
counted (Ps. Ixxii. 3), the south might seem to
denote the southern heaven, and, as in the fore-
going verse, the earth to be placed in opposition
to heaven (Hupfeld), But the term: right hand,
used to designate the south, is in favor of the
usual reference to the four quarters of the earth.
— In ver. 16, Hj^nn is not specially the blow-
ing of the trumpets, which were sounded in the
worship of God (Isaaki, Rudinger, Rosenmiil-
ler, De Wette, Hitzig). Nor is it to be taken as
alluding to the giving of the law at Sinai (Fla-
minius), or to the battle cry of God as the Lord
of hosts (Kimchi, Venema, Muntinghe) or to
shouts in honor of the king (Aben Ezra), but to
the rejoicing 'generally at sacred seasons. In
ver. 19, ^. is not= as for j and therefore is not a
sign of the nominative (Syr., Luther, Ewald,
Hitzig), but, as the context determines, it de-
notes possession or source. It is the relation of
the king, who is called our shield [E. V. our de-
fence] as in Ps. xlvii. 10, to Jehovah, that is
here dwelt upon.
Vers. 20-30. Help. Itisunnecessary, instead of
"I.Tj; to read "^J.J: crown (Venema, Olshausen,
Hupfeld), or iy '• majesty (Hupfeld). The sub-
ject is not the choice of David as king, but the
assistance rendered him by God against the
Philistines. It is he himself, however, who is
called the hero [E. V. one that is mighty] as in
2 Sam. xvii. 10, and not Goliath, as in 1 Sam.
xvii. 51, in which case we would have to render :
I have raised up help against the mighty (Hit-
zig). For the best authorities read in the fore-
going stich il^'ipD- T^^^ ^°®^ °°*' ^®^®^ ^° ^^®
people of God in general but to Samuel and Na-
than, for God's declaration made to them follows.
If the singular is preferred the interpretation
which understands David to be meant by "the
saint" (Hupfeld), is little in accordance with
the language employed. [Alexander thinks that
if the singular be preferred either Nathan or
David may be meant. If the plural is to be taken
in the most natural way. as referring to Samuel
and Nathan, the singular ought, I think, tore-
late to the latter, especially as the vision was
made directly to Nathan. In ver. 23, N'^^ ren-
dered in our version, " shall not exact upon him"
is probably to be taken from NtJ^J to deceive,
here entrap, ensnare. Perowne wrongly attri-
butes the diflFerent meanings to different species
of the same verb. — J. F. M.]. The first- bprn
is not the only (Hengst.), but the favorite son,
raised above the others to the highest place,
transferred from the Israelitish people (Dent,
xxvi. 19; xxviii. 1), the first-born Son of God
(Ex. iv. 22, comp. Jer. xxxi. 9), to David, the
latest-born son of Jesse, and having reference
to his seed for evermore. The expression, days
of heaven (ver. 30) which is taken from Deut. xi.
21, has a similar significance. It is repeated, as
a current saying in Sirach xlv. 18, Baruch i. 11.
Vers. 31-38. The words, once have I sworn '
(ver. 36) show the unalterable validity of the oaih
for all time (Sept. and most). To explain it as
meaning one as opposed to several (Hengst.,
Del.), is not opposed to the contents of the oath,
but to the context. [According to this view the
rendering would be : "One thing have I sworn,
etc.," that is, with regard to the eternity of His
throne. — J. F. M.]. Vers. Slflf. prove the priority
of 2 Sam. vii. 14 as compared with 1 Chron. xvii.
13. — God has sworn by His holiness (Amos iv. 2)
as, in other passages by His soul (Amos vi. 8 ; Jer.
li. 14, [In E. V. rendered "by Himself."— J. F.
M.]), by His right hand (Is. Ixii. 8.) or by His
name (Jer. xliv. 26) or by Himself) Gen. xxii. 16;
Jer. xlv. 23). By referring to 1 Sam vii. 16, it
seems natural to render ver. 38 b : and as the wit-
ness in heaven (the rainbow) shall it (David's
throne) endure for ever, (Luther, Geier, and
others). But the particle of comparison is absent.
We cannot regard the witness in heaven, whose
continuance is thus emphasized, as the moon, em-
ployed to set forth the perpetuation of David's
race in the same way as the rainbow was a testi-
mony to the continuance of the earth (Aben Ezra,
Kimchi and others, Hengst). There is no ex-
ample of such a conception or usage. We may
interpret according to Jer. xxxi. 35 ; xxxiii. 20 ff.,
where God is said to have fixed the laws of the
sun, the moon, and the stars, as also the laws of
the heavens and earth, as pledges of the fulfil-
ment of His covenant with Israel and His ser-
vant David, with direct reference to the duration
of his throne (Isaaki, Calvin, Rudinger, Hup-
feld). Or we may follow Job xvi. 19, where God
Himself is designated the Witness in heaven and
the Surety in its heights (Symmachus, Cocceius,
Maurer, Hitzig, Delitzsch). The latter interpre-
tation is favored by the consideration that God,
as the only true One, is not only the best
surety for the words of His servants, but also ,
for all that He Himself has ordained and prom-
ised, and that He Himself testifies to their va-
lidity (Deut. vii. 9; Is. Ixv. 16; Jer. xlii. 5).
Witnessing here, therefore, has not merely the
sense of a solemn promise (Hitzig) as in Micah i.
2 ; Is. Iv. 4. [The true rendering accordingly is:
"And the Witness in heaven is true."* — J. F. M.].
* [For the use of 1 in asseverations, corresponding to that in
Arabic, and that of our word ly, see Ewald, Heb. Or., ^ 340 c.
484
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
Vers. 39-44. Thou hast cast off, etc. The
assumption that these words are put in the mouth
of the enemy (Aben Ezra) proceeds from the
unwillingness, felt by many, to believe that God
could have been reproached by the psalmist for
breach of His oath and covenant. But it is just
the thought of the contradiction between the ac-
tual condition of things and the glorious destiny
promised the king by God, and the consciousness
of "the reliability of the promise, which makes
the tempted poet sensible of the impossibility of
the ruin of the kingdom. And it is this which
causes the transition from complaint and despon-
dency to hope and prayer, while he looks forward
to the sure fulfilment of the Divine counsels and
promises, which no worldly power could prevent.
The expressions used in vers. 41 and 42 were
evidently written with Ps. Ixxx. 13 in view. Yet
it does not follow from this, either that the king
is compared to a vineyard and fortress (Hengst.).
or that the people are to be understood as the
anointed and the servant, but only that the king
and the nation are considered as one, in suffer-
ing from the desolations of war. The term IIJ
applied to the crown, signifying consecration, is
used in contrast to the dishonor inflicted upon
the king. — In ver. 44, we are not to render : the
rock of his sword (Hengst.), or: O rock 1 (Ols-
hausen). For, according to th^ kindred Arabic,
*1^2f is to be understood as denoting the edge or
blade of the sword (Fleischer in Delitzsch), as
already the Rabbins had conjectured from the
context.
Ver. 48. Remember, etc. The sentence con-
sists of abrupt but highly significant expressions,
80 that it is not necessary, by slight alterations
in the text, where the manuscripts differ so
much, to extract the rendering: I have remem-
bered, or: remember, 0 Lord! or, following Ps.
xxxi. 5, to change *lSn into 7*in. The transla
tion: mote (Bbttcher) has etymological support:
the usual one^ ferm of life, is disputed [Dr.
Moll therefore renders. "Remember — I — what
a mote!" Delitzsch: "Remember; I — how
quickly passing ! " and so most expositors sub-
htantially. Our version conveys the right idea,
but in an order of the words, which, though
the most intelligible, does not follow the original
faithfully. — J. F. M.]. According to the pre-
sent punctuation it is incorrect to render the
following stich : wherefore shouldest thou have
made all men in vain ? (Hengst. and most of the
ancients). For H^ cannot be construed with
Sj^=n?3b, but is closely connected with the fol-
lowing word by Daghesh, (Kimchi and most of
the recent expositors). [The former sense as
given in our version should be retained. The
Daghesh and the Makkeph do not affect the sense
of this passage. TV^ 7j! in the sense of why is
common. Hengslenberg says that we are to un-
derstand after these words the following, " As
would be the case, if these should perish for
The hypothetical sense (shouldst Thou
ever.
have made) ought to be preserved. — J. F. M.].
The force of the verse is : It shall be established for ever aa
the moon, and (as surely as) there is a faithful wituess in hea-
voB.— J. F. ML],
Bear in my bosom (ver. 51), cannot here
as in Deut. xi. 12; Is. xl. 11, refer to the tender,
cherishing care of love, since the passage does
not allude to the sufferings of the Messiah for all
peoples (many of the old expositors,) but to hos-
tile nations. Yet it is not these (De Wette) who
are said to be borne, for D"'Sj^ D'3^'73 cannot
mean: the whole of many nations, and it is only
the reproach and grief caused by them (Jer. xv.
15) and poured into the bosom (Ps. Ixxix. 12)
which can be said to be carried in it. The con-
text also alludes distinctly to this. The only
doubtful question is, how the three words just
cited, which also create the impression that the
text has been mutilated, are to be translated.
They can hardly be considered as the genitive
(Ewald) after HD^H* following as they do at
such a distance from the latter. Are we then to
insert hetpah, as though it had fallen out, be-
tween the words /D and D^3"1, which cannot be
tolerated in their present position (Hnpfeld)?
Comp. the correct arrangement in Ezek. xxxi.
6. Or are we to strike out 12 as superfluous
(Septuag.) ? or regard it as a mutilation for
n^yj? =contempt, following the very similar
passage Ezek. xxxvi. 15 (Bbttcher) ? Or is it a
mistaken enlargement of 7 = by many nations
(Hitzig)? The position of D"'31 before the prin-
cipal word may be explained in two ways. It is
either due to the conception of the adjective as
an indefinite numeral (Ps. xxxii. 10. Prov. xxxi.
29; 1 Chron. xxviii. 5; Nahum ix. 28). Or it
is to be regarded as a substantive and explained,
according to Jer. xvi. Itj, as many, that is, people.*
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Whatever in the world is to endure, must not
only be built upon an immovable foundation, but
must have also in itself a living principle of pro-
gress ; to the one as well as to the other, super-
natural strength and Divine control are neces-
.oary. This is true in a special sense of all
that concerns the establishment, preservation,
and extension of the kingdom of God on earth.
The person, reign, offspring, and history of
David are types of that kingdom. In these every-
thing was placed upon the foundation of God's
promises, whose inviolability is attested by His
truth and faithfulness, and whose fnlfilment is
secured by the uninterrupted workings of His
mercy. The Church has here a subject of never-
ending praise, and is ever stirred up to utter it
by the grateful confession of what His servants
experience.
2. But the praise of God resounds not only in
His Church upon earth, but also among His
eaints in heaven. It has as its ground His
glory, as that wondrous Being, infinitely exalted
* [The adjective Is probably here placed before the noun,
which rarely happens, on account of the emphasis laid upon
it, as in Ps. xxxii. 10. See Green Heb. Gr. g 249. la. The
reproach is not merely the strongest which can be inflicted
(73) : Jt is also accumulaled as coming from so many sources
(D'SD- The rendering: "mighty" given to the latter
word ia E. V, is incorrect.— J. F. M.].
PSALM LXXXIX.
485
above all others in that majesty which is awful
even to the "holy ones," and yet is revealed
for the consolation of believers in the displays
of His incomparable might, unwearied help-
bringing goodness, and unswerving faithfulness
to His covenant, which is confirmed by an oath.
3. Blessed are the people who know this God,
trust His promises, and walk in His light I They
cannot perish, even though trials rise and over-
whelm them like the waves of the sea. The con-
viction that God is able and willing to help His
own, and that He will do it, saves them from de-
spair, even though all visible support totters and
falls, and, as far as man can judge, ruin is at
hand, and utter destruction certain. God's
promises are to believers more certain still. But
as faith is needed to grasp these promises in the
hour of distress, and faithfulness, to hold fast to
them amidst the trials of life, so proof of loyalty
to His service among the temptations of the
world, and a holy life, are necessary to secure
the continual fulfilment of those promises in
personal experience. For he who will entrust
himself to the protection which God affords to
His chosen inheritance, must prove himself to be-
long to it, and must not forget that the God
whom he trusts and serves, is the Holy One of
Israel, whose throne has righteousness and jus-
tice for its foundation, (Prov xvi. 12; xxv. 5),
and mercy and truth for its ministers.
4. The service of God involves sometimes trial
of our fidelity to our vows, sometimes tempta-
tion in the life of faith, sometimes chastening in
the way of righteousness, but it has always for
its object the strengthening of those bonds which
unite the children of God, and their education
in the Christian life. For in the holy love of
God, righteousness is so united to mercy that
He visits even His children with chastisement
for their sins ; and yet this is the chastening of
a Father. Nor does the unfaithfulness of men
interfere with the exercise of the faithfulness of
God, as His covenant ever stands, no matter how
often they break it.
5. God cannot be charged with the responsibi-
lity of the temporary contradiction between the
present condition and the assured future of the
Church and its several members. God alters
not His will. He takes not back His promises.
He neglects not the exercise of His care and
power. He rather prepares, in the very midst
of the generation which He will deliver. His in-
struments for the accomplishment of His pur-
poses. He Himself chooses the suitable per-
sons; calls the' men of His choice; furnishes
them with the necessary powers and gifts ; con-
secrates them to His service; blesses them for
His work; affords them help for toil and con-
flict; raises them on high from their prostration,
and saves them from destruction at the hands of
their enemies, or, if they personally succumb,
causes their fall to tend to the preservation of
the Church.
(). Accordingly, God's faithfulness to His cove-
nant not only assures for all time His covenant-
people of the inviolability of His promises of
mercy; it affords to them also at all times an ex-
perience of their truth. For by means of the
contradiction just mentioned, it makes them sen-
sible of the stringency of the conditions of de-
liverance, awakens a consciousness of guilt, and
directs the glances of the members and leaders
of the Church from the troubled present, with its
joyless features, to the divinely appointed means
of safety. For God does not punish His people
by annulling His covenant with them, but rather
gives them repeated confirmations of its truth,
and, just at the time of the deepest decline of
David's house, and the greatest destruction of the
members of the Church, attests the eternal dura-
tion of His throne, upon which that Seed of David
shall sit, declared His own son by God Himself,
the chief in authority among the sons of the
Highest (Ps. Ixxxii. 6) and supreme over the kings
of the earth. It is thus that He fixes I he Chuich
upon that firm foundation of His promises, from
which has arisen the Messianic hope.
7. But there are dark seasons when this expec-
tation is not clearly displayed, and troubled
hours when the soul finds it hard to seize the
word of promise, so surely attested, and only by
a great effort can cling to the word of the oath
of the true Witness. Then there is danger, lest
the praise of God. whose strength is still the
ornament and glory of His people, should be
hushed, or changed into vain complaining; lest
by so long enduring of evil the hope of amelio-
ration should sink into the fear of greater evil.
But the thought that it is still the hand of God
which is bestowing a Father's correction, and
that He does not consume the whole of the fleet-
ing period of life with suffering, forms a
foundation for hope and a motive for prayer.
"There are prayers that are timid, lukewarm or
presumptuous ; there are also those which are
humble, ardent, and confident. The timid prayer
does not pass from him who offers it, for it is
choked in the thorns of doubt, and cannot rise on
the wings of trust. The lukewarm prayer stops
when half said, for it has not earnestness and
perseverance. The presumptuous prayer may
reach even the gates of heaven; but they are
barred against it, for humility is absent. If
then the way to the throne of God is to be free
and open to our prayers, and they are to find
willing acceptance and audience there, they
must come from a humble, earnest, and trusting
heart. Humility teaches us the necessity of
prayer; ardor of soul gives it wings and endu-
rance; trust affords it an immovable foundation."
(Bernard of Clairvaux).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The sure mercies of God: (1.) as the subject
of our grateful praise; (2.) as the foundation of
our assured hope; (3.) as the object of our
anxious prayers. — Our reliance upon God's help
in severe distresses, whence it has (1.) its firm-
ness, (2.) its joy fulness, (3.) its liveliness. — The
kingdom of God is built upon earth: (1.) upon
what foundations? (2.) by what strength? (3.)
by what means ? — When men complain to God
over their distress, they need not cease to praise
Him, and they must not cease to trust Him. —
We must acknowledge and praise the majesty of
God, not less in its awful exaltation, than in its
loving condescension. — When God receives the
praises of the holy ones in heaven, He at the
same time listens to the prayers, praises, and
i86
THE THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
thanksgiving of believers on earth. — The fatherly
guidance of God in the education of His chil-
dren for the heavenly kingdom. — The unfaithful-
fless of men brings down the punishments of
Glod ; but it does not prevent the exercise of
His faithfulness, or cast dishonor upon His
promises. — All God's revelations and all His
lealings must incite and assist us to fear, love,
ind trust Him above all else. — God's special
government of His people ; (1.) in its holy re-
juirements; (2.) in its gracious dealings ; (3.) in
its blessed effects. — Only through the Son of
jrod can we become and remain children of the
Highest, citizens of His kingdom, and heirs of
His blessings. — While we remain in the king-
iom of God, we fear neither the certain pros-
pect of death, the evanescence of life, nor the
iarkness of the grave ; we walk in the light of
Grod's countenance.
Luther: Ps. Ixxxix. is a prophecy of Christ
md His Church — that it should never c«ase or
stand still on account of any sin, so that our
blessedness does not depend upon our perfect ob-
servance of God's law, unlike the kingdom pro-
mised to the Jews, and the kingdom of the whole
world, which last no longer or further than
they are righteous. — This has all been promised
[)f old for our consolation in these last times, so
bhat we need not despond, even if it seems to us
that Christianity exists no longer on earth.
Calvin : For the afflicted Church ; for God
iid not arrange the terms of the covenant of
grace with David alone, but had in mind the
body of the whole Church for all time.
Starke : The mercy of God makes all His
works a source of consolation to His people, and
all the objects of nature a source of profit, lightens
their afflictions, and makes them joyful in God.
— The All-sufficient God could do very well with-
out mankind, or He could bind them to the per-
formance of all duties, so that they would be
bound to fulfil His will in the strictest manner,
sven without the promise of a gracious reward,
[s it not then a most wonderful fact that it has
pleased God to make covenant with us men ? —
In the eyes of an unbeliever God is so small
that he neither knows nor regards Him at all ;
in the eyes of a believer He is so great that he
will neither see nor know anything but Him, in
beaven or in earth. — Joy in God is a sure token
that those who manifest it are His children ; for
when they rejoice in Him they walk in His light,
ind are enlightened by His favor. None of the
angodly experience this. — Christ's kingdom is
the true universal monarchy. — If all the kings
)f the earth must bow before Jehovah, why do
;he most insignificant in the land refuse to know
md receive him ? — A rod, even though it be
painful, is better than a sword ; better to be
jhastened by the Father than to be punished by
,he Judge. This is the difference between the
jufferings of the righteous and the punishment
)f the wicked. — The Church of Christ is derided
ay all who are not true believers ; and yet it is
its greatest glory to endure the dishonor cast
apon its Head. — Such an end as this will all be-
lievers have ; the sorrowful complaint will be
changed into a song of joy, and the Kyrie eleison
Into a joyful hallelujah. — Tertdllian : 0 blessed
people, in whose behalf God swears ! 0 un-
happy people, who will not believe God even
though He swears. — Menzel : We learn here
upon what the consolation and blessedness of
poor sinners depend, not upon the conversion
and repentance which God requires, but upon
His mere mercy and goodness, which leads them
to conversion and repentance. — Rieger: We
may learn from this Psalm what others before
us have experienced, how they have patiently
borne a part in the conflict ordained them by
God, and have maintained their grasp upon the
mercy and truth of God held out before them. —
Tholtjck : The hearts of those that fear God are
not so rigid and unfeeling that the strokes from
the hand of God, when He proves them, leave no
trace behind ; nor are they so weak and languid
that all confidence at once fails them.— Guenther;
All affliction arising from sin is only the chas-
tening of a Father's love for our salvation. His
covenant is not broken. He has only veiled His
mercy. — Diedrich : He who lives to praise God,
will never live in vain ; he will have what he
desires to have. — In the concluding words the
collectors of the Psalms testify that they could
still rejoice in God, and praise Him in spite of
all temporal distress, and hope from the rich
blessings of the future to receive an answer to
the anxious cries of this and of all the Psalms.
— Taube : Eternity swallows up time, but the
temporal cannot absorb the eternal. — The won-
derful and incomparable, the dreadful and awe-
inspiring, the exalted and majestic Creator and
Sovereign of the world — this is Israel's God; His
all-powerful majesty, His mighty arm, His strong
hand. His high right hand, serve to fulfil His
eternal purposes of mercy and peace, which
centre in Christ Jesus — this is Israel's consola-
tion.— The true members of the covenant walk
according to the commands of God, nor seek
their safety elsewhere than iu free grace.
[Mattu. Henry : Among men it is too often
found that those who are most able to break
their word are less careful to keep it ; but God
is both strpng and faithful ; He can do every-
thing, and yet will never do an unjust thing. —
The stability of the material heavens is an em-
blem of the truth of God's word: the heavens
may be clouded by the vapors arising out of the
earth, but they cannot be touched, they cannot
be changed. — (Ver. 14). Mercy in promising;
truth in performing. Truth, in being as good
as thy word ; mercy, in being better.
Scott: Our filial confidence in God's love
should not abate our veneration of His majesty ;
for then our worship on earth would bear no re-
semblance to that of the angels in heaven, (Isa.
vi. 1-5). Surely then our external posture and
our serious attention should indicate the reve-
rence of our hearts, when we assemble to worship
this glorious God.
Barnes : It is proper to pray that God would
bless us soon ; that He would not withhold His
grace ; that He would remember that our life is
very brief, and if that grace is to be bestowed upon
us to save us or make us useful, it must be be-
stowed soon. A young man may properly em-
ploy this prayer ; how much more so one in the
decline of life]— J. F. M.]
THE PSA.LTER.
FOURTH BOOK.
PSALM XC.
» ♦ ♦
PSALM XC,
A Prayer of Moses the Man of God.
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations,
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, *
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction ;
And sayest, Return, ye children of men,
4 For a thousand years in thy sight
Are but as yesterday when it is past,
And as a watch in the night. . ,
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood : they are as a sleep :
In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up ;
In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7 For we are consumed by thine anger.
And by thy wrath are we troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,
Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath :
We spend our years as a tale thai is told.
10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten ;
And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years.
Yet is their strength labor and sorrow ;
For it is soon cut ofi", and we fly away,
11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger ?
Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days.
That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord, how long?
And let it repent thee concerning thy servants,
14 0 satisfy us early with thy mercy ;
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
488
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,
And the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants,
And thy glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us :
And establish thou the work of our hands upon us ;
Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The oft-re-
peated assertion that this Psalm consists of two
parts loosely connected, and that the supplica-
tory portion, strictly considered, is not intro-
duced until the beginning of the so-called second
part, is altogether without foundation. The
truth is that the Psalm bears a supplicatory char-
acter in its very first word, which invokes God as
the Lord. It presents also in ver. 12 a real peti-
tion prepared by its contrast in ver. 11, namely,
a prayer that the contemplation of mankind be-
fore described may bring forth its good fruit in
the heart ; and to this the prayer in ver. 13 ff.
for renewed manifestations of Divine favor is
attached. Both petitions have th« same founda-
tion, the confession to the eternal and only God,
who forms the unchanging place of refuge for
the ever-changing race of mankind, who, in
their perishableness, have to suflfer the judg-
ments of God's wrath for their sins. They are
divided into two classes : those who allow these
judgments to fall unmarked, and those who, ter-
rified by them, are brought to reflection and
urged to a saving search after God, truly fear-
ing Him, and impressed with a sense of the true
meaning of life. These serious reflections are
presented in their necessary relations to one
another with solemn emphasis, and in language
which has a striking similarity to expressions
occurring in the Pentateuch, and especially in
the Book of Deuteronomy. It is certainly true
that that period of national distress would na-
turally evoke reflections upon the evanescence of
human life, and the universal sinfulness of man,
so closely related thereto. This would especially
be in accordance with the religious conception of
the world in the Hebrew mind (Olsh., Hupfeld).
But if we are justified in seeking a definite his-
torical occasion for the origin of the Psalm, the
last years of the long wandering through the
desert, and especially an allusion to the Divine
sentence of death in Numb. xiv. 28 ff. are pro-
bably indicated here. This supposition has an
altogether diff"erent ground of support from the
assumption of a composition during the exile
(Koster, Maurer), which has absolutely nothing
in the Psalm to indicate it, or in the age of the
Maccabees (Rudinger, Hitzig). The poem con-
tains something aflfecting and solemn, penetrat-
ing into the depths of the Divine nature, and
in thought and language appears throughout
marked by originality and innate power (Ewald),
is worthy also of the position and character
of Moses (Grolius), and corresponds to the situ-
ation of the people before alluded to (Hupfeld).
We may therefore regard as entitled to no con-
sideration, the doubt felt as to the Mosaic
authorship, on the ground that we do not know
what foundation the collector had for his belief.
We can readily suppose that this ancient Psalm,
this poem of eternity (Herder), was preserved
in an older collection of writings (Del.), comp.
Josh. X. 13; 2 Sam. i. 18. For the supposition
that the superscription came from the hand of
the author, doesnot agree with the title of honor:
"man of God." This designation was applied
to Moses only by others, (Deut. xxxiii. 1 ; Josh,
xiv. 6); and it does not describe his ofl&cial po-
sition, as " servant of Jehovah " does, but it
puts honor upon his personal relation to God as
His prophet. It is self-evidently not a musical
title, but a descriptive term, which, by the
prominence given to this relation, expresses, on
the one hand, a near acquaintance with God,
and, on the other, the credibility and authority
attested thereby.
[Hengstenberq: "The objection that ver. 10,
where the length of human life is limited to
seventy, or, at most, eighty years, stands op-
posed to Deut. xxxiv. 7, according to which
Moses reached the age of one hundred and
twenty, is disposed of by the fact that Moses,
throughout the Psalm, does not speak in his own
name, but in that of the people. It is obvious
from Deut. xiv. 22, 23 that among the Israelites
ai that time the exceptions to the general rule
as to the duration of human life, were much
fewer than at ordinary times. The assumption
that the Psalm could not have been composed by
Moses, because it resembles the other Psalms in
language and general poetical structure, is an
a priori assertion, which may be met by another,
that it is antecedently probable that Moses, 'the
fountain from which all the prophets have drawn
divine wisdom,' gave at first the tone no less for
Prophecy, Deut. xxxii. and xxxiii., than for
Psalm poetry." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. Dwelling-place. — Instead of
pi?D, some codices read TIJ^D, which, however,
does not nlier the idea of the verse. The former
word does not directly furnish the idea of a
refuge (Sept.), but that of a dwelling, (Deut.
xxvi. 16 ; Ps. xxvi. 8 ; Ixviii. 6), sometimes in-
cluding the accessory idea (Amos iii, 4 ; Nahum
ii. 12) of a place of refuge, (Ps. Ixxi. 2 ; xci. 9),
applied to God after Deut. xxxiii. 27. The
praeterite, rc^TI, does not admit of being trans-
lated: thou art. It is, therefore, not the future
(Hengst.) that is the object of contemplation,
but former experiences. The origin of the
mountains, which are often adduced as the most
expressive symbol of the most enduring of
earthly things, (Gen. xlix. 26; Deut. xxxiii. 15;
Ps. Ixxii. 3 ; Hab. iii. 6 ; Prov. viii. 26), is set
rSALM xc.
489
forth as a birth, in that less restricted sense, in
which (Gen. ii. 4) the nhSlB of the heavens
and of the earth are used to designate the un-
folding of the process of the creative work. The
figure is an exceedingly natural one to describe
the emergence of the mountains from the water,
as, in another application, to represent the
breaking forth of the sea as from the womb of a
mother (Job xxxviii. 8). If, in the following
stich, we point SSini^ (Olsh., Bottcher, Hitzig),
in order to gain the passive sense (Sept., Chald.,
Luther, and others), we have the same figure to
describe the evolution of the terrestrial globe and
inhabited land, without placing God in the back-
ground as the Parent and Begetter (Hupf.). For
this would have been a mode of representation
impossible to the Old Testament consciousness,
and can be explained neither by Deut. xxxii. 18,
where this form of expression is applied to the
relation of God to the establishment of the
Israelitish nation, (comp. Jer. ii. 27), nor by the
poetical form of the inquiry (Job xxxviii. 28)
after the father of the rain and begetter of the
dew, not to mention the words employed in Ps.
ii. 7, which have a Messianic interpretation.
For the same reason we must assume that the
punctuators, when they gave the active form
77inJl, did not have in view the 2 masc.
(Isaaki, Kimchi, Calvin, Geier, Rosenm., De
Wette, Del., Hupfeld), but the 3 fem. (Syriac,
Stier, and others), with a reference to Gen. i. 11 f.
24. [Alexander follows the active meaning in
common with the great majority of critics. Pe-
rowne prefers the passive sense, and the corre-
sponding change of reading. The E. V. in the
translation : formed, expresses the true idea of
the Hebrew, but shrinks unnecessarily from the
literal rendering: begotten. — J. F. M.] The 7J< at
the end of ver. 2 is not an address (Hengst.), but
is the predicate. The object is not to show the
eternal existence of God, but to testify to the
Divinity of the eternal and almighty Lord. The
Sept. has wrongly read /X, and connected it with
what follows.
Vers. 3, 4. Dust.— [E. V.: destruction. The
Hebrew Xi31 means: crMsAerf particles. "Thou
makest man return to dust." — J. F. M.] That
there is an allusion here to Gen. iii. 19 is ren-
dered probable by the reference made to sin in
ver. 7 If. Yet it does not follow from this that
we must render in the next sentence : turn back !
or : pass away again ! for the sake of obtaining
the same idea. It is not forbidden by the paral-
lelism (Hupfeld) to interpret this clause as re-
ferring to the constant changes among men as
they come and return at the command of the
eternal God, (Luther, Geier, Tholuck, Del.).
There is no reference to the resurrection (the old
Lutheran theologians), or to the passing of the
spirit to God (Stier). The arithmetical treat-
ment of ver. 4 and 2 Peter iii. 8, has resulted in
the assumption that the world will last 6000
years, and that the millenial kingdom will then
be established, corresponding to the work of
creation and its Sabbath, (see the Rabbinical
interpretations in Breithaupt on Isaakij. This
is in direct contradiction to the meaning of the
passage, which describes in an aflFecting and
striking manner the evanescence of the changing
generations of men, when measured by the
standard of eternity and by the eye of God. Our
seventy or eighty years shrink into a moment
(Ps. XXX. 6). Time was not yet reckoned by
hours, but the night was divided into three
watches, (Exod. xiv. 24; Judges vii. 19), and
the day began with the evening twilight : there-
fore, "the day of yesterday as it passes by " is
most significantly mentioned. The rendering :
when it is past (most of the ancients), which is
moreover tautological, is grammatically inadmis-
sible. It is improbable that the thousand years
are the subject of the verb (Hupfeld).
Vers. 6-7. Thou carriest them away as
•with a flood. It is uncertain whether an allusion
to the Divine judgment of the flood is intended
(Calvin, Hengst.). At all events it is not a swiftly
flowing stream that is meant, but a heavy and de-
vastating tempest of rain (Ps. Ixxvii. 18). But we
must not overlook the use of the prseterite, fol-
lowed by the imperfect in a future sense. The
meaning is: let the action mentioned be per-
formed, and they fall into a state of uncon-
sciousness, into a sleep, that is, the sleep
of death (Rosier, Delitzsch). This sequence
of thought shows that it is not the years
(Aben Ezra) which are said to be carried
away. The words D'JU' and T\y0 stand too far
apart to afford a play on the words (Rosenm.).
The common interpretation understands first the
rapid and afterwards the unobserved passage of
human life to be described. But it disregards
the change of verbal forms, and, with many of
its supporters, superadds the idea of sleeping
fancies or a dream to the idea of sleep, which is
entirely unwarranted. Nor is there any occa-
sion for transposing the words at the beginning of
the second stich to the end of the first (Bottcher,
Hupfeld), since the idea of waking has no place in
the passage. In ver. 6 it is not said that mankind
in the beginning of history, or man in his youth,
as in the morning of life (Kimchi and others),
blooms or fades away like grass. What is said
is, that when one generation is swept away du-
ring the night, another blooms forth in the morn-
ing, which, in its turn again, withers away in
the evening (Delitzsch). For the primary idea
of ^ 7n is not at all that of passing away or per-
ishing (Sept., Vulgate, Luther, and others), but
that of passing over from one place or condition
into another, especially when something new
presses after and occupies the place of the old.
Applied to plants, therefore, it certainly does
not mean: to sprout (Chald., Syriac), but: to
have new sprouts. Instead of: it fades away
(Ewald, Olsh., Hitzig, Hupfeld), we cannot, it
is true, accept the passive sense of the similar
and proper word : it is cut down (most), but the
impersonal construction : some one cuts it down
(Delitzsch). The term n7"'7D, applied to ears of
corn cut down or plucked off, and Job xxiv. 24,
are especially favorable to this view, besides the
consideration that death is not spoken of as a
process of nature, but as the Divine punishment
of sin. Hitzig gives an explanation which is
490
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
quite peculiar. He understands the verse to re-
present figuratively the discharge of the semen
(Ezek. xxiii. 20), then follows the sleep in the
womb of the mother, and then the awakening
to the morning of life. [In ver. 7 the E. V.
would be improved by rendering in the second
clause: " terrified away," instead of" troubled."
—J. F. M.]
Vers. 9-12. A whisper. [E.V.: a tale that is
told.] The word njn does not denote idle chat-
tering (Luther), or thought, in allusion to its ra-
pidity, (Clericus, Eosenm., De Wette, Hupfeld),
or breath, as vanishing quickly (Chald.), or
speech, in its rapidity (Jerome, Hitzig), but a
low, subdued sound, whether murmuring. Job
xxxvii. 2, or groaning, Ezekiel ii. 10 (Hengst.,
Del.). The poetical plural niJU^, in ver. 10, oc-
curs also in Deut. xxxii. 7. It is doubtful
whether r\'l^3J applies to a full measure of
strength or of years. The first interpretation
suits better the meaning of the words elsewhere,
the latter its Talmudical application. [In ver.
11 the second member should be rendered: and
thy wrath according to thy fear, that is, in the
measure which the true fear of God would im-
ply.— J. F. M.] In ver. 12 1 3 refers to "un-
derstand," not to " number," (compare 1 Sam.
xxiii. 17). It is not a theoretical but a practical
knowledge, to obtain which the help of God is
implored. *' That we may bring in a heart of
wisdom" — that is, that we may bear it away as a
prize, and bring it in, like the harvest into the
granary, 2 Sam. ix. 10; Hag. i. 6 (Hupfeld,
Del.). Other explanations are the following:
bring wisdom into the heart (Kimchi, and
others) ; bring a wise heart as an offering to
God (Geier, Knapp, Stier, Ewald, Olshausen,
Hitzig).
Vers. 13-17. Return, that is, from anger, as in
Exod. xxxii. 12. The word elsewhere usually
means : turn back. The inquiry which follows
suits either rendering. Ver. 13 b. recalls Deut.
xxxii. 36. The Psalmist's prayer that he may
be satisfied with mercy in the morning, denotes
not what would be enjoyed soon, but the break-
ing of a new day of mercy as contrasted with
the former night of affliction. The plural form
niD' (ver. 15) is found only besides in Deut. xxxii.
7, together with r\Sw, which occurs elsewhere
also. — The humbling of Israel was the design of
the journey through the desert (Deut. viii. 2 f.).
The term 7^3 (ver. 16), applied to Jehovah's ad-
ministration of mercy for the salvation of His
people, is found also in Deut. xxxii. 4 ; and the
expression : " work of the hands," frequently
in Deuteronomy, as descriptive of human achieve-
ments generally. There is no reference implied
to implements of husbandry (Hitzig), much less
to the appliances of manufacture. The sup-
plication is offered that the work of God's people,
who confess themselves to be the servants of the
Lord, may be established, with the expectation
that what is described in ver. 16 a will be dis-
played before them. [There is no more beautiful
and expressive word than DJ^J, in ver. 17 a,
signifying primarily what is sweet, pleasant, or
delightful ; and all language fails to express the
wealth of meaning it bears, when chosen by
Moses, " the man of God," and the friend of
God, to picture forth those attributes which in
Him were the source of delight. It is not merely
" beauty " in its widest sense, or " glory," or
" goodness," but a union of them all. — i. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Eternal is not merely distinguished from
the world of the Becoming by His Divine nature;
He also declares and vindicates His Divinity in
its glory, independent, as it is, of the whole
world. His people, therefore, not only know
Him as the Lord reigning over the whole world
from eternity to eternity, in unchangeable exal-
tation; they pray to Him also as the Lord their
God. This they do both because He has testified
of Himself, and because they have acknowledged
His glory. By virtue of this relation to God,
they are not contented with the perpetual recol-
lection of all that God has ever been and dis-
played to them. They find in Him also their
lodging-place and secure retreat, which never
changes with the flight of time or any mutation
of events, but is presented as unchangeably the
same to all generations of men, as they follow one
another in close succession. Believers have
therefore in God no temporary, mutable, or
transient place of refuge, as the wild beasts
have their coverts and places of security, or the
wanderer his tent. God offers Himself to His
people as their dwelling-place for ever and ever.
2. The experience which the Church has had of
this blessing serves as an efficient counterpoise
to the depressing evidences of the fact that her
own members have to suffer from the shortness
and miseries of human life, and that they feel
these troubles so much the more keenly, as they
recognize their cause to be the wrath of God on
account of human sin, whose manifestations in
their own lives they have always to bewail, and
whose guilt they can as little hide as they can
the severity of God's anger. For the ligbt by
which we learn of God, the world, and ourselves
is one and the same. "Although Moses, in the
discharge of his office, slays by exhibiting sin in
connection with its punishment, yet in naming
this Psalm a prayer, he tells us that there is an
antidote to death. And in this he excels in two
particulars all profane writers. He dwells upon
ihe extent and power of death, and yet, along
with its terrors, makes the hope of consolation
to be felt, so that those who are terrified and
humbled are not utterly brought to despair."
(Luther).
3. When the perception of this relation is no
mere theoretical knowledge, and is more than a
compulsory acknowledgment produced by the
pressure of need, when it is a deliberate moral
conviction answering to the fear of God (Deut.
xxix. 9 ; Job xxviii. 8), then it affords not merely
the only correct standard for estimating all
these things, but teaches us also to pray for the
saving use of it in the midst of the dangers,
sorrows, and temptations which encompass men
here. It raises also the humbled soul from com-
plaining over the vanity of the world, the dis-
PSALM XC.
491
tresses of life, and the blindness of mankind, to
an earnest and trusting search after the favor of
God, and thus places it upon the true path of
safety, by which it shall escape all the misery of
the present life. " As Moses elsewhere keeps
within the teachings of the Law, so does he here.
For he preaches death, sin, and condemnation,
in order to terrify the presumptuous, who are
secure in their sins, and set before them their
guilt and iniquity, without falsely coloring any-
thing or concealing anything. He endeavors es-
pecially to teach men to fear God, so that when
they are in dread of God's anger and of death,
they may humble themselves before Him, and be-
come fit recipients of His mercy." (Luther.)
4. In order to be awakened to true penitence,
we must keep ever before our minds the truth that,
even in sins that are discovered and lamented,
there is, on account of the ruin of our nature,
something which is still hidden and concealed,
which, however, is not excused or counted un-
deserving of punishment, because it escapes our
own observation and that of other men. There
are many who give themselves up to this delusion
to their ruin. They fail to understand the rela-
tion of sin and death, and therefore, also, fail to
understand the teachings of events in the world.
And since they begin to have less dread of the
wrath of God, the knowledge of God, generally,
becomes obscure to them. It becomes difficult
for them to bring themselves under the range of
His purposes of salvation, and they seek less
earnestly for His mercy. " Moses, therefore,
well calls sin a concealed thing, whose extent no
mind can comprehend. For like God's wratli,
like death, sin also is incomprehensible and in-
finite." (Luther).
5. But when, to the acknowledgment that sin
extends much further than it can be recognized,
there is united this other, that God's countenance
casts light even upon what is hidden from our
natural sight, then the fear, anguish, gloom,
and care thence arising, can be overcome only
by renewed experience of the Divine mercy. In
the exhibitions of that mercy the glory as well
as the goodness of the Lord are displayed to His
people. And prayer for both must go hand in
hand. "Although horses, cows aild other ani-
mals die as well as man, yet their death does
not manifest the w.rath of God, but only tran-
sient pain. But in man's death there is anguish
and wrath, for he was created to be conformed
to the image of God." (Luther.)
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The prayers of the Church must ascend to
God, if the help of the Eternal is to descend to
it. — The shorter life is, the more pressing is the
obligation to spend it as for eternity. — -The do-
minion of death over the world, (1), how it
manifests itself, (2), whence it arises, (3), how
it is overcome. — The blindness of mankind in
their judgments with reference to God, the
world, and their own worth. — Seeking refuge in
God under the pressure of His just anger, why
it is difficult and how it is facilitated. — The fear
of God, a good antidote to the fear of death, the
cares of life, and the pangs of conscience. —
Moses a guide to Christ, by preaching the puni-
tive justice of God upon all the world, and tho
appearing of His glory over His people. — Though
we cannot scan the world with the eye of God,
yet, if we fear Him, we can learn to understand
it by His light. — Wouldst thou in thy brief life
obtain abiding joy ? Turn in time to the eternal
God, and yield thyself to the mercy which Ho
ever proves Himself ready to bestow. — The life
of all of us upon earth is tleeting, but it need not
be unprofitable. — Death is the wages of sin, but
the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. — Let
him who would not sink with the dissolving
world, nor be borne away with fleeting time, nor
be destroyed with sinners, hasten to take up his
abode with God, as long as the goodness ot' the
Lord continues to prepare the way. — It must be
considered a great mercy, that the Eternal re-
veals Himself in time, as the Lord whom we
serve, as the Judge whom we fear, as the God in
whom we are to trust. — The attacks of sin are
more frequent, the roots of sin more deeply con-
cealed, the consequences of sin more dreadful,
than many know or admit; but God's grace is
mightier than sin, and God's love greater than
our hearts: therefore the world is rightly judged,
and the righteous saved. — How we in the midst
of death, may, in God, lay hold on life.
Luther: The higher grass grows, the nearer
is it to the scythe and fork. — Starke : Prayer
is the true armor against sin and death ; for it
is directed to God, and He is not a God of the
dead, but of the living. — My time and hour may
come when God wills. I prescribe not to Him
measure or end. — Every evening should be to us
a reminder of our end, our bed an emblem of
our coffin, and sleep a prelude to the quiet rest
until the resurrection. — Men convey to the tomb
one dead body after another, and yet will not bo
persuaded to destroy the sting of death by faith
in Christ, and free themselves from the wrath
of God. — True joy is drawn from the enjoyment
of God's favor, and is therefore holy and pure.
But all that joy is impure which men receive
from earthly things outside of the state of grace.
— He whom suffering and affliction have
brought to repentance, receives a right to seek
again from God consolation and joy.
Selnecker : Exalt not thyself, and be not
proud in thy honors, for all men are in the hand
of Him who has made them. — Menzel : Use of
the teaching of God's omnipotence and infinite
might, (1), as serving to promote the true know-
ledge of God, (2), as contributing to the unfail-
ing consolation of His people, (3), as a warning
to the wicked. — Arndt: No man dies by chance,
but according to God's counsel, order, and pro-
vidence.— Frisch : The more sins increase, the
more life declines; hence comes our frailty. —
God's mercy is better than life itself. — Rocs:
Wherein does that wisdom consist, which is to be
drawn from the numbering or reckoning up of
the days which we have lived, and which, pre-
sumably, still remain? Is it not in this lesson,
that by repentance and faith we should aspire
after eternal life? — Stier: Moses as the man of
God recognizes in the wrath of God the cause of
the death of man; he looks forthwith longing
into the morning of mercy after the long night-,
and implores strengthening for himself and all
the servants of the Lord, to persevere and con-
492
THE FmjRTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
tinue the work of their hnnds. — Richter
{Hausbibel): The knowledge of sin is the only
key that solves the mystery of death. — Umbreit:
Men have ever before their eyes the fear of
death, but God, the sins of men. — Guenther:
We fly away; whither? — Taubb: In the pun-
ishment we can discern the extent of the sin,
and yet to the sinner sin is immeasurable. —
From a true conviction with regard to death, flows
the true worldly wisdom. — Deichert: It is only
when we are firmly established in God's favor,
that a new year can be a happy one to us. For
then (1) the thought of the swift flight of our
days may indeed move us, but cannot make us
yield; (2) the thought of our great guilt may
indeed depress us, but cannot make us despair;
(3) the thought of the troubles and trials of life
may indeed dispose ua to deep solemnity, but it
cannot rob us of the comforting reflection, that
the Lord with His help will stand by our side. —
L. Harms : Nothing preaches so powerfully on
sin, as death does. — Thy God is the Almighty,
and that Almighty God is Love.
[Matt. Henry: Man, in his prime, doth but
flourish as the grass, which is weak and low and
tender and exposed, and which, when the win-
ter of old age comeis, will perish of itself; but
he may be worn down by disease or disaster, as
the gi-ass is, in the midst of summer. All flesh
is grass. — To be religious is to be wise. — We are
so unworthy of Divine assistance, and yet so in-
sufficient to bring anything to pass without it,
that we have need to be earnest for it, and so
repeat the request : Yea, the work of our hands
establish thou it. — Bp IIorne: The time of our
pilgrimage upon earth is a time of sorrow ; these
are the days " wherein God hath afflicted us,"
but He will hereafter "make us glad according
to them." In proportion to our suff^erings, if we
rightly bear those sufferings, will beour reward.
Then shall our joy be increased and receive an
additional relish from our former sorrow; then
shall we bless the days and the years which ex-
ercised our faith and perfected our patience;
and then shall we bless God, who chastised us
for a season, that He might bless us forever.
— Barnes: How kind and merciful is the ar-
rangement by which man is ordinarily removed
from the world before the time of " trouble and
sorrow " comes! — Perowne : God's work is first
to appear. His majesty is to be revealed: then
man's work, which is God's work carried out by
human instvumeats, may look for His blessing. —
J. F. M.].
PSALM XCL
1 He that dwelletk in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress :
My God ; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler
And from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers,
And under his wings shalt thou trust:
His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ;
Nor for the arrow that flieth by day ;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ;
Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side,
And ten thousand at thy right hand:
But it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
Even the Most High, thy habitation ;
PSALM XCI.
493
10 There shall no evil befall thee,
Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
To keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands,
Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder :
The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. —
14 "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him :
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him :
I will be with him in trouble ;
I will deliver him, and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him,
And shew him my salvation."
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Division. . The idea of the
Psalm is contained in the thought, tliat he, ■who
commits himself with full confidence to the pro-
tection of the Almighty, shall share that protec-
tion; that he will receive this the more fully,
the more he makes his dwelling with Him, that
thus deliverance will be afforded him from the
greatest dangers, and that he will receive, be-
sides, positive blessings. These comforting and
elevating reflections are couched in expressions
both lively and impressive. The true division,
however, has become a matter of dispute, from
the fact that a change of person appears on
mauy occasions, which is quite unprovided for.
And yet the supposition of different persons or a
chorus (Van Till, J. D. Michaelis, Stier, Maurer,
Olsbausen, Delitzsch), is to be viewed with sus-
picion, especially as this change occurs on one
occasion even in the same verse (ver. 9), and as
in the concluding strophe (vers. 14-16) God is
undoubtedly to be regarded as the speaker.
This Psalm is significantly employed in the
Church-service as an Invocavit for Sunday, and,
together with Ps. iii., has been designated by the
Talmudists as the Poem of Accidents, that is, a
song of protection in the midst of impending dan-
gers (Del.). It may perhaps be divided as fol-
lows. There is first presented a declaration made
(vers. 1, 2) by the psalmist with regard to himself.
Then he utters words of encouragement of a
lyrico-prophetical character, in which he holds up
to view the promises of miraculous aid from God,
for his own consolation (vers. 3-4), encourage-
ment (vers. 5, 6), and the assurance (vers. 7, 8),
of safety with God (9, 10). And, finally, God's
acceptance of his confession and ratification of
His own promises are announced in the form of
an oracle (vers. 14-16). Those assumptions
which fix the time of composition shortly after
the desecration of the Second Temple (Ewald) or
before the Passover of the year 162 B. C. (Hit-
zig), are mere guesses ; and yet they are enti-
tled to rather more respect than is the super-
scription: A song of praise of David, (Sept.), or
the supposition that the Psalm was addressed by
Moses to Joshua (Venema). [Alexander : "An
amplification of the theme that God is the dwell-
ing-place and refuge of His people. This and
other points of contact with the prayer of Moses
seem to mark it as an imitation of that Psalra,
and account for its position in the Psalter." —
J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. Dwelling [E.V.: He that dwelleth].
The supposition that n.lI'N has fallen out from
the beginning of the Psalm (Olshausen, Hupfeld)
is untenable, especially as it necessitates the
change of IDfct ver. 2 into "TpJ*, and proceeds
from the unnatural assumption that the Church
both speaks and is addressed (Olshausen). Now
if we consider the psalmist as occupying this
double place, we have a confession recorded,
which in the first verse is described as an mdi-
vidual one, springing from a sense of a personal
relation to God, while in the second the substance
of that confession is given. That the punctua-
tors so intended is clear from the fact that they
have not, in the second sentence, allowed a par-
ticiple pointed lDi< to follow the JKJ"' which be-
gins the psalm. This would give the following
connection: He who dwells .... is speaking
(Jerome, Luther and most). Bui they have
pointed the 1st imperfect IDX, which shows
that they not only viewed the person dwelling
and the person speaking as one and the same, but
also regarded the Psalmist as that person. It
was also not without an object but with good
reason, that they separated, by the accentuation,
*1DK from the following word, although the fact
has been either overlooked or misunderstood by
most expositors. It was just the usual connec-
tion of the words that was to be avoided. For,
beside a direct address to Jehovah, an address by
the speaker to himself would be much more un-
expected and harsh, than the mention of what
the Psalmist had confessed to God and experi-
enced in communion with Him, Since the two
members of the first verse are connected by
"and," and a finite verb occurs in the second
member, the idea might be suggested, that they
stand in the relation of protasis and apodosis
(Sept., Isaaki, Calvin, Geier, J. H. Michaelis, Da
494
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
Wette). But this would result in an insupporta-
ble tautology, which could only be concealed, by
foisting, against usage, upon the idea of passing
the night, that of restivg. In view of the paral-
lelism between the members of the sentence and
the thoughts, the resolving of the part, into the
corresponding finite verb is seen to form a suita-
ble transition to the conclusion of the sentence.
By this mode of viewing the passage the change of
persons in ver. 9, appearing suddenly and then
entirely vanishing, may also be explained. The
psalmist interrupts his confession by addressing
to himself words of encouragement. We need
not, therefore, supply n^^pX before (Theodoret,
Isaaki, Clericus, Hupfeld) or after Hi^X (Hitzig),
or expand the latter into the former. [Dr. Moll
therefore renders vers. 1 and 2 :
Dwelling in the protection of the Highest,
(As he who) passes the night under the shadow of the
Almighty,
I say : In Jehovah is my refage and fortress,
My God, in whom I trust.
Dr. Alexander translates: "Sitting in the se-
cret place of the Most High, in the shadow of the
Almighty he is lodged." This verse he supposes
to be "descriptive of an ideal person with whom
the speaker is tacitly identified." — J. F. M.].
Ver. 3,c^c. Terror by night (ver. 6). The best
view is that which supposes attacks of enemies to
be referred to, (Sol. Song iii. 8; Prov. iii. 23-26).
The psalmist does not here enter an incorporeal,
unearthly realm (Stier); and '^W'^ does not re-
late to demons (Shedim) or ghosts (the ancient
translators). Nor is the devil and his brood, as
a contrast to the angels, denoted either directly
or indirectly by the lions, adders and dragons
(Stier and Scliegg, and Delitzsch in part). The
dangers, especially those which threaten travel-
lers, are represented here by illustrations readily
suggested. But the nature of these dangers and
the mode of overcoming them, are set forth in
such a way as that they may be applied to all
the powers, either of nature or of the spirit-world,
which threaten destruction (Luke x. 19; Mark
xvi. 18; Rom. xvi. 20). So the snare of the
fowler, in ver. 3, is not identical with the snare
of the devil (2 Tim. ii. 26), but at most an emblem
of death (Ewald, Hitzig), though probably only
a representation of dangerous snares generally
(Eccl. ix. 12). For in ver. 3, pestilence does not
yet appear as a disease, but represents the
plague-like attack of ruin or evil (Hos. xiii. 14).
The picture is still a general one. It is only in
ver. 5, that the dangers of war by night and by
day are added to it. In ver. 6 pestilence and
sickness [E. V.: destruction] are introduced as
diseases. In vers. 11 flf., after a description of
God's protection of the righteous dwelling in his
tent, the dangers of the traveller are brought
into view. The concluding sentence enlarges
the view after Ps. 1. 23. — The emperor Alexan-
der I. is said to have been awakened by means
of this Psalm. The Countess Tolstoj gave it
to him in writing on the evening before his
march against Napoleon in the year 1812.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. He who knows God, knows also what he has
in Him, and what he knows of God he will declare
under different circumstances and at different
times. But to callupon,pray to, thank, and praise
Him in all times of need is not an easy thing for
even pious men to do. For the dangers which
threaten men, the enemies which lurk around
them, their menacing conduct, are innumerable
and of many forms; visible and invisible, fore-
seen and unsuspected, concealed and openly dis-
played, by day and by night, in the house and
by the way, at home and abroad, with violence,
cunning, and malice, planned and executed for
the ruin of many,
2, But if our path of life is full of obstructions,
over which we are walking in constant danger
of death, we have not merely to do with attacks
from without, but abo to contend with tempta-
tions which arise within ourselves, from timidity,
want of faith, and weakness. For this we need,
in equal measure, divine encouragement to our
soul, which holds up to view and confirms the
promises of God's help, as well as that help itself
in actual experience.
3. We must therefore take refuge in God's Truth
as well as in His Omnipotence and Love. Then
will we in all dai^gers not only trust in the pro-
tection of God ; we will also be guided by His
word, and learn to distinguish between the fear-
less and confident resort to God in the true paths
of our calling, and the presumptuous courting of
danger so as to tempt God (Matt. iv. 6). Then,
since we not merely hide ourselves under the
wings of the Almighty (Ps. xvii. 8; Matt, xxiii,
37), or refresh ourselves under the shadow of
His house (Numb, xiv. 9; Hos. xiv. 8; Jer.
xlviii. 45), but take up our abode in God as our
Dwelling-place, we can raise our contemplation
above the conditions of time, to a life whose du-
ration none can declare, and wait for the coming
deliverance.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
No man can do without God's assistance, but
it is only believers who acknowledge it, and de-
rive consolation from that assistance in con-
formity with the Divine promises. Many expe-
rience the protection of God, but it is only those
who trust Him, that gain lasting profit therefrom.
— He who has taken refuge in God, will not leave
Him again, but remain ever with Him. — Men
must be guided by God's word, if they would
learn to rely upon His will. — We know most
assuredly that God is for us, because we can
be with Him and He with us. — Whether life be
long or short, the main thing is that we gain
during it the gracious presence of God, and ex-
perience the saving help of the Highest. — God
does not merely send His servants and messen-
gers ; He comes also Himself to help and deliver
the righteous.
Starke: He who has God for his dwelling-
place is raised so high, that the devil, the world,
and all temptations cannot harm him. — True
hope in God is naturally a token of a state of
grace, for none can have a true living hope in
Him, who have not true faith in and sincere love
for Him. — The chief ground of the assurance of
the righteous that they will obtain God's protec-
tion, is His truth aud faithfulness in graciously
PSALM XCII.
495
fulfilling His promises. — What to others is a
poison and rod of anger, must to believers be a
wholesome medicine: God even knows how to
direct everything by His wisdom and goodness for
the highest good of His children. — Beware of re-
jecting anything, which God graciously sends to
thee. — The hut of the believer is a surer defence
against all the afflictions and punishments which
come from God, than the grandest palaces of the
ungodly. — God is indeed very willing to protect
us and to do us good, but we must do our part
too, and with humility and faith seek with Him
these blessings. — It is not our merit and worthi-
ness that make us partakers of the defence and
help of God, but true faith, by which we know
His name. — Six times in succession does God
say: I will. How great is such love! Call thou
out (o Him in reply : I will. I will accept the
order in which Thou dost promise to prove
Thy readiness to help. — A.rndt : It is a comfort-
ing word, that God, the chief captain of the
guard, Himself keeps watch and guard over His
children. — How men by sincere trust in God are
BO well assisted, is proved, partly by what God
does for them, and partly by the words of com-
fort they address to themselves. — Tholttck :
God's covering extends everywhere, and thou
needest not seek any other. — Vaihinger: Vital
union with God is the ground of help. — Umbreit :
Enjoyment in a long earthly life does in no way
exclude a striving after immortal glory and the
hope of eternity, but supposes only a peaceful
contentment with the present, and a child-like
pleasure in the glad light of the sun. — Diedrich:
Let God rule outside with His thunder : but keep
thyself completely shielded in Him. — Sohau-
BACH : The Christian should exult in the victory
of Jesus Christ, not with vain and harmful de-
light, but as a living witness to the Divine truth
and righteousness, to the honor of God and the
comfort and strengthening of his own soul. —
Taube : It is not merely a safe progress through
this world of sorrow that is here kept in view,
but satisfaction in and from the God of salva-
tion and life ; and only then can we be satisfied.
[Barnes: Religion blesses a man in this life
and blesses him for ever. In possession of this
it is a great thing for him to live long: and then
it is a great thing for him to die — to go to be
for ever with God. — J. F. M.]
PSALM XCII.
A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day.
2 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,
And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High :
3 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,
And thy faithfulness every night,
4 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery;
Upon the harp with a solemn sound.
5 For thou. Lord, hast made me glad through thy work :
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
6 0 Lord, how great are thy works!
And thy thoughts are very deep.
7 A brutish man knoweth not ;
_ Neither doth a fool understand this.
8 When the wicked spring as the grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish ;
It is that they shall be destroyed for ever :
9 But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.
10 For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish ;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
11 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn :
I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
12 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies,
And mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
13 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree :
496
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
14 Thosft that be planted in the house of the Lord
Shall nourish in the courts of our God.
15 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be fat and flourishing ;
16 To shew tiiat the Lord is upright:
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
CoNTKNTS AND COMPOSITION. — The mode of
expression in vers. 5, 11, 12 point to definite oc-
casions for the praise of God's righteous govern-
ment, which had been misunderstood by stupid
and foolish men, by reason of the depth of the
Divine counsels, and on account of the temporary
flourishing of the wicked. Yet nothing can be
concluded from 1 Maccab. vii. 17, and is.. 23 to
show that the Psalm was sung at the feast of
dedication under Judas Maccabaeus as a song of
thanksgiving for the victory over the Syrians
(Venema), or to connect it with the judgment of
CJod upon Antiochus and Lysias, 1 Maccab. vii.
(Hitzig). A relation to the Sabbath, on the
other hand, is readily suggested by the whole
tenor of the Psalm, and by many distinct ex-
pressions. Among these there may be specially
mentioned the seven-fold repetition of the name
Jehovah, the intentional form of the middle
strophe consisting of seven stichs, the musical
accompaniment of the song of praise, and the
manifold references of the Psalm to the works
of God, and to the prosperity of His people, who
are planted in His house. Its original designa-
tion to a sabbatical use, however, can neither be
deduced from its contents nor proved from the
superscription. But its application to such pur-
poses in the temple-service after the exile, has
been made known to us by the Talmudists, who
are only divided in opinion, as to whether the
celebration of the Sabbath which shall end the
world's history was the one really in view, or
that of the Sabbath which has begun it. In the
latter connection rabbinical absurdity has been
carried so far as to refer the Psalm to Adam
(Kimchi). — The division of the Psalm is as fol-
lows : The demand for the praise of God (vers.
2-4), is supported by allusions to the govern-
ment and works of God, whose greatness and
depth of wisdom are equally beyond the compre-
hension of all men (vers. 5-7). This demand is
not weakened by the thougjit of the prosperity
of the wicked, which is only transient (vers. 8-
10), but is muchrather justified by the exaltation
of the righteous from a depressed condition to
greater glory and power ^vers. 11, 12), as they
grow up vigorously, like blooming trees of God's
planting, from the soil in which they stand as
faithful worshippers of God in His house, and
bring forth praise to Jehovah, as the ripened
fruit of their flourishing growth (vers. 13-16),
[As regards the primary object of the compo-
sition of the Psalm, Dr, Alexander agrees with
Hengstenberg in holding that it was for the Sab-
bath service — that therefore there is no reason
to doubt the originality of the superscription.
Perowne is of the same opinion as Dr, Moll,
thinking that the superscription is not a safe
guide. As to the subject of the Psalm, Perowne
says: " It celebrates in joyful strain the great-
ness of God's works, especially His righteous
government of the world, as manifested in the
overthrow of the wicked and the final triumph
of the righteous. — The Psalmist, therefore,
touches upon the same great principles of the
Divine government which are laid down in such
Psalms as 1., xxxvii,, xlix., and Ixxiii. But here
there is no struggle with doubt and perplexity
as in Ps. Ixxiii. The poet is beyond all doubt,
above all perplexity. He has not fallen down
to the level of the brutish man, (comp. Ixxiii.
22 with xcii. 6) ; he is rejoicing in the full and
perfect conviction of the righteousness of God,"
—J. F. M,]
Vers, 3, 4, [In verse 3 there is no occasion for
rendering "every night" as E. V, has done.
It is the simple plural of the noun that occurs
in the Hebrew. "In the nights" is a poetical
use of the plural. It is parallel with: "in the
morning," in the first member, and therefore has
the same indefiniteness of meaning. So all the
recent commentators, Ver, 4 is rendered by Dr.
Moll; On the decachord and on the harp, in
playing upon the cithara. — J. F. M,] Ver, 4,
In playing, [E, V., with a solemn sound],
Higgaion (see Introduc. § 12, No, 2) is now ex-
plained by Delitzsch, in agreement with Hitzig,
as an improvised musical performance, or one
that expresses the fancies of the moment.
Vers. 11, 12. The horn is an emblem of exces-
sive strength and at the same time of stately grace
(Del.), We are probably not to consider the buf-
falo (most) to be referred to, but the antelope,
which was regarded by the Talmudists as single-
horned. Yet the existence of the animal which
is designated DN"j, (here incorrectly D'NT),
Numb, xxiii. 22 ; Deut. xxxiii, 17 ; Job xxxix.
9-12 ; Ps. xxix. 6, can hardly be maintained
upon the evidence of natural history, especially
as upon both Persian and Egyptian monuments
the figure of the unicorn occurs, which certainly
affords no indication of its representing a
rhinoceros, for the fabulous, the mythological,
and the actual are there blended together. In-
stead of: I am anointed (1. preeterite Kal from
773), some render: my being old (infin, of n73
with suflix), as though the Psalmist were speak-
ing of increase of strength in limbs rendered
stiff by old age (Sept,, Symm,, Jerome, and
others). The adjective |J^|1, employed else-
where only of the olive-tree, is here transferred
to the oil itself (green=fresh, sappy). This is
perhaps an evidence of a late composition, like
PSALM XCII.
497
the form ^"^W, in ver. 12, which has either been
T ' '
distorted from ''T'il!^ (Bottcher,01sh.j, or softened
down from it (Ewald, Hitzig).
Ver. 13. Falm-tree. — The comparison of
the endurance of God's people to trees generally
(Is. Ixv. 22), bears allusion here to the marrowy
freshness and vital force of the righteous,
specialized by instancing two trees, which share
with the olive (Ps. lii. 10; Judg. ix. 9) an al-
most indestructible productive power, longevity,
and verdure, but surpass it in their majestic
growth and the sublimity of their whole appear-
ance. In all these qualities the palms and
cedars are here contrasted with the grass in ver.
8. In addition to this we can, in connection
with the cedar, think of its pleasant smell (Hos.
xiv. 7), and in connection with the palm, (for
the date-palm is particularly specified), of its
magnificent blossoms, which yield fruit weighing
from three hundred to four hundred pounds.
For this reason this palm is called by the Arabs
"the blessed tree," and "the sister of man."
It is used in Jerusalem even to the present day
as an ornamental tree (Tit. Tobler, Denkwuer-
digkeilen, p. 109). On the symbolical meanings
of trees and flowers, see Bahr, Symbolik des
mosaischen Kullus I. 365, 376, 446 f., and Keil
Der Tempel Salomos, p. 143. — The closing sen-
tence rests upon Deut. zxxii. 4.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The praise of God in the Church on the
days of her solemn assembly is in itself a good
thing, on a good foundation, of excellent re-
sults, and of a delightful appearance. The
working and ruling of God in nature and history
presents an inexhaustible subject of such praise,
the ordinance of the weekly sacred day, its
regularly recurring occasion, and the house of
God, the place adorned for its celebration. But
let the Church only attend it numerously at
all times, and, to the praise of God's name, unite
the acknowledgment of His mercy and truth.
2. He who has delight in God's working and
ruling, will also joyfully and thoughtfully con-
template the greatness of His works, and the
depths of His thoughts, and praise them with
adoring gladness, if, at the same time, he con-
fesses that, on account of their infinite fulness
(Ps. xl. 6 ; cxxxix. 17), and immeasurable exal-
tation (Isa. Iv. 8), they are unsi^archable by
him (Rom. xi. 33). This acknov/ledgment is
becoming to man and wise. It corresponds per-
fectly to the relation between the creature and
the world's Governor and Creator, who not only
dwells on high, but is Himself simply Exaltation.
3. But the people of God not only discern in the
brief bloom of the wicked the seeds of their
speedy destruction ; they confide also in God's
care over the righteous, and experience in them-
selves that God is a rock, which remains im-
movable, and His temple a fruitful ground,
from which, as His planting, His people draw
the means of their vigorous growth, of their
prosperity and fruitfulness.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who takes delight in God's works, can
32
neither weary in contemplating them, nor in
ofi'ering the thanksgiving which is due to Him
for them. — We cannot fully explore the nature
of God, on account of its exaltation, but He has
vouchsafed to His people through His name the
way to the knowledge of Him, and the means of
worshipping Him. — Without the public service
of God, the Church can neither endure nor
flourish : for it is planted in the courts of God. —
The consolation drawn from the reflection that
the preserver of the Church is the Creator and
Governor of the world. — God's name, word, and
work, the means of His manifestation of Himself
and of the building of His Church. — God's exal-
tation declares itself in the greatness of His
works and the depths of His thoughts, and calls
upon us to yield ourselves up to Him in humility
and trust, and to worship Him with thanksgiving
and praise.
Starke : Oh ! that we were wise enough, all
through our lives, to mark well what is of the
greatest value. How many unprofitable things
we do, and neglect the best of all life's gifts ! —
Nothing is more precious, honorable, or salutary,
than the praise of God's name, for it is an an-
gelic and heavenly employment on earth. — The
day with its light and cheerfulness reminds us
of the mercy of God, by which we have light
and life. The night, with its fearful and death-
like darkness, teaches us to lay to heart the
truth of God's word, because in the darkness
we have no other consolation than His unchange-
able promises. — Beware, ye mighty, of using
your power against one of God's saints! Do ye
now flourish 1 Ye flourish like the grass, which,
before one thinks of it, is cut down. — There is
no finer soil for the growth and prosperity of
the righteous than the house of the Lord,
wherein God plants them; for there nothing
grows of itself; and what does grow of itself, is
unprofitable in the Church of God. — Happy are
those aged saints, who, as outward vigor fails,
prove themselves so much the more fruitful in
the power of the Spirit, Selnecker: The
world has great pomp and lofty titles, but God,
who is the Almighty One, is the Lord of Lords, •
and he who clings to Him and trusts in Him,
abides with Him through eternity. — Arndt :
Nothing which is not of God can endure,
whether it be skill or riches or honor or power.
It may indeed spring up, and be clothed with
pleasant verdure, but it turns out at last to be a
thistle, and is only a weed, fit for nothing but
the fire. — Rieqer: He who feels no grateful
joy in the goodness of God, seeks comfort in
vanity, and then falls into wickedness ; and in
that wickedness ingratitude is the most base of
all crimes; for all evil-doers sin against a benefi-
cent God. — Tholuck: There are no more im-
pressive witnesses and preachers for the rising
generation, than pious old men. While bodily
vigor and knowledge and skill succumb to the
weakness of age, their piety yields fruits that are
all the sweeter the more nearly they approach
the grave.— Diedbich: The ungodly first despise
God and then murmur against Him ; but those
who honor His word by faith, know this above
all things, that they must ever praise Him,
even in death.— Taube : He who knows God's
name from experience of His deliverance, must
498
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
love Him, and he who loves Him, must praise
film, and he who has learnt to praise Him, will
never be weary of His praise.
[Matth. Henry : Their flourishing without
is from a fatness within. — Without a living prin-
ciple of grace in the heart, the profession will
not be long flourishing; but where that is, "the
leaf also shall not wither." — The lastdaysof the
saints are sometimes their best days, and their
last work their best work. This, indeed, shows
that they are upright ; perseverance is the
surest evidence of eincerity. — J. F. M.]
PSALM XCIIL
1 The Lord reigneth, lie is clothed with majesty ;
The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself:
The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
2 Thy throne is established of old:
Thou art from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice ;
The floods lift up their waves.
4 The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Thy testimonies are very sure :
Holiness becometh thine house,
O Lord, for ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The superscrip-
tion in the Septuagint: "For the day before the
Sabbath, when the earth had been peopled; song
of praise of David," arises in the first portion from
the tradition, according to which this Psalm was
the Psalm for the sixth day of the week in the
Temple-liturgy: "because God had finished
His work on the sixth day, and had begun to
rule over it," (Rosh-ha-shana 31 a., cited by
Delitzsch). But the truth is that it is the begin-
ning of God's ruling in history, and not in the
kingdom of nature, that is referred to in the
Psalm. For the lifting up of the waters is only
an image of the raging of rebellious bodies of
men. And it is Jehovah, the God of revelation,
yrho is the subject of the Psalm, who has mani-
fested in history His kingly glory, surpassing all
the powers of the world, in the defence of His
people and the preservation of His temple from
desecration. By this He at the same time has
proved Himself to be the King of that people,
according to His revealed testimony, and has
strengthened the hopes founded upon that testi-
mony. The interchange of perfects and imper-
fects corresponds to this view which the Psalmist
held as to the workings of God, a view based
upon special manifestations of His power. It is
not expressed as a doxology (Hupfeld), still less
is it refined away in general expressions and to
abstract truths, but presents in the concrete the
history of the kingdom of God, and contem-
plates it from the prophetical stand-point. It is
of the highest importance for the understanding
of many Psalms, to distinguish between the/Aeo-
cratic Psalms, which begin with the motto : "jHo
T\'\T\\ (after Ps, xlvii. 9), and the Messianic
Psalm, as two series of prophecies of the time
of consummation running parallel to one another
(Delitzsch). " The one class has as its central
theme the Anointed of Jehovah, who rules out of
Zion over all nations ; the other, Jehovah sitting
above the Cherubim, to whom the whole earth
does homage. These two series converge, in-
deed, in the Old Testament, but do not meet.
The history of their fulfilment alone makes clear
what had only glimmered forth before from
some lofty heights of prophecy and poetry, (see
in Ps. xlv. 7), that the Parusia of the Anointed
and that of Jehovah, are one and the same"
(Del.). Accordingly this motto could expresi
the feelings of God's people at quite different
PSALM XCIII.
499
periods, and find its application in quite distinct
events, which bad brought about avictory of the
Theocracy, especially as the figure of the raging
waters is based upon an allusion to the Red Sea,
which, in the poetic recital of the famous events
preceding the founding of the Theocracy, is de-
scribed by the epithet: inx (Exod. xv. 10),
elsewhere applied to Jehovah (Isa, x. 34 ; Ps.
xciii. 4) and Hia people (Ps. xvi. 3). Since we
cannot assign the composition of the Psalm to
the period whose features are described in Deut.
xxxiii. 4, we have presented for our choice the
age of David (the ancients), the Assyrian period
(Hengst.), the times succeeding the exile (Del.),
the Maccabsean period (Venema, Olsh., Hitzig).
The position of the Psalm along with the related
ones is especially favorable to the age following
the Exile. [Hiizig remarks that the substance
of the Psalm is contained in ver. 8 of the pre-
ceding. Hence its position. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. Jehovah shows Himself King,
[E.V., the Lord reigneth.] The emphasis doesnot
lie restrictively upon Jehovah (Geier, and others),
as the eternal King upon an everlasting throne, as
contrasted with earthly rulers over ephemeral
kingdoms, but just as strongly upon the manifes-
tations of that relation, by which disturbances
that have shaken the earth and threatened tb.g
kingdom of God have been quelled. The usual
term for ascending the throne (2 Sam. xv. 10 ;
1 Kings i. 11, 13 ; 2 Kings ix. 13) is chosen. It
is also applied in Isa. xxiv. 23 ; lii. 7, and
finally Rev. xi. 17 ; xix. 6, as in Pss. xcvi. 10 ;
xcvii. 1 ; xcix. 1, to the coming of the Lord in
His kingdom, Ob. 21, Zech. xiv. 9. Then follow
the declarations that Jehovah clothes Himself (Is.
li. 9; Ps. civ.) with exaltation (Isa. xii. 5; xxvi.
10 ; Ps. Ixviii. 35 ), and girds Himself with strength
like a warrior (Isa. viii. 9; lix. 17; Ixiii. 1; Dan.
vii. 9), to assert His sovereign sway, and thereby
to establish the earth shaken to its foundations
and disturbed in its order (Ps. Ixxv. 4).
Vers. 3-5. The Nile (J^r. xlvi. 7), the Euphrates
(Isa. viii. 7), and the Tigris (Isa. xxvii. 1) are
particularly employed, among streams, as em-
blems of the kingdoms of the world. The sea
(Pa. xlvi. 4; Ixxxix. 10), and especially the Red
Sea, subdued by Jehovah's voice and might
(Hab. iii. 8, 10; Ps. Ixxiv. 15; Ixxvii. 17 f, ;
cxiv. 3), are used as an emblem of the outbreak
of the forces of nature and of hostile kingdoms.
— "jD in ver. 4 is- not causal (Geier) but compa-
rative.— The testimonies (ver. 5) are those of
revelation, especially of the law (Ps. xix. 8 ;
XXV. 10; cxi. 7). [Perowne: "The transition
is abrupt, from the majesty of God as seen in
His dominion in the world of nature, to His re-
velation of Himself in His word. At the same
time there is a connection between the two, as in
Ps. xix, ; God, who rules the world, whose are
the kingdom and the power and the glory for
ever, has given His testimonies to His people, a
sure and faithful word, and has Himself oome to
dwell with them, making His bouse and His
people holy,"— J. F. M.J
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Jehovah can as little cease to be God, as His
power over all things can come to an end. But
two things are to be observed in this connection :
First, there are times in which God veils His
majesty and restrains the exercise of His power,
followed by times in which He displays His
kingly glory, eternal and exalted over all ; .
Secondly, there is a radical diflference between
God's government of the world which He has
created, and of the Church which He has estab-
lished upon the earth, and yet both kingdoms
are not only kept, by their common King, in ex-
istence and order, but are fixed by Ilim in their
mutual relations, and carried forward to their
several destinies.
2. God, by His might, preserves, first of all, the
world in its physical existence, so that the out-
break of the elements cannot destroy it, but
proves them to be powerless before the throne
of the Almighty, whose voice in the clouds
drowns the thunder of their raging, and at
whose nod all their proud waves are stilled.
But God rules the whole world also by His
might, and defends His people who are in it, by
controlling the agitations in the life of its na-
tions, and directing the current of history ac-
cording to His will. These reflections should
strengthen our trust, and, in serious crises, en-
liven our courage and confirm our patience.
*' All acknowledge with the mouth what the pro-
phet here teaches, but how few there are who
oppose this shield, as they ought, to the hostile
might of the wox'ld, so that they fear nothing,
be it ever so terrible !" (Calvin).
8. But, besides, Jehovah is not merely a God of
might and of faithfulness, upon whom we can
rely. He is the God who has revealed His sal-
vation in the world, and for this reason He will
not only preserve His people, in whom is His
earthly dwelling, but distinguish them as His
own inheritance. For this end He has made
known to them His will, and given testimony
that it is good and gracious, that it is the will
of the Holy God, who has impressed this charac-
ter of holiness, which is peculiar to His nature
and His word, upon His house as becoming to it,
and will make it clearly manifest in His people
and kingdom. By keeping ever before them
this claim of holiness, on which the continuance
of the moral order of the world depends, God's
people are encouraged to the obedience of faith,
and at the same time, by reflecting upon the cre-
dibility of these testimonies, are comforted by
the infallible promises of His word.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The immovableness of God's kingly throne in
the midst of the commotions of the world: (1.)
as a token of the incomparable exaltation of
this throne over all the royal seats of the world ;
(2.) as security for the inviolable faithfulness of
such a King, who from this throne preserves and
rules the world and the Church ; (3.) as a rea-
son why the citizens of earthly kingdoms must
yield themselves up to the service of this King
and His throne.— The firmness of God's throne
answers to the reliability of His word ; does the
same relation exist between our belief and ouy
faithfulness ?— When God's glory is concealed
from us, let us only be the more mindful of His
holiness. — No one need or can rely upon th«
500
THE FOURTH' BOOK OF PSALMS.
power of God, who is not willing to rely upon
His testimonies, or to seek after the holiness of
His house. — Three fundamental reasons for the
preservation of the Church of God: (1.) the im-
movableness of God's throne ; (2.) the truth of
His word; (3.) the holiness of His house.
Starke : Christ is King over the whole world ,
0 let us take delight in lying at His feet and
worshipping Him ! We are blessed, if we be-
come subjects of His kingdom of power, and
kingdom of grace. — Where Christ is, there the
world rages ; no one can endure His presence.
— Our duty is not performed if we merely
beautify the house of God with gold and silver
and precious stones ; we give it its true adorn-
ing, if we resort to it attired in the holy robe
of faith. — Mrnzel : We must esteem God's word
as our greatest ornament and noblest treasure.
— Friscu : Be not anxious, no matter how great
cause of anxiety there be in the world. The
world must bear the kingdom of the heavenly
King, even if it should break beneath it. — Ber-
LENBUROER BiBLE : The testimonies of God are
well worthy of human belief, and yet men trust
them not. — Tholuck: God has established in its
whole extent that world, over whose several
countries the kings of the earth rule. Behold
in this a proof of His power. He who alone
has given it existence has never received it, but
holds it as an eternal possession. Behold in
this a proof of His exaltation.
[Scott : We should carefully inquire whether
Christ's kingdom has indeed been set up in our
hearts. This will best be decided by examining
whether we so believe His testimonies and de-
pend on Him for salvation, as to be led to love
and follow after that holiness which His precepts
command and His example displays, and which
becomes all who profess the truth.
Barnes; Attendance in a place of pnblio
worship is calculated to make the heart pure,
and to banish unholy thoughts and purposes
from the soul. A man who feels that he is in the
presence of a Holy God will not be likely to wel-
come into his soul polluted images and unholy
desires.
Wordsworth : The walking of Christ on the
waves of the sea was a prophetical foreshadow-
ing of the ease and majesty, with which He shall
one day tread the swelling waves of all human
pride and earthly power, and make their tumul-
tuous billows a pavement for His feet. — J. F. M.]
PSALM XCIV.
1 0 Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth ;
O God, to whom vengeance beJongeth, shew thysel£
2 Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth:
Render a reward to the proud.
3 Lord, how long shall the wicked,
How long shall the wicked triumph ?
4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things ?
And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves ?
5 They break in pieces thy people, O Lord,
And afflict thine heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger,
And murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, The Lord shall not see,
Neither shall the God of Jacob regard it
8 Understand, ye brutish among the people :
And ye fools, when will ye be wise ?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ?
He that formed the eye, shall he not see ?
10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct?
He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man,
That they are vanity.
12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord,
And teachest him out of thy law :
PSALM XCIV.
601
13 That thou may est give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit be digged for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not cast off his people,
Neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness:
And all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the evil doers ?
Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the Lord had been my help,
My soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slippeth :
Thy mercy, 0 Lord, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me
Thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee,
Which frameth mischief by a law ?
21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous,
And condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the Lord is my defence;
And my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity,
And shall cut them off in their own wickedness; .7
Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. The psalmist
at first invokes the retribution of God as the
Avenger (Deut. xxxii. 35) upon insolent trans-
gressors (vers. 1-3) ; he then describes their
bloody, violent and impious acts, by which they
were destroying the people of God, and, at the
same time, showing despite to God Himself (vers.
4-7) ; he next turns with warning and rebuke
to the foolish of the people, who had begun to
doubt even God Himself, (vers. 8-11); he pro-
nounces the pious man happy, who submits to
the chastening of God and thereby trusts to
God's compensating righteousness (vers. 12-15),
praises, for his own part the Lord as his only
but sure help, (vers. 16-18), and announces his
assurance of the certain infliction of the retribu-
tion which he implores (vers. 19-23),
The intermingling of personal with general
experiences is of such a kisd that the former
appears conditioned by the latter, which, again,
are not occasioned by distractions within, but
by the influence of enemies from without. From
them, the people had learned many things that
were reprehensible. David therefore, (Sept,
and other versions), is not to be thought of as the
author. Within the period of the exile also, (De
Wette, Hupfeld) no suitable place can be found
for this psalm, since nothing is said of the de-
parture of the captives or of the return, of the
desolation of t^e city or of the destruction of
the temple. We hesitate, too, to descend to
the Maccabaean period (Venema, Rosenmiiller,
Hesse, Olsh., Hitzig), though 1 Mace. vii. If., or
ix. 23 f,, contain similar descriptions There re-
main, therefore, only the Assyrian or the Chal-
dean oppressions in their commencement
(Hengst,), or those after the exile in general
(Kiister, Del.). According to Talmudic tradi-
tion, the Levites were singing this Psalm during
the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldees, and
had just cometo the last verse, when the enemy
burst into the temple, so that they could not sing
the concluding lines. To the objection that that
day was the Sabbath, while this was a Psalm for
the fourth day of the week in the temple liturgy,
it is replied, that it was a soug of lamentation,
and sung on account of their situation (Erachia;
xi. a, in Delitzsch). The Sept. has, along with
the statement, "Song of praise of David" the
remark: "for the fourth day of the week."
[Alexander: " There is nothing to determine the
precise date of the composition, much less to re-
strict it to any particular historical occasion..
Though some things in it seem peculiarly appro-
priate to the state of Judah on the eve of the
Babylonian, conquest, it is so constructed as to
be a vehicle of pious feeling to the Church in
various emergencies."
Vers, 1, f. Show thyself or shine forth, does
not necessarily refer to a theophany in the strict
sense. The construction of the form as a praet,
(Sept, etal., Hengst.) would accord with the regu-
lar rule after Deut, xxxiii. 2 ; Ps. 1. 2, but does not
suit the context. A rarer form of the imperative
y^Zin instead of ^SIH (Ges, § 63, remark 2) is
therefore to be assumed, without needing to
point J^'Sin (Ewald), unless we prefer to hold
that the final consonant has fallen away from
the original form ni^'flin (Ps. Ixxx. 2) on ao-,
count of its similarity in sound to the first letter
of the following word (Olshausen, Hitzig, Hup-*
feld, Del.). The plural, avengings, may denote
502
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
not only the plurality of avenging deeds (Ezek.
XXV. 17), but also the severity of the retribution
(Judges xi. 30; 2 Sam. iv. 8 ). The designation
of God as the "God of retributions" is related
to this.
Vers. 8-10. The expression : foolish among
the people [E. V. literally : brutish], is not
another way of conveying the idea of the highest
degree of stupidity (Geier, De Wette). It is not
men in general or the heathen nations (most)
who are addressed, but that part of Israel who
had become accessible to seduction and sugges-
tions of doubt (Olshausen and the recent exposi-
tors). But it is doubtful whether we ought to
render in ver. 10: the Instructor of the nations
(Jerome, Clericus, Ewald, Kdster, Maurer,
Hengst., Hupfeld, Hitzig) or: He who hath
chastised the heathen (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich-
aelis, Rosenmiiller, Delitzsch). But the con-
trast is not between the Gentiles without and
Israel with the revealed Law; or between Israel's
former punishment at the hands of oppressors,
and that which is to be expected now, so that
the one can be inferred from the other. An
inference is rather made from one course of
action on the part of God to another of similar
character, and not to the same course of action
with reference to distinct objects, or at diflFerent
times. [Perowne: "In the English Bible this is
broken up into two questions, and a clause is
supplied in the second member which does not
exist in the Hebrew: 'Shall not He know?'
But this is incorrect. There is a change in the
argument. Before it was from the physical
constitution of roan; now it is from the moral
government of the world. He who is the great
Educator of the race, who gives them all the
knowledge they possess, has He not the right
which even human teachers possess, of chasten-
ing, correcting, and improving? On this Divine
education see Rom. i. 20; ii..l6, 16." — J. F. M.].
Ver. 11 b. Since the pronoun is in the
masculine, it is natural to refer it to " men,"
and translate: for they are breath, that is,
nothingness, finitude, transitoriness (Geier, J.
H. Mich., Hengst., Hupfeld). The metaphysical
ground of God's perfect knowledge of His
creatures, which are formed by Him and abso-
lutely dependent upon Him, would then be pre-
sented. But the context favors rather the inter-
pretation that God who gives men knowledge, is
the Omniscient One, to whom their thoughts, in
their natural nothingness, lie fully disclosed.
The Sept. also has so understood the sentence,
and is followed by Paul (1 Cor. iii. 20) and Je-
rome. The position of the pronoun, moreover,
justifies this view. If the first idea had been
intended, the pronoun would have been placed
before the noun (Jer. x. 15). In a dependent
sentence, however, corresponding to the accusa-
tive of the object, it may precede, contrary to
the usual rule (Isa. Ixi. 9 ; Jer. xlvi. 5) ; also,
when emphasis is required Ps. ix. 21), like the
accusative in a relative clause (Ps. xeix. 4 ;
Prov. ii. 16; Hos. vii. 2). The masculine would
then be loosely employea instead of the feminine,
as in Ps. xxxiv. 20 (Hitzig, Del,).
Ver. 13, etc. That Thou mayst give him
rest. — This is usually referred to the inward re-
pose of the righteous man, who receives instruc-
tion from God's law (Deut. viii. f.) as to the design
of the sufferings impending over him (Jer. xlix.
23 compared with Isa. xxx. 15), and strength for
the trials of evil days, so that such a man, tried
and purified as he is by sufferings, is even to be
counted happy (Job v. 17; Prov. iii. 11 f. ; Pss.
xxxiv. 9 ; xl. 5). But ver. 13 b. directs the
view of the chastened to the end of the trans-
gressor, and ver. 14 to God's abiding with His
people. This is the reason why the evil days
will come to an end. God will afford the suf-
ferer outward rest or deliverance from them
(Job iii. 13, 17 f . ; xxxiv. 29; Prov. xv. 18).
The 7 in ver. 13 a. indicates, not the design of
the teaching, but its contents (Calvin, Clericus,
Hupfeld). The evil days are not called days of
■misfortune, nor days of the evil man, that is, of
the wicked, but days of harm, in which bad men
abuse their power to work mischief (Ps. xlix. 6).
From this cause sufferings arise for the righteous,
which the latter regard as Divine chastisements,
and make to contribute to their salvation. The
throne of destruction, ver. 20 [E. V., throne of
iniquity], is either the throne of the enemy,
from which destruction threatens Israel, but to
which Jehovah grants no duration and no fel-
lowship with Him ; or the chair of the judge,
who causes distress [Heb., /DJ^, E. V., mischief]
by using the written law of God as an occasion
for illegalities and the perversion of justice.
The latter view agrees better with the mode of
expression in ver. 20 b. For that sentence does
not simply allude to a course of action disastrous
in its results and opposed to the law, but to an
ingenious forming of something burdensome and
oppressive, the expression being suggested by
and applied from the fashioning of statuets. [This
idea is expressed in the rendering : who formest
misery by law (rule). — J, F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The presumption of the ungodly is apt to in-
crease, when they are allowed for a long period
to employ with impunity their position in the
world, their influence, and their resources, for
the oppression of the weak and defenceless, and
especially of the righteous. Their course of
action often reaches to cruelty and reckless vio-
lence, and becomes criminality and wickedness,
when, to the relentless ill-treatment of those,
who, through God's precepts, are made the
special objects of His watchful love and compas-
sionate help, are united the denial of His omnis-
cience, the delusion of complete impunity, and
derision of the belief in His government of the
world and in His retributive righteousness.
2. Such conduct is indeed that of Aea^Aen, but
yet it is not only displayed among heathen nations,
but appears also among those who have re-
ceived the law of God, but who either transgress
it openly, insolently, and defiantly, or, while
holding fast to the letter, practice injustice under
the appearance and garb of righteousness, and
in both oases oppress those who are weak, or
offend them, or cause them to err in their faith,
or seduce them from their allegiance (o God.
8. A cry of prayer, therefore, sounds forth at
times from the midst of the Church, invoking
PSALM XCIV.
603
the judicial intervention of God against lier de-
stroyers, when they would, by violence or by per-
version of justice, oppress the righteous and
persecute them even to death. For God's people
hold fast to the belief which is oppugned and de-
rided, that God is the supreme and faithful
Judge and Avenger, who will bring to their due
results the laws according to which He regulates
the course of the world, and will reconcile the
occasional contradictions between the actual
state or administration of justice, and the prin-
ciple and norm of righteousness. The prema-
ture rejoicings of the wicked and their scorn
will then be stilled, when they fall into the abyss
prepared for them ; while the soul of the right-
eous will dwell no longer in the land of silence,
for God is their help.
4. But God is not merely the Judge of the whole
world and the righteous Avenger; He is also the
Teacher of men, and has left Himself at no time
and in no place without a witness. All under-
standing and knowledge, even of the heathen,
spring from Him who is the Creator of men, and
has given them reason and all their senses.
Blessed are they who not only are acquainted
with His Law, revealed in Israel, but come un-
der its instruction and guidance. To give testi-
mony to this is tlie duty assigned to the Church,
in order that the ignorant be instructed, the err-
ing set right, the tried comforted, the secure
and presumptuous warned, sinners convicted in
conscience, the doubting and weak strength-
ened, and all together confirmed in the certain
assurance that God is both able and willing to
execute judgment for the complete deliverance
of the righteous and punishment of the im-
piety of the wicked, in accordance with the pro-
mises and commands of His Law.
HOMTLETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is not enough to hold a general belief that
a God exists ; the question is : (1.) what kind of
God He is ; (2.) whether we adhere faithfully to
Him. — We cannot apply the promises of God's
law to ourselves, unless we value His command-
ments.— God is not only the Creator and Ruler
of the world. He is also the trustworthy Teacher
and Educator of men, and their infallible Judge.
How the wickedness of men often makes them
fools, and how the folly of men often urges
them deeper still into ruin, — In order not to be
obliged to forsake their sins, the wicked presume
that they will remain unpunished, and in order
not to be disturbed in their delusion, they deny
the only true and living God.— God is the right-
eous Avenger, but before He punishes He warns,
and those who would be delivered must yield to
His rule. — He who would be freed from anxiety
must listen to the words of God. — If our souls
are to be revived by the consolations of God, we
must listen to His warnings and believe His pro-
mises.
LuTHEE : He who so believes and is taught of
God, can be patient, and let the wicked rage,
while he looks to the end, and bides the tim'e,
Stakkb: Thou dost arrogate to thyself God's
royal prerogative, whenever thou dost seek to
avenge thyself on those who injure thee. — Be-
lievers under oppression often cannot be recon-
ciled to God's great patience and long-suflfering
towards the wicked, and therefore sigh : Lord,
how long ? and yet God has not forgotten. — The
true Church has ever had her persecutors, but
she has at all times employed prayer as the best
means of overcoming them, and has found it a
sure one. — Whither can men's sins not beguile
them ? In order to quiet their consciences they
seek to persuade themselves that God is not om-
niscient. Vain imagination. — The joyful issue
of a Christian's troubles serves to strengthen
the faith and patience of all fellow-Christians.
— The world forms an altogether wrong judg-
ment as to God's chastisements. It says : ill for
him whom God chastens. But the judgment of
the Holy Spirit is a different one. It is precious
and consoling : blessed is he whom God chas-
tens. Should not this serve to increase our pa-
tience?— Nothing can revive the soul so sweetly,
or penetrate therein so deeply, as the honey of
the gospel. 0 gather a good supply when it
abounds ; it will soothe thee in time of need. —
When affliction is greatest, then does faith dis-
play itself in its true and fullest strength, and is
at the same time purified in that fire. — The
righteous hand of God is often so clearly revealed
in the destruction of the wicked, that even the
least inexperienced in His ways must recognize
it and say : The Lord hath done this !
FmscH : Thou hast here a mirror of an af-
flicted and yet believing heart. What dost thou
see therein? (1.) Many heart-griefs; (2.) mani-
fold consolations of God ; (3.) powerful and true
reviving of soul. — Rieger: Even in justifiable
zeal, we are easily led to take too much upon our-
selves, unless we keep within the bounds pre-
scribed by God's Spirit and word. A fire is use-
ful in a house, but it must be used carefully. —
RiCHTER (Hausbibel) : The judgment of chas-
tisement begins with believers ; they are thus
preserved from the destruction and fearful judg-
ment of damnation, which is inflicted upon those
who oppose Christ. — Vaihinger : The education
which God gives by daily experiences and suf-
ferings, as well as His instruction by the written
law, is, in the futility of human projects, a
special privilege of believers, benefiting them in
severe sufi'erings.
[Matt. Henry : When the teachings of the
word and Spirit go along with the rebukes of
Providence, they then both speak men blessed
and help to make them so ; for then they are
the marks of adoption and means of sanctifica-
tion. When we are chastened we must pray to
be taught, and look into the law as the best ex-
positor of Providence. It is not the chastening
itself that does good, but the teaching that goes
along with, and is the expositor of it. — J. F. M.]
504
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XCV.
1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord :
Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,
And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
And a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth :
The strength of the hills is his also.
6 The sea is his, and he made it :
And his hands formed the dry land,
6 O come, let us worship and bow down:
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he is our God ;
And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his band.
To-day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation.
And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness :
9 When your fathers tempted me.
Proved me and saw my work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation.
And said. It is a people that do err in their heart,
And they have not known my ways :
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath
That they should not enter into my rest.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Church ia
called upon to praise Jehovah (vers. 1, 2) ; first,
because of His exaltation as the supreme God
and Creator (vers. 3-5). The call is then re-
peated, being supported by the relation which
the Church bears to Him, and coupled with
the exhortation to listen to His voice on that
very day (vers. 6, 7). Finally, the declaration
of God to His people, which draws its warnings
from the history of the march through the wild-
erness, is announced (vers. 8-11). No clue is
afforded to the time of composition. Its fruitful
application typically is shown in Heb. iii. 7-11 ;
iv. 3-7. The Sept. has the superscription :
Psalm of praise of David. The expression in
Heb. iv. 7 : h ^a/3l6 Xiyuv, does not refer to the
person of David, but to the Book of Psalms
named after him. — The Romish Church begins
its daily officium with this Psalm, according to
the rendering of ver. 2: proeoccupemus faciem
t^'us.
Vers. 3, 4, Above all gods. — This expression
refers, as do also Pss. xcvi. 4 ; xcvii. 9, to the
incomparable exaltation of God. It is not angels
(Calvin) who are meant, but gods of the heathen
(Exod. XV. 11 ; xviii. 11). Yet a real existence
is not ascribed to them. They are in Pss. xcvi.
5 ; xcvii. 7, after Lev. xix. 4 ; xxvi. 1, and fre-
quently in Isaiah, called D'S'Sn, with cutting
irony. — In ver. 4, instead of summit, it is not ad-
visable to translate : mines, of the mountaius
(Bottcher), although the etymology is obscure,
and the meaning therefore doubtful also in
Numb, xxiii. 22 ; xxiv. 8 ; Job xxii. 25. [The
rendering •' strength " in E. V. is derived from
the meaning which the word must have in the
first two passages above cited, where it is ap-
plied to the buffalo. Most recent critics concur
in giving the translation of Dr. Moll : heights,
or summit, which is that of the Septuagint. The
primary idea being that of weariness, the deri-
vation is supposed to be connected with it, by
the nature of the fatigue occasioned by the as-
cent of a great elevation — J. F. M.]
Vers. 7-9. We must not render: sheep of His
care (Bott. ), though the hand is perhaps not the
creating hand, which has made the people the
flock of God (Isa. xix. 25 ; Ixiv, 7 ; Ps. Ixxx. 6), but
the guiding and protecting hand (Gen. xxx. 35).
— To-day. By the position of DV at the begin-
PSALM XCV.
605
ning of its clause, the day oa which God's voice
is not only heard, but is also obeyed, is set forth
as a day oi decision. The DK would lead us to
expect an apodosis, but, when this is wanting, it
gives to the clause which it introduces an opta-
tive meaning. There lay stamped already upon
the names Meribah and Maasah [E. V., provoca-
tion— temptation,] the events which occurred
there (Exod. xvii. 1-7 ^ Numb. xx. 1 fF.), and
they could therefore be so much the more easily
applied typically (Ps. Ixxxiii. 10, comp. Numb,
xiv. 22 ; Deut. vi. 16 ; xxxiii. 8; Ps. Ixxviii. 18,
41, 66 ; cvi. 14). — In verse 9 b. the meaning is
not: although they saw my wonderful working
(De Wette, Koster, Hengst., Del.), but: they
also observed my retributive dealing (Luther,
Geier, Ewald, Hupfeld, Hitzig).
Vers. 10 f. We should not render: with that
generation (Sept.), although the generation living
at that time and suflfering from that judgment is
primarily referred to. The absence of the arti-
cle rather indicates a general reference, and fa-
cilitates the application to men of like character
in any circumstances. The oath of God ( ver. 11)
follows Numb. xiv. 21 f., comp. Deut. i. 35. The
rest is primarily the place of settlement granted by
God (Numb. x. 33 ; Deut. xii. 9 ; 1 Kings viii. 66 ;
Is, xl. 10; Ps. cxxxii. 8, 14), but includes the idea
of rest after wandering, and, according to Heb.
iv. 8f , may be employed as a type of the eternal
rest. — The Sept. read in ver. 6 weep, instead of:
bow down: and many ancient psalteries have
after the Cod. Vat. of the Sept. the addition to ver.
8 : because the Lord will not reject His people.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God, as the firm and sure ground of all help
and of our salvation (Ps. Ixxxix. 27 ; xciv. 22),
is the worthy object of the praise of His adoring
Church. But, when His people assemble to
praise Him, they must remember that they ap-
pear before the face of Him who, exalted as the
only true God above all beings that are honored
by men as Divine, is the Creator of all things
and the Shepherd of His people. They are,
therefore, to humble themselves before Him as
the One who is alone worthy of adoration, trust
in Him as the Controller of all, and, in the obe-
dience of faith, follow Him as their Guide.
2. God's people worshipping in His sanctuary
have, for the reasons and with the aim above-
mentioned, both to raise their own voices to God,
and to listen to His voice addressed to them. Both
of these are essential to true devotion, and not
only express the lively nature of the relations
which exist between God and His Church, but
promote also their intimacy, reality, and
strength. God will preserve, protect, and rule
the people of His Church as His flock, not
merely physically, temporally, and outwardly,
but will also spiritually, eternally^ and in-
wardly care for them, revive them, and sanctify
them for His own inheritance. For this end
He employs especially His holy word, by which
He compels none, but invites, instructs, and di-
rects aU.
3. In order to praise God truly, and to follow
His guidance with docility, the heart must be
surrendered to Him; and history, including that
of God's word, teaches us how seldom and with
what difficulty men yield to this demand, and
how often, on the other hand, and how easily,
they, evert with God's judgments before them,
and with the evidences of His blessings around
them, harden themselves even to obduracy.
Then they go astray in the wilderness, and do
not arrive at rest with God, since in their hearts
they have wandered away from Him. As long
as the voice of God over us calls upon us to hear
by rebuke and punishment, we are Btill far from
the goal. But wc can learn from His voice,
still sounding through the Church in the preach-
ing of His word, that we are upon the way.
And from the fact that long after the time of
Moses, and again .after that of David, God caused
such a call to be sounded forth in the Church,
and appointed days of decision, impressing upon
men's minds the severity of the judgment and
the preciousness of the day of grace which still
runs on, we may learn that, with the possession
of Canaan, neither the blessedness of Israel nor
the teaching of God came to an end, but that
there still remains a rest for the people of God.
[HENOSTENBERa: The Psa'lm has its full signi-
ficance for the Christian Church, inasmuch as
we stand in the same relation to the second
coming of the Lord, of whose time and hour we
know nothing, as the people of the Old Testa-
ment did to the first. — J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
There is reason enough for daily thanksgiving,
but is there delight in it? — It is a telling accu-
sation of our forgetfulness, indolence, and in-
gratitude that we need to be called upon to
praise God. — All worship is based upon an ac-
knowledgment of the Divine majesty, creative
omnipotence, and watchful love of the Eternal.
— We are not merely to feel what we have to
thank God for and what we owe to Him, but to
express it also in word and deed. — Thou hast,
perhaps, a desire to speak with God ; art thou
also inclined to hear and to obey Him? He who
would come into the rest of God, must hear the
voice of the Good Shepherd and feed in His pas-
tures as a member of His flock. — We are to-day
still upon our pilgrimage ; to-day we hear still
the voice of God; to-day we can still seek the
face of the Eternal ; why then do so many wan-
der about in the wilderness and perish ? — When
God's people tempt Him instead of trusting
Him, they will not stand in the day of trial.
Starke : If our hearts were not by nature so
slow to serve and praise God, He would not need
to awaken and encourage us. — The world re-
joices and shouts in its service of sin; how it
puts to shame the children of God, who are of-
ten 80 indolent in the far more blessed employ-
ment of praising Him ! — The more thou wilt
meditate upon the greatness of our God, the
more tiny and insignificant will created things
and thine own fancied greatness appear in thine
eyes. — A Christian does not know how to hum-
ble himself sufficiently before God even in be-
haviour. It is ever with him as with the Psalm-
ist : I will yet be more vile than this before the
Lord (2 Sam. vi. 22). — The whole good of the
believer is contained in one word : God is his
506
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
God. — As certain as are the oaths of Goi,
■whereby He promise.'? life and blessedness to the
penitent, so certain are those by which He an-
nounces eternal destruction to the obstinate un-
godly.
Prisch : God's anger falls suddenly ; and then
it is too late to do what is not already done. —
Tholuck : God's words speak loudly, and afford
an inexhaustible subject of grateful songs of
praise. — Guenther : A rest still remains even
for the people of the Dispersion, but the way
thither lies over Golgotha. — Diedrick : God
Himself is the Rock on which our salvation rests,
and that is one great consolation, for if it rested
on our own strength, it would be a tottering sup-
port.— Taube : God, who is worthy to be praised,
who has led the people of His pasture to Him-
self through the acceptable days of salvation,
and who feeds them until the full enjoyment of
the eternal Sabbath rest, calls upon us to
triumph in His power and mercy ; but the warn-
ing example of those of old, the shortness of to-
day, the sweeping progress and terrible deceit-
fulness of sin, the labyrinth of errors in our
own hearts, call upon us o exercise aholy fear of
the Lord.
[Matth. Henbt: The more experience we
have had of the power and goodness of God, the
greater is our sin if we distrust Him, What,
to tempt Him in the wilderness when we live
upon Him ! This is as ungrateful as it is absurd
and unreasonable — Hardness of heart is at the
bottom of all our distrusts of God and quarrels
with Him. That is a hard heart which receives
not the impressions of Divine discoveries, and
conforms not to the intentions of the Divine will;
which will not. melt, which will not bend.
Hengstenberg : The more clearly God makes
Himself known, the more base is our conduct, if
we only put Him to the test in time of need ; as
thougb He could not till then give proof of Hia
true Divinity.— J. P. M.3
PSALM XCVI.
1 O sing unto the Lord a new song :
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name ;
Shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the heathen,
His wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised :
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols :
But the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty are before him :
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Give unto the Lord, 0 ye kindreds of the people.
Give unto the Lord glory and strength,
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name :
Bring an oflfering, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
Fear before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth :
The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved:
He shall judge the people righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein:
Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.
13 Before the Lord: forhecometh.
For he cometh to judge the earth:
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the people with his truth.
PSALM XCVI.
507
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents ani> Composition The Psalm
begins by calling for a new song, so that the
blessed name of Jehovah may be praised, the
salvation of God be daily proclaimed in Israel,
and the wonders of His majesty made known to
the heathen (vers 1-8) This exhortation is
justified by the ezaltatiDii of Jehovah as the
only God and Creator, and who yet has made
Hia sanctuary the glorious place of His self-
revelation (vers. 4-6). Grounded upon this, a
call is addressed to the nations to worship this
God (vers. 7-9), and a charge given to the
Israelites, to proclaim among'the heathen the joy-
ful message of His coming (^vers. 10-13), when
He shall appear for judgment^ and yet bring with
Him blessings for the whole earth. This con-
ception of the Theocracy is a characteristic of the
time of Is. xl.-lxvi. With this agrees the cir-
cumstance, that the text of 1 Chron. xvi. 23 flf,
where the same song is repeated, gives evidence
of a compilation from this Psalm and passages of
others (Redding, Obaeroaiiones de Fsalmis bis editis).
According to this, the statement of the Chroni-
cler, to the effect that the song there recorded
was sung by David when the ark was transferred
to Zion, is devoid of support. So also the sup-
position that the song was repeated at the dedi-
cation of the Second Temple, which seeks to
reconcile the two statements of the superscription
in the Septuagint: "Psalm of David when the
Temple was built after the Captivity." [Pe-
rowne remarks that the second part of this
superscription is probably correct, as indicating
that the Psalm was composed after the exile, and
for the service of the Second Temple. On the
first part he says: "This seems to contradict
the other, but was no doubt occasioned by the cir-
cumstance that this Psalm together with portions
of Ps. cv. and cvi. is given with some variations
by the author of the Book of Chronicles, as the
Psalm which was sung when the ark was brought
into the sanctuary in Zion." Mr. Perowne,
therefore, does not reconcile the contradiction,
but only makes it more apparent. Hengstenberg
holds that the Chronicler merely says that David
insiituted the service of praise, and then gives
specimens taken not from David's time, but from
his own. See Introd. to Ps. cvi. — J F. M.].
Vers. 4 ff. Gods. The context shows that it is
neither angels, nor rulers, but the gods of the
heathen who are meant.. Of these there is pre-
dicated not only impotence but non-existence,
nothingness (Lev. xix. 4 ; xxvi. 1 ; Isa. xli. 44),
by an expression which, in accordance with the
play on the words, may be rendered : idols, but
which is stronger than: no gods, (Deut. xxxii.
21), and: useless creatures. The Sept. give
Sacfidvia as exhibiting the nature of the heathen
gods, according to the opinions current in their
time. Elsewhere tliey render : k'idui'Xa and
ficiTaca, Zech. xi. 17. These images of delusion
could, by way of personification, be addressed
and called upon to act (Ps. xcvii. 7). But they
are not thereby made to pass from the, sphere of
mythological existence. Even heaven and earth,
mountain and sea, forest and field, are called
upon to listen to the announcement, to share in
the joy, to clap their hands (Ps xcviii. 8 ; Isa.
xliv. 23 ; Iv. 12), and that upon the ground of
the close analogy between nature and history.
This is especially frequent in the Prophets, but
occurs often also in the Psalms, yet not as a cur-
rent formula or established phrase (Hupfeld),
but as a lyrical echoing of prophetic conceptions,
and therefore full of resemblances and quota-
tions, yet without being a spiritless imitation.
Even vers. 7-9, which are an echo of Ps. xxix.
12, have significant peculiarities of their own. In
ver. 9, instead of: in holy array [E, V., beauty
of holiness], the Sept. has both here and in
1 Chron. xvi., in the courts of the sanctuary. The
sanctuary mentioned in ver. G b. is probably
the earthly one (comp. Is. Ix). The Chronicler
has difi'erently. strength and joy are in His
place. This might more naturally refer to the
heavenly place, but it is evidently connected
with his historical treatment of this poem, with
which he has united a passage taken from Ps.
cv. Many psalters add to ver. 10 a the addi-
tion : a ligno, upon which an author so early as
Justin lays great stress. [On ver. 13, Alex-
ander : "The use of the word people in the com-
mon version of the last clause, obscures the
sense by seeming to apply the verse to Israel,
whereas it is expressly applied in the original to
the nations generally Even the truth or faithful-
ness of God, which commonly denotes His vera-
city in fulfilling His promises to the chosen peo-
ple, has here a wider sense, as opposed to the
dishonesty or partiality of human judges. In the
parallel passage (1 Chron. xvi. 33) the emphatic
repetitions in the first clause and the whole of the
last clause, are omitted, perhaps because so
striking and sonorous a conclusion would not
have been appropriate, when another Psalm was
to be added."— J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Every new manifestation of the truth of God
in testimony of His power and mercy, deserves
a new song By the former both the earlier
revelation is confirmed, and progress in the his-
tory of redemption effected; by the latter the
acknowledgment is both expressed and made
more widely known. The song is therefore
partly a hymn and partly a sermon, and in each
relation is adapted both to edify the Church and
to awaken the heathen.
2. The worship of Jehovah is destined to be
extended over the whole earth. The means or-
dained for the fulfillment of that end, arc the pro-
clamation of the joyful message of the Lord's
coming among all tribes and to all generations
of men. The right to this is based upon the
holy majesty of Jehovah, as the only real and
true God. To this right corresponds the duty of
worshipping in holy attire, which has its crown-
ing manifestation in the public services of the
Church. The fulfilment of these obligations is
bound up with the progress of God's kingdom on
earth, and on account of the condition of the
world, bears in one relation the form of a judg-
ment, and in another, that of a course of educa-
tion of the nations. The development of the
Theocracy stands therefore in closest connection
with the salvation of the world, and the history
508
THE FOURTH BOaK OF PSALMS.
of the Church, but depends throughout on the
revelation of God's glory, which has its appro-
priate times and historical stages.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Every advance which is made in the kingdom
of God is a blessing to the world. It therefore
becomes the Church to rejoice over it, to pray
for it, and to work for it. — God does not weary
in blessing, but thanksgiving is often unpleasant
to us, and the service of God a burden, — The
eternal mercy of God may be praised with old or
with new songs, provided only that it be done by
a heart which has received a new impression of
the glory of God. — The work of missions, even
though prosecuted by individuals, is the duty of
the whole Church, and the cause of the Lord our
God. — The heathen world is great, its conversion
goes slowly forwards, the work of laboring for
it is diflScuU, but the will of God is plain, the as-
sistance of God powerful, the blessing of God
certain. — The coming of the Lord: (1.) as the
object of our hope ; (2.) as matter of our preach-
ing; (3.) as source of our joy.
Starke : The new song demands a new heart
and a ready tongue. It has for its ground the
real enjoyment of the purchased blessings of re-
demption.— He who has become truly a subject
of Christ's kingdom of grace, burns with desire
to bring others also within it, and proclaims by
word and life the glory of God his King, and the
blessedness of his fellow-citizens. — The true kind
of joy is that which is expressed before the
Lord.
Fhisch • He whose undertakings succeed
should give only God the glory. — Tholuck: The
proclamation of the undivided dominion of the
Lord, is a subject of rejoicing in which even life-
less nature must receive a tongue and praise
Him, — Taubb • The new salvation gives a new
heart, and a new heart gives a new song — What
human sin, as a destroying power, shakes even
to its foundation, receives, when judgment is led
forth to victory, its immovable support from the
sin-conquering and therefore delivering right-
eousness of the Lord, and converted souls praise
thenceforward the God of order and of peace,
[Matth. Henrt- In God there is everything
that is awful, end yet everything that is amiable.
If we attend Him in His sanctuary we shall be-
hold His beauty, for God is Love; and experience
His strength, for He is our Rock.
Scott : If we are ready for the coming of the
Lord, let us bless His name, bear up cheerfully
under our difficulties, endeavor to promote the
peace and enlargement of His kingdom, and in
our proper place and doing our proper work, let
us be as faithful servants who are habitually ex-
pecting and desiring the coming of their Lord.
Babnes: Whatever makes the world attrac-
tive ; whatever beautifies and adorns creation,
has its source in God; it proceeds from Him.
Whatever there is of power to reform the world
and convert sinners ; whatever there is to turn
men from their vicious and abandoned course of
life ; whatever there is to make the world better
and happier, proceeds from the '« sanctuary "
the Church of God.— J. F. M.]
PSALM xcvn.
1 The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice ;
Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2 Clouds and darkness are round about him :
Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of bis throne.
3 A fire goeth before him,
And burneth up his enemies round about.
4 His lightnings enlightened the world :
The earth saw and trembled,
6 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
And all the people see his glory.
7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images,
That boast themselves of idols :
Worship him, all ye gods.
PSALM XCVIl.
509
8 Zion heard, and was glad;
And the daughters of Judah rejoiced
Because of thy judgments, O Lokd.
9 For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth :
Thou art exalted far above all gods.
10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil :
He preserveth the souls of his saints ;
He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous ;
And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
EXEQETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Division. — The appearing of
Jehovah as the heavenly judge is announced, to-
gether with His coming forth as the King of
glory for the salvation and joy pf many upon,
earth (vers. 1-3). His awful majesty, in its sig-
niiicance as related to the universal world, has
revealed itself (4-6) to the joy of Israel and the
shame of idol-worshippers (7-9), which result is
to serve as a "warning as well as a consolation to
the righteous (10-12). The use of the prsete-
rite in the second and third strophes must not be
disregarded. [Peuowne : *' The use of the past
tenses in vers. 4-8 and particularly the vivid
language of ver. 8 are most naturally explained
as occasioned by some historical event, some great
national deliverance or triumph of recent occur-
rence, such, for instance, as the overthrow of Ba-
bylon and the restoration of the Theocracy."-J. P.
M.] Nor are we to overlook th© circumstance that
as in Ps. 1. the description is borrowed from the
Theophany on Sinai. On account of the charac-
ter of the Psalm, so fruitful in great truths and
80 universal in its application, it is eminently
suited to represent typically, not all the manifes-
tations of God's judicial and delivering power
generally, as the thunder, for example, in Ps.
xviii. does, but those which in the history of the
Theocracy bear an epoch-making character. On
account of the numerous reproductions of pas-
sages in older Psalms, and its aflfinity with an-
nouncements in the Second Part of Isaiah, we are
not justified in assigning it to the time of David,
in accordance with the superscription in the
Sept, : "By David, when his land was restored to
rest" (Jerome, Hilary and others, Clauss). The
time of the Maccabees (Venema, Hitzig, Olshau-
sen) is too late. It could scarcely have been oc-
casioned by any victory of the Israelites (Mun-
tinghe). But such an event as the restoration of
the Theocracy after the fall of Babylon (Ewald)
is most readily suggested. Only we must not
refer it specially to the dedication of the second
Temple (Rosenra.), but, as in the whole group of
which this Psalm forms a member, we must hold
to its connection with the circle of prophecy fol-
lowing the Exile (Del.), which is concerned es-
pecially with the coming of the great and terrible
day of the Lord. Hupfeld regards this Psalm as
without historical occasion, but as being a free,
poetical working up of current images and forms
of expression. This is the extreme opposite of
ment."
former.
definite
the Messianic view, which understands the
praeterites, employed jorojoAei/caZ/y, as describing
the end of the world and its final judgment (the
Rabbins, and many older expositors).
Vers. 1 f. The isles are mentioned also in
Ps. Ixxii. 10, as bringing tribute to the King of
the kingdom of God, but after Isa. xli. tbey ap-
pear frequently as representing the countries
outside of the Promised Land, stretching even
to the furthest unknown limits of the world, as
also the inhabitants of those countries. Hence
the predicate : the many, is not superfluous.
[This construction is unnecessary. It is better
to take, as most do, the adjective as qualifying
th© noun directly. " The many islands " — the
multitude of the islands. — In ver. 2 the E. V.
rendering of |V??3 : "habitation," is accompa-
nied by the marginal alternative *' establish-
Dr. Alexander prefers to retain the
If we give to the latter idea its more
expression: "support," we find that
both meanings may be defended by derivation
and usage. But the second gives a clearer as
well as more vivid and pleasing at- nse. Perowne,
Noyes, and Barnes favor it, following the great
majority of German critics. Dr. Moll translates:
SaUle ; Delitzsch : Pfeiler; Hengstenb, : Boden.
The last, expressing the idea of a groundwoi'k
or basis, serves to bring the various shades of
meaning into closer relation, and probably best
expresses the meaning of the original — J. F. M.]
Vers. 7 ff. The Elohim have here also in ac-
cordance with the Sept. been erroneously re-
garded as angels. It is doubtful whether ver. 7
c. ought to be taken as an imperative (Septuag.,
Syr., Hengst., Hupfeld), or as a prseterite (Del.,
Hitzig). ^In ver. 11 the light is not viewed as
seed, in allusion to a re-emergence from dark-
ness (most of the ancients), but as being acaifered
upon the way of life which is trodden by the
righteous. *' Light is said to be sown when the
rising sun diffuses his rays plentifully in all di-
rections " (Venema). [Alexander unites the
idea of productiveness to this. — J. F. M.] The
ancient translators have probably confounded
y^} with mi : to rise (Ps. cxii. 4, comp. Prov.
xiii. 9), unless they read the latter, which is in-
deed found in some codices.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1, God will not only have it preached that He is
510
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
the King and Judge of the world, He also makes
men actually sensible of this truth by historical
proofs of His majesty. These are to one class a
source of delight, and to another a source of ter-
ror, according to their attitude with regard to
this revelation of that God who is infinitely ex-
alted above all the world and its vain gods. The
vision of Him is indeed not vouchsafed to mor-
tals, but His presence may be traced, His coming
watched for, and, at the same time. His essential
character discoverable. For the fire which
blazes forth from the cloudy darkness which
conceals Him, and yet makes Him known as the
Almighty King of Heaven, consumes not the
righteous but the unrighteous, and manifests
the infallible righteousness of this supreme
Judge of the whole world, who has established
His throne upon justice and righteousness.
2. The announcement that the Eternal has re-
vealed Himself to the world and in the Church,
must be based upon these facts, must expound
them also and apply them, in a word, turn them
theoretically and practically to account. For the
righteousness of God, which, descending from
heaven, is announced and operates on earth, em-
braces the whole world, separates those who
love Him from the wicked, and rewards every
man according to his works.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The revelation of God's glory in the word of
truth, in the reign of righteousness, and in the
workings of grace. — That which to the righteous
is comforting and the source of holy joy, is to
the wicked dreadful, and the object of unceasing
fear ; therefore they would like best not to hear
or see anything of it. — There may be darkness
in heaven and upon the earth, but a light is
never wanting to the righteous, and it never be-
comes converted into a devouring fire for them,
as it does for the ungodly. — The Deliverer and
Judge of all the world is descending from
heaven : let all the righteous sing His praise.
Stauke : Christ's kingdom is one of joy ;
blessed heart which has its portion there 1 — The
beginning of a sinner's conversion is fearful, un-
der the terrors of the law, but the progress and
the end are joyful, under the consolations of the
light of the mercy of the gospel. — He who will
not have the justification of faith, must have the
condemnation of unbelief. — Love to God is the
true source of obedience to His commands.
True love to God is ever united with hatred of
all evil. — Believers have here, it is true, only
their seed-time, but they have often also the fair
first-fruits of the harvest. — The joyfulness of
faith under suffering is not the privilege ol every
one, yet the righteous encourage one another
thereto assiduously (2 Cor. vi. 16).
Fbisch : If thou wouldst be a citizen of God's
kingdom and His true subject, thou must also
love Him, and from love to Him, hate what is
evil ; all will then acknowledge that thou dost
belong to thy Jesus. — Rieger : In the word of
the kingdom lies all-abiding joy, and by it we
learn to praise God's holiness, in accordance
with which He extends the cause of that king-
dom far beyond the expectations of all men. —
Guenthee: Who rules the world ? The heathen
say: their idols; the wicked: the devil; un-
believers : accident, blind chance, or iron des-
tiny. They all look into the darkness. — How
many fancy that they really love God from the
heart, and yet they cannot bring themselves to
a true, decided hatred of evil. — Diedrich :
When God breaks suddenly in upon men with
His judgments, then even fools must see what
they would not believe, that the God of (he poor
and distressed is eternal Righteousness and
living Omnipotence itself. — Taube : The right-
eous government of the Lord: a terror to His
enemies, a joy to Zion. — The measure of love to
the Loid determines the measure of the joy that
is felt in Him, and both attest their genuineness
and purity in and by a separation from sin.
[Matt. Henry: Wliatever is matter of our re-
joicing ought to be matter of our thanksgiving,
and especially the holiness of God. — The joy of
the saints should confirm their antipathy to sin,
and Divine comforts should put their mouths out
of taste to sensual pleasures. — J. F. M.]
PSALM XCVIII.
A Psalm.
O sing unto the Lord a new song ;
For hb hath done marvellous things :
His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
The Lord hath made known his salvation :
His righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israeli
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth :
Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
PSALM XCVIII.
611
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp ;
With the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 AVith trumpets and the sound of cornet
Make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands :
Let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the Lord ; for he cometh to judge the earth :
With righteousness shall he judge the world,
And the people with equity.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm is
furnished merely with the superscription : miz-
mor, and is ascribed by the Sept. and Syriac
versions to David, It agrees most closely with
Ps. xcvi. Yet there is not an entire absence of
peculiar expressions, to which, especially, vers. 1
c and 8 belong. The wonderful deeds of God in
behalf of His people, in the sight of all the nations,
for the display to the world of His righteousness,
mercy, and truth towards the house of Israel,
are cited here also in order to justify the call
Bent forth for the praise of Jehovah. This
points to the modes of expression characteristic
of the second part of Isaiah, with reference to the
restoration of the people after the judgment de-
creed upon Babylon. There is nothing to indi-
cate decisively a later period, whether a victory
over the Persians (De Wette), or that Puinm-
festival which was celebrated after the victory
(2 Maccab. xv. 26), to which the other Psalms
are supposed to relate as triumphal songs (Hit-
zig). For the clapping of the hands by boys at
the Purim-feast, whenever Haman was named,
is something quite different from the clapping of
the hands figuratively applied in ver. 8 to
streams, in order to set forth the joy at the
appearance of God, as King in Zion, before the
whole world — a joy universally felt. The refer-
ence to the song of the Israelites after their depart-
ure from Egypt (Syriac version) was occasioned
merely by the mention of the sea, which is called
upon to join in the praise of God for His won-
derful deliverance of Israel, accomplished before
the eyes of the heathen. The division is simple
and natural. In the first strophe the call is
justified by pointing to the deeds of Jehovah,
and in the second it is addressed specially to the
people, theLevites, and the priests, in the third
it is presented in its relations to the world in
general.
Vers. 1 ff. His right hand hath helped Him
[E. v.: His right hand . . . 'hath gotten
Him the victory]. This means that God Him-
self has intervened, and that decisively, by His
immediate miraculous interference (Is. lix. IG ;
Ixiii. 6) and by His lioly arm (Is. lii. 10). [Pe-
rowne prefers to render : •' have gotten Him sal-
vation,*' on account of the recurrence of a noun
from the same root in vers. 2, 3, where this is
the most suitable translation.— J. F. M.] The
remembering in ver. 3, expresses more than re-
taining in the memory, as contrasted with forget-
ting (1 Sam. i. 11). It alludes to the fulfilment
of promises given, or to the execution of reso-
lutions taken, as contrasted with their abandon-
ment (Gen. xxiv. 27). [On ver. 7 Hengsten-
berg : "The roaring suits the fulness of the sea
as well as the sea itself; it is used in Jobxxxix.
25 of the loud shout of the human voice." — J. F.
M.] The clapping of the hands is employed as
a token of applause and an expression of joy at
the ascension of kings (2 Kings xi. 12 ; Ps. xlvii.
2). The waves of the sea exalting themselves
are represented also in Hab. iii, lO as hands
stretched forth on high.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Church can be helped only through the
Lord its God. But there is a difference between
the ordinary means of grace and extraordinary
help. Since God employs both according as cir-
cumstances require, bo must the Church, while
awaiting the latter, not neglect the former. She
is, by such a course, strengthened in hope as
well as in patient waiting, and is both rendered
better fitted to praise God's wonders, and en-
couraged to engage in such praise.
2. The wonders of God among His people are
primarily designed for them, and earnestly di-
rected to their deliverance. But they are not to
be restricted to that nation, nor to be turned to
the account of selfishness. And therefore some
of them are performed before the eyes of the
whole world, and are also to be made known to
the heathen, in order that they may redound to
the good of the world, and that God may be
praised among all nations, when He shall have
changed the desolated earth by righteousness
and justice into an abode of salvation and joy.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
What God does is not merely done rightly ;
what He has done in Zion must promote also the
good of the whole world. — The renovation of the
earth by God's coming, so as to be changed into
the seat of His kingdom. — Why is it that the
songs in praise of God are ever becoming less
frequent among us? Great and special blessings
deserve great, special, and most fitting thanks. —
The victory which Christ has gained, and the de-
liverance which He sought to achieve, will be
blessings to us, if we believe in Him, since it
was for our sakes that He undertook this war. —
Christ has gained the vicf oi'y with His own arm ;
therefore all merit on the part of the Church
512
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
and a^l her own good works are excluded. — Where
Christ's kingdom breaks forth mightily in praise,
it requires a very strong influence to make it cease.
[Matt. Henry : Converts sing a new song,
very different from what they had sung ; they
change their wonder and change their joy, and
therefore change their note. If the grace of
God put a new heart into our breast, it will
therewith put a new song into our mouths.
Baenes : One cannot read this Psalm without
being a happier man ; without lofty views of
God ; without feeling that He is worthy of uni-
versal praise ; without recognizing that he is in
a world where the mind should be joyful; that
he is under the dominion of a God whose reign
should fill the mind with gladness. — J
F. M.]
PSALM XCIX.
1 The Lord reigneth ; let the people tremble :
He sitteth between the cherubim ; let the earth be moved.
2 The Lord ia great in Zion ;
And he is high above all the people.
3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name ;
For it ia holy.
4 The king's strength also loveth judgment;
Thou dost establish equity,
Thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt ye the Lord our God,
And worship at his footstool ;
For he is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron among his priests,
And Samuel among them that call upon his name ;
They called upon the Lord, and he answered them.
7 He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar :
They kept his testimonies,
And the ordinance that he gave them.
8 Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God :
Tnou wast a God that forgavest them,
Though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.
9 Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at his holy hill ;
For the Lord our God ia holy.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Division. — The three times holy
is sounded here in the confessing Church upon
earth, as in Is. vi. it is represented as being
Bung in heaven by angels. It divides the Psalm
into three parts, the refrain being somewhat
lengthened in each repetition. First, there is
an acknowledgment of the manifestations of
Jehovah's kingly might in heaven and upon
earth, which makes the world tremble, and is
worthy to evoke praise to this exalted Ruler and
His mighty name. To this is attached the sim-
ple acknowledgment of His holiness. This is
then connected with the worship of Jehovah on
the steps of His throne, as the King who has es-
tablished the Theocracy in Israel. Finally,
both the place of worship and the object to whom
it is due are particularly described, after it had
been shown from the history of Israel previous
to the establishment of the Monarchy, that God's
kingdom is not dependent upon the existence of
earthly kings, but is regulated in accordance
with a course of action, in harmony with its true
nature, both on the part of the Church and on
the part of God. This analysis and view of
the Psalm avoids the difficulties and artificial
character of the usual division into two parts, to
which Hengstenberg also adheres, except that he
PSALM XCIX.
618
regards ver. 1 as the Theme prefixed. Hupfeld
also finds a reference to the history of the lead-
ing through the desert, as in Ps. xcv. and Ixxxi.,
joined to an appeal to the people of Israel to
praise Jehovah as the mighty and dreadful King
of the world, who also loves that justice which
He has established and administered among His
people. The exact point of view of this allusion
and its connection, both internal and with the
first part, is, according to him, rather obscurely
expressed. The threefold division of Bengel
and his school, approved by Delitzsch, according
to which the Lord is praised as He that is com-
ing. He who is, and He who was, is open to the
same objections. Our view agrees more closely
with the text, explains the mention of the three
most important men in the Theocracy before the
time of David, and preserves for the Psalm its
peculiar character, which indicates decisively its
position in the period after the destruction of the
kingdom. That the ark of the covenant was
still in existence at that time, according to vers.
1 and 5, and that therefore this Psalm, with its
whole cycle and the second part of Isaiah, is to be
assigned to a period preceding the Exile (Heng-
stenberg) is not an "indisputable fact," but an
unsupported inference. [Perowne, who does
not attempt to settle the time of composi-
tion, remarks on the character and position of
the Psalm: "This is the last of the series of
royal Psalms, of Psalms which celebrate the
coming of Jehovah as King. The first of this
series is the 98d. The 99th, like the 93d and
97th, opens with the joyful announcement that
Jehovah is King, and then bids all men fall
down, and confess His greatness, and worship
Him who alone is holy. Both the first and the
last of the series celebrate the kingly majesty
and the holiness of Jehovah, and also the holi-
ness of His worship. In this Psalm, the true
character of His worshippers as consecrated
priests, holy, set apart for His service, is illus-
trated by the example of holy men of old, like
Moses, Aaron, and Samuel." — J, F. M.]
Vers. 1 fi". Throned upon the cherubim.
[E. v. he sitteth between the cherubim]. The
participle is dependent upon the preceding ^ 7D
as defining the nature and manner of Jehovah's
reign (Olshausen). The expression itself always
denotes a manifestation of the kingly majesty of
Jehovah in the world (see on Ps. xviii. 11)
whether it be from heaven or out of Zion, and is
connected with the belief, not merely of the iden-
tity of the heavenly King and the God who was
adored in Zion, but also of His presence in Israel.
The Cherubim are represented, therefore, as
being both over the ark of the covenant and in
the chariot of heaven, and in the temple also in
various forms, and if the term is applied also to
the place of the throne over the ark of the cove-
nant, and derives its most frequent application
therefrom, the usage of this expression, which
had become an established designation of Qod ia
His definite relation to the world and the history
of the Theocracy, Ps. Ixxx. 3, can no longer be
urged in proof of the actual contemporaneous
existence of the ark of the covenant.
Ver. 5. The footstool in ver. 5 is to be
viewed in the same way, although it is not
88
distinguished as an object of adoration, by
means of a rhetorical figure (Hupfeld], but
as the place where it is offered, in allusion to
prostration upon the steps of the throne. The
expression might, it is true, be referred to the
covering of the ark of the covenant (Ps. cxxxii.
7, 8 ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 2) and it is such a general
one, that it may characterize even the whole
earth in relation to heaven, the throne of that
God who rules the world and fills all space (Is.
Ixvi. 1). But here, as ver. 9 shows, it denotes
the sanctuary at Jerusalem (Lam. ii. 1) as the
dwelling of God, where He has His throne (Ps.
V. 8; cxxxviii. 2) and the place of His feet (Is.
Ix. 13; Ezek. xliii. 7), without implying thereby
the existence of the ark of the covenant.
Ver. 4. And the might of a King who
loveth justice [E. V.: The king's strength
also loveth judgment]. The * connection by
"and" does not contain any convincing ground
for the assumption, that the sentence coniinues
to enumerate objects of praise (Isaaki, Rosen-
miiller and others) and, accordingly, that ver.
3 b, is a parenthesis (De Wette, Hengst.). This
would destroy the strophical structure. Nor
does it justify us in detaching this member of the
verse from the following as an independent sen-
tence, or in considering it as a parallel confes-
sion to the words that refer to the holiness of
Jehovah (or His person). According to the last
view, ]y is taken inadmissibly as denoting
majesty, and the article is supplied, thus afford-
ing the rendering: the majesty of the king is
loving justice. (The ancient translators and ex-
positors). Nor can we regard the abstract as
an adjective : the strong king (Hupfeld). The
position of the words favors the view that
"loving justice" is a relative clause (Chald.,
Aben Ezra, Delitzsch, Hitzig), and that.
" might " is the accusative of the object preced-
ing its verb. The idea, that with this King,
omnipotence and righteousness are inseparable,
is retained ; but it is placed in direct connection
with the actual verification of that truth, which,
is the occasion and subject of this Psalm, and'
by which the might or strength of the King \s.\
confirmed, as elsewhere His throne is said to be,,
(Ps. ix. 8; 2 Sam. vii. 13; 1 Chron. xvii. 12)..
Jehovah has administered justice and righteous--
ness in Jacob by means of the Theocracy. [Th©:
author renders accordingly : And the might of
the king, who loveth righteousness, hast thou;,
established in uprightness ; justice and right-
eousness hast thou fulfilled in Jacob. — J. F, M.}.
Ver. 6ff. Moses twice performed acts essen-'
tially priestly (Ex. xxiv. and xl. 22 f, comp.
Lev. viii), at the ratification of the covenant,
and at the consecration of the priests. For-
this reason he could the more readily be placed
here among the priestly mediato^rs. Among'
the suppliiints Samuel is given the prominence
(1 Sam. vii. 8f.; xii. 16 f.; Sirach xlvi. 16 f.).
But he too offered sacrifice?^ and blessed the-
offerings (1 Sam. iix. 13), as Moses alsoprayedv
mightily (Ex. xvii. 11 f.; xxxii. 30f. ; Ps. cvi.
23). [Henqstenberg : " The whole passage pro-
ceeds upon the view that the communication of
new precepts and rules of life shall be bound up«
with the future glorious revelation of the Lord.
The people are here told how they may gaioi
614
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
participation in this. Particip$ition in the new
covenant is the reward of faithfulness to the old.
If we observe the commandments of God, we
shall receive the commandments of God, and with
them salvation," — J. F. M.]. On the cloudy
pillar see especially Numb. xii. 6, and Ex.
xxxiii. 7. [Ver. 7. Alexander : "The pronoun in
the first clause (them), can only refer to Moses,
Aaron, and Samuel, in the second it is applicable
both to them and to the people ; in the third it
relates to the latter exclusively." — J. F. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God makes known by deeds of kingly might,
what He is, a King above all kings, and will
be regarded and acknowledged as such on earth
as in heaven. Therefore He insists upon the
honor of His name, in which He reveals the
^august majesty of His being, and will have it
regarded as holy, as He Himself is holy.
2. But God shows His pre-eminent kingly glory
not only in manifestations of His might, which
shake the world, make the people quake, and in-
vest His name with dreadful exaltation. He has be-
gun upon earth a kingdom of righteousness, whose
Tiing He Himself appoints and qualifies, whose
lasting duration He Himself assures and effects ;
whose inhabitants He calls and leads to piety in
the worship of Himself as the true God. He has
made the historical beginning of this system in
the family of Jacob, and has placed its central
.point in Zion.
3. God, however, long before the establishment
of the actual kingdom among the Israelites, in-
:8tituted the ordinances of His worship through
mediators whom He called, and, in their admin-
istration, proved Himself to be the living God of
revelation, who hears prayer and forgives sin, and
yet keeps watch over the observance of His pre-
cepts, in order that He may be feared as the
Avenger of human deeds.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Those who praise the thrice-holy One must
•Adore Him as the true God, serve Him as the
heavenly King, and trust Him as the effectual
Deliverer. — God will hear our prayers and we
must keep His commandments. — God is holy in
ithe exercise of His power, in the manifestation
of His wrath, in dispensing His mercy. — The
part borne by God's righteousness in founding,
preserving, and ruling His church upon earth.
There is a trembling of fear as there is a trem-
bling of hope and joy, but all these emotions, if
they are to tend to salvation, must be combined
with subjection to the great king who is a mighty
Huler, as well as a holy God.
Starke : God delights to dwell among those
who look with their faces towards the throne of
grace, for over them will He spread the wings
of His mercy.— Mark this ye unrighteous I In
Christ's kingdom men must love justice ; your
wicked j)erversiona of it will not succeed there.
— Before all things we must pray in penitence
for forgiveness of sins ; otherwise our sins will
hinder us in our efforts to obtain blessings. — The
hearing of prayer and forgiveness of sins are not
irreconcilable with God's chastisements, they
can very well coexist. — If men bend low before
an earthly king, how much more are we bound
to do so towards the heavenly king ! — God is
holy ! These words should pervade our minds
whenever we hold intercourse with God, and
many forbidden thoughts would then be ex-
pelled.
OsiANDBE : God always remains true to His
promises, and fulfils them, though we are not
worthy that He should hear us. — Selneokee:
God has begun His kingdom on Zion and not on
Mount Sinai. It is not a kingdom of wrath, but
of mercy. — Menzel: The kingdom of Christ is
distinguished from all nations of the world, not
only by its being spiritual and being concerned
with spiritual things, but also by its leading and
pointing the way to alljustice and righteousness.
— Fkisch : Yield thyself only to the protection
of God's grace, and pray the more earnestly that
His kingdom may come, and the devil cannot
prevent it with all his cunning and strength. It
must advance within and without thee, and end
at last in glory and majesty. — Aendt: Is not
that a fair and gracious kingdom which posses-
ses these characteristics : (1) to love justice ; (2)
to induce piety; (3) to work justice and right-
eousness!—Riegee : What no human laws can
avail to effect, namely, that none who are inno-
cent shall be injured or molested, and that none
who are guilty shall sin with impunity, is ac-
complished in God's kingdom and by His right-
eousness.— Tholdck : God in His mercy has
granted to His people powerful intercessors.
It is true that He has punished their iniquities:
yet He has not turned His mercy away from
them, but forgiven them for the sake of those
intercessors. Can Israel forget this ? — Vaihin-
GEE : The more highly God is glorified, the lower
must men bow to Him. — Richtee (Hausbibel) :
Glorify the kingly majesty of the Lord 1 Pay
homage to His righteousness ! Draw near to
Him as His servants! — Guenthee: Without
commotion and trembling and quaking there is
no revelation from God.— To the elect God is at
the same time the Pardoner and Avenger of sin.
Let the heart tremble, and the conscience be
aroused ; fear the Avenger and love the God of
mercy ! — Diedeioh : God's highest majesty is
not displayed in the creation, nor in the govern-
ment of the world, but in His gracious dealings
among sinful men whom He has chosen to Him-
self. In this He shows how He is our King, by
taking our deepest cares upon Himself — Taubb :
It is just that the fulness of mercy should fall
into the bosom of faith ; it is just that the wrath
of the Lamb should be the most severe.
[Matt. Henet: The more we abase ourselves,
and the more prostrate we are before God, tht
more we exalt Him.— J. F. M.].
PSALM C.
515,
PSALM C.
A Psalm of Praise.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness ;
Come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord he is God :
It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
And into his courts with praise:
Be thankful unto him, and bless his name*
For the Lord is good ; his mercy is everlasting ;
And his truth endureth to all generations.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Sdpebscription. — As Pes.
xxxviii. and Ixx. were not only written in order
to call to remembrance Jehovah's gracious deeds
in general, but stand in a definite relation to
offerings, so here also the superscription seems
to indicate a liturgical purpose, and that not
merely for confession in the public worship
(Sept. Vulg.), with the songs of praise of the
people, but for real sacrifices of praise, called in
Ps. cvii. 22 ; cxvi. 17, miR n3T. but also sim-
ply nnin Ps. Ivi. 13 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 31. " The
same class of Skelamim is meant, which were
presented in thankful praise for divine blessings
enjoyed, and especially for miraculous protection
and deliverance." (Delitzsch). Along with a
great resemblance to Ps. xcv. there are still not
wanting essential peculiarities. For example,
both strophes express and justify the invitation
to the thankful acknowledgment and public
worship of Jehovah.
Vers. 1-3. Make a joyful noise, €^c. We may
suppose this to allude to the shouts of homage
of those who acknowledge Jehovah as King, and
accordingly regard the serving [Ver. 2], as the
correlative of ruling in the wider sense (Vene-
ma, Hengst.) as in Ps. Ixxii. 11. Serving with
gladness (ver. 2), stands in contrast to "serve
with fear and rejoice with trembling," in Ps. ii.
11, as in that passage it is subjection that is
spoken of, while here it is the voluntary union
of the whole earth, that is, of men of all nations,
with the Church, which appears worshipping be-
fore Jehovah in Zion. But the whole psalm has
to do directly and specially with acts of public
worship, which partly presuppose that more
general service, and partly have it for a conse-
quence. The event from which these nations are
to gain the knowledge (Ps. iv. 4) that Jehovah
is God, is not mentioned here. It must, how-
ever, according to the context, have a world-wide
significance,and be connected with thedeliverance
of the people who confess to Him (ver. 3) that they
are His work (Deut. xxxii, 6, 15 ; Is. xxix. 23 ;
Ix. 21), His inheritance, and a people tended and
led like a flock. " His people and flock " are in
apposition not to "us" (Hengstenberg), but to
*« we." For this passage belongs to the fifteen,
which, according to the Masoretic enumeration,
occur in the Old Testament, where k'? is written
and V7 read. Indeed, both readings may be
justified (Kimchi), and the translations given :
while we were not (Symmachus, Isaaki), or bet-
ter: not we (Sept., Vulg., Jerome), made clearer
by the addition, ourselves (Luther, Geier, and
others), as a contrast to the boasting of Pharaoh
(Ezek. xxix. 3). But the reading tS (Chald.,
Jerome, Aben Ezra, Saadia), in nineteen codices
of De Rossi and nine of Kennicott is preferred
by most of the recent expositors. [This is ex-
pressed by the marginal reading in E. V., '• A^d
His we are," which is preferred by Perowne
and Noyes. The other is favored by Alexander,
Wordsworth, and Barnes. The passage cited
above, Ezek. xxix. 3, to which this is supposed
to be a contrast, is probably to be understood as
it is in E. V. : "I have made it (the Nile) my-
self. "^J. F. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God is not merely Creator and Ruler of the
world. He is also Founder, Guardian, Lord,
and Shepherd of His Church. His peopl'e should
exhibit their sense of this relation, and especially
■give 'it expression in public worship, in order that
all the world may discover that this God is the
only God, to adore whom, men of all lands
shoul<i unite with the Church.
2. The conviction that such is God's
will, evokes missionary songs in the Church,
and sets before her eyes the duty of Mis-
sions. But it also awakens a love for the
616
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
former as well as for the latter service of the
Lord, strengthens the belief in the eternal efl&~
cacy of the mercy and truth of God, and, to
gratitude for the blessings already received from
the hand of the Highest, unites the expectation
that the world-embracing destiny of the true
religion (Is. Ivi. 7; Ix. Ixvi. 23} will be real-
ized.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
"We should be as willing to serve God as we are
bound to do so, and encourage one another to
that duty as well as invite others to engage in it.
— Delight in God's service as connected with
the knowledge of God and gratitude for His
benefit. — The manner, ground, and blessing of
the proper public worship of God. — The Church
is to the world, what the house of God is to the
Church, the place of blessing in the knowledge
and worship of God.
Starke : There is nothing to be found under
the sun, which can make the heart more joyful
than sincere religion. — If God's mercy and truth
are eternal, they remain still with us now, and
we and our descendants until the end of the
world will have them for our consolation. —
Riegee: In the kingdom of God evety one can
and is permitted to come before the face of this
God of mercy. — Diedrich: We discover all
God's glory in His word, through which He has
declared His name to us, that it is Love.^^God
asks no hard service, but only that we know
Him, believe Him, and from His fulness of grace
alone draw all our strength for every under-
taking.— Taubb : A shout of joy through the
whole world, over the majestic God of Zion, so
rich in mercy, who comes to bless the earth.
[Matt. Henry : We must intermix praise and
thanksgiving in all our services ; this golden
thread must run through every duty, Heb. xiii.
15. For it is the work of angels. — Knowledge is
the mother of devotion and of all obedience.
Blind sacrifice's will never please a seeing God.
— Barnes : The Psalm is based on the unity of
the human race: that there is one God and
Father of all, and one great family on earth.-*
J. F. M.].
PSALM CI.
A Psalm of David.
I will sing of mercy aud judgment :
Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.
2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.
0 when wilt thou come unto me?
1 will walk within my house
With a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing
Before mine eyes :
I bate the work of them that turn aside ;
It shall not cleave to me.
4 A froward heart shall depart from me:
I will not know a wicked person.
5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour,
Him will I cut off:
Him that hath a high look and a proud heart
Will not I suffer.
6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me ;
He that walketh in a perfect way,
He shall serve me.
7 He that worketh deceit
Shall not dwell within my house :
PSALM CI.
517
He that telleth lies shall not tarry
In my sight,
8 I will early destroy
All the wicked of the land ;
That I may cut off all wicked doers
From the city of the Lobd.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm
may quite probably owe its position to its resem-
blance to Ps. xcix. 4. There is nothing which
should prevent us from assigning the composition
to David. For the vow in ver. 1 suggests not
merely a pious but a royal singer, while, more
definitely still, the form which it finally assumes
in ver. 8 argues a theocratic king. Accordingly,
after he details his essential character by record-
ing his resolves to act uprightly, first in personal
conduct and domestic life (ver. 2), then with re-
ference to his associates (vers. S-5), and finally
in his obligation to keep watch over his subjects,
servants, and the inmates of his house (vers. 6-
7), ver. 8 places the exercise of the punitive
power vested in rulers in special relation to the
city of God. As the city of Elohim (Ps. xlvi.
6), or the city of Jehovah Zebaoth (Fs. xlviii.
9), or the city of our God (Ps. xlviii. 2), that
city must not only have impressed upon it the
character of holiness in its public worship, but
must also exhibit that character in its moral re-
sults (Is. XXXV. 8; lii. 1; Nahum ii. 1). David
vows that he will exercise his royal power in the
service of God in order to realize this end.
Luther has entitled this psalm, the mirror of
rulers. It is related, also, that Duke Ernest the
Pious sent it on one occasion to an unfaithful
minister, and that, when any ofl&cial was guilty
of misconduct, it was the custom to say: "he
will certainly soon have to read the Prince's
Psalm." The question in ver. 2 h. can hardly
aid us in our efforts to arrive at a closer
approximation to the time of composition
(see below). The numerous points of contact
with the Proverbs of Solomon do not necessarily
argue a dependence upon them.
[Perowne, after indicating the contents of the
Psalm, continues: "All this falls in admirably
with the first part of David's reign, and the words
are just what we might expect from one who
came to the throne with a heart so true to his
God." Further on, he thus presents the situation
of the Psalmist, mainly translating from Ewald :
"Zionwas already David's royal seat, and the
tabernacle of Jehovah was there ; but the new
state had yet to be organized, and the great offi-
cers of state and of the household to be chosen,
men upon whose character so much always de-
pends, and especially in despotic monarchies,
like those of the ancient world. David himself
was standing at the threshold of the most critical
period of his life, and, fully aware of the great,
ness of his responsibilities, did not as yet feel
himself equal to the task which devolved upon
him, the burden which he was henceforth to
bear. Still in the first period of his reign in
Jerusalem, in the flush of victory, iu the full
splendor of his newly- acquired dominion over
the whole of Israel, David is only the more
earnest in praising Jehovah and calling to mind
His attributes, in striving to purify his own
heart, and to form wise measures for the conduct
of a strong and righteous rule, and in the reso-
lution to keep far from him all that would bring
a reproach upon himself and a stain upon his
court. Nothing shows us more clearly the true
nobleness of David's soul than this short psalm."
—J. F. M.].
Ver. 1. Mercy and justice. [E. V. Mercy
and judgment], cannot be taken here as a sum-
mary of a ruler's virtues (Aben Ezra, Kimchi,
Calvin and others), since it is not the custom of
the Old Testament writers to praise human ex-
cellencies (Geier). Besides, the harp is imme-
diately described as about to be sounded to the
praise of Jehovah. God, therefore, (Judges v. 3),
and what God is (Ps. Ixxxix. 2, xcix. 6), are to
be praised. But what follows does not celebrate
divine attributes, deeds, and blessings, for which
God is praised, and thanksgiving, by imitation
of them, is promised (Geier, J. H. Michaelis and
others), or by the contemplation of which the
singer is moved to good resolutions (De Wette).
Consequently ver. 1 throughout cannot be re-
garded as the Theme of the psalm, (most). Nor
is there ground afforded for the view which
regards it as a free adaptation of a current form
of introduction (Hupfeld), or for that which
would combine the whole psalm with the two
following into one trilogy (Hengst.). The verse
contains a vow, parallel throughout to the follow-
ing resolves, which refer collectively to a course
of moral conduct, to the honor and well-pleasing
of Jehovah. It is a vow relating to the exer-
cise of the poetic gift, and is expressed in such
a manner, as to afford a strong testimony to a
Davidic authorship.
Ver. 2. "When wilt thoa come unto me ?
This clause sounds strangely, and has a form
which differs from any member of the other
verses of the Psalm. But it need not therefore
be pronounced spurious (Olshausen). We might
be inclined to assimilate it to the other mem-
bers of its verse, by taking ^HD not as an inter-
rogative, but as a conjunction=as often, as soon
as, and N13D as 3. fem. referring to "S)"}/}. or D''DP
(Hupf.). But what is then meant by: "as often
as uprightness shall come to me ? " Does David
promise to mark the way of uprightness, as soon
as it shall enter his house in the person of an
upright man? Or does it mean: to mark how
an upright man walks in order to follow in his
steps ? Or : to place himself in a right relation
to it, in order not to overstep or contract its
limits ? Or, does the way signify not a walk but
the course of events, as something which comes to
joass (Hitzig), and does David promise to take a
618
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
concern in that as judge ? Whatever turn we
may give to the sentence, we have to encounter
either an unsound sense or an unsuitable form.
And it is no better, if the verb be taken, as is
usually done, in the 2 masc, but the interrogative
changed into a conjunction. For the sentence :
when, as often, or, as soon as thou comest to me,
can only be understood of a visit of God with the
design of trying, Ps. xvii. 3, (Rosenmviller), and
this is unsuitable from any point of view. Be-
sides, T\J^ occurs always as an interrogative,
except, perhaps, in the disputed passage, Prov.
xxiii. 35. But the form of the question frequent-
ly expresses, as is well known, the longings of
desire, the wish for speedy fulfilment, and is like
the utterance of a sigh. The position of the sen-
tence then leads us to prefer the 2 masc. to the 3
fem.; and a suitable sense is gained, if we under-
stand by the coming of God, not specially the Holy
Spirit,(Kimchi), but the coming of God with His
help, in order to effect the upright walk (most).
There is nothing in the text to suggest a special
reference to the ark of the covenant which David,
terrified by the fate of Uzzah, left at one time at
the house of Obed Edom. This is discovered in
a supposed allusion to his question at that time:
how should the ark of Jehovah come to me?
(Venema, Dathe, Muntinghe, De Wette, De-
litzsch). This would be foreign to the course
of thought, and is opposed rather than recom-
mended by the appellation: city of Jehovah, ap-
plied in ver. 8 to Jerusalem. For the supposi-
tion that the Psalm was composed at a later
period of David's life (Schegg), when Jehovah
had already fixed His dwelling at Jerusalem,
does not agree with the sigh of longing, in an
altered frame of mind, which includes a prayer
for the coming of a blessing not yet vouchsafed.
An anticipatory use of the name Jehovah (Del.)
is improbable, especially as the blessing which
the ark diffused around it (2 Sam. vi. 11 f.), and
which influenced David to remove it to Jerusa-
lem, was of an altogether different character from
that which is here implored. [The reference to
the ark as being connected with the composition
of the Psalm was, among English expositors, first
suggested by Hammond ; Perowne, among the
recent ones, defends it. The others favor the
usual reference to David's early experience as
king of the whole of Israel. Perowne, moreover,
while giving the usual interpretation to the
clause just expounded, considers it as an allusion
to the promise in Ex. xx. 24. — J. F, M.J.
Vers. 3flf. Set bdfore my eyes, eic. -Literally:
opposite to my eyes, as opposed to pleased con-
templation, or to striving after an object, follow-
ing a pattern or example. [The third member
of the verse should be rendered: I hate the
committing of transgressions. — J. F. M.]. A
froward heart, ver. 4, would better suit the
context, if referred to the Psalmist's own heart,
which is expelled as an evil guest, than if un-
derstood metonymically as applying to false men.
So, in the following line, the refusal to know
wickedness, (Ps. i. 6; xxxv. 11), is opposed to
acknowledging, cherishing, caring for it (Ps.
XXX. 5). Lofty eyes [ver. 5], denote haughtiness,
a broad heart, self-inflated arrogance (Prov. xxi.
4; xxviii. 26). I ^97111 not suffer is literally:
I cannot, am incapable, namely, of suffering. Ac-
cordingly W.W1 is added in Jer. xliv. 22 ; Prov,
XXX. 21. In ver. 8 the designation of time may
allude to the sessions of justice held in the
morning, Jer, xxi. 12; 2 Sam. xv, 2. It may
also, however be regarded as equivalent to •
daily (Ps. Ixxiii. 14).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Mercy and justice do not exclude, but mutual-
ly condition, one another, for the salvation of the
world, as that salvation has been brought to the
knowledge of the church in the dealings of God.
They are therefore entitled to be the subject of
her songs of praise. But the people of God
must not only celebrate in their songs this reve-
lation of the divine glory, they must themselves
also engage in its service (Micah vi. 8 ; Matt, xxiii.
23). Thus not only will a special gift of God be
consecrated, but the whole man will be sancti-
fied in Him, and hereby be qualified for his spe-
cial work as one blessed of the Lord.
2. It is necessary that every man should be con-
scious, and continue mindful, of this his position,
and the part he has to perform, and that, con-
formably to the whole circle of his duties, he
should bring home to himself his responsibility
in individual cases, and, according to the special
relations of his position in life and his calling, that
he should try his own conduct conscientiously,
should make the corresponding resolves, and
should long and sigh after and implore, for the
fulfilment of his vow, the coming of the Lord, in
order to obtain the help which he must feel to
be indispensable.
8. The importance of this obligation is not at all
lessened by the greatness of endowments be-
stowed, or with the exaltation of the office held,
or with the ripeness of the experience of life; it is
rather enhanced by them. Kings, princes, and
rulers, therefore, have the greatest responsibili-
ties, especially as most trials are assigned and
the greatest temptations presented to them. They
have not only to guard their own hearts, but
also to watch over the country, not only to
walk themselves in innocence (1 Kings ill.
14 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 72 ; Prov. xx. 7), but to rule
the country and the people in mercy and justice,
and, in conformity therewith, to regulate their
lives in private and public, to appoint their min-
isters, to choose their associates, to fashion their
whole conduct to friend and foe, and to unite a
conscientious administration of justice in the
punishment of evil doers with consideration for
the faithful in the land. *'We learn from this
how pleasing to God is that severity, which does
not exceed a just moderation, and, on the other
hand, how displeasing to Him is that cruel in-
dulgence, which gives the rein to the wicked; for
there is no greater inducement to sin than im-
punity." (Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God's mercy and justice are worthy of the at-
tention, admiration, and praise of men, but still
more so, of their love, study, and imitation.
— It is well for us, if not only our song, but also
our life is a psalm to the praise of God. — Men
must begin with themselves and in their own
homes, if they would observe the order estab-
PSALM CII.
519
lished by God. — He who has to command others
must not only walk blamelessly himself, but also
be surrounded with servants who follow diligent-
ly a like course. — He who is not true to God
will not be so to men ; let us therefore take heed
with whom we associate, and set God's mercy
and justice before everything else. — He who has
been endowed with talents, or intrusted with
power, must exercise them, but do so according to
God's order and with His help ; therefore the
wisest must learn from His word, and the
mightiest seek His aid. — He who would rule,
must, before everything else, become himself a
servant of God. — Without conversion of the heart
there is no improvement of life ; and without
both of these there is no pleasing God. — A king
by God's mercy as a ruler according to God's
justice.
Stabkb : It is not well that there should be
mercy alone, without regard to the distinction of
good and bad, and when there is only indignation
and punishment, then follows tyranny. Justice
must go hand in hand with mercy,— There are
three capital virtues in a ruler: prudence in
matters of faith, uprightness in holding judg-
ment, and faithfulness in general towards the
whole country, — Those who are in high places
should choose pious and upright servants ; if
they do not, they involve themselves in the
greatest guilt before God, and lay upon the na-
tion a heavy burden under which it sighs.— ^
Frisch : Good resolves and good performances
are both the consequences of God's mercy. — To
him alone, then, the honor and the praise belong.
— Rensohel: The ruler's mirror; it exhibits
the promise of David, (1) that he would rightly
execute his public duties, (2) that he would set
a good example to his subjects, (3) that he would
purify his court and dismiss the wicked, (4) that
he desired to do the same in the whole land and
in the Church. — Eichter [Hauabibel) : The reign
of a king over Israel was to be a representation
and type of the reign of Jehovah, as every
Christian king should be a representative and
copy of Christ. In these relations, also, the cross
points to the crown. — Dibdrioh: God's mercy
and righteousness are reflected in believers. He
alone who delights in justice and love, can take
pleasure in the mercy and righteousness of God.
— Taube : As the heart should be the Lord's, so
also should the house, and as the house, bo also
I the nation.
PSALM CII,
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he u overwhelmed, andpoureth out his complaint before the Lord,
2 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come unto thee.
3 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble;
Incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call
Answer me speedily.
4 For my days are consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned as a hearth.
5 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass ;
So that I forget to eat my bread.
6 By reason of the voice of my groaning
My bones cleave to my skin.
7 I am like a pelican of the wilderness :
I am like an owl of the desert.
8 I watch,
And am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.
9 Mine enemies reproach me all the day ;
And they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
*
10 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
11 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath :
For thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
620 THE FOURTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
12 My days are like a shadow that declineth ;
And I am withered like grass.
13 But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever ;
And thy remembrance unto all generations.
14 Thou shalt arise, arid have mercy upon Zion :
For the time to favor her,
Yea, the set time, is come.
15 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
And favor the dust thereof.
16 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth thy glory.
17 When the Lord shall build up Zion,
He shall appear in his glory.
18 He will regard the prayer of the destitute,
And not despise their prayer.
19 This shall be written for the generation to come :
And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.
20 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary ;
From heaven did the Lord behold the earth ;
21 To hear the groaning of the prisoner ;
To loose those that are appointed to death ;
22 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And his praise in Jerusalem ;
23 When the people are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
24 He weakened my strength in the way ;
He shortened my days.
25 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days :
Thy years are throughout all generations.
26 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth :
And the heavens are the work of thy hands.
27 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment ;
As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.
28 But thou art the same.
And thy years shall have no end.
29 The children of thy servants shall continue,
And their seed shall be established before thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Supbrsoeiption. Inthissuper-
scriptioa there are given, contrary to the usual
custom, not the historical circumstances by
which the contents might be explained, and
which occasioned the utterance of the Psalm,
but the circumstances under which it might be
employed. Accordingly, the superscription may
have been affixed at a later time, when the col-
lection of Psalms had come to be employed, not
merely as a book of devotion for liturgical pur-
poses, but also for private use, like other books
of hymns (Hupfeld). This, however, is not de-
cisive; for the contents and tone of this prayer,
which is throughout of a subjective character,
iure pervaded by historical and personal allu-
sions. These exclude the supposition that a poet,
perhaps David, had composed it for his descend-
ants (Hengst.), or that a prophet, having in view
the future misery of the people (Calvin), had
written it for the use of the class of sufferers
which it describes, when their sufiferings should
begin, by transferring himself to their mental
position, or drew up a model of prayer or formu-
lary for employment in such circumstances. The
suppliant speaks from personal experience of dis-
tress actually pressing upon him. But this distress
has not an individual character, but is of that
general kind which is felt under national cala-
mities and misfortunes. He prays for himself,
but at the same time affords help in prayer to
those who not only are in like circumstances
with himself, but who also are in a like frame of
soul. The time shortly before the end of the
PSALM OIL
521
Exile may be recognized as indicated in vers.
14, 15. Witli this also agree the many points
of coiucidence with the prophecies of the second
part of Isaiah, "with which, also, passages from
other Psalms, e. g. Pss. xxii., Ixix., Ixxix., and
from Job, are united. Yet the Psalm is not with-
out individuality, and is marked sometimes by a
lofty poetic strain and by expressions which are
as beautiful in language as they are sublime in
conception. The strophical structure is rather
irregular, so that only smaller and larger groups
are distinguishable. After a. request to be heard,
expressed in general terms (vers. 2, 3), there
follows, first, a description of the distressed situ-
ation of the suppliant in three sections (vers.
4-6, 7-9, 10-13J. To this there is attached an
expression of tne confident assurance that Jeho-
vah, the eternal Sovereign and gracious Hearer
of prayer, would soon fulfil His decree of mercy
to Zion (vers. 13-16), for the manifestation of
His glory, in the presence of which the heathen
would be affrighted (vers. 16-18), while the
redeemed would praise the Lord, recount His
deeds for succeeding ages, and so proclaim His
glory, that even heathen nations, converted to
Jehovah, should worship in Zion (vers. 19-23).
Then follows the confession, that humiliation has
come from the hand of the Lord. This passes
over into an entreaty, that the supplicant may not
be snatched away before his time. Finally, God
is praised as the Eternal, who remains ever the
same, and who will also grant perpetuity to the
generation of His servants (vers. 24-29).
Vers. 4-7. Hearth. — This signification is
established by the Arabic (Delitzsch, Hitzig), so
that we need not translate : brand=fire (most),
or=twigs (Sept. and others). The hearth,
however, may be regarded as embracing what
lies upon it (Isa. xxxiii. 14 ; Numb. vi. 2). —
Persons in deep grief ate nothing (1 Sam. i. 7 ;
XX. 84 ; 2 Sam. xii. 16 ; 2 Kings xxi. 4). The peli-
can (ver. 7) is mentioned as an inhabitant of moors
and desert places (Numb. xi. 18 ; Deut. xiv. 17 ;
Isa. xxiv. 17; Zeph. 11. 14. Comp. Oedmann,
Vtrmiichte Sammlungen, Part 3, Chap. 6). Along
with this DKp in Numb. xi. 17, 013 is also men-
tioned as an unclean bird, which in its etymology
is connected with a bottle or oup, and ihercfore
might signify the pelican (Bochart) ; but it has
always been explained as the night-owl ornight-
raven.
Vers. 9-12. Swearing by one (ver. 9), means: to
make his name a by-word of execration, or an ex-
ample of cursing (Isa. Ixv. 15 ; Jer. xxix. 22 ; xlii.
18). The ashes (ver. 10), allude to the custom
of those in deep sorrow, of sitting in ashes and
dust, and strewing them upon their heads and
garments. We are not to suppose that the
bread of the Psalmist was actually defiled. It
is a figurative expression, like: dust is their
bread (Isa. Ixv. 25; comp. Gen. iii. 14; Psalm
Ixxii. 9). The lifting up and casting down
[ver. 11] isa figure borrowed from a tempestu-
ous wind (Job xxxii. 21 ; xxx. 22 ; Isa. Ixiv. 5 ;
£zek. iii. 14), vividly representing how the
people first lost their fatherland, and were then
cast among strangers. In ver. 12 life is com-
pared to a shadow, not as passing, or quickly
vanishing (Ps. cxlv. 4 ; comp. xxxix. 7), but as
growing towards its end (Ps. cix. 23), lengthen-
ing in the evening (Jer. vi. 4), after a figure
taken from the declining of the day (Judges
xix. 9). There is nothing to indicate an allusion
to a leaning wall which threatens to fall, Ps.
Ixii. 4 (Hengstenberg),
Vers. 13-18. Thy remembrance. — Instead of
^"131 several codices, known already to Aben
Ezra, read ^^|D3, thy throne^ evidently a correc-
tion after Lam. v. 19 (Kimchi), but made unne-
cessarily, for the passage before us rests upon
Ex. iii. 15, and corresponds with the references
just made to God's sitting upon His throne, that
is, reigning (Ps. ix. 8; xxix. 10.) — The time
I^ID (ver. 14) determined in God's counsels (Ps.
Ixxv. 3 ; Isa. xl. 2) is often understood too defi-
nitely of the seventy years' exile (Jer. xxv. 11 f. ;
xxix. 10). — The stones [ver. 15] are not those
intended for rebuilding (Isa. liv. 11), but, as be-
ing parallel to dust=rfeorj« (Neh. iv. 4), are the
stones of Zion in ruins (Jer. iv. 1 ; Neh. iii. 34).
The loving devotion here described is, therefore,
not that of longing after the future, but, as the
parallelism also demands, that of sympathetic
attachment, unaffected by the destruction of the
city. — The restoration of Jerusalem and the
appearing of Jehovah's glory [ver. 17] go to-
gether (Isa. xl. 1-5), and are to oe the means of
the conversion of the world. The people of the
Exile are called in ver. 18 destitute and home-
less, powerless, unhonored, and despised by men
(Del.).
[Ver. 22. Alexandeb: "This, according
to the laws of Hebrew syntax, does not
necessarily denote an act of God Himself,
as the similar construction in the preceding
verse does, but may have a vague sense, equiva-
lent to saying, that his name may be declared in
Zion. To recount God's name is to recount the
mighty deeds which constitute it, and the cele-
bration of which constitutes His praise. Zion
is still represented as the great scene of Jeho-
vah's triumphs, not, however, as the capital of
Israel or Judah merely, but as the radiating
centre of religious light and influence to all the
earth."— J. F. M.]
Vers. 24-29. My strength. — It is evidently in
accordance with the parallel expression : my
days, to read the suffix of the first person (Syr.,
Chald. and many codices) instead of the usual
third person^=his strength (Sept. and most).
But it is doubtful whether we should translate :
on the way (Ps. ex. 7), or: by reason of the
way (Ps. cv. 18). The Sept. gives a complete
subversion of tne sense : it was said to me on
the way of his strength : show me the shortness
of my days. — Although the heavens and the
mountains are termed everlasting with reference
to the lasting duration of the order of things
(Gen. viii. 20 ; ix. 9 ; Ps. Ixxii. 5 ; cxlviii. 6),
preserved from decay (Isa. xlviii. 13), yet, when
contrasted with God, they are not merely transi-
tory and mutable (Ps. Ixxii. 7 ; Job xiv. 12),
but will undergo a change by the power of God
(Isa. xxxiv. 4; 1. 9; li. 6; Ixv. 17; Ixvi. 22).
In view of the contrast to this change to which
the world will be subjected, XIH T\m (ver. 28)
is not to be understood as referring, according
to the analogy of «in "JN (Deut. xxxii. 39 ; Isa.
522
THE FOURTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
xliii. 10, 13; comp. 11 ; xlviii, 12; lii. 6), to the
fact that God is the only Being who can lay claim
to the Divine name, but, as in Job iii. 19 ; Isa.
xli. 4; xlvi. 4, to the immutability in which God
ever manifests Himself as the same. The Mes-
sianic application of this passage in Heb. i. 10
ff. has its justification in the context, which
points to the time of fulfilment. The concluding
sentence asserts that the generation of God's
servants will not perish, but will ever have a
seed, and thereby be preserved until the period
of consummation. [Pekowne : " It is by no
means easy to understand why the words of this
Psalm should have been quoted, as it does not
seem at first sight to be a Messianic Psalm. It
may be observed, however, (1) that it is in this
sense Messianic, that it looks forward to Israel's
redemption from captivity, and the future glory
of Zion ; (2) that .... there are two great lines
of Messianic hope running through the Psalms,
the one human, the other Divine ; in the one of
which the reign of the Son of David, in the other
of which the advent of Jehovah is the great end
and object. Here the Psalmist is occupied with
the latter, the appearing of Jehovah in His
glory. (3) This identification of the Jesus of
the New Testament with the Jehovah of the Old
is what we find elsewhere. Comp. John xii. 41
with Isa. vi. (Isaiah sees the glory of Jehovah,
John says it was the glory of Christ), and John
xix, 37, which in Zech. xii. 10 is language used
directly of Jehovah. . . . (4) Not only the revela-
tion, the appearing of Jehovah in Zion, but also the
creation of the world, ver. 26, would point to
the great Mediator, the Eternal Word, as the
Person here spoken of, and on this last ground
especially, the quotation in the Epistle to the
Hebrews seems to rest." — J. F. M.]
DOCTBINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In great sorrow of heart even the body de-
clines. One in deep afla.iction loses his relish even
for food and drink. He who is inwardly tempted
feels himself also outwardly weakened, and pass-
ing away like a shadow to his end. Then it is
necessary above every thing else to be firmly
fixed in God, the Eternal, the Abiding, the Im-
mutable, to gain and maintain that immovable
ground, into which faith strikes root, and from
which the expectation of answer to prayer
grows up with life and vigor. Then the earthly
sources of happiness may be lost, its outward
supports be resigned, the temporal means of its
preservation and restoration be dispensed with,
yes, everything which otherwise would be pre-
cious to men may be stripped away, and the
sufi"erer may wander a homeless stranger over
the earth, and yet he will not be lost. He, who
in his distress makes God his refuge, remains
shielded in Him, though forsaken by the whole
world.
2. But to make God our refuge in such oircifm-
stances is not so easy as some suppose it to be.
For, in the first place, faith is not the gift of every
one. We have besides this to take into special
account the pressure which distress exerts upon
the soul, and which thus overcasts the mind,
weakens the love of prayer, paralyzes the powers
generally, and obstructs the upward looking and
rising of the soul to God. To this feeling of
weariness, feebleness, and exhaustion there is
then added the experience of loneliness, when
we are not only forsaken but shunned, and be'
come the object not of sympathy but of abhor
rence, contempt, and execration. But worst of
all is the burden of the Divine wrath, whose
awful severity we have to bear in those fearful
judgments. The turning point of deliverance
is indeed gained, when the chastened one re-
members that his sufferings are the merited
chastisement of his sins. But he, who is sincere
in such confession, is also conscious that he can-
not with all his sufferings remove his guilt or
atone for his sins, and thus falls into a deep
gloom, which would consume him if he were to
long for God in vain.
3. But the longing for God already contains in
itself germs of faith, both in God's power, and
in His willingness to pardon, comfort, and de-
liver. Moreover, in order that these seeds may
not be blighted, but gain vigor and develop, God
permits His people to behold manifestations of
His power, goodness, and faithfulness, and pro-
vides that the events by which they are made
known be proclaimed in the Church from gene-
ration to generation, and through the Church
come to the knowledge of the heathen, and that
thus all the world be called to conversion, and
the means of salvation be afforded it. The pre-
servation,^therefore, of God's Church in the world,
and the means of grace within the Church, form
an object on the one hand, of the cares, prayers,
and hopes of believers, and on the other of the
providential care, the love, and the effectual
working of God, as the unchangeable Creator,
Preserver, and Governor of the Church, as well
as the world, who will cause His glory to appear,
when the time is fulfilled, and will preserve the
seed of His servants, while the world is passing
away.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who would not pine away in distress must
seek revival from God's countenance, and, there-
fore, not merely pour out his complaint before
Him, but also cast his cares upon Him and hope
for the consolation of Israel. — The more strongly
we feel our frailty and helplessness, and the
more clearly we recognize the perishableness
and impotence of the world, the more firmly
fixed must we be in God, the more implicitly
must we hope in Him, and the more cheerfully
take what comes from His hand. — We care best
for our own welfare, when we are concerned for
God's honor, the salvation of the world, and the
prosperity of the Church. — The security for the
preservation of the Church does not lie (1) in
the impotence of the hostile world, but in tiie
indestructible dominion of the Almighty; nor
(2) in the virtues of its members, but in His un-
changeable faithfulness ; nor (3) in the strength
of temporal institutions, but in the invincible
power of the means of grace. — The glory of the
world sets with the rising of the glory of God :
well for him who can resign the one and hope
in the other! — Suffering and love are not counter-
parts, but they are quite compatible with one
another. Let us recognize, feel, and testify to
PSALM cm.
623
this in the afflictions of the Church as well as in
personal trials. — God has fixed in the Church
the remembrance of His name for His own glory,
for the building of the Church, and for the
conversion of'the heathen. — God has not resigned
His power over the world, even if He permits it
to last for a time, and restrains His judgments :
let us then trust in His power, and, that we may
not need to dread His judgments, let us serve
Him faithfully as our King.
Luther : A Psalm of devotion, wherein the
dear saints of old, weary of the law, of sin, and
of dying, yearn thus fervently after God, and
call for the kingdom of grace promised in Christ.
^Calvin : The more lamentable the desolation
of the Church, the less should we allow ourselves
to become alienated from love to her. — Starke :
True penitence does not soon cease ; it is not
exercised with laughter on the lips. — It does
not so much grieve the pious that they are
chastened by God, as that they have offended
Him, and have thereby brought upon themselves
His anger and chastisement. — A penitent heart
distrusts its own strength, and knows that it has
as little strength as a shadow, and as little sap
as the withered grass. — It is the beginning of
true repentance, when the stony heart, smitten
by the rod of the law, overflows in a flood of
tears ; from this sowing in tears there grows
the stately and fruitful harvest of joy. — In the
world, every one turns his eyes away from him
who is forsaken and despised ; but God does the
opposite. He turns to listen to the entreaties
of those who are forsaken by the world and its
comfort. — There are few among men who have
part in God's mercy, because they do not groan
as prisoners, or know that they are children of
death. — Beware lest thou shorten thy days by
an intemperate and unchaste life, needless anxi-
ety, anger, and other evils ; abide rather in God's
fear, for that will lengthen thy days. — We
shall have lived long enough, when we shall have
gained a true knowledge of Christ, and have
been well confirmed therein ; if we have this,
we cannot after that die at an inconvenient time.
— The world must always leave a little room for
the citizens of Christ's kingdom, and if they do
not find it on earth, they have an eternal abiding
place in heaven. — Selneokhr: That is a beau-
tiful and comforting promise, that God will hear
all those who believe and fear Him, and that
the Church of Christ will ever endure, and extol
and praise the great blessings of its Redeemer.
— Menzgl: For what end are the people created ?
To praise the Lord. — Arndt: Though God the
Lord knows all thy troubles, yet- He will have
thee lament them to Him ; (1) that in thy spirit
there should be no guile ; (2) and that from the
heart thou shouldst know thy sin ; (8) that thou
shouldst show the Lord thy wound which pains
thee, that He may heal it. — Ribqer: We indeed
have proofs that we are not in heaven, but that
we are suspended all alone, by our faith, between
the life of the world and the life eternal. But
it will yet be the lot of the world to utter a
more bitter cry than the pelicans. Ah, how
much better would it be tO; weep here with and
over Zion ! — Guenther : Though it may seem
sometimes as if death must be near, and the
night of hell must conquer and triumph over
the few righteous in a city or in a nation, yet it
must remain true of them, what the Lord Him-
self has said, that none should snatch them out
of His hand, and that the gates of hell should
not prevail against them. — Diedrich : If all thy
desire is really after the living God, He will
speedily vouchsafe His presence to thee most
richly ; but worldlings and hypocrites desire
not God, but always the world, even when they
pray. — Taube: While believers under the Old
Covenant sought and gained Christ in God, the
God of salvation in the God of creation, the
children of the New Covenant proclaim God in
Christ, who became flesh, of whom, by whom,
and to whom are all things, blessed to eternity.
[Matth. Henry : If God by His providence
declare His name, we must by our acknow-
ledgment of it declare His praise, which ought
to be to us an echo of His name. — Barnes : An
indication of a coming revival of religion is
often manifested — by tenderness, pity, and com-
passion in view of abounding desolations, the
coldness of the Church, and the prevalence of
iniquity — by a conscious returning love in their
hearts for all that pertains to religion, however
unimportant it may be in the eyes of the world,
or however it may be despised. — J. F. M.]
PSALM cm.
A Psalm of David.
Bless the Loed, 0 my soul :
And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, 0 my soul,
And forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities ;
Who healeth all thy diseases ;
624 THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction :
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies ;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things ;
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The Lord executeth righteousness
And judgment for all that are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways unto Moses,
His acts unto the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy,
9 He will not always chide :
Neither will he keep his anger forever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins ;
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For -as the heaven is high above the earth,
So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children,
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him,
14 For he knoweth our frame ;
He remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass :
As a flower of the field so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind paaseth over it, and it is gone;
And the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him.
And his righteousness unto children's children ;
18 To such as keep his covenant.
And to those that remember his commandments to do them.
19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens ;
And his kingdom ruleth over all.
20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels.
That excel in strength, that do his commandments.
Hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts ;
Ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
In all places of his dominion :
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — A stream of
grateful praise, whose gentle and regular
waves rise gradually higher and higher,
here flows forth from a mind which is moved to
its inmost depths by the blessings, especially
those of a spiritual nature, which God has abund-
antly and from the earliest ages bestowed both
upon the Psalmist personally, and upon the
whole Church. The poet begins by calling upon
his own soul to declare its gratitude for the ma-
nifestations of God's favor, which he has him-
self personally experienced (vers. 1-6), and the
words which are uttered at the beginning of the
Psalm reappear in the last line, and thus enclose
the whole. Between these, the Psalmist celebrates
God's gracious and helpful dealings in their ac-
tual manifestations in Israel (vers. 6-10), in their
heavenly exaltation and paternal character, and
their relation to sinful and mortal men (vers.
11-14), and in their trustworthiness for all who
hold fast to His covenant and to His ordinances
(vers. 16-18). Then the whole world is called
upon to praise this heavenly King who rules over
all (vers. 19-22).
The supposition that either a final strophe be-
ginning with ver. 20 (Roster), or the last line
PSALM cm.
525
(Hiipfeld) forma a liturgical epiphony, is with-
out foundation. So also is the assumption that
the whole Psalm was designed for the public
service (Ewald, Olshausen). Still more un-
founded is the notion that the whole people in
exile are the speakers. The reference to David's
restoration to the Divine favor after his adultery
with Bathsheba (Rosenmiiller) is too special.
There are, moreover, serious grounds for hesi-
tation with regard to the Davidic origin, afforded
especially in Aramaio forms, among which the
suffixes echi and aychi are the most striking, oc-
curring, as they do, only besides in Pss. cxvi. 7,
19; cxxxvii. 6; Jer. xi. 15, and 2 Kings iv. 1-7.
We may regard the passage cited in ver. 8 from
Ex. xxxiv. 6 as the Text (Hupfeld). [Heng-
stenberg, holding the originality of the super-
scriptions, defends the opinion of a composition
by David, finding resemblances to the preceding
Psalm, which he assigns to the same author.
Delitzsch and others, observing the same resem-
blances, and drawing a like inference, refer it,
as they do Ps. cii., to a writer near the close of
the captivity. Perowne thinks that nothing cer-
tain can be determined as to the date or the
author. Alexander favors the hypothesis main-
tained by Hengstenberg, that this is the Psalm
of mercy andjudgment promised in Ps. ci. — J.F.M.]
Vers. 1-4. Bless. — The thanksgiving, as a
response to the blessing with which God blesses,
is denoted by the same word as the blessing it-
self. On the soul as representing the whole
man see Delitzsch's Biblische Psychologie, pp. 104,
203. On the organs [E. V. : that is within me]
of the cavities of the chest and abdomen, as em-
ployed in the service of the mind and soul, see p.
266. The benefits (ver. 2) of God are denoted by
a word which means, literally, actions for which
one has deserved well. Instead of: grave (ver.
4), in allusion to the under-world (Ps. xvi. 10),
the LXX. have rendered: destruction, by de-
riving the form not from y}W but from Pnu/,
Job xvii. 14. [The former rendering is now
universally adopted. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 5. The satisfying of the languishing
heart or soul is also mentioned in Psalm
cvii. 9 ; Isaiah Iviii. 11 ; and the whole con-
text leaves the impression rather of inward
satisfaction than of outward nourishing.
But we should not translate directly: desire
(Sept.) For HJ^ is known to occur elsewhere
only in the signification : array or ornament ;
and this could very well be employed to denote
the soul, as "my honor," '* my darling," and the
like expressions, are (Aben Ezra, Mendelssohn,
Hengst.) The context, however, must decide as
to the special reference of an expression so ge-
neral and capable of such manifold applications.
In Ps. xxxii. 9 the same word denotes the trap-
pings of the mule, which are at the same time
the means of restraining it, and we therefore
render there: harness. Here we are scarcely
justified in understanding the body (Syr.) or the
cheek (Kimchi, Del., Hitzig) or the mouth (Lu-
ther), and still less old age (Chald.) or youth (J.
D. Mich., Gesenius). Nor is it probable that
there is any allusion to the rejuvenating influ-
ence mentioned in the next line, as though the
poet, by way of anticipation, were referring to
the adornment of the body which had renewed
its youth (Koster, Maurer), or had meant by the
word '* attire " the whole outfit and equipment
which surrounds men like a garment, and is in
Job ii. 4 denoted by the word skin, in contrast
to the soul. [Hupfeld : "All the apparatus of ex-
ternal means by which life is sustained, and with
which it is invested." — J. F. M.] The previous
mention of the soul itself does not interfere with
our explanation, for the whole person was em-
ployed just a little before as representing it,
[So Hengstenberg also, who renders : ornament,
but explains the word as meaning the soul. Al-
exander renders : soul, directly. — J. F. M,]
Vers. 7-9. Ver. 7 alludes to Ex. xxxiii. 13. The
"ways are therefore not those to be trodden by
men, but those followed by God in His march
through the history of the world. Is. Ivii. 16 ; Jer.
iii, 5 are parallel to ver. 9. [" He will not always
judge " is the more literal and correct render-
ing. For the next clause comp. Jer. iii. 5, 12.^
J. F. M.]
Vers. 14-22. The frame does not denote
here the moral nature of man (Gen. vi. 5 ; viii.
21 ; Deut. xxxi. 21) the inherited disposition of
his heart (Psalm li. 7), but the frame of dust
(Gen. ii. 7) like a potter's vessel (Job x. 8 f. ; Is.
xxix. 16; xlv. 9 f.) The second member of ver.
16 is taken literally from Job vii. 10. The figure
of the flov^er in general, is based upon Job xiv.
2 ; that of the grass on Ps. xc. 5 ; Is. xl. 6 f.; li.
12; the blessing bestowed upon children's chil-
dren (ver. 17) is from Ex. xx. 6 ; xxxiv. 7 ; Deut.
vii. 9. Angels (ver. 20) are called upon to praise
God also in Ps. xxix. 1 ; cxlviii. 1. They are here
called heroes [of strength, E. V.: that excel in
strength. — J. F. M.] as leaders of the armies of
God (Joel iv. 9, 11; Is. xiii. 3; xL 26). The
hosts likewise mentioned here appear to be
angels of subordinate rank (Del., Hitzig), and
not stars (Hengst., Hupfeld). [The latter opi-
nion has originated in the unwillingness to view
this verse as containing anything like a repeti-
tion of the preceding. The explanation given
above would obviate this difficulty. But there
is no need of assuming a subordinate rank to be
intended. It would be better to understand this
verse as being more comprehensive in its appli-
cation. The preceding one called upon a special
class of the most exalted angels to praise their
Maker. This one summons all His hosts that mi-
nister to Him. We are led to this, besides, by the
gradually widening scope of the passage. For
the last verse calls upon all God's works to blesa
Him. Thus it seems that the word " all " is in-
tended in each verse to include what goes be-
fore, while embracing also a wider class. The
application of the term " ministers " to the stars
would seem to be lacking in the simplicity and
directness which characterize the language of
the Psalm throughout. — J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. If the ingratitude and forgetfulness of the
human heart were not great by nature, there would
be no need of a special and repeated exhortation
to the thankful acknowledgment of God's bene-
fits. For these benefits are numerous and every-
where apparent, are bestowed upon individuals
and the whole country, satisfy physical and
526
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
spiritual needs, and comprise temporal and eter-
nal good. Yet it is indispensable that we trace
all this to the invisible Giver of all good, while
we have reason, not merely to call upon others
to praise God, but also to remind ourselves, that
we have not previously given to God something
which is requited to us, but rather, that all our
thanks are only an acknowledgment of the bless-
ing which we had previously received from Him,
and thus do merely trace back this blessing to its
source in God.
2. But the ever-flowing fountain of all
these benefits and blessings is the love of
God. And this love is manifested not merely as
guardian love, beneficent kindness, sympathizing
mercy, and helpful compassion, but is chiefly
displayed as grace. In such exhibitions of His
grace does God forgive the sins of men, deliver
them from death, renew their natures, heal their
infirmities, beautify their lives; and this without
any merit or desert of their own. For it is a pa-
ternal mode of dealing which God manifests and
exercises towards His people.
3. And since He, who thus acts towards us as
a Father, is also the holy God and the Heavenly
King, His dealings are righteous. His love is
neither a weak indulgence of all, nor a capri-
cious preference of some. Its immeasurableness
and infinitude are not the absence of moderation
or self restraint, but correspond to its more than
earthly nature, and express the all-comprehen-
siveness and all-sufficiency of its influence, pro-
ceeding from the inexhaustible and invincible
fulness of power which dwells in the Divine na-
ture, but do not interfere with the conditions
under which this eternally efficacious grace is
displayed in the history of the world, and is re-
ceived and experienced by individuals according
to their constant need.
4. All this is most clearly recognizable in the
dealings of God with His people. But they, on
their side, have reason most strictly to fulfil these
conditions. For God's will and ways have been
made known to them by Himself, and the cove-
nant established by Him reminds them constantly,
on the one hand, of their obligation to fulfil its
duties, in order that His will may be performed
on earth by those who fear Him, as it is by the
angels in heaven, and, on the other, of the un-
changeable willingness of the Highest to show
compassion to man, who withers like the grass,
and to make those who are His people well-
pleasing in His sight.
5. The Church, accordingly, as it is the place
of God's worship, is also the soil for the training
up of men as His servants and children. But
the sphere of God's dominion is far wider than
His kingdom in Israel: it embraces heaven and
earth. . And therefore should the praise of this
incomparable King resound through all depart-
ments of creation, and an accompaniment to the
hallelujah of the Church follow in all places of
His dominion.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The more bountifully God's benefits are show-
ered down upon men in their brief lives of con-
stant need, the more easily is one after another
forgotten ; but all the more base is such forget-
fulness. — God in His goodness comes forth to
meet our wants, and anticipate onr requests; are
we as speedy with our thanks and as ready in
our praise ? — That men should praise God with
willing readiness, there are necessary, (1) a soul
mindful of His blessings, (2) a heart susceptible
of love towards Him, (3) a conscience sensitive
to His righteous demand. — God rules in His
kingdom with fatherly goodness, and yet with
kingly righteousness ; therefore it becomes us to
fear as well as love Him, to serve as well as
trust Him. — If God deals with us as a Father, do
we act towards Him as children ? — The whole
world is full of the goodness of the Lord ; but
how far is the whole world still from knowing
and praising Him ? What has our Church done
to remedy this deficiency ? And what is her
duty with regard to it ? — If we lay claim to the
rights of the covenant, we must fulfil its obliga-
tions; and this we cannot do without the help
of our God as it is pledged in the covenant. —
Man has here below no abiding-place, not even
in the memory of the world; but God forgels no
one. Oh that we might remember Him ! — The
Church of God on earth; (1) as the object of His
paternal care, (2) as the place where His hea-
venly glory is manifested, (3) as the organ of
His royal government.
Augustine: When thou art forgiven, thy sins
begin to set and God's grace rises. — Seek thy
good, oh soul! All creatures have a certain
good "which supplies and completes their nature.
Behold the highest good ; it is thine!— Stakke:
Not a single sin of an impenitent sinner remains
unforgiven, and just as little should a single sin
remain in its dominion and evil influence (Rom.
vi. 12). — The crown of a believer in this life, as
well as in the heavenly, is God's mercy and
compassion, for they are the sure sources of
his blessedness. — Justification must go hand in
hand with sanctification and the renewing of the
Holy Ghost. — The goodness of God is mighty,
not only to strengthen our spiritual life, but our
temporal also, in so far as it tends to His glory
and our welfare. — He who would have the un-
failing eagle-like vigor of a mind directed hea-
venwards, let him ever satisfy his hungry soul
with grace alone, and strength will never be
wanting to him. — The most potent remedy for a
troubled soul is the contemplation of the com-
passion and goodness of God. — God lets the sin-
ner know and feel His anger, in order to prepare
him for the view of His mercy. — True parents
should not, it is true, tolerate the faults and sins
of their children, by being silent with regard to
them or overlooking them, as Eli did; but they
must recognize, on the other hand, that they are
not so much their judges as their parents, and,
as it were, their physicians. — The more transi-
tory man is, the more abiding is God's mercy;
the Christian must oppose this ground of conso-
lation to all trials, yea, even to death itself. —
The holy angels are not only our guardians, but
also our instructors and leaders in the praise of
God, — No place is an improper one to praise God,
provided only our heart is sincere before Him.^
We should be as ready (and still more ready) to
execute the ^yill of God, as an obedient servant
is ready to execute his master's, even at a nod
from him ; nor should we do this by compulsion,
but from love (1 John v. 8). — God knows our
PSALM CIV.
527
distress and ruin better than we ourselves, and
regards all men with compassionate sympathy,
but looks upon His children especially with the
most tender pity.
BEELEMBunaGR BiBLE: The soul which has
been stricken and slain, but made alive again,
feeling the joy of itsnew freedom and the enjoy-
ments of its redemption, flows forth without re-
straint in praise and thanksgiving, in testimony
of its gratitude. — Rieobr: To feel sin and death,
and thereafter to have received the atonement
and the Spirit which makes alive, and so to
praise God, and to join in faith and patience
with all the saints of God, — this is the subject
of the ciii. Psalm. — Rocs : David, when he en-
couraged his soul to praise God, was conscious
of his sins and infirmities ; these only were his
own. The Lord forgave the one and healed the
other, and he ascribes all good to Him. — Tho-
luck: The psalmist, while praising God's im-
measurable mercy to those who fear Him and
keep His covenant, guards against that carnal
conception of the Divine love, which forgets that
repentance and faith are the conditions, under
which God announces Himself as our Father. —
GuENiHEs : If God had not been patient with
our stammering and halting, we would never
have learnt to speak the language of truth, nor
walk the wcy- of life; and if He had dealt with
the nations according to their disobedience,
where would their names have been ? — Diedeich :
The nearer we come to God, the more are we
ravished with enlarged discoveries of His for-
giveness.— ScHAUBACH : Without forgiveness of
sins, even the highest earthly good is only a
whitened sepulchre, behind which destruction
lurks. — Taube: Man, in his body, soul, and
spirit, is, as it were, a mouth opened wide
with cravings ; that is his greatest weakness and
yet his chief adorning ; nothing less than God,
the native fountain of youth, can satisfy Him
[Matt. Henry: He considers the frailty of
our bodies and the folly of our souls, how little
we can do, and expects accordingly from us;
how little we can bear, and lays accordingly upon
us ; in all which appears the tenderness of His
compassion. — Hengstenberq : Old age, in other
cases always the forerunner of death, is here
continually the forerunner of youth : the greater
the failure of strength, so much the nearer is
the complete renewal of strength. — J. F. M.]
4
PSALM CIV.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
0 Lord my God^ thou art very great ;
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty :
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment :
Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain :
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the "watem :
Who maketh the clouds his chariot ;
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind :
Who maketh his angels spirits;
His ministers a flaming fire.
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth,
That it should not be removed for ever.
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment :
The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled ;
At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 They go by the mountains ;
They go down by the valleys
Unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over \
That they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys,
Which run among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field :
The wild asses quench their thirst.
528 THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation,
Which sing among the branches.
13 He watereth the hills from his chambers :
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,
And herb for the service of man :
That he may bring forth food out of the earth ;
15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man.
And oil to make his face to shine,
And bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap;
The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted ;
17 Where the birds make their nests :
As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats ;
And the rocks for the conies.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons :
The sun knoweth his going down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night :
Wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey.
And seek their meat from God.
22 The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together,
And lay them down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work
And to his labour until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works I
In wisdom hast thou made them all :
The earth is full of thy riches.
25 So is this great and wide sea,
Wherein are things creeping innumerable.
Both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships :
There is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein,
27 These wait all upon thee ;
That thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
28 That thou givest them they gather :
Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled :
Thou takest away their breath ; they die,
And return to their dust.
80 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created :
And thou renewest the face of the earth.
31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever :
The Lord shall rejoice in his works.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth :
He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live :
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being,
34 My meditation of him shall be sweet :
I will be glad in the Lord.
35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,
PSALM CIV.
529
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless thou the Lord, O my soul.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Diyision. The subject of
praise in this psalm is God's working in the
kingdom of nature, as that of the preceding was
His working in the kingdom of grace. " The
poet celebrates in his song the present continu-
ance of the world ordained by God, having in
mind His first creative work recorded in Gen, i.
1 — ii. 8, and concludes with the desire that evil
may be banished from this fair creation, which
reveals universally, and in profusion, His power,
wisdom, and goodness." (Delitzsch). It is
scarcely to be doubted that the Biblical account
of the creation forms in general the guiding
thread of this poem. The seven groups, it is true,
in which the related thoughts are set forth and
placed in their connection, do not correspond
exactly to the seven days of the week of creation.
But the progress, on the whole, is the same, and
the several representations bear a striking re-
semblance in various expressions. It is impos-
sible to limit this resemblance to the modes of
conception presented in the first group, or to ex-
plain it as though the writer followed two in-
dependent authors, holding to the same tradition,
or belonging to the same school, (De Wette).
The differences are to be ascribed to the fact
that the subject was viewed from different stand-
points. There an account is given of the course
of creation. Here a hymn is sung to the praise of
the Creator and Lord of the world, based upon
that account, and having in view the course of
the world's history. But we are not therefore
to divide this hymn, so as to refer vers. 6ff. to
the Deluge, and the whole psalm to the Providence
of God the heavenly King, who will at last con-
firm His kingdom in its full power under the
Messiah (Venema). Nor is the leading thought
to bo found in the first verse, and the object of the
psalm, the strengthening of the assurance of the
Church that the righteous shall finally triumph
over the wicked (Hengst.). The last verse has
certainly "the earthy flavor of a special his-
torical situation" (Hitzig), yet with such gene-
rality, that no inference can be deduced from it
as to the time of composition. There is no
trace of a feeling of joyfulness over the restora-
tion of the Second Temple (Ruding., Ven,). The
linguistic peculiarities point in the general to a
late age. The poetic beauty has always been
acknowledged and very frequently praised.
Vers, 1, 2. Clothed (ver. 1), as in Job xl. 10;
Is. li. 9; Ps. xciii, 1. This expression, like the par-
ticiple which follows in the next verse .-veiling [.E.
v.: who coverest thyself], shows that there is
here described, not the eternal glory of God's
being (Jude ver. 25), nor the light that is inac-
cessible as God's dwelling (1 Tim, vi, 16), but
the royal splendor and majestic glory that are re-
flected in the created universe (Ps. xcvi. 6). The
heavens as a tent-curtain stretched out (Is. xl.
22; xlii. 6; xliv. 22; liv. 2), afford the concep-
tion of the jrp."^, that is, what is extended.
Yer. 3. The contradictory expressions, in yrhich
84
it is said that the upper rooms are framed with
beams, and that the latter consist of water, serve
at once to show the error of any sensuous con-
ception, and to represent the exaltation and im-
material nature of the heavenly King. [Alexan-
der comments as follows: "The first word means,
laying beams or rafters. The next phrase may
either mean in or with water. The first is more ob-
vious, the last more striking, as it represents a so-
lid building made of a liquid or a fluid material.
In the other case, the waters meant are those of
the firmament, see Gen. i. 6, 7; Ps. xviii. 12,
where the clouds and the wings of the wind are
also mentioned in the same connection." The
rendering in E. V. has not only the advantage
of being the "more obvious," it is also the only
one consistent with the poetic taste of the author.
Indeed Dr. Moll in his version of the Psalm,
renders: " Who frameth His upper room in the
waters," but does not notice this translation in
the exposition, — J, F. M.]. There can be no
allusion to the custom of erecting chambers upon
the flat roofs of dwelling-houses (Amos ix. 6 ;
Jer. xxii. 13), as places of privacy and with-
dra wing-rooms, for God is not viewed as conceal-
ing Himself, but as manifesting His glory.
Ver. 4. The double accusative makes the true
translation doubtful. According to the common
construction we must render: He makes His mes-
sengers winds (Koster), and can then put angels
in the place of messengers (Sept., Luther, Stier),
as in Heb. i. 7. But as there is no occasion to
mention angels as heavenly ministers (Venema),
in connection with the forces of nature, we are
justified in approving the other construction,
which is also admissible. ["Who maketh the
winds His messengers," as Dr. Moll has it in
his version. — J. F. M.].
Vers. 6-8. The Pillars [ver. 5. E.V.: founda-
tion; see remarks on Ps. xcvii. 2. — J. F. M.] of
the earth are frequently mentioned as denoting,
not literally, but by a poetic mode of expression,
the stability of the earth as suspended freely in
space (Job xxvi. 7). The description which
follows shows- that the idea of a Chaos was not
then entertained (Comp. Bnttmann, Mythologus,
I. p. 128). The mountains are as old as the
earth, and the waters which originally covered
it. According to this declaration in ver. 6, ver.
8 a is to be taken as uttered parenthetically,
(Ewald, Hupf., Del.), and not to be connected
immediately with ver. 8b, (Hitzig and others).
For though the rendering: the waters rose upon
the mountains, sank into the valleys, agrees in
sense with Ps. cvii. 26, (Chald., Hengst.) yet it
is incompatible with the statement in ver. 6, that
the waters stood above the mountains. So also
is the other explanation that the mountains and
valleys, through upheavals and sinkings (Um-
breit, Maurer, Hitzig), had adjusted themselves
to the positions prepared for them by God. [Dr.
Moll therefore renders vers. 7, 8 :
Before Thy rebuke they fled.
Before Thy voice of thuader they trembled away —
Mountains rose up, valleys sank down —
To the place, which thou didst establish for them.— J. F. M.].
530
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
Vers. 10-13. We are perhaps to understand by
the brooks, the valleys, ravines or vpadys in which
they flow (Sept. and others), but this is not
linguistically certain. The fruit of thy
w^orks, ver. 13, is probably the rain, as pro-
duced by the clouds (Kimchi and most), or it
may refer specially to the chambers which God
has built for Himself, according to the transla-
tion : fruit of thy labor (Hupfeld). If plants are
understood (Del.), then the earth must be used
metonyraically (Aben Ezra) for the dwellers on
the earth, which can hardly be supposed, if we
regard the preceding context.
Ver. 15. The connection of ver. 15 b with what
precedes, by 7 with the infinitive, appears to
describe a further effect of the wine, that it makes
the face shine as with oil. But, apart from the
circumstance that it is not the face, but the head
which is anointed, we must translate |D in its
comparative construction literally : than oil; and
thus oil would be mentioned in a way strange to
the context. But oil, together with bread-corn and
wine, is one of the chief products of the soil in
Palestine, and is employed more than anything
else to give flavor and richness to food. Most
therefore assume rightly a looser connection of
the sentence, as the same tbing occurs often
throughout the strophe. [Alexander: ^' And wine
gladdens the heart of man, — (so as) to make his face
ghine more than oil — and bread the heart of man
sustains. The text of the English Bible makes
oil a distinct item in the catalogue, and oil to
make his face to shine. But this is an impossible
construction of the Hebrew, in which |he infini-
tive (to make shine) bears the same relation to
what goes before as the infinitive {to bring forth)
in the verse preceding, and is therefore expres-
sive, not of a distinct cause and efi"ect, but of a
consequence resulting from the one just men-
tioned. The true construction is given in the
margin in the English Bible, to make his face
shine with oil, or, more than oil. To the first of
these alternative translations it may be objected,
that wine cannot make men's faces shine with
oil, unless there is allusion to the festive unctions
of the ancients, which, however, were restricted
to the head. The other therefore seems to be
the true sense, in which oil is merely mentioned
as a shining substance. The description of food
as sustaining the heart is very ancient. See Gen.
xviii. 5; Judges xix. 8." — J. F. M.].
Vers. 16-18. It is uncertain whether the ex-
pression: trees of Jehovah, ver. 16, is intended
to imply that they overtop all others, or that
they grow wild as contrasted with those
planted by men. The name HT'pn (ver. 17)
is applied to a bird with great wide-spreading
■wings, (Zech. v. 9), which builds its nest upon
the lofty cypresses (according to others: firs),
which has regular seasons of arriving and mi-
grating ( Jer. viii. 7 ), and belongs to the unclean
birds (Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18), and is per-
haps mentioned in Job xxxviii. 13, along with
the pelican. According to the etymology which
is assumed, it may mean a bird of a curved neck,
or of kind disposition, and is therefore supposed
to be either the heron (Sept., Aquila, Symra.,
Theodotius), or the white dove-falcon (Chald.,
Kimchi), or the stork (Isaaki and most). 1^''
(ver. 18) cannot denote the stag (Sept.) nor the
gazelle (Schegg),but (according tothe etymology:
the climber) the wild or the mountain goat (Job
xxxix. 1 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. 3). \2\!^ that is, gnawer,
is mentioned in Lev. xi. 6, as an unclean rumi-
nant, and in Prov. xxx. 2C as a sagacious animal
living in flocks in the clefts of the rocks, and in
Deut. xiv. 7 is distinguished from the hare. The
coney(Rabbins) is scarcely meant, even if it be
true that the Phoenicians gave the name Spain
to the Iberian peninsula from the number of
these little animals that were found there, still
less the rough and spiny hedge-hog (Sept.,
Vulg.). The leaping-hare or leaping-mouse,
(Chald.) has more in its favor. But the rock-
badger is most probably meant, which resembles
the marmot, and is common on Lebanon and the
districts about the Jordan. [The Hyrax Syriacus,
See the article Coney in Smith's Dictionary of
the Bible. I cannot find any support for the ex-
planation, gnawer, given above. The root is un-
doubtedly |3E^, an obsolete form, but cognate
in meaning with |D2f to hide. — J. F. M.J.
Vers. 19-26. For time-measuring [E. V.:
seasons), literally: for appointed times, or: for
sacred seasons (Gen. i. 14; Lev. xxiii. 4; Sirach
xliii. 7). Vers. ^1-23 allude to Job xxiv. 6;
xxxvii. 8; xxxviii. 40. The riches in ver. 24 are
the sum of all that has been brought into being
by the creative power of God. (Gen. xiv. 19),
The word is parallel to works before mentioned,
and is therefore in sense^rcreated things, yet
this not simply as such, but as including also the
accessory idea of divine ownership, by which
they are indicated as all belonging to God and
subject to His disposal. Hence the translation:
property (Luther), which is not quite accurate,
but throws light upon the word. The ancient
translators also are divided between KTiatq and
KTTjacg. The singular is recommended by all the
ancient versions, very many codices, and many
good editions, among which are the latest of
Heidenheim and Baer. — The leviathan is not the
crocodile, as in Job xl., buf, according.to the ety-
mology, a sea-monster of immense length. 13
does not mean in ver. 26 : with it (Isaaki, Ewald,
Hitzig), as in Job xl. 29, but in it, ver. 20 (Job
xl. 20 f.). — The names applied to ships hani and
ana in ancient Egyptian, are worthy of note, as
compared with the Hebrew ^JX.
Ver. 30. It is not the Holy Spirit that is referred
to (Geier, J. H. Mich.), nor the resurrection (the
Rabbins), nor the future renovation of the uni-
verse (Stier), nor the type and security of a per-
petual renewing and finally perfect regeneration
of the Church (Hengst.). It is the breath of God
that is spoken of, which is the breath of life to
all creatures (Gen. ii. 7; iii. 19; Job xxxiii. 4;
xxxiv. 14: Eccl. xii. 7 ; Ps. cxlvi. 4). It is for the
same reason that Jehovah is called the God of the
spirits of all flesh (Numb. xvi. 22; xxvii. 16;
Heb. xii. 9). The perpetual renewing of created
life in the mutations of time and races is al-
luded to.
Ver. 85. Hallelujah. A cry of devotion found
only in the Psalter, really consisting of two
words (praise Jehovah) which, however, occur
only in Ps. cxxxv. 3, and are designated unicum
by the Masora. The usual mode of writing ao-
PSALM CIV.
631
cording to the Masora (comp. Baer, Fsallerium,
p. 132) is ri^nvH, but in the passage before us,
where it occurs for the first time, the final letter
is written not H but n , that is, instead of the
sign Mappik there is Raphe. Even in the Tal-
mud the learned dispute whether the two words
should be united or separated. If they are to
be united, we must suppose the final syllable to
have been considered not as a real name of God,
but as an addition for the purpose of giving em-
phasis to the call for praise (Geiger, Urschrift,
p. 275). [Comp. a similar instance in Ps. cxviii.
6. Delitzsch cites an observation in the Talmud,
that this first hallelujah is coupled significantly
with the prospect of the destruction of the
wicked. — J. F, M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The wonders which are exhibited to us in
the heavens, and upon earth, and among our race,
are all the work of God, and are, on the one
hand, to serve as a manifestation of His glory,
and on the other, to be the occasion of our ad-
miring gratitude, adoring praise, and of the be-
lieving and obedient surrender of ourselves to
Him. For the whole creation is formed to be a
mirror of His glory, and all creatures are the
objects of His care and witnesses to His power,
wisdom, and goodness. But man is the only one
of them all who can gain a knowledge of this,
and give to God the glory which such knowledge
demands.
2. What God has created He will also preserve.
And therefore does He daily and richly provide
for all creatures, and give to them according to
their nature and needs, as long as they continue
to exi?t by His will, and by the power of His
creative breath. They all enjoy their existence,
perform their different parts, and act as it was
intended they should. But man alone, among
all creatures, in distinction from the involuntary
instruments of the Almighty, has a real daily
work. He has a definite part to play in life, and
can recognize it. And in undertaking it, he be-
comes a servant of God, does what he should do,
and finds enjoyment in God, His works, and His
service, and thus gives to his life in time an
eternal significance.
3. The order of nature, the gradation of created
being, the whole contents of the created uni-
verse, afford to men much to meditate upon and
to be grateful for. And when they recognize in
them God's working and His disposing power,
they are taught by the contemplation of His
works many things which lead them beyond the
sphere of the visible and sensible to another
world. But even the light, by which the dividing
of the elements began, and through which we
are enabled to become acquainted with and un-
derstand the creation, is only the royal mantle of
the Divine glory, the shining garment hp which
we come to know the Invisible, but which veils
the Eternal from the eyes of mortals.
4. If any one has a sincere and lively joy in
God's works and, still more, in God Himself, he
will also keep near his heart the thought that
God can always take delight in the world which
He has formed, as He took delight in its crea-
tion. But this feeling is disturbed by the reflec-
tion that everything in the world is not in ac-
cordance with God's will and to His satisfaction.
This justifies the wish that the wicked may dis-
appear. For they not only interfere with the
joy and work of God and His servants, but also
contradict the design of the 'creation, and im-
peril the duration of the order of the world.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The glory of God in the vastness, beauty, and
order of His works. — For the light, through
which God makes Himself known, there is
needed an eye to observe and a mind to interpret
it. — All things must be disposed according to
God's will, but man must be a willing servant of
the Highest, as he is the crown of creation, — As
we live and continue in being only by the breath
and will of God, so must we also work for Him
and for His cause, and take delight in Him and His
works. — God does not merely preserve the world
which He has created : He governs it also, and
therefore the wicked cannot endure before Him.
— We are permitted to delight ourselves in the
works of God, and enjoy His gifts, but only so
that both should be well-pleasing to Him. — If
we are at the head of the orders of created be-
ings, we should also take the lead in God's ser-
vice.— The earth is full of the goodness and pos-
sessions of the Lord ; it is our part to thank
Him for this, and to use according to His will
what He has bestowed.
Starke: It is to be lamented that the book of
Nature is so little read and still less understood,
— When faith lives and glows in the heart, no-
thing but praise to God flows from it, — To praise
God for His own sake, because He is such a great
and glorious God, is surely something greater
than to praise Him only because of the benefits
which He has conferred upon us. — -The real pil-
lar and foundation on which the world stands is
the Omnipotence of God.- — If God preserves that
which is great, can and will He not also preserve
thee, 0 thou of little faith? — If the earth stands
by the almighty word of God without visible
support (Heb. i. 3), why should my faith, demand
visible pillars for its foundation ? Why should
it not ground itself surely upon the gracious
word of truth? — The depth of the waters may
well suggest to us the depth of our sins, and the
great depth also of God's compassion. — He who
can place bounds to the raging sea, can still
also all the waters and waves of affliction, yes,
even check the burning sea of hell. — If meat
and drink daily renew the vigor of thy life, let
them also strengthen thee in the resolution
to live to the glory of the Lord. — The wisdom
and goodness of God are His comforting attri-
butes, of which all creatures preach to men for
the confirmation of their faSth. — If the transi-
tory earth is so full of the good things of God,
what will we have when we come to the land of
the living? — Fish, great and small, sport and
play in their element, but as soon as they are
brought out of it, they languish and die. Mark,
0 soul ! what thy element is, if thou wouldst live
joyful and blessed. — Creatures devoid of reason
do not know who feeds them, but God knows
their wants and their desires, and gives to them
582
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
richly. — The chief design of the world's crea-
tion was'the glory of God. Let this be our high-
est aim in all our actions. — If God takes plea-
sure in His works, beware lest thou misuse any
of His creatures for the purposes of sin against
Him ; and as thou art His noblest creature, as-
pire to be not displeasing to Him, but well-plea-
sing in Christ. — The desires and thoughts of all
believers should ever be directed to the lessen-
ing of the number of the ungodly and to their
conversion.
Menzel : We can give to God nothing but ado-
ration and praise, that He may have the glory.
For all we have is His before He gives it. — Ren-
8CHEL : God has created it by His power, His
wisdom has assigned its order, His goodness has
in it remembered us. Blessed is he who lays
that to heart, who ascribes praise and glory to
God. — Arndt : God acts like a wise father who
calls his child to himself. He does not rest with
calling us to Himself with such kind and gra-
cious words as the prophets and apostles speak to
us. He gives, yea, showers down upon us many
good gifts in nature. — Tholuck : Food can come
to all creatures from no other hand than that
from which came their life. — Diedkich : He who
has created all these things for us, and upholds
them so mightily day by day, must have some-
thing good besides in store for us. He will give
us yet to praise and adore Him without sin and
with an overflowing heart. — Taube : The great-
ness of the Creator and Preserver of the world,
in the manifestation of His omnipotence, wisdom,
and goodness, in the greatest as well as in the
least of His works, must be joyfully celebrated
by human tongues that are formed for His praise,
though a sigh must be uttered over the false
notes of sin, which disturb the harmony of the
order of creation.
[Matt. Henet: The roaring of the young
lions, like the cry of th& ravens is interpreted.
Doth God put this construction upon the lan-
guage of mere nature, and shall He not much
more interpret favorably the language of grace
in His own people, though it be weak and broken
groaning which cannot be uttered ? — There is the
work of every day, which is to be done in its
day, which man must apply to every morning;
for the lights are set up for us to work by and
not to play by ; and which he must stick to till
evening; it will b^ time enough to rest when the
night comes, when no man can work.
Bishop Hokne : Let the unruly and disobe-
dient reflect upon the terrors of His power and
the terrors of His vengeance, who with a look
can shake the earth, and with a touch can fire
the mountains, as when He once descended upon
Sinai.
Scott : The less we can comprehend the man-
ner in which the Creator retains the earth in its
course and the seasons in their order, the more
we should admire and adore His power, wisdom,
and goodness.
Hengstenbeko : In consequence of the nume-
rous works of God which are made according to
the necessities of His various creatures, the
earth is full of the good things by which He sup-
ports them. How should Zion alone starve in
the midst of these riches of Iier God ? — J. F. M,]
PSALM CV.
1 O give thanks unto the Lord ; call upon his name ;
Make known his deeds among the people,
2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him :
Talk ye of all his wondrous works.
3 Glory ye in his holy name :
Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lobb.
4 Seek the Lord, and his strength :
Seek his face evermore.
5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done;
His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ^
Ye children of Jacob his chosen.
7 He is the Lord our God :
His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever,
The word which he commanded to a thousand generationa.
PSALM CV. 633
9 Which covenant he made with Abraham,
And his oath unto Isaac ;
10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law,
And to Israel for an everlasting covenant :
11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaaq^
The lot of your inheritance.
12 When they were but a few men in number ;
Yea, very few, and strangers in it.
13 When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people ;
14 He suffered no man to do them wrong :
Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes;
15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed,
And do my prophets no harm.
16 Moreover, he called for a famine upon the land :
He brake the whole staff of bread.
17 He sent a man before them,
Even> Joseph, who was sold for a servant :
18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters :
He was laid in iron :
19 Until the time that his word came :
The word of the Lord tried him.
20 The king sent and loosed him ;
Even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
21 He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his substance :
22 To bind his princes at his pleasure ;
And teach his senators wisdom.
23 Israel abo came into Egypt;
And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And he increased his people greatly ;
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their heart to hate his people.
To deal subtilely with his servants ;
26 He sent Moses his servant ;
And Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 They shewed his signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He seat darkness, and made it dark ;
And they rebelled not against his word.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
And slew their fish.
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance.
In the chambers of their kings.
31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies,
And lice in all their coasts.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees ;
And brake the trees of their coasts.
34 He spake, and the locusts came.
And caterpillars, and that without number,
35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land.
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
534
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land,
The chief of all their strength.
37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold :
And there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed :
For the fear of them fell upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering ;
And fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and he brought quails,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out ;
They ran in the dry places like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
And Abraham his servant.
43 And he brought forth his people with joy,
And his chosen with gladness :
44 And gave them the lands of the heathen :
And they inherited the labour of the people ;
45 That they might observe his statutes,
And keep his laws.
Praise ye the Loed.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — While in Ps.
Ixxviii. the former history of Israel was employed
as a mirror of warning, and their relations
during the march through the desert were in
consequence fully described, the Psalm before
us contains an exhortation to praise God and to
seek the Lord, in faithfulness to the covenant,
as a response to the faithfulness which Jehovah
had displayed to the family of Abraham from
the establishment of the covenant with him until
their entrance into the Promised Land. It is a
lyrical rather than a doctrinal treatment of the
narrative presented in the Pentateuch. II fol-
lows the latter so closely that there is no trace
of strophical structure. The limits of the groups
are scarcely discoverable, for the essential events
are disposed in the order of their occurrence,
and a rhythmical movement is only discernible
in the regular bipartite structure of the verses.
The first fifteen verses are found again in the
song which in 1 Chron. xvi. is said to have
been sung when the ark was removed to Jerusa-
lem. But it is shown to be a later compilation
of the Chronicler, by the circumstance that the
parts which are taken likewise from Ps. xcvi. and
Qvi. are, by the abruptness of the transitions,
proved not to have belonged originally to the
same composition. Besides, it contains an allu-
sion to the Babylonish Exile ; and even the
doxology, which concludes the Fourth Book of
the Psalms, is retained, as if it were a portion
of the song itself. [See the addition in the In-
troduction to Ps. cvi. — J. F. M.]. We cannot
determine the age of our Psalm more closely
than to assign it a place later than the composi-
tion of the Pentateuch, and earlier than that of
Chronicles. The opinion which infers the time
cf the Babylonish Captivity from the prevailing
reference to the Egyptian period, is not to be
relied on, especially as there is no definite indi-
cation of the custom, common both with the pro-
phets and the poets, of comparing those periods.
And the attempt (Ptosenmiiller following the older
commentators) to separate a part, at least, of the
Psalm, ap the composition of David, from later
additions, must be regarded as entirely at fault.
Vers. 1-6. Call with His name [E. V.: Call
upon His name]. — This expression, Gen. iv. 26,
includes two things, invocation and proclama-
tion, or prayer and preaching. The whole of
ver. 1 reminds us of Isa. xii. 4. — Seeking and
inquiring after Jehovah and His face (ver. 4) are
not to be restricted to visiting the temple and
worshipping (De Wette, et al.). Nor is TJ? to be
here, as in Ps. Ixxviii. 61, taken to refer to the ark
of the covenant (the older expositors following
the Rabbins). The context demands a general
application of the word. In ver. 6, by a change
in the pointing we could easily obtain the trans-
lation : his servants (Sept.), as in apposition to:
seed of Abraham, and parallel to the following
member : his chosen. But ver. 42 (comp. ver.
26), shows that by the servant of Jehovah is
here meant Abraham. As his seed the Israelites
were reminded of the fact that they held the
same position as he did, and were encouraged
to be mindful thereof by the fulfilling of the
duties connected with that relation. And as
children of Jacob, they were reminded that they
occupied that position, not through hereditary
succession, but by virtue of election.
Vers. 8, 9. The Psalmist does not call upon his
fellow-countrymen to be mindful of the covenant
(Sept.), but he tells them of the faithfulness of
God, who had (praeterite) given an everlasting
place in His memory to the covenant which was
concluded with Abraham and confirmed to Isaao
PSALM CV.
535
witli an oath ^Gen. xxvi. 3; xxii. 16). Since
"131 here describes the coyenant with reference
T T
to its establishment by the Divine word of pro-
mise, so niy is to be taken in its primary mean-
ing, as in Ps. cxi. 9, and n^3 is to have the
same application as in Hagg. ii. 5. The form
pna?^ instead of pn^f:. occurs also in Amos vii.
9; Jer. xxxiii. 26.
Vers. 11, 15. The transition to the plural
in ver. 11 is to be explained by the considera-
tions that Jacob-Israel is the designation of a
nation as well as a proper name, and that the
promises given to the patriarchs were made to
him as being the father of the chosen race, to
which, therefore, they really belonged. — The term
prophetp, applied to the patriarchs in ver. 16, is
taken from Gen. xx. 7, where God Himself em-
ploys this word in connection "with those prohi-
bitions (Gen. xii. 20, 26), to which allusion is
here made. It is doubtful whether or not their
appellation : anointed has any special reference,
beyond the idea that they were men consecrated
to God and endowed with Divine gifts.
Vers. 16-18. Support of bread [E, V.: staff of
bread] as in Lev. xxvi. 26 ; Isa. iii. 1. Comp.
Ps. civ. 15. The selling of Joseph was explained
by himself as a sending-beforehand by God (Gen.
xlv. 5 ; 1. 20). His being fettered is also men-
tioned in Gen. xl. 3 ; it is therefore not a mere
poetical filling out of the picture. It is doubtful
whether /PS— 7T']i33=his soul (person) came
into iron (most), or whether the iron, which, in
the signification iron-fetter, might be regarded as
feminine, according to the principle developed
by Ewald, § 318, is not rather to be construed
as the subject, and the whole clause taken in the
sense in which it is said of water in Ps. Ixix. 2,
that it presses into the soul (Ilitzig, Del. ; as
previously Vatablus, Sachs). We prefer the
latter construction, since the periphrastic use
of tJ'S^ for person is very remote from the con-
text. If temptations (Hengsteub.) had been in-
tended they must have been expressed.
Ver. 19. His vrord cannot mean the word of
God (most), but that of Joseph in the intei-preta-
tion of the dreams, for all the preceding suffixes
refer to him. The declaration [E. V., word] of
Jehovah is, accordingly, not the promise of the
possession of Canaan (Hengst.), nor the decree
that Joseph should be tried (Clericus), but the
revelation of God made to him (Aben Ezra),
whose reliability he had to prove and attest in
provings and trials of his own person. n"1]f
never signifies glorifying and distinguishing
(Rud., Rosenm.). For llam see on Ps. Ixxviii. 61.
The description of the plagues of Egypt, after
Ex. i,-xii., follows the narrative there given more
strictly than do Ps. Ixxviii. 44 f. Here only the
fifth and sixth are omitted, and the ninth, that
of darkness, is placed first. A figurative expla-
nation, according to which the whole period is
supposed to be represented, during which God
showed displeasure towards and inflicted mis-
fortune upon them (Hengstenb.), is untenable.
It is in accordance with the facts, and in gene-
ral with the Old Testament mode of conception,
to trace the hardening of the Egyptians to God.
Ver. 27. In such connections as this the word '•"I3T
serves to denote various kinds (Hitzig), so thafc'it
is not quite superfluous, as though it were a mere
periphrasis (De Wette) ; nor is it to be regarded
as relating to the prophetic words, by which the
miraculous signs were announced beforehand
(Clericus and others, Hupfeld). But if we were
to read the singular DtJ' instead of the plural
IDK;, as in Ex. x. 12; Ps. Ixxviii. 43, we could
translate, since God would then be the subject:
He placed among them, or He laid upon them
the words of His signs (Sept., Vulg.).
Ver. 28. The order of the sentences naturally
suggests the reference of ver. 28 b to the Egyptians,
but, as they yielded to God's command only after
long resistance and repeated refusals, and only
when finally compelled by His judgments, this
mode of expression is not suitable to them. It is
not advisable to assume that a question is asked,
as there would then result a whole sentence of
a very feeble character. The suppression
of the negative (Sept., Syr.) is unjustifiable.
So also is a change of the verb, which would
replace: resisted, by: heeded (Hitzig). Most,
therefore, refer this negative statement of obedi-
ence to the Israelitish leaders, and suppose a
contrast to the conduct recorded in Numb. xx.
24; xxvii. 14.
Vers. 33 ff. [In ver. 33 b. instead of: trees
of their coasts, render : trees of their bounds,
that is, within the bounds of their country.
J. F. M.]. The spreading of the cloud for a
covering (ver. 39) does not allude to' protection
against the enemy (Ex. xiv. 19 f.), but to the
cloud which was (Numb. x. 14) a covering and
shady bower to the Israelites (Isa. iv. 5). —
Labor (ver. 44) is used metonymically for its
results, the acquisitions made by it (Isa. xlv.
14).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. God grants the knowledge of His nature
through His name. Therefore must His people
call upon His revealed name in prayer, and thus
make it known, that they have not to do with
unknown powers, but that they know well to
whom they address themselves when they offer
thanksgiving or prayer. And this knoion God
must not be honored merely by their own ac-
knowledgment ; they must also make Him known
to those who know Him not, and by means of
preaching diffuse the knowledge of God through-
out the world.
2. The world has many vain things, of which it
boasts, over which it vexes itself, after which it
inquires and pursues. The Church must boast
in the holy name of God, meditate upon Hi3
wondrous works, inquire after Him before all
else, seek Him above all else, in order that she
may be confirmed in communion with Him, and
be preserved and extended as His inheritance in
the world. For to this has she been chosen and
called by Him. But she has many enemies,
who aim to cast her down from this position of
high privilege.
3. The preservation of the Church in the world,
as well as her establishment, is the cause, work,
and glory of God. And God remembers His
covenant and the oath by which He confirmed it.
636
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
But the blessings of that covenant can be shared
only by those who submit to its conditions. He,
therefore, who would inherit the promises given
to the patriarchs, must conform to the conditions
of salvation which God has instituted for that
end. The seed of Abraham are not to forget
that Abraham was God's servant, and that, al-
though this designation is indeed a title of honor,
it is yet no empty title; for God solemnly asks, if
His chosen act worthily of it.
4. God's judgments, as the Judge of the whole
world, fall upon those nations who resist Him,
and serve at the same time to deliver His church
from the power of her oppressors. But these
events are not to excite a false feeling of security,
but call for gratitude, trust and obedience ; and
in displaying the severity of the divine wrath.
are to quicken the conscience and beget a salu-
tary fear. For if God protects His people mi-
raculously, cares for them graciously, an,d guides
them faithfully, and, besides leading tliem
through all dangers to the place whither He pro
mised to bring them, exalts them above all other
peoples, they must make it their aim to fulfil
their part of the covenant-obligations, and to
testify, both in word and life, their gratitude for
such benefits, blessings, and privileges,
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
We should testify our gratitude for God's
benefits: (1) by adoring His majesty; (2) by
proclaiming His deeds ; (3) by trusting to His gui-
dance; (4) by obeying His commands. — God has
delivered our nation so often in former times
that we (1) should reproach ourselves for our
ingratitude, (2) should be ashamed of our faint-
heartedness, (3) should grieve over our unfaith-
fulness.— God's judgments upon the enemies of
His Church: (1) as testimonies to His sway upon
earth, (2) as the means of her preservation, (3)
as a ground of hope in present distress. — The
growth of God's Church under affliction as being
(1) after the typical history of Israel, (2) under
the security given for God's faithfulness to His
covenant. — Many would like to share the honor
of God's servants, if they had only not to per-
form their service, or endure their trials.
Starke : When a man exhibits an ardent love
to God, it is a living witness that he is His tem-
ple.— How can he glorify God rightly, who does
not know by a living experience His name, deeds,
and wonders? 0, my soul! seek the Lord, so
that thou mayest extol Him joyfully. — The more
men turn away from God, the weaker they be-
come, and the more they inquire after Him and
draw near to Him in prayer, faith, and medita-
tion, the more strength do they gain from Him.
—If God always remains mindful of His pro-
mises to us, what is more reasonable than that we
should never forget ours to Him ? — The descend-
ants have as good a claim to, and as great a share
in, the covenant of grace as their forefathers,
with whom God established that covenant, pro-
vided only that they enter into it in faith.— Where
there is prosperity, there is also envy and
grudging; but he who has no friend but God
cannot be harmed by the envy and enmity of the
world. — The blood of true believers, poured out
like water, has ever been a fountain of blessed-
ness, from which spring forth the members of
Christ. — The injury received by a pious man in
one place ia compensated by God in another with
rich blessings : therefore guard against impa-
tience and care for the body. — God has the hearts
of His enemies in His power. If He takes their
courage from them. He can deliver His own
without a single stroke of His sword. — Let none
despise the feeble or the poor : thou dost not
know but that there are those among them who
are in covenant with God, and whom He will yet
employ for great things. — The history of the
faithful patriarchs is a fit representation of the
pilgrimage of believers, who have here no con-
tinuing city, but seek one to come. — In seasons
of affliction, let us not look to men, but God, —
upon Him who smites us, and not at the rod;
it is not the rod that sends the pain, but He who
employs it. — When calamities befall a whole na-
tion, the pious must suffer with the wicked ; yet
God often proves to His children that His word
abides sure: in the days of famine they shall be
satisfied (Ps. xxxvii. 19). — The members of the
invisible church must olten dwell in the tents of
Meshech; but they are more secure sometimes
in the midst of such enemies, than among those
who outwardly are members with them of the
common faith, — With regard to God's deeds of
goodness, believers must guard against two er-
rors: they must ascribe nothing to themselves
or their deserts, for God performs these deeds
for the sake of His word and covenant; and they
must not receive such benefits as a matter ,of
course, or misuse them. Assiduous striving after
sanctification and renewing ends at last in a
hallelujah, which all the perfect righteous ones
shall sing in unison, to the glory of the Lord,
throughout eternity.
Fbisch: No more powerful consolation can be
breathed into a troubled soul than the thought
that God is eternally mindful of His covenant.
Since the covenant is eternal, it cannot be annulled
by death. Since it is a covenant of grace, thou
needest not despond, even if thou hast perchance
transgressed it. — Rieger : On the mercy of Christ
we enjoy the blessing of Abraham ; and God is ever
mindful of His covenant, until He brings us into
the Fatherland, and the city to which He has called
us, and which He has prepared for us. — Richtee:
Canaan was intended as a school for Israel in
view of the coming of Christ. — Guenther: The
whole history of the Chosen People, before the
time of Christ, is a type of the history of Chris-
tianity, and a representation of the experience of
each believer; let us learn, then, what this spe-
cial chapter of the history means for you and
for me. — Taube : A call addressed to God's peo-
ple for the adoring remembrance of the mercy,
displayed in God's dealings towards the heirs of
the promise, in order to strengthen their faith.
— Godless and praycrless souls are also forgetful
souls, who learn nothing from the deeds, won-
ders, and judgments of God; but he who seeks
the Lord meets Him, for the strengthening of His
faith, on all the paths on which he has promised
that He will be found. — The rapture of deliver-
ance excites grateful love, which knows that it
is bound, by duty and obligation, to the Deliverer
and Blesser, and which lives to please Him in
all things.
PSALM CVI.
637
[Matt. Henry: We are therefore made, main-
tained, and redeemed, tliat we may live in obe-
dience to the will of God ; and the hallelujah
with which the Psalm concludes, may be taken
both as a thankful acknowledgment of God's fa-
vors, and as a cheerful concurrence with this
great intention of them. — Has God done so much
for us, and yet doth He expect so little from us ?
Praise ye the Lord.
Scott: We greatly mistake, if we do not rank
afflictions among our mercies (vers. 17-19), as
they tend to prove the reality of our faith and
love, to humble our pride, to wean us from the
world, to quicken our prayers, to enlarge our
experience of the Lord's faithfulness to His pro-
mises, to encourage our dependence, to bow our
hearts into submission, and to soften them into
compassion for our brethren. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CVL
1 Praise ye the Lord.
O give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good:
For his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord ?
Who can shew forth all his praise ?
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment,
And he that doeth righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people;
O visit me with thy salvation ;
5 That I may see the good of thy chosen,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation,
That I may glory with thine inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt ;
They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies ;
But provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.
8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake,
That he might make his mighty power to be known.
9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up :
So he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their enemies:
There was not one of them left.
12 Then believed they his words ;
They sang his praise.
13 They soon forgat his works ;
They waited not for his counsel :
14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
15 And he gave thpm their request ;
But sent leanness into their soul.
16 They envied Moses also in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord.-
638 THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And covered the company of Abiram.
18 And a fire was kindled m their company ;
The flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshipped the molten image.
20 Thus they changed their glory
Into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
21 They forgat God their saviour,
Which had done great things in Egypt ;
22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
And terrible things by the Red sea.
23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them.
Had not Moses his chosen
Stood before him in the breach,
To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land,
They believed not his word :
25 But murmured in their tents,
And hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them,
To overthrow them in the wilderness :
27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations,
And to scatter them in the lands.
28 They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor,
And ate the sacrifices of the dead.
29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions :
And the plague brake in upon them.
30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment :
And so the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness
Unto all generations for evermore.
32 They angered him also at the waters of strife.
So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes ;
33 Because they provoked his spirit,
So that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the nations,
Concerning whom the Lord commanded them :
35 But were mingled among the heathen,
And learned their works.
36 And they served their idols:
Which were a snare unto them.
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
38 And shed innocent blood,
Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan :
And the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works,
And went a whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people,
Insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen ;
And they that hated them ruled over them.
PSALM CVI.
639
42 Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43 Many times did he deliver them ;
But they provoked him with their counsel.
And were brought low for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction,
When he heard their cry:
45 And he remembered for them his covenant,
And repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
46 He made them also to be pitied
Of all thos6 that carried them captives.
47 Save us, O Xord our God,
And gather us from among the heathen,
To give thanks unto thy holy name,
And to triumph in thy praise.
48 Blessed be the Lobd God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting :
And let all the people say, Amen.
Praise ye the Lobd.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm,
•which bears the Hallelujah as an inscription, be-
gins with a doxology. This doxology was not first
employed in 1 Mace. iv. 24, but occurs already
in Jer. xxxiii. 11 as being then in common use.
Then in ver. 2 a question is uttered of such a
kind, as to create an expectation that a song of
praise to Jehovah would here strike in. But the
verses which follow give to the thought another
turn. For ver. 3 passes over to the praise of
the righteous, and vers. 4, 5, to a prayer for per-
sonal favor, in common with favor to the people,
and for participation in the happiness and re-
joicing which should follow. From this point
onwards the Psalm assumes fully the form of a
prayer of confession, which unites the universal
acknowledgment of sins (ver. 6) with a descrip-
tion of the conduct of the fathers, as it was dis-
played during the journey through the desert
(vers. 7-32), as related in the Books of Exodus
and Numbers, and during their residence in the
Holy Land itself (vers. 33-46), as related in Judges
ii. 11 ff. The closing verse forms a prayer for
deliverance from the present captivity.
The Babylonish Exile is rightly assumed
as the period of composition. For the litur-
gical doxology, which marks the close of the
fourth Book of the Psalms (ver. 48), is with
vers. 1 and 47, and the portions of Pss. xcvi. and
cv. already mentioned, put in 1 Chron. xvi. 36 into
the mouth of king David, at the removal of the
ark to Jerusalem; and, though treated in the his-
torical manner, it is there placed in such connec-
tion with the portions taken from our Psalm, as
to justify us in believing, that it was already at-
tached to it in the manner presented to us here.
It can the more readily be regarded as having
been specially connected with this Psalm, as its
peculiar form has unmistakably been preserved
by the influence of the latter. Delitzsch ad-
duces three peculiarities of the liturgical prayer,
and especially of the prayer of confession {vid-
dui) : (1) A fondness for a rhyme-like final
sound in like suf&xes, (2) an accumulation of
synonyms, (3) the unfolding of the course of
thought in a continuous line. He considers
the oldest types of such liturgical prayers, to be
the two forms, employed at the presentation of
the first-fruits (Deut. xxvi.) and the dedication-
pi'ayer of Solomon (1 Kings viii.) The supposi-
tion of Ewald that this Psalm was sung by al-
ternate performers, is based only upon the inter-
change of singular and plural in vers. 4 and 6,
which is insufficient for its support. The plural
reading, also, in ver, 4 f. (Sept., Syr., Aq.,
Symm., Theod., Vulg., Luther) is supported by
only a few unimportant manuscripts.
[Hengstenberg: "According to the common
idea, the author of Chronicles is understood to
relate that this composition was sung at the erec-
tion of the sanctuary on Zion under David. The
older expositors hence concluded that those
Psalms from which this fragment is made up,
were composed by David, or at least in the time
of David. In more modern times a proof has
been sought of the non-genuineness of Chroni-
cles, or of the arbitrary manner in which the
Jews fixed the authors and the dates of the
Psalms. But the whole is founded upon a mis-
take. The description of the service which took
place at the bringing-in of the ark of the cove-
nant in 1 Chron. xvi,, terminates before the
Psalm-composition is introduced, so that we do
not need to suppose that any use was made of
the latter at the celebration. David had already
pronounced the blessing, ver. 2, and the people
had been dismissed with the gifts which, accord-
ing to 2 Chron. vi. 18, 19, terminated the festival.
A narrative is next given of the arrangement of
the sacred music in the tabernacle. It is re-
corded next in ver. 7 that David, on the same
day, caused thanks to be given by Asaph and his
brethren, and, on the occasion of the great me-
morable day of the establishment of the sacred
music, there is given, vers, 8-16, the essence of
640
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
those Psalms which at all times were sung, ac-
companied by iheir music, as a representation
of the whole Psalter, The author of Chronicles
naturally formed his composition out of those
Psalms, which were sung in his day most fre-
quently and with the greatest relish. In like
manner it was natural that he should not bind
himself strictly to the text of the borrowed pas-
sages, but should introduce slight alterations
wherever such seemed suitable. The defence
lies in this, that he does not, like the author of
the Books of Samuel in 2 Sam. xxii., pledge him-
self to give a faithful transcript of another man's
labor, but has rather published expressly an ab-
stract by himself, and we must expect a priori,
that it would be given with that freedom, which
is manifested in selecting from Ps. cv. only the
beginning, and from our Psalm the beginning and
the conclusion." — J. F. M.]
[In ver. 4, E. V. has : with the favor that thou
bearest unto thy people. This should probably
be replaced by the rendering : " in favor to thy
people." For the connection compare the next
verse. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 5-7. Of thy nation.— '"I'lJ is parallel to
^tpil [ver. 4] as in Zeph. ii. 9; the singular be-
ing employed to designate the people of Israel,
whereas the plural always expresses the nations,
as contrasted with the people, Dil, united under
the dominion of Jehovah. In ver. 7 the Sept.
have evidently read wb'}^ instead of D'~7j^, for
they translated avajSaivovreg. The word is not a
gloss from ver. 22 (Clericus, Koster), nor a mu-
tilation of D'rl'7« (Houbigant) or {rbx (Ve-
nema). A local designation is quite in place,
and it is not at all surprising that in the name
of the sea, which follows immediately, the pre-
position 3 is used instead of 1^, in a like sig-
nification (comp. vers. 19, 22 ; Ezek. x. 15).
The appellation ^10 is not a proper name, that of
a city at the northern extremity of the Red Sea
(Knobel on Ex. xiii. 18), but is connected with
the ancient Egyptian sSbe = reeds, or sippe =
sea-weed. The common idea that it signifies :
sea of reeds, rests especially upon Ex. ii. 3 ; Is.
xix. 6. The absence of the article is due to the
circumstance that this designation had already
come into common, use, as though it were a pro-
per name.
Ver. 15. We are not to render: satiety (Sept.,
Vulg., Syr.) instead of: emaciation, that is, lean-
ness, as consumption (Is. x, 16; xvii. 4), which
God sent into their soul=their life. The former
is an inadmissible explanation of |in after the
fundamental passage, Numb. xi. 20, which states
that K"^!, loathinff, came upon them. Luther
combines the two ideas : He sent them enough,
until they were surfeited. The passage before
us, however, specifies the disease which resulted
from this, as the punishment decreed by God,
Ver. 20. Their glory is, as in Jer. ii. 1 1, is used
of God Himself, and in a twofold relation. — His
manifestation of Himself to His people, and His
being thus glorified before all nations (Deut. iv.
6 f , ; X. 21). A somewhat diiferent turn is given
to the sentence, if Jehovah is here called the
Pride of Israel (1 Sam. xv. 29 ; Hos. v. 6 ; vii. 10).
Vers. 24-27. The pleasant land. So Jer
iii. 19; Zech. vii. 14. The lifting up of the hand
is here not a gesture of threatening, raising it
to strike, but an attitude employed in taking an
oath, (Ex. vi. 8 ; Deut. xxxii. 40, comp. Dan.
xii. 7; Ps. cxliv. 8). It was because they de-
spised the land, that God would make them
perish in the wilderness. (Num. xiv. 32). Be-
cause they murmured in their tents (Deut. i. 27),
they were, in the persons of their descendants,
to be dispersed among the heathen. As ver.
26 f. is unmistakably connected with Ezek. xx.
23, the repeated v'SH/ would appear to be a
chirographical error (Hitzig, Del.) for ySH?.
Accordingly, the translation : overthrow (Sept,,
Syr., Chald.), is preferred by many. But the
word may have been repeated intentionally, for
in ver. 43, 1JDD (to sink down, decay) occurs,
instead of pDJ (to dissolve, become corrupt),
which is retained in Ezek. xxiv. 23; xxxiii. 10,
from the fundamental passage Lev. xxvi, 39.
Hitzig regards it as an error; Delitzsch as a
deliberate alteration.
Ver. 28 employs, as it seems, after Num.
XXV. 3, 5, a technical word denoting con-
nection with the Moabitish priapus. [For
the mode of expression comp. 1 Cor. vi.
IG, and Kling thereon in the Bibelwerk. — J. F.
M,]. It expresses, at all events, a closer inter-
course and more complete yielding up, than would
be conveyed by the translation : they were ini-
tiated (Sept., Jerome), or : they served (Gesenius,
after the Ethiopic usage of the kindred word).
Nothing is known of any special ceremony in
which bands or fillets were worn (J. D. Michae-
lis). The dead are not gods of the under
world (Selden), or departed spirits (Deut. xviii.
11 ; Is. viii. 19). for which sacrifices of the dead
were brought (Koster, De Wette) ; for mention
is also made here of eating the offerings, and
Num. XXV. 2 calls them, "sacrifices of their
gods." Accordingly, Moabitish gods are meant
here also (Hupfeld and others), which are called
dead as contrasted with the living God (Wisdom
xiii. lOff.).
Ver. 30. ID^^ is not to be understood merely
of stepping forth (Numbers xxv. 7), but also of
coming forward, as mediator, for Phinehas, by
intervening with his spear, performed an act of
judgment, and that through zeal for God's jus-
tice. By this act of faith (Gen. xv. 6), that
justice was satisfied, and as a Divine acknow-
ledgment of its religious worth, the priesthood
was bestowed upon him and his descendants for
ever. (Num. xxv. 10 flf.). The signification of
judging is established for the Piel 773 (1 Sam.
ii. 25); the signification of interceding (Chald.,
Syr., Geier) is that of the Hithpael, that of
atoning (Vulg.) or expiating (Sept.) has, in
fact, been assigned.
Vers. 32, 33. The unadvised words of Mosps
allude to His question to the people (Numb.
XX. 10), which was shown to be one of impa-
tience and doubt by his twice striking the
rock, and was therefore de.signated by God as
unbelief and disobedience (Numb. xx. 12, 24;
xxvii. 14), and punished as such. But, because
the people had given oocasiun to this fault, it is
PSALM CVI.
641
said in yer. 32 b, in accordance with the com-
plaint of their leader (Deut. i. 37; iii. 26), that
«• it went ill with Moses for their sakes." Yet
we are not to translate: they embittered his
(Moses') spirit (Sept., and most), but, according
to the historical account and the usage of
the phrase (vers. 7, 43; Ps. Ixxviii. 17, 40, 56,
Is. Ixiii. 10), this reference is only to resisting
the Spirit of God (Chald., Geier, Hengst., and
the recent expositors).
Ver. 37. The DHiy are, according to Deut.
xxxii. 17; Judges ii. 11, not demons (Sept., and
others), Baruch iv. 7, but gods, under the ap-
pellation : powers, or : lords.
[In ver. 46 render: and has given them favor
in the sight of all those that carried them captive.
Alexander: " The literal translation of the first
clause is, and has given them for mercies or com-
passions. This remai-kable expression is bor-
rowed from 1 Kings viii. 50, (compare 2 Chron.
XXX. 9) , not only here, but in the history of Dan-
iel and his fellow-captives (Dan. i. 9), which
makes it not at all improbable, that what is there
recorded is among the indications of returning
Divine favor, here referred to by the Psalmist."
—J. F. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Human understanding and human speech
can never measure the greatness of God's deeds
or the depth of His mercy ; but the grateful ac-
knowledgment and extolling proclamation of
them are not merely an expression, becoming to
the people of God, of the relation in which they
stand to Him, but are also the ordained means
of spreading the glory due to Him, and of
strengthening confidence in the eternal efficiency
of His grace.
2. The strengthening of this confidence is in-
dispensable, especially as every legitimate claim,
which men could be tempted to found upon the
covenant relation, is altogether cancelled by sins
which are renewed from generation to genera-
tion. Accordingly, a new display of mercy is
the only means of deliverance. But the seeking
after and imploring this mercy presupposes, not
only an experience of the need and a desire of
its satisfaction, but also a belief of the possibility
of the latter, and of the readiness of God to afford
the means that are necessary thereto. And it is
only as resting upon this ground, that courage
will be imparted to appropriate personally, with
all the earnestness of a soul-stricken confession
of sin, the Divine promises and means of grace.
3. The contemplation of the history of God's
people is specially adapted to awaken both a peni-
tent frame of mind, and a believing seeking after
the Divine favor. For that history exhibits, in
impressive sketches, ingratitude displayed anew
on every occasion, disobedience, fickleness, and
partial defection on the one side, anci, on
the other, brings before the view judgments and
acts of deliverance on the part of God, which
are not isolated, but form one connected course
of leading, for the unfolding of His purposes of
mercy and plan of salvation.
4. It was a part of the design of these dealings
to impress and develop the truth, that punishment
attends upon guilt, and that without expiation
there is no forgiveness of sin ; that there is, how-
ever, a means of delivering the people by sub-
stitution, not performed by legal works and
practices, not by priestly ceremonies and forms,
not by external actions and sacrifices, but
by the personal self-devotion of those, who,
whether by acting or suffering, by interceding
or judging, step into the breach, and, by yielding
up their own persons satisfy the actual demands
of justice, rescue and purify the people of God,
and set them upon the wa.y of salvation.
6. Such a view of history, together with its in-
structive use, is immediately applicable to pur-
poses of edification. It has, indeed, to do with
universal transgressions, judgments, deeds of
deliverance, and experiences of mercy ; yet it re-
gards them not as general truths, but with his-
torical particularity and in their concrete defi-
niteness. And, accordingly, it does not excite a
more general consciousness of guilt, desire for
salvation, or feeling of gratitude ; it rather evokes,
amid the songs of the Church to the praise of
God's glory, a special prayer of confession. And
these are the more worthily united, the more
such a prayer issues forth, with the vigor of life,
from belief in the perpetual efficiency of the Di-
vine mercy, which has been so often attested and
assured in history, and the more decidedly it is
expressed and animated with the sense of a com-
munity of interests, both in confession of sins
and in supplications for supplies of grace, which
are sought not merely with a vi'ew to personal
participation, but also with a view to the needs
of the united Church.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is well for us, that, while confessing our
sins, we can confidently ofi^er a prayer for the
Divine favor, and can begin and end with px-aise
to God. — All suffering endures its time, but God's
love to eternity. — The history of the Church as
a testimony, that grace is mightier than sin. —
God remembers His covenant with us according
to His mercy and truth ; but we often forget His
blessings and judgments, even although we re-
main mindful of the words of His promises and
threatenings. — Only those can draw consolation
from the proclamation of God's mercy, who are
truly in earnest in the confession of their sins.
— Though we can never praise God adequately,
yet the greatness of His deeds must not cause
us to be silent, but must animate us to praise. —
If we are no better than our fathers, the fact
should not serve to excuse us, but urge us more
earnestly to penitence. — It were good for us, if
the judgments of God were not our first remind-
ers that He has not forgotten us. — We must most
rightly count those happy who practise right-
eousness; but we are not to forget that all men
are sinners, that we obtain salvation through
grace, and that righteousness is the fruit of fjiith.
Starke: We have always sufficient reason to
praise God: but let us, above all, assiduously
preserve the memory of His goodness. — A dark
cloud, though it may conceal, can never destroy
or extinguish the sun ; so the clouds of affliction
cannot blot out or quench the goodness and
mercy of God.— If thou dost but truly humble
thyself in prayer before God, He will ever re-
member thee for good.— There nre still many
after the fashion of the Israelites of old: they
542
THE FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
will not recognize God's wonders as wonders,
they do not fittingly regard His goodness. What
can be the result but forgetfulness of God, which
is the source of many other sins ? — A man gives
proof of a most depraved heart, when he does
not fear to sin in the very place, where he has
been delivered from imminent danger. — When
God will serve us, nature must give way to Him.
— If faith is of the true kind, it will soon make
itself seen in good works. — If we would abide
faithful in God's word, and be counselled ever
by it, we would not so soon or so lightly forget
His gracious benefits. — To demand anything from
God in impatience and doubt, and thus, as it
were, to force it from Him, is to tempt Him. —
If we pray for temporal things without any con-
ditions, and therefore against God's command,
God may indeed hearken to us sometimes, but
how often does the fulfilment humble us, and
bring us to shame, when we have brought harm
upon ourselves by our foolish request : — Almost
every man has some moulds in which he casts
the molten calves of his worship, until God alone
becomes great in his eyes. — Nothing is more un-
becoming and disgraceful to a man of under-
standing, than to set his heart on unworthy
objects more worthless than himself. — He is
blessed who can regard the great works of God
with delight and not be terrified by them. — 0
believing soul, if thou art filled with dismay that
so few stand in the breach, do it thyself; and
all the more, the less others do it; if none will
pray with thee, thou hast still the best of all fel-
low-suppliants, and the best Intercessor with the
Father in heaven, Jesus Christ Himself. — The
devil has still many kinds of enticing food,
through which he seduces lusting souls to the
service of idols. — A little word can often create
a great disquietude in the heart, and yet there
are many so thoughtless in the use of their
tongues, that they ."rpeak not one, nor a few, but
indeed numberless idle words. Will they be-
come swords too, that will vex and torment their
consciences? — Mistimed leniency is opposed to
God, and injures alsa him who displays it, for it
makes him a partaker in the sins of others. —
The first step towards ein is the conscious ne-
glect of God's commands. — Intercourse and
association with the wicked are calculated to
produce much evil. — How easily intimacies are
contracted in these days ! But how heavy
many a heart becomes thereby 1 How sorely
wounded is many a conscience I — There are many
who become only the more wicked, the more gra-
cious and merciful God proves Himself to them.
OsiANDER Sometimes a single mischance
will make us forget all Qod's benefits.—
Arndt: Men cannot, without repentance, be-
come partakers of God's grace, and all God's
wonders are performed that He may bring them
to conversion. — God must work long before He
excites and maintains faith in us. — How God may
be overcome by prayer. — Renschel : God's favor
outweighs all guilt. — Frisch: There is first
shown in the example of Israel the constant in-
constancy of the human heart; there is then
extolled the unwearied mercy and compassion
of God, and lastly, David shows the true means
of becoming a partaker in .such compassion. —
RiCHTER : Each individual believer should ap-
propriate specially to himself God's gracious
promises to His whole people. If we do not
lay hold upon them, to whom are they to be
made good? To unbelievers? — Diedrich: The
best kind of confession is this : to give all
the glory to God, to take all the guilt to ourselves,
and to hope for the best in God's glorious grace.
— Taube: True sorrow, which is from God, not
only does not make us incapable of praising God,
but bears within itself the seeds of true joy, joy
in the Lord. — Faith in God's mercy is the only
anchor of safety for His people.
[Matt. Henry: What is asked in passion is
often given in wrath — Those wretchedly forget
themselves who feed their bodies and starve their
souls. — Then God gives the good things of this
life in love, when, with them, He gives grace to
glorify God in the midst of them; for then the
soul delights itself in fatness. Is. Iv. 2, — This is
the worst thing in sin, that it makes us loath-
some to God, and the nearer any are to God in
profession, the more loathsome they are if they
rebel against Him. — Bishop Horne : In general,
we learn from this part of sacred history, how
acceptable to God is a well-timed zeal for His
service, as also, how dangerous it is to converse
too freely with those of the other sex, especially
when they have been educated in a false religion
or in no religion at all. — We stand astonished,
doubtless, at this horrid, barbarous, and unnatu-
ral impiety of offering children by fire to a Mo-
loch : but how little is it considered that children,
brought up in the ways of ignorance, error,
vanity, folly and vice, are more eff"ectually
sacrificed to the great adversary of mankind.
Scott • Often have we, forgetful of the terrors
of Sinai, and even of the scene exhibited on
Mount Calvary, and of our marvellous deliver-
ance from the hand of the enemy, been setting
up idols in our hearts, and cleaving to some for-
bidden object, so that, if a greater than Moses
had not stood in the breach, to turn away the
anger of the Lord, we should have provoked Him
to destroy us. — J. F. M.].
THE PSiLLTER.
FIFTH BOOK.
PSALM evil
» ♦ »
PSALM CVII.
1 0 give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy j
3 And gathered them out of the lands,
From the east, and from the west.
From the north, and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way;
They found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
And he delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And he led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city of habitation.
8 Oh that men would praise the Lord /or his goodness,
And /or his wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For he satisfieth the longing soul,
And filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Being bound in affliction and iron ;
11 Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And contemned the counsel of the Most High :
12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour;
They fell down, and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
And he saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death.
And brake their bands in sunder.
15 Oh that men would praise the Lord /or his goodness.
And for his wonderful works to the children of men I
16 For he hath broken the gates of brass.
And cut the bars of iron in sunder.
17 Fools, because of their transgression.
And because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
18 Their soul abhoireth all manner of meat ;
And they draw Hear unco the gates of death.
^ V ^ 548
544
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
And he saveth them out of their distresses.
20 He sent his word, and healed them.
And delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh that men would praise the Lord /or his goodness,
And /or his wonderful works to the children of men I
22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving.
And declare his works with rejoicing.
23 They that go down to the sea in ships,
That do business in great waters;
24 These see the works of the Lord,
And his wonders in the deep.
25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind,
Which lifteth up the waves thereof.
26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths:
Their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wit's end.
28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
And he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm,
So that the waves thereof are still.
30 Then are they glad because they be quiet ;
So he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
31 Oh that men would praise the Lord /or his goodness,
And /or his wonderful works to the children of men !
32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people.
And praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness.
And the watersprings into dry ground ;
34 A fruitful land into barrenness.
For the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water,
And dry ground into watersprings.
36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell.
That they may prepare a city for habitation;
37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards,
Which may yield fruits of increase.
38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly ;
And suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction and sorrow.
40 He poureth contempt upon princes.
And causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction,
And maketh him families like a flock.
42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice :
And all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things,
Even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LoEU.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. A liturgical
expression of thanksgiving (Jer. xxxiii. 11; Ps,
cvi., cxviii., cxxxvi.) is (vers. 1-3) declared to
be appropriate for the redeemed of Jehovah,
whom He has gathered from the four quarters
of the earth and from different lands. After
this preface there follow four strophes of unequal
length, clearly distinguished by two refrains, in
which those are summoned to fulfil this duty of
thanksgiving whom God has delivered from home-
less wanderings (vers. 4-9), from the miseries
PSALM CVII.
546
of imprisonment (vers. 10-16), from the death-
pains of sickness (vers. 17-22), and from the
perils of a sea-voyage (vers. 28-32). Then two
strophes (vers. 33-38 and 8,9-42) without a re-
frain, and with many passages taken literally from
the Book of Job and from Is. xl., Ixvi., sometimes
quite loosely connected, describe the controlling
power of God in the varying fortunes of men and
nations. The closing verse (43) commends to the
consideration of men the whole of God's dispo-
sing guidance, which has just been described.
There are throughout the Psalm indications
of a very late period of composition. We are
not justified even in connecting it too closely
with the Babylonish exile- The introduction
might seem to allude to it ; but the further we
read in the following strophes, the less do they
seem capable of being referred to special histo-
rical occurrences, such as the carrying away into
captivity and the return, or of being rightly
viewed as poetical pictures of the various dis-
tresses and deliverances of that period (most of
the recent commentators since Schnurrer). For
ver. 23 does not speak of a return home in ships,
in which case, moreover, we would not be led to
think of the Babylonish exile, but of the Macca-
baean period (Hitzig); but of the dangers en-
countered by those who undertake sea-voyages,
whether trading merchants, or sailors, or trav-
ellers, or fishermen. And this is not a figura-
tive representation, but an example (Hupfeld,
Del., and most of the older commentators) of the
hearing of prayer, and of the divine deliverance
of mankind in distress, for which God should be
thanked in His church. So also with the de-
scription of the preceding strophes. In each
case actual events are cited from distinct classes
of distressing situations, which, however, have
not merely occurred on one occasion, but may be
repeated. These examples, moreover, are so much
the better adapted to that parenetic purpose, in
whose interest the Psalm is projected, and to
which it ever tends more closely, as in some of
them prominence is given to human guilt and the
divine mercy, and in others to human impotence
and the divine power to control. The former de-
sign is observable in the second and third exam-
ples; the latter in the fourth, which at the same
time effects the transition to the description of
those deeds of the Highest which effect the change
of circumstances, — a description which is still
more general in its character, and advances in
sentences that are still more loosely connected.
The conjecture of Hupfeld that vers. 83 ff. are
inserted from another composition, has accor-
dingly little probability, even if no importance
be attached to the allusion contained in ver. 36
to vers. 4 and 5. The first example is given in
a narrative style, and stands in the closest con-
nection with the words of the introduction. It
is therefore most natural to understand this pas-
sage as alluding to the circumstances of the Ba-
byl. Exile. The supposition, however, that this
psalm was sung at the first celebration of the
Feast of Tabernacles after the return, Ezra iii.
1 f. (Hengst.), has nothing to indicate it, and is
improbable. So with the conjectures that it
completes, with the number seven, the supposed
trilogies ci.-ciii., civ.-cvi. (Hengst.), or forms
a trilogy with Ps. cv. and cvi. (Del.) It may be
35
quite proper to bring the position of this Psalm,
at the opening of the Fifth Book, into conuection
with its several points of resemblance to the last
two Psalms of the Fourth Book, without being
thereby justified in inferring an internal rela-
tionship and the same authorship.
The allegorico-prophetical interpretation of the
whole Psalm, as bearing upon the fortunes of the
Christian Church, whether directly (Cocc), or as
an application of the immediate reference to the
Church of the Old Covenant (Venema), is only a
spiritualizing interpretation based upon the un-
tenable view that the fortunes of the Jewish peo-
ple are here described (Chald., Syr.). For to
them, as has been said, only the introduction,
with the first strophe, can be rightly referred.
Accordingly this strophe begins, ver. 4, with the
narrative tense, while, at the beginning of the
following strophes, participles occur which can-
not depend on that verb, but introduce the sub-
jects of the several strophes. The grammatical
connection of the sentences, however, in this
Psalm, is in general loose, and hence we are nei-
ther to supply from ver, 2, before the strophe,
the words "let them say" (Schnurrer), nor to
regard the closing refrain "may they praise"
[E. v.: Oh, that men would praise!] as the real
predicate (De Wette, Hengst., Hupfeld), nor to
change the finite verb in ver. 4 into a participle
(Luth., Camphausen). And the latter is the less
advisable, as the participle which determines
the connection of the whole passage is found al-
ready in ver. 2, viz. the redeemed of .leliovah
(Is. Ixii. 12), who were gathered from all quar-
ters of the world to Jerusalem, since after the
return from the exile, the restoration of the
Temple and the upbuilding of the Jewish Theoc-
racy were carried out in that city.
[The application of the whole psalm to the ex-
ile, and, consequently, the figurative interpreta-
tion of the examples, are approved by Dr. Alex-
ander, Perowne, after giving the view of Phi-
lippson and Delitzsch in favor of the trilogy
above alluded to, makes the following judicious
remarks: "But ingenious as this is, it rests on
the assumption that the 107th Psalm, like the
other two, is. historical, and is designed chiefly
to celebrate the return from the Babylonish cap-
tivity. The second and third verses of the
Psalm are supposed to mark the occasion for
which it was written. And the rest of the Psalm
is held to exhibit, by means of certain examples
of peril and deliverance, either, in a figure, the
miseries of the exile, or, literally, the incidents of
the homeward journey. Such an interpretation;
however, can hardly be maintained. It is un-
natural to regard these examples, taken from
every-day experience, as a figurative description
of the exile; it is quite impossible in particular,
that the picture of the seafarers should repre-
sent the sufferings of the Captivity, though it
might certainly form one part of the story of the
return; for the exiles are described, not merely
as coming back from Babylon, but from all the
countries of their dispersion (comp. Jer. xvi 15;
xl. 12; Dan. ix. 7). It is obvious that the
Psalm is not historical. It describes various
incidents of human life ; it tells of the perils
which befall men, and the goodness of God in de-
livering them, and calls upon all who have expe-
646
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
rienced His care and protection gratefully to
acknowledge them ; and it is perfectly general
in its character. The four or five groups or
pictures are so many samples taken from the
broad and varied record of human experience."
In this view, which agrees substantially with
that of Dr. Moll, I fully concur. It is the im-
pression which every reader, critical or uncriti-
cal, derives first and naturally from the Psalm.
It is generally held to, also, when there is no
hypothesis of relationship with other Psalms to
be supported J. F. M.]
Ver. 3. Prom the sea [E. V., from the south].
The expression would suggest to the mind of a
Hebrew the idea, of the west, while the context
demands that of the south. It is not upon the
number (Hengst.) of the four quarters of the
world that the force of the passage depends, but
upon the particular designation of each of them.
The explanation which refers to the Arabian
Gulf (Cha'Id., Rudinger, Schnurrer, Dathe), is
against the usage of the word. That which re-
gards it as the Southern (Indian) Ocean, after Is.
xlix. 11 (Hitz.), is possible, though disputed (Kno-
bel). and yet is more probable than the unusual
reference to that part of the Mediterranean Sea
lying to the southwest of Palestine, and washing
the shores of Egypt (Maurer, Del.). A change
in the reading from CD to I'D^O (Clericus, J. D.
Mich., Muntinghe, Kdster, Hupfeld), with re-
ference to Ps. Ixxxix. 13, is readily suggested.
Ver. 4. We nepd not depart from the ac-
cents and attach ^]11 to the following mem-
ber, translating : the way to a city (Sept., Vulg.,
Syr., Schnurrer, Rosenm.), or, after ver. 40, Is.
xliii. 19, change the reading into 'J|.'^T~X7 • no
way in the desert (Olsh., Baur, Hupfeld). The
word in question is probably not an accusative
of the closer definition (Geier, Hengstenberg, De
Wette). It better accords with the poetical
style to assume a construct state: desert of a
way (Ewald, Hitzig, Del.), that is, a desolate
(Jerome), unfrequented (Luther) way, (^ifi^/xog
bddc, Acts viii. 20).
[Ver. 8. The general reference : " Oh, that
men," in E. V- is incorrect. Alexander : " Let
(such) give thanks to Jehovah (for) His mercy,
and His wonderful works to the sons of men."
-J F. M.]
Ver. 17. It is unnecessary to change the read-
ing D''71^{ in order to obtain, instead of the idea
of sinfulness (Job v. 3 ; Prov. ii. 7), that of bur-
dening (Olshausen), or that of an exclamation :
woe to them ! (Hitzig).
[Ver. 23. Alexander: ^'■Going down seems
to be an idiomatic phrase borrowed from
Isa. xliii. 10, and equivalent to going out to
sea, in English. The expression may have
reference to the general elevation of the land
above the water, but is directly opposed to our
phrase the high seas^ and to the classical usage
of ascending ships, i. e , embarking, and descend-
ing, i. e., landing. The last words may also be
translated: great or mighty waters; but the
usage of the Psalms is in favor of the version :
many waters, which moreover forms a beautiful
poetical equivalent to sea or ocean." — J. F. M.]
Ver. 39. It is not necessary to suppose an
ellipsis before this verse, or to transpose it with
tho.se next following (Olsh,). It is certainly inad-
missible to take the verbs as pluperfects (De
Wette, after the older expositors), or the sen-
tence as a relative one (Hengstenberg), [opposed
also by Alexander and others. — J. F. M.] An
allusion to enemies, or, in general, to other sub-
jects than the preceding (Knapp), has nothing to
indicate it. Most assume with Kimchi and
Geier a repeated diminution in the number of
the same subjects, as a punishment for a relapse
into sin.
Ver. 40 is taken from Job xii. 21, 24 as 38 f.
from Is. xli. 18 f., 42 b. from Job v. 16, and 43,
from Hos. xiv. 10.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The praise of God is essential matter of every
prayer of thanksgiving ; to offer it is the first
duty of the redeemed, and at the same time the
appropriate means for the building up of the re-
deemed Church, which, in such a sacrifice of
praise, offers itself to God, and yields itself up
as the people that are His.
2. God has not only chosen His Church, and
established it upon earth as being the people of
His inheritance ; He preserves it also as such in
this evil world, delivers it from the perils which
threaten it with ruin and dissolution, gathers its
dispersed members from every region under
heaven, and effects its restoration from prostra-
tion and destruction. But, while it must give
thanks after the deliverance, so must it, before
the same, pray and cry in its distress to the liv-
ing God of revelation.
3. This applies not only to the Church in its
narrower sense, or to its wants as a Church, but
to all the seasons of distress, and to all the deli-
verances of the Church and its members. Every-
where and at all times is displayed the contrast
between omnipotence and impotence, righteous-
ness and guilt, compassion and need, together
with its adjustment by deeds of Divine help.
To observe this is the wisdom of the pious, to
act accordingly the piety of the wise.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who contemplates God's doings in history,
finds everywhere : (1.) an exhortation to thanks-
giving for His gracious help ; (2.) occasion for
self-humiliation beneath His powerful hand; (3.)
a call to surrender himself to His gracious will.
— It is no harder for God to deliver tlian to
judge, but He loves the former better. — What
opens the heart and lips of the pious, closes the
mouth of the ungodly. — It is easier to cry to God
in distress, than to give thanks in the Church
after deliverance.— "There is nothing better to be
wished for than to have a heart capable of
appreciating God's benefits, and an eye open to
His doings ; for then thanksgiving and supplica-
tion, fear and trust, anxiety and hope, are in
their true relations, and after the right manner.
— He who has enjoyed God's help should mark
(1.) in what distress he has been ; (2.) how he
has called to God; {Z.) how God has helped
him; (4.) what thanKS he has returned; and
(5.) what thanks he is yet bound to render.
Starkb : Manifold afflictions are the true ma-
PSALM CVIII.
547
terial out of which the wonder-working God
forma praise and glory for His most holy name,
and joy and profit for us. — Gods supervision
and csire extend over all parts of the world ; He
can therefore help and stand by His own, in
whatever place in the world they may be. — The
pilgrimage of a Christian involves wandering,
insecurity, hunger, thirst, and despite, but all to
the end, that the faithful guidance, the mighty
help, the satisfying and revival of the Good
Shepherd may be displayed. — As there is but one
Helper, who is God, so there is but one means of
obtaining His help, and that is prayer ; but the
essence and soul of prayer is faith. — If thou, be-
liever, never findest upon earth where thou canst
rest thy foot, God will at last reach forth His
hand to thee, and receive thee into the holy city,
into the dwelling.s of peace. — The spiritual bonds
of sin (2 Tim. ii. 26) often surround the body
also with fetters. Bodily imprisonment has
been to many the occasion of anxiety for free-
dom from eternal chains. — Repentance and
prayer must be the first remedies employed in
illness, and then the use of ordinary restoratives
will not remain without a blessing from God. —
Recovery from a deadly disease is, as it were, al-
ready a foretaste of the resurrection from the
dead. — Those who have regained health forget
quite easily to render thanks therefor ; but God
can not sufi^er such ingratitude. Think what a
sacrifice of thanksgiving is due to God, together
with the ofiFering up of the whole life, thus pre-
sented to thee. — The world has often been tra-
versed by ships, but almost every voyage reveals
some new and wonderful works of nature; who
would then not exclaim: the earth, yea, also, the
sea, are full of the goodness of the Lord? — Let
not the inhabitants of the richest and most fer-
tile countries presume upon these advantages ;
God can make a garden of the Lord a lake of
brimstone. — If we in the meanwhile turn our-
selves seriously to the Lord, and seek His grace
by heartfelt prayer, He will also fulfil His
promises to us. — That the honor, exaltation, and
power of magistrates are a gift of God, is most
clearly shown, when they lose their, authority,
and scarcely any will obey them.
OsiANDBE : Believers must learn to strengthen
their faith from the goodness and mercy of God.
— Fbisch : He who sins against his Creator,
unfruitful seasons, let
-men who daily commit
much worse than this
"man
comes under the care of the physician. Death
itself is the wages of our sins, and so also are
its forerunners, that is, our diseases. — If God
visits us sometimes with
us consider who we are-
many sins, and deserve
from God. — Riegbr: The "man of God" con-
ducts us through the world, as through a theatre,
on which are displayed the miseries of mankind,
and the wondrous works and kindness of God.
— Beelbnburger Bible: Let the man who can-
not pray become a sailor. — Tholuck (ver. 20) :
The word of God is His ministering angel. —
GuENTHER: All those nations which have not
yet known the true God, are dispersed and wan-
dering ; and all who have found their home in
God, feel that they are gathered in. — Diedrich:
la order to learn to praise God rightly, we must
first suffer much. — Schaubach : We stand with
awe-struck minds before this rich display of
God's wondrous power, and at the same time re-
joice that in the course of long ages it has lost
nothing of its fulness, but that it still never fails
to revive hungering and thirsting souls. — Taube:
Ye people of the Lord, see how good Jehovah is I
and how blessed ye can and shall be with Him !
[Bishop Horne : A truly "wise" person will
treasure up in his heart the contents of this truly
instructive and delightful Psalm. By so doing
he will fully "understand" and comprehend the
weakness and wretchedness of man, and the
power and loving-kindness of God, who, not for
our merit, but for His mercy's sake, dispelleth
our ignorance, breaketh off our sins, healeth our
infirmities, preserveth us in temptation, placeth
us in His Church, enricheth us with His grace,
sheltereth us from persecution, blesseth us in
time, and will crown us in eternity.
Scott : Let us remember to praise our God for
turning the wilderness, which we Gentiles inhab-
ited, into a fruitful land, and opening for us the
wells of salvation (Is. xii. 3). — Let us pray that
the Jewish nation, which has been so long a bar-
ren desert, may again be watered with His grace,
and bring forth the fruits of faith and holiness.
Barnes : No one can study the works of God,
or mark the events of His providence, without
perceiving that there are innumerable arrange-
ments which have no other end than to produce
happiness. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CVIII.
A Song or Psalm of David.
2 0 God my heart is fixed ;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
3 Awake, psaltery and harp :
I myself will awake early.
4 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people:
And I wiU sing praises unto thee, among the nations.
6 For thy mercy is great above the heavens :
And thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.
548
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
6 Be thou exalted, O God, above tlie heavens ;
And thy glory above all the earth I
7 That thy beloved may be delivered :
Save with thy right hand, and answer me.
8 God hath spoken in his holiness;
I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,
And mete out the valley of Succoth.
9 Gilead is mine ; Manasseh is mine ;
Ephraim also is the strength of mine head ;
Judah is mj lawgiver ;
10 Moab is my washpot ,'
Over Edom will I cast out my shoe ;
Over Philistia will I triumph.
11 Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me into Edom ?
12 Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off?
And wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts ?
13 Give us help from trouble :
For vain is the help of man.
14 Through God we shall do valiantly :
For he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — Two fragments
of Davidic Psalms, namely, Pss. Ivii, 8-12, and
Ix. 7-14, are here brought together without any
connection whatever; and the changes occurring
in only a few words, are so unimportant, that
neither occasion nor purpose can be discovered
in this combination and conformation. Least of
all is a poet like David to be held guilty of com-
bining in such a manner (Hengstenberg) two
pieces taken out of their connection. For the
two most important changes are these: — The two
parts are taken from Elohim Psalms, but here,
ver. 4, Jehovah is substituted for Adonai. Again,
the original lamentation of conquered Philistia is
here in ver. 10 changed into the form of an ex-
ulting cry of victory. It is not however to be in-
ferred from this, with any degree of certainty,
that the occasion lay in the later (Clauss), per-
haps Maccabaean victories (Rudinger, Rosenm.
Hitzig)"; for the complaint and entreaty of the
conclusion is entirely unsuitable to these occa-
sions. Still less, assuredly, do the remaining,
merely formal, alterations of the Text favor such
a conjecture.
The following variations are also observa-
ble, but they do not aflFect the sense. The
repeated words at the beginning of ver. 2 are
omitted. Instead of the exclamation : wake my
honor I that is, my soul! the words appear as
deJSning more closely the subject, singing and
playing. In vers. 4 b and 6 6a vav copulative is
inserted, while in ver. 9 a it ie omitted. In ver.
7b the plural: us is changed into the singular:
me. In ver. 12 a, the emphatic: thou is wanting;
and in ver. 11 the idea of the strong city is con-
veyed by a more common word instead of a rare
expression. These variations are throughout
only proofs of a deterioration in style.
[The renderings of Pss, Ix. 12 (10) and cviii.
12 should be identical. There is no ground for
the variation of E. V. The true translation is:
Hast Thou not, 0 God, cast us off ? and Thou dost
not go forth in our armies. — The view of Delitzsch
as to the origin of the Psalm agrees with that of
Dr. Moll. He says in addition : "'The ^1)V. of
ver. 4 and the whole tenor of the Psalm are like
an echo to the niH of the preceding. It is en-
titled a Psalm-song of David, but only because
composed of portions of the old Davidic Psalms.
The absence of the n^JDl shows already a later
origin." So also Perowne. Alexander con-
cludes with Hengstenberg that the best solution
is, that David himself combined these passages
so as to form the basis of a trilogy (Pss. cviii. -ex.)
adapted to the use of the Church at. a period pos-
terior to the date of Pss. Ivii, and Ix. The former
view seems to be that most favored at present.
For the exposition see that of the original pas-
sages.— J. F, M,]
PSALM CIX,
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise ;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me :
ihey have spoken agamst me with a lying tongue.
PSALM CIX. 649
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred ;
And fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries :
But I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him :
And let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned:
And let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few ;
And let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg :
Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath ;
And let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto nim :
Neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off;
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out,
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord ;
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Ijet them be before the Lord continually,
That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, i-fbiti t^i r ■;
But persecuted the poor and needy man, ■ '^' 1-. i
That he might even slay the broken in heart. '" '
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him:
As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, ' f
So let it come into his bowels like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him,
And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord,
And of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake s
Because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me,
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth :
I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting; t, ;
And my flesh faileth of fatness.
25 I became also a reproach unto them :
When they looked upon me they shaked their heads. ^ ,
26 Help me, 0 Lord my God :
0 save me according to thy mercy :
27 That they may know that this is thy hand ;
I%ai5 thou, Lord, hast done it.
28 Let them curse, but bless thou : i,„,ij ; ^^jj.
550
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
When they arise, let them be ashamed ;
But let thy servant rejoice.
29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame ;
And let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth ;
Yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor
To save him from those that condemn his soul.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist
calls upon God not to be silent with regard to his
complaint (vers. 1-5) against his enemies, who
are deceitful and filled with enmity, and who
persecute him causelessly and unrelentingly, for
he is innocent and pious, and who reward both
his good deeds and his love towards them with in-
gratitude and hatred. The retributive justice
of God, with all its terrible consequences, is then
invoked upon an enemy, who is thereafter de-
signated in the singular number, and upon his
family (vers. 6-10, 11-16, 16-20). He then im-
plores from God's mercy his own deliverance,
describing his personal weakness and dishonor
(vers. 21-25), and, with faith in Divine help,
entreats a victorious issue of this suffering (vers.
26-29), and unites with this a vow of public
thanksgiving (vers. 30, 31).
In these prayers, as well as in the intro-
duction, a plurality of foes is spoken of.
We might therefore be inclined to regard
the singular designation of the enemy, which
appears in the prayer for punishment, as a
rhetorical figure. Yet the whole picture is of
such a character that it cannot be intended for a
number of persons, but only for an individual.
But there is no occiision for maintaining that this
section interrupts the connection, and regarding
it as an interpolation ( Hupfeld). From the band
of enemies one could very well have been singled
out for special punishment, since one actually
appears as having been specially hardened in
wickedness. In favor of this is the circumstance
that Satan, as the accuser, is to stand at his right
hand (ver. 6), as God the Defender of his ser-
vant stands at his right (ver. 31). . Ver. 8 also
speaks of the loss of his occupation. The Apos-
tle Peter took the same view (Acts i. 20) in re-
ferring this verse, along with Ps. Ixix. 26, to
Judas Iscariot, of whom the Holy Ghost had pro-
phesied by the mouth of David (Acts i. 16). Ac-
cordingly it is best to refer this Psalm to the ty-
pico-prophetical (Calvin, Venema, Stier, Del.),
and not to the Messianic class. For the
speaker is not presented as a type of the Mes-
siah (many of the older commentators), or of the
suffering righteous (Hengst., Clauss.) It is the
enemy who is treated as the type of Judas, and
that in a relation altogether definite, and only
manifested as existing, when viewed from the
stand-point of the prophetical conception of his-
tory, and not until it was brought out by the
fulfilment. It is understood, of course, that
actual history must furnish corresponding events,
which, without seeking too far, can be naturally
brought into connection with the situation de-
scribed. Such events are found in the relations
of David to Doeg the Edomite(Kimchi), toAhitho-
phel (Grotius, Knapp) to Shimei (Dathe) although
the individual case in question cannot be esta-
blished from the text. But, by regarding such a
special case as no more than an extreme height-
ening of the contrast between the theocratic
ruler of Israel and his adversary, who has fallen
into the power of Satan, and by treating it typ-
ico-prophetically, not only may the attempts,
inadequate by themselves, of a moral (Ewald) or
psychological (Olshausen) or poetical (Doderlein)
explanation of the fearful imprecations be as-
signed their relative worth, but also the absurd
and unsuccessful efforts to justify them in the
mouth of David as a type of Christ in His judi-
cial ofl&ce (J. H. Mich., Hengst.) may be avoided.
For the contradiction between these impreca-
tions, and the actions, as well as the commands,
of Jesus Christ (Clericus, Grotius), cannot be
removed by any effort of skill, or concealed by
referring to Matth. xxvi. 24, and similar pas-
sages. The announcement and execution of the
Divine judgment, and even prayer for its coming,
may be in agreement with the Divine will, and
may coexist with a righteous desire for its ac-
tual realization. But in such a relation there
are manifested grief, moral indignation, and holy
anger (comp. our remark at Ps. Ixix.) Here, on
the contrary, a spirit is displayed which is not
free from carnal passion, and which invokes in-
juries of such a kind upon the person, and even
upon the wife and offspring of the enemy, that
some expositors have been able to discover no
other way out of the difficulty, than by placing
these words in the mouths of the ungodly adver-
saries of the Psalmist (J. D. Mich., Muntinghe).
Others, acknowledging that such a view cannot
be admitted, seek the origin of the Psalm in tht
fanatical and revengeful spirit of later Judaism.
Those who hold the last view consider the poeti-
cal style, which delights in redundancies and
exaggerations, to be further evidence of a late
period and degenerate taste (De Wette, Hitzig).
But we would be inclined to regard these as cha-
racteristics of the style employed in impreca*-
tions, rather than as a genuine expression of the
feelings (Hupfeld).
[Alexander : "This Psalm is remarkable on two
accounts : first, as containing the most striking
instances of what are called the imprecations of
the Psalms; and, then, as having been applied
in the most explicit manner to the sufferings of
our Saviour from the treachery of Judas, and to
the miserable fate of the latter. These two pe-
culiarities are perhaps more closely connected
than they may at first sight seem. Perhaps tne
PSALM CIX.
661
best solution of the first is aflForded by the se-
cond, or at least by the hypothesis that the
Psalmist, under the instruction of the Spirit,
viewed the sufferings of Israel which furnished
the occasion of the Psalm, as an historical type
of the Messiah's suflFerings from the treachery
of Judas, and that, with this view, he expresses
his abhorrence of the crime, and acquiesces in
the justice of its punishment, in stronger terms
than would have been, or are elsewhere, employed
in reference to ordinary criminals." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 1-5. God of my praise, that is, God,
who art my praise ( Jer. xvii. 14). The translation
of the Vulg.: God, be not silent to my praise! is
against the Heb. Text, and its translation in ver.
4: instead of the love due to me, is against the
context; for it is clearly not the objective geni-
tive, but the subjective, which occurs in ver. 5,
as in Ps. xxxviii. 21. The change of tenses in-
dicates a hostile course of action of very long
duration, hardening itself against affection in re-
peated actions. The slight correction of Bott-
cher in ver. 4 6, in order to gain the sense : 1
am a loathing to them, is ingenious but unne-
cessary, [This is done by pointing Jl/Bil. The
literal rendering of the received text is: I (am)
prayer. The expression probably means, I give
forth my whole being in prayer. This is pro-
posed as interpreting the form of the sentence
(comp. the Heb. of Psalm ex. 3) better than the
common explanation. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 6, 7. Can ver. 6 mean : pronounce
against him: guilty (Hitzig) ? [Hupfeld says
this is against the usage of the verb, and
anticipates verse 7. — J. F. M.] Since it is
not a human judgment but a Divine one
that is spoken of, and the expressions closely
resemble Zech. iii. 1, and IDE' occurs without
the article, as in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, the adversary
placed in the usual position at the right hand of
the accused, is hardly to be resolved, if we regard
1 Sam, xxix. 4; 2 Sam. xix. 23, into the more ge-
neral idea of an accuser, and is certainly not
to be explained into that of an unrighteous ac-
cuser, according to the usual conception of the
wicked man as being placed over the accused, as
an unrighteous judge. God is rather to be sup-
posed as the Judge, after ver. 7 b, and the puni-
tive power is to be transferred to a wicked man
(Lev. xxvi. 16; Jer. xv. 3), periiaps the power
to drig him to judgment; a Satan to appear as
the accuser. The Devil in the strict sense is
probably not yet alluded to, but still, in all likeli-
hood, an enemy with superhuman wickedness and
power is intended. The objection which many
take to the wish that the prayer miglit become
sin, disappears when it is perceived that it is not
the prayer of a penitent, but of one unconverted
and despairing. Hence we are not to translate : let
bis prayer be a failure, that is, unavailing (Then.).
Vers. 8-11, Instead of: oflBce, or position as over-
seer (Sept. emaKOK^) there is no suflScient occa-
sion to translate : property, savings, with refer-
ence to Isa. XV. 17 (Syr., J. D. Mich., Knapp,
De Wette, Hitzig). The usual explanation
(Numb. iii. 36 ; iv. 16) is the more to be pre-
ferred, as the loss of property is not mentioned
till ver, 11. In ver. 10 6 the Sept. have proba-
bly read ^U/'^i instead of the present W"?!, for
they translate : may they be cast out. This
agrees so well with the context, as also in Ex.
xii. 39 ; Job xxx. 5, that it is natural to conjec-
ture that it was the original reading (Houbigant,
Knapp, Hupfeld), It is certainly much more
simple and justifiable than the arbitrary correc-
tion of Hitzig, in order to gain the rendering :
and may they get ready their baskets, that is,
for begging. The whole passage is wanting in
the Syriac Version. [In ver. 11 instead of: ex-
tortioner, translate: creditor, — J. F, M.]
Vers. 14, 15. The iniquity of his fathers. —
There is presented here something more than a
poetical variation (Hupfeld) of the imprecation
that even the name of the family might be blot-
ted out (Hengstenberg). Even this would be more
than a '* dull play of wit with conceptions which
have no inner reality." The speaker wishes
that the guilt of the fathers may be remembered
to the disgrace of the son. Lam. v. 8. Since he
himself is loaded with guilt, that of his. fathers
may be imputed to him also, Ex. xx. 5 ; Ps.
Ixix. 28 (Hitzig). [Perowne : "The curse goes
backward as well as forward. The whole race
of man is involved in it; root and branch he is
accursed. Not the guilt of the individual only,
but the guilt of all his guilty ancestors is to be
remembered and visited upon his posterity. For
the great law comp. Matt, xxiii. 32-36. Hupfeld
objects that 'the curse on the fathers' is point-
less, as it could no longer reach them, but if I see
rightly, the object is to heighten the effect of
the curse as it falls upon the children mentioned
in ver. 13."— J. F. M.]
Vers. 17-19. Versa 19 desires, that ac-
cording to the law of retribution, there may
be experienced what in ver. 18 is related as
already accomplished. The law itself is stated
already in ver. 17, and the different images in
ver. 18 represent its operation, [The true con-
struction in vers. 17, 18 is to take all the verbs
as describing past events: "And he loved curs-
ing, and it came upon him," etc., and tJien in
ver. 19 comes the imprecation explained above.
The Vav Conversive at the beginning of ver.
17, and repeated, proves the correctness of this
construction. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 21-24. Do thou for me, namely, ffood,
as is expressly added in Ps. cxix. 1G5. Bui per-
haps the expression is absolute, as in Jer. xiv. 7,
since the idea is furnished from the context
(Geier, Hengst., Hupfeld). The renderings which
follow are less to be commended : do with me
(Rudinger), or: act with me (Del), namely,
helpfully:=be with me (Luth.), in which we are
referred to the construction of this word with
the dative, 1 Sam. xiv. 6 (De Wette and others).
— In ver. 24 b it is doubtful whether jDiy is to be
taken as meaning: oil, as usual, and especially an-
ointing oil, in contrast to the fastingand mourning
(2 Sam. xii. 16, 20; xiv. 2; Matth. vi. 16, 17),
and then the JD causally =becau&e of (the want
of) oil (Sept., Vulg. and others, Hengst.), or
whether the preposition is to be taken in a pri-
vative sense, and oil as equivalent to fat (the
recent expositors).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. A religious and righteous life does not pro-
tect a man from calumny and persecution at tho
562
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
hands of envious and wicked men ; nor can
love and friendship be secure against hatred
and ingratitude. But piety and love lead him
to prayer, in the midst of the trials thence re-
sulting, and to commit revenge, as well as deliver-
ance, to the Holy God as the true Avenger, who
will not remain silent, either to the lying words
and calumnies of the enemies, or to the sighs
and prayers of His servant, but will give re-
newed occasion for the ever-extending procla-
mation of His ancient glory.
2. The law of retribution has not merely its Old
Testament foundation {Ex. xxi. 23 f.), but its
New Testament application (2 Tim. iv. 14). But
he who has recourse to it, and demands and
entreats that God would put it into practice,
should see well to it, that he himself be not
seized and crushed by it. For "cursing as well
as swearing is both good and bad. For we read
in the Scriptures that holy men have often
cursed — therefore none can otfer the Lord's
Prayer rightly without also cursing. For when
he prays, 'hallowed be Thy name, Thy king-
dom come, Thy will be done,' etc., he must in-
clude in the same outpouring of his desires all
that is opposed to these, and say: cursed and
execrated and dishonored must all other names
be, and all kingdoms which are opposed to Thee
must be destroyed and rent in pieces, and all
devices, wisdom, and purposes, formed against
Thee fall to the ground" (Luther, Exposition of
the Sermon on the Mount). This cursing, as
correlated to blessing, is just a testimony to the
energy of opposition in a heart and of a life
wholly devoted to God, and was uttered by Pro-
phets and Apostles with the full consciousness
that, as God's servants, they were justified and
obligated in doing so, and that they acted in the
name and under the commission and commands
of God, and with His authority and power.
The scruples of many expositors, arising from
over-delicacy and sentimentality, are shorn of
their force by these considerations, and the
principle must be firmly held, that the servants
of God are to make His threatenings as well as
His promises an article of their belief, and that
when they say "amen " to them, they must in
deed and in truth, set themselves for the earnest
execution of the Divine will. For " the kingdom
of God comes not only through the salvation of
the penitent, but also through the condemnation
of the impenitent " (Kurtz). But still we" have
to lay to heart these two qualifications, first, that
it is not every one who is called to curse in
God's kingdom, and secondly, that those who
are called must allow nothing that proceeds
from their own flesh and heart to influence them
in their Divine oflSce. There are curses which
do not fall upon those at whom they are cast,
but recoil upon the heads of those who pro-
nounce them.
3. When children continue in the sins of their
parents, judicial hardening may then como upon
them, in which the whole family is miserably
ruined and destroyed, even to its name. The
powers of evil, by whose aid such a race hoped
to rule according to its pleasure and to the ruin
of others, have gained dominion over it and its
several members, and buried it beneath the
burden of its iniquities. Persistent scorn of
love has heaped up for itself a treasure of
wrath ; growing despite of goodness has ex-
hausted patience ; the increased abuse of the
day of grace ripens for that judgment in which
the unconverted sinner receives the fulness of
that which he sought his whole life long,
as though he could never be satiated with it,
while that which he despised ever remains far
from him ; both of these being the consequences
of his wickedness and the punishment of his
obduracy. In such fearful judgments they will
experience the force of the truth, that there is a
sin unto death, and that there are sinners for
whom there is no place for prayer (1 John v.
16), and whose own prayer becomes sin, because
it is not the expression of a religious need or
condition.
4. The history of the lives of the righteous may
be a history of suffering, and a long narrative
of distress and peril, distionor and persecution,
sorrow and trial. But it attains at last a blessed
and joyful issue, and becomes a history of vic-
tory. And this is accomplished, not according
to any pretended law of the reversing of fortune
in the changes and fluctuations of earthly things,
not by accident or by human power, but by the
hand of God. And the servant of God can
never cease to confess His name and invoke his
mercy, to proclaim His glory and praise His
benefits, in the Church, and before the world.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God hears thee, oh child of man ! and does
not keep silence : are thy words pleasing to
Him? — If thou art in distress, peril, and anxiety,
do not cease to praise God's glory, to call upon
His name, to trust His hand. — Never let go of
the hand of God, it is thy only help; but sub-
mit also to its guidance. — He who persists in
scorning love will reach the place where he can
no longer receive it. — The suffering, the conflict,
the delight of love. — He who acts with cursing
as though it were his daily food and his raiment,
need not wonder if his prayer becomes sin. —
It befits the servant of God to bewail to God his
distress, but also, when God is on his side, to
venture against all foes, and even to beat Satan
off the field.
Starke : He who extends God's glory by cele-
brating it and praising it, will never be permit-
ted by Him to come to shame beneath the calum-
nies of the ungodly. — Satan and his followers
contend against the right with the weapons of
unrighteousness and falsehood ; let us oppose to
them the weapons of righteousness and truth. —
Love and prayer are united like the tree and its
fruit. — It is the law of retribution to punish the
wicked by means of the wicked. — He who has
Satan as an accuser, and has not Jesus as his
Intercessor, cannot escape the sentence of con-
demnation from God. — The wicked bequeath to
their descendants nothing but cursing and judg-
ments.— The Lord can curse none who earnestly
seek His blessing (Gen. xxxii. 26, 28), nor can
He bless any who labor for His curse (Isa. xxiv.
6, 6). — In all our actions, and therefore in our
prayers, the glory of the Divine name must be
our final and highest aim. — Osiander: Although
the Christian is sometimes condemned as guiliy
PSALM ex.
553
by worldly judgment, and though its sentence is
inflicted upon him, as happened also to Christ,
yet the Lord stands by him, and pronounces him
free, and leads him through dea<h to eternal
joy. — Selnecker: Why does God keep His own
under the rod and the cross? (1) That they
maybe continually tried and exercised in the
fear of God, in faith, in calling upon Him, in
patience, in confession, in holding fast to the
end; (2) That they may know His anger against
the sins of all men, of believers as well as of
the ungodly; (3) That they may be conformed
to the image of Christ; (4) That they may
think upon His gracious presence, help, and de-
liverance.— Frisch : The poison of the world
finds its strongest antidote in prayer. — Tholuck:
All the consequences of sin are punishments,
and they come from the living God. And is it
not allowable for men to wish for the fulfilment
of that which God does, provided only that it be
wished in the same sense as that in which God
does it ? — RiCHTER : He who despises Christ's
intercession, experiences ^ His curse. — Judicial
hardening is not inflicted upon transgressors,
until the Lord's love to them has spent itself in
loving, and has been offered in vain. — All prayer
for deliverance, unless preceded by true repent-
ance and penitence, and every despairing prayer,
are sins before God. — Diedrich : Mankind lasts
only by God's mercy; he who hates it must
vanish from the earth like the family of Saul. —
The ungodly cannot be happy in any posses-
sion, for they have forfeited God's blessing
in everything. — Their works follow the wicked
merely as the demands of justice. — Taubb: A
prayer of David for the manifestation of God's
retributive justice upon the enemy of the Lord
and his companions, and for the assistance of
God's gracious help for himself in his distress. —
He who rejects the love of Christ, the only Me-
diator and Intercessor, has the eternal God over
him as an angry Judge, and Satan beside him as
a strict accuser; the end of his road is night. —
The self-chosen reward of the ungodly, — The
matter rests here : he who would be a companion
of saints in God's kingdom must be their com-
panion in affliction here.
[Matt. Henry: His prayer becomes sin, as the
clamors of a condemned malefactor not only find
no acceptance, but are looked upon as an afl"ront
to the court. — Men's curses are impotent; God's
blessings are omnipotent. J. F. M.]
PSALM ex.
A Psalm of David.
«
The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou at my right hand,
Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send
The rod of thy strength out of Zion.
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,
In the beauties of holiness
From the womb of the morning:
Thou hast the dew of thy youth.
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord at thy right hand
Shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath*
He shall judge among the heathen,
He shall fill the places with the dead bodies ; _
He shall wound the heads over many countries.
He shall drink of the brook in the way :
Therefore shall he lift up the head.
554
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — Two utter-
ances of a revelation, vers, 1 and 4, the first of
which is expressly stated to be a declaration of Je-
hovah, and the second declared to be unchangea-
ble, because accompanied by His oath, form the
two central points of the train of thought pur-
sued in this Psalm. The first utterance of God
assigns to the Lord of the Psalmist a place at
the right hand of Jehovah, with the promise of
the complete overthrow of His enemies. Ver. 2
takes this as the ground of an address to this
Lord, in which there is promised to Him, by the
help of Jehovah, a triumphant extension of His
kingdom out of Zion. Ver. 3 pledges the willing
loyalty of His people, which constantly rejuve-
nates itself, as a nation of numberless warriors,
and consecrates itself to God. This is done in
connection with the declaration of Jehovah con-
tained in the second divine utterance. This
Ruler is a Priest forever, after an order not Le-
vitical, but reaching back to the unhistorical
past. And vers. 5-7, in passing from the allo-
cutive to the narrative style, describe the victo-
rious career of this Hero, who crushes His foes
with the might of God, and who, also, while on
His march, is refreshed and revived when need-
ing support.
Accordingly, the lyrico-prophetical character
of the Psalm is as unmistakable as its theocratic
stand-point. If their full weight and the biblical
sense are attached to these terms, the supposi-
tion tbat the Psalm celebrates poetically the glo-
ries of the kingdom in Israel, as the kingdom of
God (Hupfeld), falls to the ground. It falls to
pieces from internal weakness. For the idea of
the union of the sacerdotal dignity and royal
authority, though a common one in heathendom,
was unheard of in Israelitish history before the
Maccabaean period, in connection with actual
sovereigns. David, at a time when the temple-
worship was suspended, and from the absence of
priests, exceptionally fulfilled priestly functions
(2 Sam. vi.), but immediately restored the legal
order of things, and transferred the official au-
thority of the priesthood to the Levites (2 Sam.
viii. 17; xx. 25). The single attempt of Uzziah
to take the control of the religious ceremonies,
in order to perform them personally, brought
upon him a judgment from God (2 Chron. xxvi.
16). In the Maccabaean period, it is true, the
union of this two-fold dignity did exist. Ac-
cordingly, by a purely historical, and not pro-
phetical view, a reference is readily suggested
to Jonathan and his assumption of the pontificate
(Hitzig formerly) or, better, to Alexander Jann«e-
us (Hjtzig now), or to Simon (1 Mace. xiv. 41).
But apart from the general considerations against
so late a composition, the usual objection may
be urged, that the Maccabaeans had already
been priests before they became princes, whereas
the opposite order seems indicated here. Yet
this objection is not so weighty as the fact, that
in the Psalm the union of the kingly and priestly
dignities is designated by a declaration, attested
and assured by God, (1) as one altogether pecu-
liar or unique, (2) as one never again to be dis-
solved, or eternal, and (3) as an attribute not of
a dynasty, but of a distinct Person. On these
grounds the Messianic interpretation is demanded
by the historical relations as much as by (he lan-
guage employed. The only other question ia,
whether the Psalm is to be understood in a typi-
cal, or typico-prophetical, or prophetico-mes-
sianic sense. In the first case, the reference of
the Psalm to the Messiah would only be gained
mediately, from the extraordinary character of
the expressions, which, moreover, are not liter-
ally applicable to the historical relations of a
theocratic ruler. It could be rendered clear
only through a mode of teaching based upon the
ideas and expectations which characterized more
especially the time of Christ and His apostles
(Knapp.) If the Psalm be viewed historically,
we would have only a theocratic congratulatory
poem, addressed to a king (De Wette), in which
also a longing might perhaps be expressed for
the restoration of the primitive union of the
sovereignty and the priesthood (Ewald), The
genuineness of the superscription would then
have to be given up, unless we decide with Hit-
zig for the translation: upon David (Isaaki, Abeu
Ezra, Kimchi). In the second case, the king in
question would be viewed by the poet himself as
the type of Messiah. It would then, historically,
be most natural to think of David, after he had
brought the ark of the covenant to Zion, and, en-
throned at the side of Jehovah under His protec-
tion, could count on a secure reign (Herder).
And we would connect with this the prophecy
which was made to him and his family (1 Sam.
vii.). But, in the first place, ver. 4 would re-
main insufficiently explained. This verse does
not allude to distinct priestly functions, as, for
example, praying and blessing, but to the priest-
ly office personally received. And David could
not be called a priest on account of dwelling near
God in the sense alluded to, nor be regarded as
symbolizing Melchizedek, king of righteousness
in Salem. In the second place, no answer would
be given to the question as to, which king the
prophecy could have applied, as it is certainly
something more than a piece of flattery paid by
the body of priests to their favorite David (Ilgen,
De notione tituli filii Dei, in Paulus' Memorabilia.
VII. 193 ff.). Even the reference to the Macca-
baean times, with the sacerdotal princes and the
Messianic expectations, held even then by the
Jews (by Lengerke), would not suffice; for at
that time prophecy was extinct, and in the
Psalm an actual prophetical utterance of God,
not a feigned one, is given. Nor could the
Psalm be the ode of a poet composed for the
court-chapel on Solomon's accession to the throne
(Borhek in Eichhorn's Allg. Bibliothek der bibl.
Literatur, II. 222 flf.; VI. 315 flF.). Let it then be
maintained that it is a declaration of Jehovah,
and that the utterance bears a prophetical cha-
racter. We must now exclude the supposition
that David here gives expression to the thoughts
awakened in the breast of true Israelites con-
cerning his relation to Jehovah, as elsewhere he
records their feelings concerning him and his
undertakings, and consequently that he puts into
the mouths of the people, as he elsewhere records
their prayers in his behalf, a prophetic view of
himself (Hofmann formerly), or of his dynasty
(Hofmann now). Both the form and the contents
PSALM cx;
555
of this psalm are incompatible (Kurtz) with the
assumptioQ, that David was at the same time its
author and its subject. Nor could he have re-
garded eiiher himself or that victorious king
who should reign at the time contemplated
(Hofmann), or, specially, Solomon on the occasion
of the attempt of Adonijah to render the succes-
sion to the throne doubtful, as the subject,
viewed typically, of that prophetic view. For
the prophecy includes not merely the sitting at
the right hand of Jehovah, but the union also of
the kingly and priestly offices. The conception
of such a union did not, among the Israelites,
arise from possible (Havernick) conflicts of his-
tory (De Wette, who refers to Uzziah), but from
divine revelation, and has not merely a prophet-
ical, but an essentially Messianic character
(Zech. vi. 13). Now, if we consider that David
represented himself sometimes as a prophet and
king of Jehovah, but never as Hia priest, although
he performed some priestly acts, and that he
needed and desired a priestly mediation, inde-
pendent of his person and not representable by
him, as greatly as did his people, who were dis-
tinguished as a kingdom of priests (Ex. xix. 6),
then it may be conceived how just it is that not
David and hiS family, not Aaron and the Levites,
but a person like Melchizeciek, standing outside
the circle of historical Israel, appears as a type
of the Messiah. David, therefore, was not in a
position to view himself or his family typico-
messianically with relation to the royal priest of
Jehovah. And it is just this view of the Messiah
which must be separated from the person and
history of David, and which must have arisen
purely from actual revelation. Thus does the
text itself represent it. Thus did Jesus treat it
in His discussion with the Pharisees (Matt, xxii.
41 flf,, comp, Mark xii. 35 ff.; Luke xx. 41 ff.).
Thus Peter expounded it (Acts ii. 34 f. ). Thus also
did Paul (1 Cor. xv. 25). Thus the Scriptures
generally (Heb. i. 13; v. 6; vii. 17, 21; x. 13).
Thus did the Synagogue understand it in earlier
times. Thus has the Christian Church at all
times understood it. And the merely and strict-
ly scientific expositors would return, to a greater
extent than they have done, to the prophetico-
messianic interpretation, if they could succeed
in abandoning altogether the anti-historical me-
thod of transferring Old Testament conceptions
and expressions to the Person and Life of Jesus
Christ, as well as the unhistorical allegorizing
and spiritualizing method of interpretation, and
would also treat the several declarations of the
Psalm as matter of future historical realization.
— The Psalm being considered as bearing this
character, it was perhaps not without design
that the name Jehovah was employed three times,
and that there are three strophes, each of seven
stichs. The different interpretations are fully
treated by Bergraann, Comm. in Ps. GX., Ley-
den, 1819.
[Perowne: " This Psalm claims emphatically
to be the fruit and record of a Divine revelation.
The words of the poet, though shaped in the
poet's heart, come to him from the very sanctu-
ary of the Most High. It is an oracle and ut-
terance of Jehovah, which he has heard and
which he has to declare to others. It is an ora-
cle which concerns a king who reigns in Zion ;
it is addressed to one to whom the poet does
homage, calling Him 'Lord;' it assures him of
the high favor of Jehovah, who lifts Him to a
share of His own royal dignity, giving him the
victory over all his enemies. The poet then pic-
tures the king going forth to battle surrounded
by his youthful warriors, bright and numberless
as the dew-drops on a summer morn, willing to
shed their hearts' blood in his service, each one
robed as a priest, each one a soldier of God.
As he gazes on the vision which has been called
up by the first word from heaven, another divine
word sounds in his ear: the word confirmed by
the oath of Jehovah, that the king shall also be
A PRIEST FOREVER AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHI-
ZEPEK. Then he follows the king in imagination
to the war, sees him winning victory after vic-
tory with great slaughter, aided by God Himself
in the fight, and securing the fruits of his victo-
ries by a pursuit of his enemies, which knows
no check even in the burning heat of an eastern
sun.
"If we were at liberty to adopt in this Psalm
the same principles of interpretation, which we
have adopted with regard to all the other Mes-
sianic Psalms, it would present no special diffi-
culty. We might suppose it to have been written
by some poet of David's time, who would natu-
rally speak of David himself as his lord. In the
first and lowest sense, his words would apply to
David as his theocratic king; in their ultimate
and highest sense, they would be fulfilled in
David's Great Descendant, in Him who was both
David's Son and David's Lord. But we seem to
be precluded from this method of interpretation
by the argument which, according to all the
Evangelists, our Lord, in disputing with the
Pharisees, builds upon the first verse of the
Psalm Now, in this argument, all turns
upon two points: first, that David himself wrote
the Psalm, and next, that in writing he was
moved by the Holy Ghost. David himself, in a
confessedly Messianic Psalm, is speaking not of
himself, but of his Great Descendant, and so
speaking, calls Him his Lord, . . . and if so, it is
plain that there can be no lower reference of the
Psalm to David or to any other Jewish monarch."
Mr. Perowne then cites and deals with two
objections brought against this view. First,
it is the only instance in the prophetic Psalms
of direct reference to Christ. This we have to
accept. Secondly, " the language of the latter
part of the Psalm is fairly applicable only to an
earthly king." But the solution which he offers
seems to be unnecessary. He thinks that the
poet "is still suffered to conceive of Him, partially
at least, as an earthly monarch, fighting bloody
battles with his enemies." It is better to consi-
der the language alluded to as simply a highly
figurative description of the victorious progress of
Christ, remembering also that, although the con-
ception is purely that of a New Testament real-
ization, it is clothed in Old Testament ideas and
imagery. It was necessarily so. The actions
portrayed by an Old Testament poet would look
Strange if presented in a New Testament garb,
—J. F. M.].
Ver. 1. A declaration of Jehovah [E.
v.: The Lord said]. The expression shows that
an utterance is announced, invested with the
656
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
character of inspiration (see on Psalm xxxvi.
2), and therefore conveyed prophetically. Its
position at the beginning of the sentence does
not indicate a mutilation of the text (Olshausen),
but shows that God was speaking at that moment.
The whole mode of expression testifies against
the supposition that the reference might here be
only to a prophecy given formerly, or that a de-
claration of God which was already well-known
might have been put in the mouths of the people.
The person to whom the utterance is addressed
is not directly indicated as Divine, equal to Je-
hovah, and of the same nature, in the sense of
adonai (which J. D. Michaelis proposed to read),
but such a person as the Psalmist acknowledges
as his lord. This expresses the relation of one
in high rank to one in a subordinate position.
Its significance and importance are not weak-
ened by the objection, that, according to Orien-
tal usage, adoni can be used as a periphrastic
expression of respect, instead of the personal pro-
noun of the second person. Nor do the contents
of the declaration assign a mere place of honor,
although the highest, to the person addressed
(1 Kings ii. 19); they call upon him to take the
position in which the king's vicegerent and rep-
resentative, or, in other circumstances, the co-
regent was placed. Taken by itself, this ex-
pression could be restricted, in its application, to
a theocratic king (Kurtz), 1 Chron. xxviii. 6 ;
xxix. 23, but, when referring to the Son (Ps.
ii.), it contains the germ of the idea of an as-
sumption into fellowship with God's exaltation
and dominion, Dan. vii. 13, 14; 1 Cor. xv. 25.
(Delitzsch). The complete subjugation of God's
enemies, who are to be utterly defeated and
humbled (Josh. x. 24: 1 Kings v. 17), forms a
turning point in the history of His kingdom
(Actsiii. 21; 1 Cor. xv. 28: Heb. x. 13), from
which time forth all relations are to become diflfer-
ent from those in the present epoch of the world.
Ver. 2. The stafif [E. V.: rod] is not spoken
of as an instrument of chastisement. Is. xi. 4
(Jahn, Reinke, Hengst.), which Jehovah will
Bend forth, and with which He will smite His
enemies successively. It is the emblem of ma-
jesty, and is stretched forth in the exercise of
dominion (1 Sam. ii. 10; Mic. v. 3; Ezek. xix.
llflF.; Jer. xlviii. 17) out of Zion (Ps. ii, 6,
comp., Ps. 'Ixviii. 17; cxxxii. 13, 14; Is. viii.
18), until the end of the world (Zech. ix. 10,
comp. Ps. Ixxii. 8; Numb. xxiv. 17, 19). Ver.
2 c disproves the interpretation which under-
stands the sitting at the right hand of Jehovah
as expressing only the security of the king, pro-
tected by Jehovah, against the attacks of his
foes, and as excluding his own action. For these
words, if they are not to be placed in the mouth
of Jehovah Himself (Schnurrer, Jahn, Reinke,
Hupfeld, Delitzsch), are certainly to be taken
in the sense of a sure promise (De Wette).
Ver. 3. Thy people show themselves
willing, [E. V. Thy people shall be willing!.
The interpretation of the fathers, after the Sept.
and Vulgate, is altogether at fault. They ex-
plain: "With thee is the dominion on the day
of thy power, in the brightness of thy sanctuary ;
from the womb I have brought thee forth before
the morning star." The first words they sup-
pose to refer to the complete victory of the Mes-
siah on the great day of judgment, and the last
to his eternal generation as the Son of God.
The Arab. Version takes the same view, but trans-
lates: "in the light of the holy ones," connec-
ting these words with those which follow. The
Syr. Version is also incorrect: "thy people are
to be praised in the day of thy power; in the
brightness of holiness have I begotten thee, 0
boy, from the womb, from ancient times." The
Chald. paraphrase even gives the following: "thy
people of the house of Israel proves itself will-
ingly obedient to the law ; on the day when the
king goes forth, thou wilt unite with him in the
array of holiness; the mercy of God will descend
upon thee as descends the dew, thy generations
shall dwell in hope." Most of these errors arise
not from differences in the Text, but from its
false interpretation, which is due to false pro-
nunciations and derivations, and, in some cases,
to the omission of words. According to the
Masoretic Text, it is the readiness of the people
that is spoken of, not a readiness in offering gifts
and sacrifices, (Herder, Hengst.), but for the
military service of the king. To enter upon it,
the youth shall gather as numerous, as fresh
(Numb, xxiii. 10; 2 Sam. xvii. 12), and as won-
derfully sudden in their appearance, as the dew
from the womb of the morning. Now, since this
King is no temporal ruler, and is at the same
time a Priest, it cannot be the usual military
service and duty that is referred to, nor a reli-
gious ceremony in festal garments preceding it
(Gesenius). Moreover, the words employed are
unsuitable to convey this explanation. It is for
this reason, indeed, that it has been proposed to
read, with 30 codd. of Kennicott and more than
50 of De Rossi, and with Symm., and Jerome:
^p '^.ID^upon the mountains, instead of 'p "''^nn
(Houbigant, Herder, De Wette, Olshausen, Hup-
feld). The true view is, that images taken from
military life are united with others, which indi-
cate the peculiar characteristics of the present
war, and show that the people, as well as the
royal Hero, are priests. With the expressions
compare Ps. xxix. 2; Rev. xix. 14. — Instead of
the usual 'iniV we have here intyiD, which may
be differently pointed, and therefore differently
explained, but which is regarded by the best
exegetes as merely a secondary form. — The dew of
youth does not refer to the dewy freshness of the
youthful period of life (Aquila) after Eccl. xi. 9,
or youthfulness, youthful vigor (Hofmann). Nor
in ver. 3 a does the day of power allude to
the day of the Messianic judgment (the ancients)
or the day of Pentecost (Friedrich, Symbolx
ad interpret. Ps. ex. 1814), when many from the
East became followers of Christ. [Perowne:
"The dew which, especially in the East, falls so
copiously, is most probably employed here as
a figure denoting infinite multitude, comp, the use
of the figure in 2 Sam, xvii. 11, 12. Others find
the point of comparison in the brightness and
freshness of the dew, and this may be suggested
by the figure as well as multitude. In Micah v,
7, the point of comparison seems to be different."
—J. F, M.].
Ver. 4. After the order of Melchizedek.
The allusion to Melchizedek carries our view be-
yond the Aaronic and Levitical priesthood, and
PSALM ex.
657
even beyond the history of Israel itself. The
reference is not to that authority immediately
resident, by virtue of their office, in Israelitish
kings, by which they, as intercessors, could
commend the people to God and bless them, and
take the charge of the public worship (De Wette,
Ewald, Hofmann). For here a special union of
Priesthood and Royalty, unheard of in Israel
and transferred to the king in his own person
and for ever, is affirmed to exist by an oath of
the only true God (Numb, xiii.^19), as some-
thing altogether extraordinary and difficult of
belief, but yet made known by prophecy (Amos
vi. 8). Elsewhere ^l]31~7j7 occurs=with re-
ference to, according to. So in Eccl. iii. 13 ;
▼ii. 14; viii. 2; Dan. ii. 30; iv. 14, instead of
the usual *15!^~ /^.. But here the ancient union
vowel, i in addition, is joined to the construct.
Btate, which is also retained in ''3/7^. Therefore
ibis *', is not to be taken as a suffix^according to
my word, a Melchizedeo (Herder after the older
expositors). There is no ground for pressing
the meaning "according to" (Hupfeld), since
we can translate quite correctly: in the propor-
tion, or: after the manner. How earnestly the
Eabbins have endeavored to weaken the force of
this passage may be inferred from the following,
among many other most unnatural explanations.
They take the word kohen here as princeps, rex,
dux, though, as is well known, it is the technical
word for priest, as the one who stands before God.
The Chald, has gone so far as to paraphrase :
The Lord hath sworn and will not repent ; thou art
appointed judge in the world to come, as a reward
unto thee, because thou hast been a spotless king.
Vers. 5-7. The Lord at thy right hand
is not the king exalted to the right hand of Je-
hovah (Bohl after many of the older expositors),
for which the designation adonai is quite un-
known in the Old Testament, but Jehovah the
Lord of all, here as the Helper (Ps. xvi. 8 ; cix.
31), in the day of the Judgment of wrath (Ps. ii.
12), which is represented here as a battle.
[Alexander: "On the right hand has pre-
cisely the same meaning which it has in Ps.
cix. 31, when it denotes the place of protection
or assistance, the figure being probably derived
from the Usages of war, in which one who suc-
cors or protects another may be said to strength-
en his right hand, as the member which he uses
in his own defence. In one sense, therefore, the
Lord is at the right hand of Jehovah ; in another
sense, Jehovah is at His. This assistance, far
from excluding, presupposes His own action ; or
rather, what Jehovah is described as doing for
him. He does through him. — J. F. M.].
Nothing is to be inferred from the change of
subject iu ver. 7, for the change of persons in
prophetical discourse is well known ; the thought
of the passage is always to be looked to. Accord-
iogly* tJie subject in ver, 7 is not the enemy, who
previously, being refreshed by drinking, bore his
head on high (Hofmann), but the king; and that
not with an allusion to Gideon (Judges vii. 5flf.),
as a hero who will allow nothing to interrupt
his course, and is satisfied with a draught from
the brook on his way (Calvin), or to Samson,
Judges XV. 18 f. (Herder, Hengst.), The refer-
ence is rather to the toilsome nature of his way
and course and conflict, in the midst of which,
however, he never fails of refreshing and
strengthening, and therefore can always keep
his head aloft in joyful exultation. The passage
may be applied, practically, to the sufferings of
Christ and believers, as well as to their subse-
quent exaltation (Phil. ii. 8f, Heb. xii, 2; Rev.
V. 9f.), but not referred directly to them as the
Fathers maintain, (and Stier). Least of all is
it to be supposed that there is any allusion to the
"water of affliction," and the like figures. For
drinking is here the direct means of reviving, a
cordial for the hero in his pursuit of the enemy,
and presupposes only thirst and need. The
Chald. is altogether wrong : He will receive in-
struction from the mouth of the prophet on the
way. [The lifting up of the head is by some
referred to those assisted by the Hero. This
view is based upon Ps. iii, 4. But the immediate
connection with the statement of the first mem-
ber of the verse, and the natural relation between
drinking and being revived, are decisive of the
true application. Any other relation between
the members of the verse would be forced and
obscure. — Hengstenberq: "That the words
indicate an enduring and final triumph, not a
momentary strengthening, appears from the
opposition to the smiting of the head of the
enemies. It is only when thus undei'stood, that
they are suitable as a conclusion, as is evident
from the fact, that this feeble interpretation has
led many to the notion, that the Psalm is only a
fragment,"— J, F. M,],
It is uncertain whether the choice of words in
ver, 6 c was determined by an allusion to David's
Ammonitish war (Del.). In any case we are not to
translate: "the prince of the land of Rabbah,"
that is, of the Ammonites whose capital was Rab-
bah (Moses Mendelssohn, Hofm.), nor: "a head
(prince) over great lands" (Luth., Geier and oth-
ers). Nor does the expression mean specially, the
arch-enemy, the antichrist (Stier after the older
expositors), as the Head, whose head is to be
smitten (Gen. iii. 15). It is not probable that
some particular enemy appearing in history as a
chief or leader (most) is meant, or that 1^X1 in
the present connection is to be taken collective-
ly, (Sept., Chald. and others, Hupfeld, Camp-
hausen). We think that, in the plastic mode of
presenting the subject, a particular point in the
course of the conflict is seized upon and described
(Hitzig), [i. e. when the Hero is crushing the
head of one of his foes, — J. F, M.]. The form
of expression, however, admits of being em-
ployed in the latter description of the Messianic
conflict with the personal antichrist (Rev. xix.
11 ff.), [I subjoin Dr. Moll's version. For a
beautiful paraphrase, which agrees mainly with
this version, see Mr. Perowne's Commentary.
1 Of David ; a Psalm.
An address of Jehovah to my Lord:
"Sit thou at my right hand,
Until I make thy enemies ., i..
A stool for thy feet," t) ■
2 The sceptre of thy might
Will Jehovah stretch forth out of Zion;
Rule in the midst of thy enemies.
3 The people are ready on thy muster-day:
In holy array.
568
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
From the womb of the dawn,
(Comes) to thee the dew of thy youth (young
warriors).
4 Jehovah has sworn and does not repent it:
'* Thou art Priest to eternity,
After the order of Melchizedec."
5 The Lord at thy right hand
Dashes kings to pieces in the day of his wrath,
6 Holds judgnoent over nations,
It (the battle-field) is full of corpses,
Crushes a head in a wide field —
7 He drinks of the brook in the way,
Therefore he raises his head on high. — J.F.M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. All progress in the history of the Church
of God on earth is effected by the deeds of the
Highest, in which He manifests Himself; all
progress in the knowledge of those deeds is
gathered through His revealed words. The lat-
ter often precede the former, and then bear the
character of Divine promises, and come to the
knowledge of the Church through the medium
of prophetic vision and announcement. In this
way she has received this "truly lofty and
crowning Psalm of our dear Lord Jesus Christ"
(Luther). "I heard in spirit, saith the prophet
David, God the heavenly Father speak with His
beloved Son, and because it was a glorious kingly
address, which I would were known to all the
world, I will give it in this Psalm " (John
Arndt).
2. The exaltation of the King in the kingdom
of God above all other kings, powers, and do-
minions, is not merely a spiritual one, of moral
and religious significance. As an exaltation to
the right hand of God, it transcends all earthly
relations, being the only one of its kind, and
proving itself to be such by glorious deeds of
Divine might, which result in an incomparable
and universal victory over each and every foe.
For the sitting at God's right hand is only a
figurative expression, employed to set forth the
infinite exaltation, the supereminence above all
worlds, and the personal security of this King,
in His actual participation in the Divine sove-
reignty. This position assures not only per-
sonal safety, but certain victory, in that conflict
which He wages in behalf of Himself and His
kingdom, not merely with Divine assistance,
defence, and protection, but also with Divine
strength. And this He will do until the end of
the world. " He gives no sign where Christ
shall reign and where His Church shall be
formed, except that they shall be among ene-
mies" (Luther). But "as this King has a ma-
jestic throne, so He has also a wonderful foot-
stool ; and as His royal throne gives us great
comfort, we are glad when we think of His
footstool. How joyful also do His poor subjects
become, when they hear that their Prince and
King has smitten down their enemies, and thus
delivered them from their power!" (John Arndt).
3. But, as conflict precedes victory, so does a
life of suffering, in the abasement of earthly
existence, precede exaltation. Each side of the
picture merits special regard. For, although
the King of the Divine kingdom wages the con-
flict with Divine strength and in confidence of
victory, according to Divine promise, yet He
must encounter the toil and dangers and sacri-
fices of an actual warfare; and as He, with this
end in view, assumes even this position accord-
ing to God's will, so He, like a mighty leader,
summons His subjects to share them too. They
are to contend together with Him and for Him,
as He contends with them and for them.
4. All this gains a higher significance and a
deeper sense when it is considered that it is
God's kingdom that is concerned, a people des-
tined to be a kingdom of priests and the holy
inheritance of the Eternal. They must be un-
ceasingly reminded of this their destiny. But,
with the exhortation to act accordingly and so
carry on the conflict ordained for them, there is,
by Divine mercy, united a promise that its issue
can and will be successful, through that King
who is also a Priest, and in whom royalty and
priesthood are united personally and indissolu-
bly, and in a manner contrary to the legal order
in Israel.
5. In order to realize this promise, so sacredly
secured, our faith must, on the one side, be di-
re^jted beyond the national restrictions of the
Mosaic and Levitical institutions and the Davidic
and Theocratic history, and, on the other, the
knowledge must be gained, that the royal Hero
who crushes with the judgments of His wrath
those who oppose Him, and the Intercessor and
priestly Deliverer who blesses His people and
reconciles them with God, are one and the same
Person, whose coming the Church has to expect
and for which she has to prepare. " Our con-
solation, which sustains us, and makes the heart
joyful and courageous against all the persecu-
tion and raging of the world, is, that in the
midst of them we have a Lord, who not only
redeems us from sin and eternal death, but also
protects and delivers us in sufferings and perse-
cution, so that we shall not perish. And although
they rage with all their fierceness against Chris-
tians, yet neither the Gospel nor Christianity
shall perish, but, on this very account, their own
heads shall be crushed" (Luther).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
•
The King of God's kingdom is Lord over all
lords, but is not yet for a time acknowledged by
all. — The Lord who reconciles us with God, will
also govern us as a priestly King; therefore let
us serve Him as God's people in the garments of
holiness. — In the wars of the Lord our victory
is sure, but we must wage them as the host of
our divine and priestly King. — The heavenly
King calls His forces to conflict and service ; but
He leads them also to victory, and appears Him-
self on their behalf with protection and bless-
ing.— The conflict of suS'ering, waged by the
Cliurch militant in obedience to her heavenly
Lord, as the path that leads to a participation
in His victories and in His glory.
Starke : 0 unspeakable joy ! 0 strong con-
solation for believers, that they have a Brother,
who sits on His throne at the right hand of God I
In all times of persecution we can commit our-
selves to Him. — Christ's kingdom is a powerful,
invincible kingdom, for the sceptre of its King
PSALM CXI.
559
is a Bceptre of Strength, and this should urge us
to deepest reverence, faith, and obedience to-
wards Him. — Here in the kingdom of grace,
Christ rules among His enemies ; for while He
still concedes and grants much to them, He yet
fulfils His counsel iu the midst of all their rage ;
but there, in the kingdom of glory, He will
reign over them and destroy all their wicked-
ness forever. — -Christ's people consist of willing
members, who serve Him without compulsion,
prompted by the child-like spirit dwelling in
them. Hereby thou mayest prove whether thou
dost belong to the people of God or not. — The
dew fertilizes and revives the earth ; so believers
are not only themselves fruitful in good works,
but seek also to bring others to the saving fruit
of righteousness, and aim to revive themselves
and others. — Since Christ is both Priest and
King, He has power, not only to reconcile us
completely, but also to overthrow all the enemies
of our salvation, and to share with believers all
the blessings of His kingdom. — Christ fulfils His
priestly office in all power, to eternity, without
the help of any other ; no saint therefore can
help us as an intercessor. — Since Grod the Father
has ordained Christ to be an eternal Priest, He
never dies to believers, and thus the consolation
which flows forth to them never ceases. — First
the cup of sorrow, after that glory ; that is
God's order. So had Christ also to suflFer, and
after that to enter into His glory (Luke xxiv.
26; Rom. viii. 17). — The Lord knows always
how to show a brook on the way to pious pil-
grims in their weariness, from which they may
be refreshed and strengthened. — As weak and
feeble as the Church of God is in this world,
in and for itself; so strong, yea, invincible is
she, in her Help, Protector, and Defender, who
is Christ.
Selneckek : While Christ sits at the right
hand of God the Father, the Church will be
wondrously preserved under tribulation and
Bufferings, and against the Devil and the world ;
but enemies will remain until the last day. — ■
Frisch: Both humiliation and exaltation were
required of Him, who was to redeem us com-
pletely; the former to gain our salvation, the
latter to make it sure to us.^He who would
stand under this Lord and Head, must be accus-
tomed to drink with Him upon the way. — Aendt:
I know one who sits at God's right hand, who is
strong enough for all my enemies and all my
misfortune. He sits on my behalf at God's right
hand to defend me. — Riegeb: David praises to
the Son, what the Father will do in Him for the
extension of His kingdom ; while he declares
with praise to the Father how the Son, in the
sovereignty and priesthood, will do everything
according to the Father's will and pleasure. —
Vaihinqer: As often as the Redeemer manifests
His glory and power against the oppressors and
enemies of His kingdom, so often does there
arise in His people renewed willingness to serve
Him, and so often are His worshippers increased.
— Richtee: The kingdom of God is extended
from the earthly Zion. Warriors and ambassa-
dors of Christ are ever going forth from the
spiritual Zion, the true Church ; and 'He, from
the heavenly Zion, directs everything with His
rod and sceptre. — Guenthek: In spite of all
foes, Christ is and remains the eternal King,
and he who will not serve Him to his own salva-
tion, must submit to Him to his condemnation. —
Schaubach: That our Redeemer took the form
of a servant need give us no difficulty ; He shall,
from this state of humiliation, again enter into
His exaltation. — Taubk: A people in priestly
robes is a people equipped for battle.
[Matth. Henry: Sitting is a resting posture;'
after Christ's services and suflFerings He entered
into rest from all His labors. It is a ruling pos-
ture ; He sits to give law, to give judgment. It
is a remaining posture ; he sits like a King for-
ever.— The conversion of a soul consists in its
being willing to be Christ's, coming under His
yoke and into His interests, with entire compli-
ancy and satisfaction. — There is a particular
power, the power of the Spirit, going along with
the power of the word, to the people of Christ,
which is effectual to make them willing. The
former leaves sinners without matter of excuse;
this leaves saints without matter of boasting.
Whoever are willing to be Christ's people, it is
the free and mighty grace of God which makes
them 80. — J. F. M.]
1 Praise ye tlie Lord.
PSALM CXL
I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
The works of the Lord are great,
Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
His work is honourable and glorious :
And his righteousness endureth for ever.
560
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered :
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him :
He will ever be mindful of his covenant.
6 He hath shewed his people the power of his works,
That he may give them the heritage of the heathen
7 The works of his hands are verity and judgment ;
All his commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever,
And are done in truth and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption unto his people :
He hath commanded his covenant for ever :
Holy and reverend is his name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom :
A good understanding have all they that do his commandmenta ;
His praise endureth for ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist
expresses his purpose to praise the Lord in the
narrower circle of the upright and in the Church
ver. 1), for the great and memorable deeds
ver. 2) in which He reveals His never-changing
glory and righteousness (ver. 3), and, as the
God of mercy, establishes the memory of His
wonders (ver. 4), and, mindful of His covenant,
cares for His servants (ver. 6), so that His
people have experienced the power of His works
in being placed in the possessions of the heathen
(ver. 6), and, at the same time, the reliableness
of His ordinances and regulations (vera. 7, 8)
for the highest good of the people cf His cove-
nant (ver. 9), whose wisdom proceeds from the
fear of Jehovah to His eternal praise. These
thoughts are, as it were, linked together like
proverbs, and in short stichs, containing usually
only three words. These are arranged in such
a manner that every line begins with a Hebrew
letter following the alphabetical order, and thelast
two verses consist of three stichs, while all the
rest contain but two. This latter phenomenon was
due to an unwillingness that the verses should
exceed ten, the number of completeness. All
this corresponds exactly with the following
Psalm, and indicates a late composition, though
we have no grounds for the determination of the
exact date. The superscription is purely litur-
gical. The application of ver. 5 to the eucha-
rist is very ancient. It is found even in Theo-
doret and Augustine ; and thus this Psalm has
become the Eucharist-Psalm of the Church, and
has been adopted by the Romish Church as one
of its daily vesper-psalms.
Ver. 1. In the circle of the upright [E,
v., assembly of the upright]. — IID is a more
select assembly (being equivalent to intimacy),
distinguished from the whole Church (Aben
Ezra, Geier and others), a distinction which,
with other designations, occurs also in Ps. cvii.
32. It has been denied without ground by some
who understand by the upright the Israelites
generally. [Alexander: "The word means
properly a circle of confidential friends. See Ps.
XXV. 14; Iv. 16; Ixiv. 3; Ixxxiii. 4. It is here
applied to the church or chosen people as con-
stituting such a company or circle in opposition
to the world without. It is not therefore really
distinct from the congregation mentioned in the
last clause, but another name for it. The up-
right (or slraighiforward) is a title given to the
true Israel, from the days of Balaam downwards.
See Numb. xxiv. 10."— J. F. M.]
Ver. 2. The sense of ver. 2 i is doubtful. If we
compare 1 Kings ix. 11 with Isa. xxiv. 7 ; xliv. 28;
xlvi. 10, we discover how untenable is the trans-
lation : asked for or sought according to all their
desires (Heng. ). But it may be possible to trans-
late : remarkable in all their connections, that is,
in every respect (Hitzig), or: investigated in all
their designs (Del.) Yet the usual explanation
appears to be best assured (Hupfeld). The re-
ference to God : sought out for His purposes
(Sept., Vulg.), or: according to His will(Schegg)
is altogether false.
Vers. 6-10. In ver. 5 meat is not to be re^
stricted to the feeding in the wilderness (most).
Nor is the literal meaning: prey, booty, to be
adopted in allusion to the gold and silver vessels
taken away from the Egyptians (the Rabbins). —
The redemption in ver. 9 is not lo be limited to
that from the land of Egypt. Ver. 10 follows Job
xxviii. 28 ; Prov. i. 7; ix. 10. The expression : ex-
cellent understanding is derived from Prov. iii. 4 ;
xii. 16. The suffix in DH^K/;? refers back to
the commandments of ver. 7. The final clause
does not speak of the praise of understanding
(Aben Ezra) or of the doer, the expression being
taken collectively (Kimchi, Geier, and others), or,
by anticipation, of the man praised in the next
Psalm (Bake, Delitzsch), but of the praise of
God, comp. ver. 6 6.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. ,
1. The righteous ever have otjcasion to give
heartfelt praise to God, whether in the familiar
circle of a few kindred minds, or in the public
assembly of the whole church, when meditating
upon His great deeds, in which He displays His
own glory, helps His covenant people, and thus
prepares for Himself eternal praise.
2. He who has pleasure in the works of the
Lord, always turns to them in a renewed search.
PSALM CXII.
561
They remain to him ever new and great, won-
derful and worthy, deserving of study and most
precious, affording an assurance of Divine help,
and being a cause why the pious yield them-
selves to God, and the lasting objects of their
praise.
3. For God has manifested His glory, that is,
His might, His goodness, and His righteousness,
to His people, not merely once in the days of old :
He has made it known to them as essential to
Him, and as eternally displayed. He has es-
tablished a covenant forever with them, and fixed
in it the memory of the wonders which He per-
formed, in founding and preserving them.
4. In His works God reveals His power ; in
His ordinances, whether commands or promises.
His will; in His name, His nature; but in them
all there are displayed the immutability, truth,
and holiness of that God, who is as just as He is
merciful, as faithful as He is true, as dreadful as
He is holy. Hence it is that all true and saving
wisdom arises from the fear of Jehovah, and is
exhibited in the fulfilment of His commands.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The praise of God the joy of the pious. — God
does more good to His people than they can thank
Him for. — What God has done for the Church is
to be proclaimed in it, and praised by it. — God's
deeds in behalf of His people, (1) as the objects
of their praise, (2) as monuments of His glory,
(3) as the security of the covenant entered into
with us. — God, besides unveiling to us what He
is, has shown us what He can do, and announced
to us what He will do. — The saving wisdom of a
life spent in God's fear. — It is easier to contem-
plate the glory of God's works than to rely upon
the truth of His word, and build up, in faithful-
ness to the covenant, 'His kingdom of righteous-
ness.
Stakkb: The heart is to be the altar, upon
which the fire of Divine love, of praise, and of
thanksgiving, should never be extinguished, even
under affliction. — Against the great God, what is
that which the world calls great ? — We must re-
gard it as an act of great mercy and compassion,
that God has obviated the consequences of our
neglect and forgetfulness, by causing His won-
ders and gracious works to be remembered. —
God does not let His works preach for enter-
tainment; His people are to learn to discover
Him therein, and to draw comfort therefrom in
His appointed way. — God's commandments and
works agree well together, for they are both
truth and justice. — The covenant of God is the
ground of the expectation of final and perfect re-
demption.— The world abounds in unwise and
foolish persons, because they are without the
foundation of true wisdom : they do not seek the
fear of God.
Osiander: The promises of the Gospel show
us what a faithful and paternal heart our hea-
venly Father bears towards us. — There is nothing
hard in them ; we are only required to accept
with faith the offered grace of God. — CEtinger :
All the works and ordinances of God are directed
towards deliverance, and redemption, and the
glory of God and of His name. — Rieqee : What
a blessing it is, when we can always gather a
few friends together to speak with them of God's
works and sing His praise ! We would^other-
wise overlook many things from which we could
strengthen our faith. — Tholitck : God comes to
meet deluded men in a thousand ways ; for each
of His works and deeds, if seriously regarded,
directs us to Him. — Richter: The heathen them-
selves are bequeathed to God's people, and they
must take possession of this inheritance to draw
them to themselves. — Guenther: All would like
to have the credit of sagacity, and it is counted the
greatest insult to affirm the contrary of any one ;
many would be learned, and the opposite is not
very agreeable to any; but only a tew strive to
be wise in the true sense ; and folly is most
widely spread in the world. — Diedrich : God's
word and His guidance by it are sources of con-
solation.— Taube : The experience of God's
mercy and compassion in the miracle of redemp-
tion, is and ever must be, the result of the most
penetrating search into God's works, and the
most profound knowledge of His greatness, both,
in its glory and in its righteousness. — The fear
of God is the fundamental idea of the Old Testa-
ment. Godliness answers to it in the New. — L.
Harms : There are two things which make the
Church the dearest of all objects to true Chris-
tians: (1) the works of God; (2) the ordinances-
of God.
[Barnes : One great error of the friends of
God is to neglect to study His works. — J. F. M.},
PSALM cxn.
1 Praise ye the Lord.
Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord,
That delighteth greatly in his commandments.
2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth :
The p-^neration of the upright shajl be blessed.
86
662
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house :
And his righteousness endureth forever.
4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness :
He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth :
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he shall not be moved forever :
The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings :
His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid.
Until he see his desire upon his enemies.
9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor ;
His righteousness endureth forever ;
His horn shall be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved ;
He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away :
The desire of the wicked shall perish.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The servants
'of God, who are true to His covenant, are praised
in this Psalm, as in the preceding, Jehovah was
•extolled as being true to the covenant. The con-
mection between the two is so close, not merely
in the choice and form of the stichs, but also in
'various expressions (comp. vers. 3 b and 9 b with
Ps. cxi. 3 b and 9 b) that the design is unmis-
itakable. From the whole character of the Psalm,
(however, an imitation (De Wette), is rather to
ibe inferred than a composition by the same poet.
The Vulgate has an additional superscription, by
iwhich the composition is placed in the time of
the return from the exile ; but this statement is
oitterly worthless. [The Vulgate says : " Con-
iversio Aggaei et Zacharix." — J. F. M.]
The praise of the pious man as blessed (ver. 1)
is followed by the promise of blessing to his race
(ver. 2) and to himself (ver, 3), being compared
to the rising of light in darkness (ver. 4). To
this follows the praise of the excellence of the
pious man with reference to his kindness to his
fellow-men, and its reward (ver. 5), which is par-
ticularly described from different points of view
(vers. 6-8), and then the whole summed up (ver.
9), with a glance at the opposite fortunes of the
ungodly (ver. 10). The Psalm immediately sug-
gests to us Pss. i. and xv.
Ver. 2. A hero upon the earth. — [E. V.
mighty upon earth]. The expression is based
upon Gen. x. 8. Its restriction to the sense:
mighty, powerful (Sept. and others) and the
translation : in the land are arbitrary. Its refer-
ence to the whole people and the promise of power
to overcome the world, Deut. xxxiii. 29 (Hengst.),
is equally unfounded. For although " his seed "
is parallel to " the generation of the upright,"
yet the latter is not identical with the whole of
Israel, (comp. Ps. cxi. 1). [The translation
" mighty," given in E. V. and favored by most,
still appears to me to convey the true sense of
the word. If the notion is more restricted than
in the translation proposed above, the restriction
is imposed by the original and more suitable
tense. But the word is a substantive in the He-
brew : " a mighty one." The conception of the
power of the descendants of the righteous is made
more vivid by the concrete form. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 3. The righteousness of the man is not his
welfare as the reward of his righteousness (Aben
Ezra, Rosenmiiller), or as consisting in the good
condition of his affairs (Kijster). Nor is it
merely fidelity to the covenant (Olshausen), and
certainly not righteousness by faith in Christ (J.
H. Mich.), or that presented by God (Hengst.)
According to the Old Testament conception it
means right conduct, agreeing iuwardly and out-
wardly with the Divine requirements. The al-
lusion to the preceding Psalm is here undeniable,
but it is scarcely conceivable that what is there
asserted of God is here unskillfully applied to
man (De Wette, Hupfeld).
Ver. 4. The adjectives can be explained
grammatically as epithets of the righteous (Kim-
chi, Ewald, Hengst.) only under extreme neces-
sity, although this would very well agree in
meaning with Isa. Iviii. 7ff. It is not probable
that a meaningless formula in frequent use was
transferred from Ps. cxi. 4 in order to find a
place for the letter T\ (Clericus, Koster, Mau-
rer, Hupfeld). There is no reason why these
epithets should not be viewed as defining the
light (Isaaki, Aben Ezra, Calvin, Hitzig), or,
still better, God, as the light, after Is. x. 17 ; Ix.
1 ff. ; Mai. iii. 20 (Sept., Vulg., Calv., J. H.
Mich., De Wette, Olshausen, Delitzsch). But wo
must not, by inserting the prep. |D, translate :
from the gracious, etc. (Luth., Geier, and others).
[Perowne, on the other hand, says : " The first
two epithets, elsewhere applied only to Jehovah,
are so applied in Ps. cxi. 3, and the relation of
the two Psalms makes it almost certain, there-
fore, that they are here applied to His servants.
See also Matth. v. 45-48; Isa. Iviii. 7. The
change from the plural to the singular is cer-
tainly unusually harsh, as the three epithets are
loosely strung together without anything to mark
their reference ; but this may be accounted for,
in some measure, by the requirements of the al-
phabetical arrangement." — J. F. M.]
Vers. b-l. 21D, according to the context, is not
to be understood of moral excellence (the an-
cienta) but of a prosperous life (expositors sine*
PSALM CXII.
563
Lud. de Dieu), as in Is. iii. 10; Jer. xliv. 17. On
account of the alphabetical order, we do not have
the usual "7.^*5 as in ver. 1. But it does not
follow from the parallelism that the pecond mem-
ber of the verse continues to describe the situa-
tion of the man, as would be expressed in the
translations : who conducts his affairs wiih jus-
tice (Geier, J. H, Mich.), or: feeds, that is,
maintains them in a good condition (Hengst.)
It is not a participle but a iinite verb, and the
assertions are justified in the following verses.
[The rendering of Dr. Moll accordingly is : ("It
is) well with the man who is benevolent and
lends, he will maintain his cause in judgment."
This interpretation is that of Delitzsch, who
translates a little more freely. With this Pe-
rowne also agrees. Alexander translates:
" Happy the man showing favor and lending;
he shall sustain his affairs by justice." It is
universally agreed that the idea "discretion,"
as in E. V., is wrong.
[Ver. 7. Perowne : " The epithets ' established,'
'trusting,' 'supported,' are all strikingly de-
scriptive of the true attitude of faith, as that
which leans upon and is upheld by God. The two
last are combined also in Is. xxvi. 3." — J. F. M.]
Ver. 10. In the last stich there is no suffi-
cient reason for reading T\)j^r\ instead of T\))ir\
(Hupfeld, Olshausen). The former would give
the idea of confidence, as in Ps. ix. 19 ; Job viii,
13; Prov. x. 28, comp. Prov. x. 24 (Hitzig).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The fear and the love of God are insepara-
bly united, and have an internal connection, in
the truly pious. The reward of this blessed and
holy union is great. Its blessing extends to
their descendants, and is powerfully displayed
in themselves. Not only earthly prosperity, but
a life well-pleasing to God, and the opportunity
thereby gained of becoming a power on earth,
and of exercising an influence that overcomes
the world, form a mind, a position, and a great-
ness of action that are heroic. They are thus
maintained as a blessing from God in pious ge-
nerations, the light never failing to rise again
even in the night of affliction.
2. The love of our neighbor is connected in the
closest manner with love to God, and he who has
experienced in himself and his family the mercy
of the Eternal is both inclined and enabled to
show mercy to others, and thereby gains a new
support, strengthening his heart in God, widen-
ing his active influence among men, securing his
happiness for all time ; while the wicked are
destroyed outwardly and inwardly, and go to
ruin with their possessions and fortune, as well
as with their efforts and aspirations.
[3. Perowne : All human righteousness has its
root in the righteousness of God. It is not
merely man striving to copy God; it is God's
gift and God's work. There is a living connec-
tion between the righteousness of God and the
righteousness of man, and therefore the im-
perishableness of the one pertains to the other
also.— J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
How the fear of God not only expels all other
fear, but also fills the truly pious with joy,
love, and life.— The delight, the suffering, the
light of the pious.— The blessing of God abiding
in a pious generation— Even for those who fear
God, it is not uninterrupted day upon earth ; but
a light never fails them.— The fear of God begets
power and courage.— Fear of God and love to
our neighbor are closely united when men take
delight in God's commands. — The prosperity of
the pious increases continually. Whoever is
vexed at it reveals the wickedness of his heart,
and injures himself more than any other.
Starke: Delight in God's word is manifested
specially in a life regulated in accordance there-
with.— The fear of God in many a pious father's
heart is rewarded in his children even after his
death. — He who would share in the blessings of
pious ancestors must follow after their faith. —
All creatures favor those whom God favors: the
blessings given to them fall to the lot of the
pious. — To pursue righteousness and the fear of
God is the true way to gain a name that will be
truly immortal. — A joyful, fearless heart, and a
good conscience, are the happy fruits of the true
fear of God. — Our works of love have two good
qualities, if we perform them abundantly and
generously, and are not wearied in them. An
abundant and eternal reward will follow them
both from the divine mercy. — A pious man is a
sharp thorn in the eyes of the ungodly, and yet
they cannot injure him. They only injure them-
selves ; for they shorten their lives by envy and
vexation.
Selnecker : Those who trust in God shall re-
ceive rich blessings, and shall want nothing,
even though in the world it may seem otherwise.
Frisch: The true sign of a God-fearing and
consequently happy man is the delight, and that
a great delight, which he has in God's com-
mandments.— Rieger: a cheerful heart which
is sustained by constant application to God's
word, by ever-renewed meditation upon His
ways, and by frequent resort to Him, profits more
than all other resources. — Diedrich: The devil
lies to his servants; but God rewards those who
risk everything upon His word with perfect
faithfulness and eternally. — Guenther: The
prosperous and blessed life of the righteous is
here presented ; but its inner nature is exhibited
as well as its outward signs. — Taubb: The final
lot decides ; the cry sounds forth : live, perish.
[Matt. Henrt: Religion has been the raising
of many a family; if not so as to advance it high,
yet so as to found it firm. — Barnes: Surely
there is an advantage in our world in being a
friend of God J. F. M.]
564
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
1 Praise ye the Lord.
PSALM CXIIL
Praise, O ye servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord.
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
The Lord's name is to be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
And his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like unto the Lord our God,
Who dwelleth on high,
6 Who humbleth himself to behold
The things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
8
9
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust.
And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
That he may set him with princes,
Even with the princes of his people.
He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
And to he a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — An exhorta-
tion is sent forth to praise .Jehovah at all times
and throughout the world (vers. 1-3) as the
God who, though infinitely exalted, yet beholds
even things that are most abased (vers. 4-6),
and exalts, blesses, and gladdens the feeble, the
despised, and the mourning (vers. 7-9). No
special connection with the people of Israel after
the exile (Hengst. and the ancients) is discover-
able. Just as uncertain is any allusion to Jona-
than's elevation, 1 Mace. x. 63 (Hitzig), or the
assumption that there is a close connection be-
tween this Psalm and the following, and that it
was composed in view of the passover (Koster,
Evvald). [It is thus supposed to be connected with
the deliverance from Egypt pictured in Ps. cxiv.
— J. F. M.] But even the frequent, and, in some
cases, unexpected use of the so called chirek com-
pagmis* (comp. Ewald, § 211) is no evidence of
antiquity, but indicates design.
In the liturgy, the so-called Hallel (Psalm
cxiii. — cxviii.), also termed the Egyptian Hal-
lel, as distinguished from the Great Hallel,
Psalm cxxxvi. begins with this Psalm. The
* [T!ec;iu8P it was formerly BuppnBf d to have been employed
to unite ita own word euphonically with the following, ^ee
libttcher, <-»r. § 584. It is generally, though not exclueivply,
attached to the construct, state. See Green, Gr. ?61, 6 a, 218.
Accordlni? to Ewald, it ia only used artificially by later
poets.— J. F. M J
latter designation is also applied sometimes by
the Talmud and Midrash to Ps. cxx., cxxxvi.,
and to Ps. cxxxv. 4-cxxxvi. By some Christian
writers it is wrongly applied to the Hallel in the
more restricted sense. This Psalm continued to
be recited while the Temple stood, and is still re-
cited in Palestine, eighteen times a year, apart
from its customary, though not legal, use at the
new moon. Outside of Palestine, it is now yearly
recited twenty one times on account of the addi-
tion of three great feast-days. At the family cele-
bration of the passover Pss. cxiii. and cxiv. were
sung before the meal, and indeed before the
emptying of the second cup, and Pss. cxv, -cxviii.
after the meal, and after the filling of the fourth
cup (comp. the expositors on Malt, xxvii. 30;
Mark xiv. 26).— This Psalm is the Old Test.
magnificat. [Perowne* "The Psalm maybe said
to be a connecting link between the Song of Han-
nah and the Magnificat of the Virgin." — J. P.M.]
Ver. 1. Servants of Jehovah. This phrase
is more expressive here than in Pss. cxxxiv.,
cxxxv. 20, and pre-supposes a specific conception
of the relation in which Israel as a whole stood
to God as His servant (Ps. cxxxvi. 22), and in
which their individual living members (Psalms
xxxiv. 23; Ixix. 87) were embraced.
Vers. 6, 6. A connection in the thought
might be considered possible between verse
6 6 and ver. 6 a (Deut. iii. 24). But we are
prevented by the structure of the sentences
from assuming such connection here (Geier,
PSALM CXIII.
56S
Hengst., Camphausen). The angels in heaven
(Calvin) are, at all events, not to be thought of.
The simplest course is to supply : upon all things.
For this affords the most comprehensive concep-
tion of every thing that exists and transpires
there (J. H. Mich, and others). But the restric-
tion to seeing generally ( Hupfeld), as contrasted
with looking down,, is unsuitable; for although
the throne of God is usually mentioned as exist-
ing in heaven, yet the exaltation of God over
heaven and earth is distinctly expressed (Ps.
cxlviii. 3). [The true rendering of vers. 5 and
6 accordingly is : "Who is like Jehovah our God,
who sitteth throned on high, who stoopeth down
to see (what is done) in heaven and on earth?"
(Perowne). The literal construction of the se-
cond and third clauses is, who maketh high to sit,
who maketh low to see. For the thought comp. Is.
Ivii. 15.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 7-9. Vers. 7, 8 are taken verbatim
from the song of Hannah (1 Sam. ii. 8), and
ver. 9 probably follows 1 Sam. ii. 5. A bar-
ren spouse was not assured of being allowed
to remain in the house. Not until she became-a
mother did she g-iin a firm position. The appli-
cation of the figure to the Church (Is. liv. 1 ff )
does not justify a typical interpretation of this
passage (The older expositors and Hengst. fol-
lowing the Chald. and the Rabbins). — "One who
is shut out from society in Syria and Palestine
lies upon the mezbele (dung and ash-heap), calling
upon the passers-by for alms during the day,
and at night cowering in the ashes warmed by
the sun" (Del.). [Ver. 9 6. is correctly: a joy-
ful mother of the children. Delitzsch: "The
poet presents the scene so vividly to himself,
that he points, as though with his finger, at the
children with which God has blessed her." The
article is suspected without reason by Olshausen
and Hupfeld. These critics, especially the former
one, run to an excess in their attempts to amend
the text.— J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. As God has given Himself a name that is
above every name, and has therein revealed His
nature for all times and the whole world, so will
He be invoked always and everywhere by His
servants by this name, and bids His Church in all
places of the earth be mindful of this part of its
service to Him.
2. God's infinite exaltation above all created
beings does not separate Him from those in need
of help, or remove Him to an unapproachable
distance, or place Him in solitude and out of re-
lation to them, but is united in an, incomparable
manner with a careful regard for the least as
well as for the greatest.
3. This mindfulness of them is no mere ob-
serving or purposeless gazing, but actual conde-
scension to the insignificant, despised, and afflict-
ed, so that they may be raised from their misery,
and that the Church may ever have renewed oc-
casion to praise Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The condescension of the Highest as the
strongest and ever-renewed ground of His praise
in the Church. — God acts as befits His name ;
do we render Him the thanks which are His
due? — Can it be said of us: As the Master so
the servant? — God indeed condescends to the
most distressed of men who mourn in obscurity ;
but what Ho does in a corner of the earth serves
to manifest and exalt His glory, and shall make
His name an object of praise foi* all time and
through the whole world. — Who is like our God ?
A question, (1) of confession, (2) of thanks-
giving, (8) of trust.
Starke : If we are to praise God rightly, we
must be His servants and believing children ; for
those who serve Satan and their own bodies,
and are the slaves of Mammon, are not fit for
such a service. — God's praise is as worthy of a
place in His true service as any other of its
elements ; this is why we are so often called
upon to engage in it. — It is not unbecoming to
God to care for what is debased. What it was
no dishonor to create, it is no dishonor to pre-
serve.— The exaltation of the wretched is an
unassailable testimony to the merciful provi-
dence of God, and to the reward that is bestowed
upon the pious and godly. — He that is raised
from a low station to great honor, must know
that God has done it, and must not become up-
lifted, else God may set him down again. — He
who is to be advanced to positions of peculiar
importance has no need to anticipate God's time.
When His time and hour come, He will know
how to place him where He would have him.
Selnecker: There are many servants and
friends of the Lord throughout the world.
Their lives and teaching should therefore be
such as that God shall not be dishonored, but
honored by them. — Franks : The word our is a
word of faith. He who has truly given his
heart to God, may trust in Him with joy, and
need fear nothing. — Rieger : In all God's words
and works are to be found precious traces of
His greatness and exaltation and condescending
love. — Faith unites the lofty and the condescend-
ing in God, and they are equally dear and pre-
cious.— RiCHTBR : The natural man, even though
he be learned, takes no delight in contemplating
God's greatness in lowering Himself. It is faith
alone which can harmonize the two, and rejoice
that the condescending Lord of the universe
does yet favor this little earth so highly, and
glorify Himself in things that are insignificant.
— Guenther: What are all the exaltation and
glory of this world compared to the glory of the
kingdom of God ? — Dibdrich : If the poor Church
will be dismayed at times, the servants of the
supreme God of mercy must only strike up
again the hallelujah, the song of mercy and
freedom, and all distress will disappear. — Taube :
The small regard the great; and the great God
regards the small ; the child of the dust seeks
self-made heights of greatness; and He who is
truly high and exalted will dwell with those who
are of a broken and contrite spirit. Wonderful
and adorable way for the salvation of the world !
[Scott: In His providence the Lord some-
times raises men from the most abject to the
most honorable stations of society, and it is
well when they acquit themselves properly in
their new dignities. But (his is His constant
method in the kingdom of grace. He takes us
debtors, beggars, nay, rebels and traitors, from
666
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
the dust, the dung-hill, or the dungeon, to be i priests unto Him : and thus He numbers us with
His favorites and His children, to be kings and the princes of His chosen people.— J. F. M.J
PSALM CXIV.
1 "WTien Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah was his sanctuary,
And Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it, and fled :
Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
And the little hills like lambs.
5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest ?
Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back ?
6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams ;
And ye little hills, like lambs ?
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob ;
8 Which turned the rock into a standing water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The wonderful
power of God over nature is celebrated in a
compact lyrical form and with poetic vividness
(vers, 3-6), as it was displayed in the leading
of the people from Egypt, for the purpose of
establishing a Divine government in Israel (vers.
1, 2), and forms the ground of a summons to the
earth to tremble before this wondrous God of
Jacob (vers. 7, 8). The time of composition
cannot be ascertained. A union with the pre-
ceding so as to make one Passover-Psalm, under
the supposition that a sacrifice intervenes (Ew-
ald), is altogether arbitrary. The combination
with the following into one Psalm (Sept., Syr.,
and others, Eimchi and some MSS.) was not
made till later, and that for liturgical purposes.
[Perowne : " This is perhaps the most beauti-
ful of all the Psalms which touch on the early
history of Israel. It is certainly the most
graphic and the most striking in the boldness
of its outlines. The following remarks may
perhaps illustrate the conception and plan of the
Poem. 1. In structure it is singularly perfect.
— We have four strophes, each of two verses,
and each of these of two lines, in which the
parallelism is carefully preserved. 2. The eflfect
is produced, as in Ps. xxix., not by minute
tracing of details, but by the boldness with
which certain great features of the history are
presented. 3. A singular animation and dra-
matic force are given to the Poem by the beauti-
ful apostrophe in vers. 6, 6, and the effect of
this is heightened to a remarkable degree by the
use of the present tenses. The awe and the
trembling of nature are a spectacle on which
the Poet is looking. The parted sea through
which Israel walks as on dry land ; the rushing
Jordan arrested in its course ; the granite cliffs
of Sinai, shaken to their base — he sees it all,
and asks in wonder what it means. 4. Then it
is that the truth burst upon his mind, and the
impression of this upon the reader is very finely
managed. The name of God, which has been
entirely concealed up to this point in the poem,
. . . is now only introduced after the apostrophe
in vers. 5, 6." "The reason seems evident
and this conduct necessary, for if God had ap-
peared before, there could be no wonder why
the mountains should leap and the sea retire;
therefore that this convulsion of nature may be
brought in with due surprise, His name is not
mentioned till afterwards ; and then, with a
very agreeable turn of thought, God is intro-
duced at once in all His majesty" (Spectator,
No. 461) J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. The people from which Israel
was separated are called stammering [E. V.:
of a strange language], not in ridicule,
but for the purpose of describing their lan-
guage as unintelligible, that is, foreign. [Dr.
Alexander thinks that such expressions may
PSALM CXIV.
567
perhaps involve an allusion to the pre-eminence
of Hebrew as the primitive and sacred language.
See Alexander on Isa. xxxiii. 19. For the other
view comp. Deut. xxviii. 49; Isa. xxvili. 11;
Jer. V. 15. — J. F. M.]. It is characteristic of
the poetic plan and beauty of this Psalm that
God the Lord is only suggested in ver. 2 and
not named definitely till ver. 7. [See addition
above]. The differences in the designations
applied to the people of God are also intentional
and admirable. They are first named genealo-
gico-historically the house of Jacob. [Alexan-
dee: ''The house of Jacob is a phrase peculi-
arly appropriate to those who entered Egypt as
a family and left it as a nation." — J. F. M.].
Next they are termed Judah, in allusion to the
sanctuary in their midst ; for after David's time
Jerusalem was regarded as belonging to Judah
rather than to Benjamin. Lastly they are called
Israel, with reference to the relation in which
they stood to God as their King, as citizens of
His kingdom. — Judah is here feminine, being
regarded as a nation or country.
Vers. 3 ff. The leaping of the mountains
probably refers to the shaking of Sinai at
the giving of the law (Ex. xix. 18), since the
miracle at the Red Sea, which began the
journey through the desert, and that at the
Jordan, which terminated it, are mentioned.
The last verse alludes to Ex. xvii. 6 ; Num. xx.
11 ; Deut. viii. 15. The derivation of Challamish
(ver, 8) is doubtful. According to Wetzstein, it is
perhaps the ancient name of basalt. The word
appears to be a mingling of the verbal roots : to
be hard, and : to be dark-brown.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The religious reformation of Israel was
bound up with its deliverance as a nation, and
its historical separation from a strange people
and country. Its formation into a separate
people is not to be severed from its character as
having been chosen, called, and planted as a
people consecrated to God and a kingdom of
Jehovah.
2. In this, God has proved Himself to be the
unconditioned Ruler of all the forces of nature,
and manifested Himself to His people as their
Deliverer from bodily and spiritual distress.
The Church upon the quaking earth should ac-
knowledge this, proclaim it with praises, and
exhibit it in her conduct.
HOMILETICAL AND PKACTICAL.
The Lord of nature and the Founder of the
Church is one and the same God : wliat consola-
tion there is in this assurance I And what a
warning too in this truth ! — Deliverance from the
powers of this world, and subjection to the
dominion of God, go hand in hand with God's
people. — The Almighty is thy God j what dost
thou fear ? But He is a holy King, too ; how
dost thou serve Him? — Let the earth tremble,
but hold thou fast to God, as His redeemed
people and consecrated inheritance.
Starke: The misery of the oppressed is so
much the more aggravated when it is endured
in the midst of people whose language they can-
not understand. — If we are God's kingdom, let
none become lord and master of our hearts ex-
cept Him who has purchased us at such a price,
to be His peculiar possession.-^Sinai and Horeb
quaked before the dreadful Lawgiver ; Golgotha
and Tabor leap with joy for the Redeemer.— If
God can make the stones and water, He can also
make stones bread and water wine, and thus in
every need help His own. — Luther: We now
sing Ihis Psalm to the praise of Christ, who
leads us put of death and sin, through the raging
of the world, the flesh, and the devil, to eternal
life. — Osiander: Miracles are related to us that
we may know how we, with the help and succor
of our God, may overcome all adversity and
trouble. For the course of nature must be
changed, rather than that God should let us
perisii. — The best weapon we can use against
unbelief is this: with God nothing is impossible.
RiEGER : Faith must ever keep looking back to
the small beginnings of God's works. — Guen-
THBR : All the history of God's people is pre-
figurative, both for other nations and for the
Church of the Lord, and for each of its mem-
bers.— Diedrich: Wherever God's testimony ia
now beheld, there is Judah, and where there is
strife for endless victory through God's word
alone, there is Israel. — Taube : The Lord over
all is the Lord of His people, the God of Jacob:
the ever-green olive leaf of consolation for His
Church at all times.
[Matth. Henry : What is God's sanctuary
must be His dominion. Those only have the
privileges of His house that submit to the laws
of it : and for this end Christ hath redeemed us
that He might bring us into God's service and
engage us for ever in it, — What turns the streams
in a regenerate soul ? What ails the lusts and
corruptions that they fly back ? that the preju-
dices are removed and the whole man becomes
new ? It is at the presence of God's Spirit,
that imaginations are cast down, 2 Cor. x. 5. —
The trembling of the mountains before the Lord
may shame the stupidity and obduracy of the
children of men who are not moved at the dis-
coveries of His glory. — The same almighty
power which turned waters into a rock to be a
wall to Israel, Ex. xiv. 22, turned the rock into
waters to be a well to Israel ; as they were pro-
tected so were they provided for by miracles,
standing miracles, for such was the standing
water, that fountain of waters into which the
rock, the flinty rock, was turned, and that rock
was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4. For He is a fountain of
living water to His Israel, from whom they re-
ceive grace for grace. — J. F. M ''
568 THfl FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM CXV.
1 ITot unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But unto thy name give glory,
For thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
2 Wherefore should the heathen say,
Where is now their God ?
3 But our God is in the heavens :
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
4 Their idols are silver and gold.
The work of men's hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not :
Eyes have the^ , but they see not :
6 They have ears, but they hear not :
Noses have they, but they smell not :
7 They have hands, but they handle not :
Feet have they, but they walk not :
Neither speak they through their throat.
8 They that make them are like unto them;
So is every one that trusteth in them.
9 0 Israel, trust thou in the Loed:
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord :
He is their help and their shield.
11 Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord :
He IS their help and their shield.
12 The Lord hath been mindful of us : he will bless m;
He will bless the house of Israel ;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless them that fear the Lord,
Both small and great.
14 The Lord shall increase you more and more.
You and your children.
15 Ye are blessed of the Lord
Which made heaven and earth. ^
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's :
But the earth hath he given to the children of men,
17 The dead praise not the Lord,
Neither any that go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord
From this time forth and for evermore.
Praise the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — Jetovah is call-
ed upon for the sake of His mercy and truth, and
not on account of the worthiness of His people,
to manifest His glory which had been reviled or
brought into question by heathen (vers. 1, 2).
For He is the heavenly, almighty God, while the
idols of the heathen are worthless images of
PSALM CXV.
669
men's hands, of whose worthlessness those par-
take, who have made them and yet trust in them
(vers. 3-8). But those who belong to God's
house, and who fear Him, may be called upon to
trust in Him (vers. 9-12) with the assurance that
He who has been mindful of them will bless and
increase them (vers. 12-14), in order that they,
as the blessed of the Lord, may continue pre-
served in life upon the earth which has been
given to them by God who dwells in heaven, and
may give Him the glory forever (vers. 15-18).
The matter and style of this Psalm differ so
greatly from those of the preceding that the
union of the two into one whole (Sept. and
others) cannot have been the original form, and
must have been made later for liturgical pur-
poses. The liturgical character is strongly
marked, especially in vers. 9 ff. But there is no
sure ground for a distribution among different
choirs (Kdster, Ewald).
The time of composition is no less uncertain,
since the invocation to God for help against the
heathen is altogether general in its character.
It is possible that the thrice-pronounced refrain,
" He is their help and their shield," instead of
♦« our help," as in Ps. xxxiii. 20, may have had
some connection with a host going forth to war,
(Hitzig). But nothing follows from this in fa-
vor of the military expedition of the Maccabaean
prince Jonathan, since the supposition, that the
three following Psalms are connected with the
same event, and are to be explained from 1 Mace,
xi. has not been established. It is likewise pos-
sible that this was an antiphony sung by the
same voice (Delitzsch), which had announced the
propitious acceptance of the sacrifice supposed
to have been offered (Ewald); but there is not
the least indication of the offering of a sacrifice
in these Psalms. [See the Introduction to the
exposition of Ps. cxiii. — J. F. M.] It is possi-
ble, finally, to divide the antiphony, vers. 9ff.
so as to make, first, the whole people, then, the
priests, and, lastly, the laity speak. (Koster).
But on this point nothing more certain can be
said, especially as it is not even decided whether
'• those who fear God " refer to the laity as
distinguished from the house of Aaron, or to the
whole priesthood (Hitzig), or to the whole na-
tion of Israel, in the sense of God's servants (De
Wette, Hengst., Hupfeld) or to those in the na-
tion who are truly pious (Calvin), or to the pro-
selytes, according to the later Judaistic and New
Testament usage (Isaaki and others, Ewald, De-
litzsch). Still more arbitrary is the supposition
that in vers. 12 and 13 the laity sing, then in
vers. 14 and 15 the priests, and in vers. 16-18
the whole people end in chorus (Koster). In
Ps. cxviii. 2 4 the same triple classification is
given: Israel, the house of Aaron, and those
that fear God. In Ps. cxxxv. 19 f. the house of
Levi is, in addition, distinguished from the house
of Aaron. [Perowne and Alexander agree with
Hengsteuberg in thinking it probable that the
Psalm was composed after the return from Exile
and before the Temple was built. Delitzsch of-
fers no conjecture as to the date. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 2 is the same, verbatim, as Ps. Ixxix. 10.
It must not be too confidently maintained that
it was taken from that Psalm (Hengst.), for the
same expression occurs also in Joel ii. 17.
Similar in thought are Psalm xlii. 4; Micah
vii. 10.
[Ver. 3. Perowne : '< The answer to the taunt
of the heathen, who, seeing no image of Jeho-
vah, mocked at His existence. First, He is in
heaven, invisible indeed, yet thence ruling the
universe : next, JETe doeth what He will, in fine
contrast to the utter impotence of the idols of
the heathen. The last expression denotes both
God's almighty power, and His absolute freedom.
This, truthfully accepted, does away with all a
j9non objections to miracles." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 4ff. Idols. Literally: carved images.
The assertion that the polemic jjf the Psalmist
was directed only against the images and not the
gods of the heathen (De Wette) is not justified
by this expression. For, as images of men's
mistaken faith, these gods haje no real existence.
They are really only represented in their images,
the work of men's hands. In both respects these
gods fall under the common idea of human con-
struction, and of being inanimate. It is just
against these points that the attack is directed
after Deut. iv. 28, in the same manner as in Isa.
xliv. 9 ff. ; Jer. x. 3 ff. : Wisdom, xv. 15, in or-
der to make it clear that their lifeless gods are
nothings, whose fate shall be shared by those who
trust in such idols.
[Ver. 7. Alexander: " The sameness of this
long enumeration, the force of which is logical
and not poetical, is partially relieved by a change
in the form of the original, which cannot well be
imitated in translation: Their hands and they feel
not, their feet and they walk not. Some make the
first words in each clause nominatives absolute,
their hands — they feel not ; their feet — they walk not.
But in the preceding parts of the description the
verbs relate not to the particular members, but
to the whole person. It is better, therefore, to
supply a verb: their hands (are there) and (yet)
they feel not ; their feet (are there), and (yet) they
go not. The English feel is to be taken in its
outward and physical sense, answering to the
Latin palpo, here used by the Vulgate and Je-
rome. A less equivocal translation would be
touch. . . . The meaning of the last clause is,
that they cannot even make the faintest and most
inarticulate guttural noise, like the lower ani-
mals, much less speak as men do." — J. F. M].
Vers. 14-17. Ver. 14floesnotrefertoan increase
of the blessing (Aben Ezra, Luth., Calv., Geier,
and others), but to an increase in the population
after Deut. i. 11 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 3 ; comp. Gen. xxx.
24. [In ver. 16 translate: " The heavens (are)
heavens for Jehovah, and the earth He has given
to the children of men." If God, while reserving
the heavens to Himself, gives the earth to men,
that they may multiply and replenish it. He will
increase them. — J. F. M] Silence in ver. 17
is that of the underworld, as in Ps. xciv. 17.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The pious are not concerned for their own
honor, which they are not worthy to have (Ezek.
xxxvi. 22 f.), but for the glory of God. This
seems to suffer when it fares ill with those who
fear God. Then unbelievers appear to be justi-
fied in deriding the faith of the Church, But
her members do not rely upon their worthiness
or desert, but upon the fact that th« vauBe and
570
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
the glory are not theirs, but their God's. This
God, who has made Himself an unequalled name
in the world, cannot allow it to be dishonored
with impunity, and just as little can He leave
those in distress who confess and call upon it.
His mercy and His truth are the foundations of
this belief.
2. Unbelievers have not, in any respect, the
slightest cause for derision or self-laudation.
For the God of historical revelation is the Al-
mighty Creator of heaven and earth. He not
only lives, but He is a self-conscious, active
Person, as unlimited in His power as in His will.
The gods of the heathen, on the contrary, are
idols fashioned by human hands, without life and
being. They have only the outward appearance
of personality, only the semblance of life and of
power to act, but ao reality and no efficiency.
3. To trust in such effigies of humanity, and
such works of human hands, is not merely fool-
ish but ruinous. Idolatry, in a refined or in a
grosser sense, brings its votaries inevitably
to destruction. But that people which is
wholly devoted to God, is blessed in all its
members, aad increases constantly by the bless-
ing of that God, who has reserved for His spe-
cial dwelling the heavens which He has created,
but has portioned out to mankind (Acts xvii. 26)
the earth which He has created, and will receive
their praise, presented to Him willingly and un-
ceasingly by the members of His Church, who
■will encourage each other to the performance of
this holy and blessed service.
4. As long as the redemption of the world and
its reconciliation with God remain uncompleted,
so long must the separation between God's dwell-
ing-place and that of men remain in actual fact
unremoved. Heaven and earth still continue
distinct, and the believer in revelation indulges
no illusions, as do the heathen, concerning this
relation and its future conditions. As with re-
gard to God's being, power, and will, so with
regard to this he does not fondly cherish or in-
dulge any ideas, or speculations, or visions of
his own fanoy. He adheres simply and entirely
to God's word. As long as he has no clear word
of promise he knows nothing of the Church which
praises God eternally in heaven. His hopes are
directed towards the possession of the promised
land, a long life upon earth, God's blessing in
the increase of his generation, and the continued
existence of God's Church in the world. And
even thougli the prophetic vision and announce-
ment of an indestructible personal and vital com-
munion of believers with God, or even of the
idea of the resurrection, have been presented to
him, yet their appropriation and the introduc-
tion into the life of faith enjoyed by the Church
remain a subject of anxious thought, upon which,
as the Psalms show, light is but slowly scattered,
and which becomes only gradually cleared up by
successive revelations.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
We are unworthy of any glory. God is worthy
of all ; but it is our part to ascribe it to Him. —
Faith is in opposition and conflict not merely
with unbelief, but also with false belief. — God is
never weary of hearing, helping, and blessing ;
but how often and how soon do men cease to
pray, to trust, and to give thanks ! — God dwells
in heaven, wouldst thou not go to Him ? Now,
while thou livest, seek and serve Him upon earth,
and trust His mercy and truth. — The Almighty,
who dwells in heaven, has given the earth to the
children of men, not merely ag a residence while
they live, but also as the place where He has re-
vealed Himself, and where they shall serve Him.
The relation of the questions, where is our God?
and, who is our God ?
Starke : There is no idol in the world so
great as inordinate self-love. Self-denial thrusts
this god from its throne. — God's mercy and truth
are the foundation of our faith and hope, and of
all our help and comfort. — There is no child of
God so poor and forsaken as not to be able to
point with his finger on high, and say : behold
my witness is in heaven, and He who knows me,
on high (Job xvi. 19). Those who serve idols
are much more liberal in devoting their sub-
stance to their false gods, than worshippers of
the true God are, in giving theirs to churches
and schools. — No man's curse can injure him
whom God blesses. — None can receive God's
blessing but those who fear the Lord. — God is
not so much confined to heaven as to be shut out
from the government of the world. — As the earth
is not the property of men, but they have re-
ceived it from the great God only as a trust, they
are to use it, as not abusing it. — Do good while
you live and have opportunity ; death shuts the
mouth from speaking and the hand from doing
good. — Only wait a little, and see how the lofty
speeches of God's enemies end. They are surely
followed by great stillness, by eternal silence. —
Hallelujah! Who will join in the song? This
harmonious praise on earth is as it were the
prelude to the heavenly hallelujah (Rev. xix. 6).
Frisch: Let the living not neglect to do what
the dead can no longer do. — (Etinger: God has
given the earth to the children of men, especially
for this end, that they may most earnestly devote
their short and transitory lives to the praise of
the living God, and not to that of dead idols, and
thus learn that, in view of the future world, the
earth fulfils a special purpose, and that is, that
God's wisdom may be glorified. — Rieqer: Urged
by the fear of God, men must cast away many
natural and unnatural grounds of hope, but for
these they receive a rich compensation from
God's mercy and truth. But, unless they trust
in His mercy and truth, they treat our beloved
God no better than a dumb idol. — Tholdck: It
is the curse which follows all false belief with
regard to God, that man in a manner, becomes
his own God. — Guenther: DiflFerent ages have
different customs. This is true also with regard
to sin. Its essential nature is always the same,
departure from the true God, but the forms of its
manifestation are determined by the circum-
stances of education and culture. — Dieuricu :
God's Church needs the help of her King against
more powerful heathenism, but not for her own
merit, or that she should receive the praise, but
only for the sake of the glory of God's name. —
Taube: One sad consequence of the fall is the
band, by which man, separated from communion
with the invisible God, lies fettered beneath the
influence of the temporal and visible.
PSALM CXVI.
571
[Matt. Henry: Wherever there is an awful
fear of God, there may be a cheerful faith in
Him, They that reverence His word may rely
upon it. — Scott : When conscious unworthiness
is ready to extinguish our hopes, we have a
never-failing plea, and we may entreat the Lord
to serve and bless us, for the glory of His mercy
and truth in Jesus Christ, when all our other
arguments are silenced. — Barnes : It is always
a sufficient answer to the objections which are
made to the government of God, as if He had
forsaken His people in bringing affliction on
them, and leaving them, apparently without in-
terposition, to poverty, to persecution and to
tears, that He is " in the heavens ; " that He rules
there and everywhere; that He has His own
eternal purposes ; and that all things are ruled
in accordance with His will. There must, there
fore, be some good reason why events occur as
they actually do. — J. F. M,].
PSALM CXVL
1 I love the Loed, because he hath heard
My voice and my supplications.
2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me,
Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
3 The sorrows of death compassed me,
An4 the pains of hell gat hold upon me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord ;
0 Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yea our God is merciful.
6 The Lord preserveth the simple :
1 was brought low, and he helped me.
7 Ketum unto thy rest, O my soul ;
For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with theft
8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death,
Mine eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the Lord
In the land of the living.
10 I believed, therefore have I spoken:
I was greatly afflicted :
11 I said in my haste,
All men are liars.
12 What shall I render unto the Lord
For all his .benefits towards me ?
13 I will take the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all his peopleo
672
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
15 Precious in the eight of the Lord
Is the death of his saiuts.
16 0 Lord, truly I am thy servant;
I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid :
Thou hast loosed my bonds.
17 I will oflfer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all his people,
19 In the courts of the Lord's house.
In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This is not a
psalm of complaint (Hupfeld), but the song of
thanksgiving of an Israelite rescued from
death. It is interspersed with fragments of his
yearnings, reflections, complaints, and prayers
in that time of peril. It is penetrated also by
the refrain-like utterance, gradually and ever
more richly unfolding itself, of a vow to proclaim
with praises, now after his deliverance, the name
of Jehovah, whom he had invoked in his dis-
tress; and this he would do as long as he should
live, before the whole people, and in the place
of God's worship in Jerusalem. Neither the
peculiar nature of this distress, nor the position
occupied by the author, nor the time of composi-
tion, is discoverable. The Psalm however, by
the strong Aramaic coloring of the linguistic
forms, set off as they are with all kinds of orna-
ments (Delitzsch), as well as by its numerous
passages borrowed from Psalms composed before
the exile, is proved to belong to a late period.
A division into two distinct psalms, vers. 1-9,
10-19, (Sept. and others) is not justified by the
character of the poem. [Pebownb; "The Psalm
is an evidence of the truth and depth of the re-
ligious life in individuals after the return from
the Exile , for there is little doubt that it must
be assigned to that period. Many words and
turns of phrases remind us of earlier Psalms,
and especially of the Psalms of David. His
words must have laid hold in no common degree
of the hearts of those who were heirs of his faith,
and have sustained them in times of sorrow and
suffering, and nothing would be more natural
than that later poets would echo his strains, and
mingle his words with their own when they
poured forth their prayers and praises before
God."— J. F. M.].
Vers. 1-3. I love. The explanation : It is
dear to me, that is : I am glad or like to see,
I rejoice, that thou, etc., (Isaaki, Aben Ezra,
Luther, Geier, De Wette, Hitzig), is possible only
if we assume an imitation of the Greek, and so
descend to a very late period. It is more natu-
ral to suppose that the object is omitted, for the
same anomaly occurs also in vers. 2 and 10, and
therefore characterizes the style of the Psalmist.
This object is naturally Jehovah, not grammati-
cally but logically (Kimchi, Calvin, Grotius,
Stier, Hengst., Del.), and therefore it is not ne-
aessary to transpose that word (Hupfeld). The
change also in ver. 3, by which HVp nets (Hup-
feld) is put for ^7.2fD oppressions, straits, [E. V.:
pains] is not demanded, although on account of
the affinity with Ps. xviii. 2, it is not to be ut-
terly slighted.
[Ver. 6. Perowne : " Instead of saying directly,
' Jehovah answered me,' he magnifies those attri-
butes of God, which, from the days of His won-
derful self-revelation to Moses (Ex. xxxiv. 6), had
been the joy and consolation of every tried and
trusting heart. Ver. 7: The deliverance vouchsafed
in answer to prayer stills the tumult of the soul.
ThiQresi is the rest of confidence in God."-J.F.M.]
Vers. 10, 11. The words of ver. 10 are in 2 Cor.
iv. 13, after the Sept., employed to express the
sense : kniaTevaa, 6lo k?idA7jaa. But this does not
compel us to give the same translation here (Luth.
and others, Hengst.), and to understand the
words as a confession expressive of belief in the
mercy and help of God, and to refer the other
member of the verse to the circumstances or con-
sequences of that confession. The words and
their connection are obscure. The second mem'
ber is most simply viewed as expressing what is
spoken. It is not admissible to take ''3 as mean*
ing even if or although (Rosenmiiller, De Wette).
To explain it as equivalent to : than that (Hitzig)
would make the poet say, that his trust was
greater than that he could declare it. But this
thought would then be very obscurely expressed.
It is better to explain : I have believed and do be-
lieve henceforth, when I speak, that is, have to
speak, must speak (Delitzsch). Ver. 10 would
then contain the result of what was experienced,
and ver. 11 would recall the time when he, aban-
doned by all those from whom he expected assist-
ance and help, experienced the truth and faith-
fulness of God. [Dr. Moll accordingly renders:
I trust, when I must say : "I am greatly bowed
down,'*^ I said in my terror ; " all men are liars."
The following rendering with its accompanying
exposition, taken from Dr. Alexander, seems to me
to be the best, because it gives substantially the
same idea as that conveyed in the citation made,
and because it adopts the most frequent meaning
of ''3: "/ believed, for (this) / speak: I was
afflicted greatly. I must have exercised faith, or
1 could not thus have spoken. The Sept. version,
retained in the New Testament (2 Cor. iv. 13),
clothes the same idea in a different form, / be-
lieved, therefore have I spoken. It was because his
faith enabled him to speak, so that his speaking
was a proof of faith. — I said in my terror all man-
PSALM CXVI.
678
kind are false. The form of expression in the
first clause is borrowed from Ps. xxxi. 23. But
instead of being a confession of error, it is here
rather a profession of faith. The proposition ;
all mankind are false, i. e., not to be trusted or
relied upon, implies as its complement or con-
verse that therefore God alone is to be trusted.
See the same contrast stated more explicitly in
Ps. cxviii. 8, and oomp. Ps. Ixii. 9, 10 j cviii. 13 ;
cxlvi. 3, 4."— J. F. M.]
Vers. 13, 14. The figure of the cup of salva-
tion, or the cup of deliverance, is perhaps taken
from the cup of thanksgiving for the deliverance
from Egypt, drunk at the paschal meal. Ver. 18,
especially, favors this view. The allusion made
by Geseaius and Hupfeld to the fact that among
the Arabs the cup was the symbol of fortune, does
not explain the lifting up of thia cup in connec-
tion with the proclamation and praise of God's
name. [Pbrownb: " Many see in the words an
allusion to the cup of blessing, at the Paschal
meal (Matt. xxvi. 27), and this would accord
with the sacrificial language of vers. 14, 17. It
is true that there is no evidence of any such cus-
tom at the celebration of the Passover in the
Old Testament, but, as the custom existed in our
Lord's time, the only question is, as to the time
of its introduction. If it was introduced short-
ly after the Exile this Psalm may very well
allude to it." Dr. Moll renders the whole verse,
*' I will raise the cup of salvation, and proclaim
the name of the Lord." E. V. renders " call
upon the name." Probably both senses are in-
cluded, according to the remark of Delitzsch that
the expression is the usual one for invoking and
proclaiming publicly God's name. Ver. 14 b
(as- likewise 18 b) should be translated : " Let
me (do so) in the presence of all his people." —
J. F. M.]
Vers. 15, 16. Ver. 16 is said to have been sung
by Babylas, bishop of Antioch, when he was be-
ing led forth to death under the emperor Decius.
The Apostolical Constitutions, vi. 30, recommend
the chanting of the same verse, along with others
from the Psalms, at the funeral solemnities of
those who have died in faith (Augusti, Denkwur-
digkeit, ix. 563). [In ver. 16 a. the true ren-
dering is: Ah now Jehovah !* for I am thy ser-
vant. Alexander: "The expression of entreaty
at the beginning has reference to something not
expressed, though easily supplied, namely, per-
mission thus to express his gratitude. "-J.F. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Our love to God is essentially a reciprocal
love, as being a grateful return for the love ac-
tually bestowed upon us (1 John iv. 19; Ps.
xviii. 2), and is expressed in the readiness, ex-
hibited by those whom He has delivered, to
devote themselves to His name while they live,
■* [njX (here for NilX), In regard to its composition and
. TT TT
Intensity of expression, see Ewald Gr. § 262, Boettcher, § 967,
B. It is unnecessary to assume that the 7 in the last word
of the verse is the sign of the accnsativn. It is often aa-
sumed as an imitation of the Aramaic without the least ne-
cessity, as by Hupfeld in Ps. Ixxiii. 18, where see the addi-
tion. It is better to regard the noun to which it is Joined as
the indirect object. See Green, Gr. 3 272, 2, a. For tba
other view see Ewald, I 277 e.—J. F. M.J.
to invoke and proclaim Him all their days,
whether by praying, thanking, confessing, or
instructing, and to fix their whole trust and all
their hopes upon God alone, and no longer upon
men.
2. It reflects no dishonor upon one who has
been blessed and saved, to recall his former
temptations, cares, and complaints, as well as the
misery and distress which he endured, and his
natural helplessness. It rather tends to the sal-
vation of himself and others, if he, before God,
and in the Church, calls this weakness to re-
membrance with humility, and thankfully con-
fesses what God has done for his soul. It helps,
at the same time, to fix him more firmly in a
state of grace, and serves as a defence against
the danger of relapsing into his former weakness.
3. When we earnestly endeavor to pay our
vows to the Most High, we must bear in mind,
that we have not the power to return His bene-
fits. And when we reflect how far our practice
falls below our obligations, we are not to infer
that we are released from our responsibility, but
are to be urged to employ only the more zeal-
ously and conscientiously, the means of salvation
and grace which God affords in the Church and
in the ordinances of her service. We are strong-
ly encouraged to this by the assurance that God
has an earnest care over our lives, and that they
have a value in His sight; that, therefore. He
keeps watch over His chosen, and protects His
saints, in order that they, as His servants, should
serve Him, for their own salvation, for His glory,
and for the building up of the Church.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God bestows upon us so many blessings that
none of us can return them to Him; and He asks
nothing in exchange but our love. — If we love
God sincerely, we will trust in Him implicitly in
our times of need, will give Him thanks for His
help, and serve Him in His Church. — It is not
equally well with us at all times; but we are
blessed indeed if we, with God's help, have hap-
pily overcome the evil days, not merely of earthly
calamity and outward danger, but also of spirit-
ual weakness and inward trial. — Our life has a
value in God's sight. Do we employ it to His
praise? — Wouldst thou come to thy rest? Cling
always to God with simplicity of heart.
Starke: Who would be saved from despair
when the tempest rages in the poor conscience,
if God would not deliver? — He who can pray in
distress and trials has gained half the victory;
but this it is hard to do. — Childlike simplicity has
powerful protection from God, and therefore also
have believing souls. — Far from the world is rest ;
far from God is unrest. — We can never learn bet-
ter what men are than in times of great distress,
when we most need their help. — If the death of
God's saints is precious in His sight, He will
know the right time to avenge it on those who
have poured out their blood as water. — The true
application of redemption consists in a life spent
in obedience to God, in His kingdom, and in His
service.
Sblneoker: God's love to me and mine t-o
Him are here brought together. — Believing, the
confession of our belief, and sufi'ering, are mutu-
574
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
ally connected. — Frisch: Keceive with thanks-
giving what you must else receive whether you
are thankful for it or not. Remember (1) that
this cup comes from the hand of the Lord; (2)
that it has been filled for many saints and be-
loved ones of God before you; (3) that it is not
dealt out at random, but that all that you are to
drink has been carefully measured; (4) that it
is not a cup of wrath or intoxication, but rather
a cup of salvation; (5) that, after the cup of af-
fliction, comes the cup of rejoicing. — Stier: A
joyful testimony to the confidence of God's saints
in Christ, who die and yet live. — Tholuok: A
sincere prayer of gratitude is to the Lord the
most pleasing sacrifice. — Guenther: It is a
wonderful mystery in the relationship in which
men stand to God as His children, that the more
they give thanks, the more they have to be
thankful for, and thus receive the more good. —
Diedrich: We have all been raised from death
and hell by God's mercy helping us; therefore
do we love and praise Him, and find described in
this Psalm our own experience, — Lean much on
God's help, and thou wilt learn what He is;
avail thyself of it much, yea, even to the utmost ;
have recourse to Him in order that thou mayest
be purified and quickened, and thou wilt expe-
rience who and what kind of a God He is. —
Taubb: All true thanksgiving and songs of
praise have their final result in an upright walk
before the Lord. If the feet stand again upright
through Him, they should also run in His ways,
and walk according to His precepts and laws.
[Bp. Patrick: The very bonds which Thou
hast loosed shall tie me faster to Thee.
Matt. Henry: As long as we continue living,
we must continue praying; this breath we must
breathe till we breathe our last; because then
we shall take our leave of it, and till then we
shall have occasion for it. — God's people are
never brought so low but that the everlasting
arms are under them, and they cannot sink who
are thus sustained. — Quiet thyself and then en-
joy thyself: God has dealt kindly with thee, and
thou needest never fear that He will deal hardly
with thee. — I know no word more proper to close
our eyes with at night, when we go to sleep, nor to
close them with at death, that long sleep, than
this: Return unto thy rest, Omy soul. — The land of
the living is a land of mercy, which we ought to be
thankful for: it is a land of opportunity, which
we should improve. If God has delivered our
soul from death, we must walk before Him.
Our new life must be a new life indeed.
Barnes: What does not the world owe, and
the cause of religion owe, to such scenes as oc-
curred on the death-beds of Baxter, and Thomas
Scott, and Halyburton, and Pay son ! — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXVII.
1 Oh praise the Lord, all ye nations :
Praise Him, all ye people.
2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us :
And the truth of the Lord endweth for ever.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm,
which occupies exactly the middle place in the
Holy Scriptures, is the shortest, as far as words
are concerned, but is highly important in its Mes-
sianic meaning. It contains the lyrical expres-
sion of the consciousness of the Old Testament
Church, (1) that it was the object of the special
and everlasting care of God; (2) that the
former proceeded from His mercy, the latter
from His truth; (8) that for this very reason
(not Israel, but) Jehovah is the worthy object of
praise for all peoples. The truth that all nations
should yet worship Jehovah, as the God who has
revealed Himself to the world by means of what
He did for Israel, ie unfolded by the- Apostle
Paul (Rom. xv. 11) from the germs herein
contained. The special oooasion of the oompo-
sition of the Psalm cannot be ascertained. The
supposition (Hitzig) that it was the victory of
which the preceding and following Psalms are
supposed to treat, has nothing for its support.
The style is liturgical, and therefore this is often
called a Temple-Psalm, sung either at the begin-
ning or at the end of the service (Rosenmiiller),
or, by separate choirs or by the whole people,
in the interval between longer psalms (Knapp).
Many MSS. and editions annex it to the follow-
ing Psalm.
Instead of the Heb. form 7113^, Gen. xxv. 16,
Numb. xxv. 16, the Chald. forni D'QN* occurs
[* May this not have been an alternative Heb. form lees fre-
quently used ? So Green, Gr. g 200 c. Boettcher, ffr. a
642, note I., thinks that D'SnVSd ought to be read. Pe-
rowne calla this latter word another and more frequent form
ofniraX. It is, of course, an entirely different woid.— J.
F. M.] *'
PSAOI CXVIII.
576
here in ver. 1. The closing word of the same
verse, dVij;'?, does not further define *13J (Lather)
but is the predicate of r\D« (Sept.).— "Mercy
and truth are the two divine forces which, once
unveiled and unfolded in Israel, shall go forth from
Israel and overcome the world" (Dei.). The
heathen are called upon to praise the Lord on
account of His great deeds in behalf of Israel in
Ps. xlvii. 2; Ixvi. 8; xcviii. 4 (Hengstenberg).
[Delitzsch : ♦• D'1il~^3 are all nations without
distinction. D''?^^5S-7^ are all nations without
exception." — J. F.' M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
What God does in His Church tends to the
good of the world. — The expectation of salvation
for all peoples: (1) whither it is directed; (2)
on what it is based ; (3) by what means it may
be realized. — The worship of God on ep,rth: (1)
its meaning; (2) the place where it is to be of-
fered ; (3) its elements and mode. — The influence
of God's mercy, as a means of preserving and
extending His Church among all nations, in ac-
cordance with His eternal truth and faithful-
ness.
Starke: Others may praise and boast of the
glory of the world ; let Christians praise God's
mercy and truth. — Where God's priceless mercy
is rightly understood, there follows a hallelujah
to God the Lord. — Rieqbr: Any Jewish child
could learn this little Psalm by rote, but when
it comes to be fulfilled, it is just as hard for that
nation to learn it inwardly. — Diedrich: Mercy
and truth are the deepest need of mankind; let
them then praise Him who answers such a need.
— Taube: When we read of mercy, that it is
powerful, and of truth that it is eternal, we are
told to look for a royal march of victory through
the world. But there is much to be overcome, not
only in the hearts of heathen before they are
brought from raging to praising, but also in the
hearts of the Jews, before they become willing
instruments of the divine counsels and embrace
the far-reaching love of God.
[Matt. Henry: The tidings of the gospel be-
ing sent to all nations should give them cause to
praise God; the institution of gospel ordinances
would give leave and opportunity to praise God,
and the power of gospel-grace would give them
hearts to praise Him. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXVIII.
1 0 give thanks unto the Lord ;
For he is good : because his mercy endureih for ever
2 Let Israel now say,
That His mercy endureih for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say,
That his mercy endureih for ever.
4 Let them now that fear the Lord say,
That his mercy endureih for ever.
6 I called upon the Lord in distress : ^
The Lord answered me, and sei me in a large place.
6 The Lord is on my siae ;
I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me:
Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
5 His better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in man.
9 liis better to trust in the Lord
Thau to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations compassed me about :
But in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about ; yea, they compassed me about:
But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
576
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
12 They compassed me about like bees;
They are quenched as the fire of thorns :
For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall :
But the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and song,
And is become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous :
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted :
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord.
18 The Lord hath chastened me sore :
But he hath not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness :
I will go into them, and 1 will praise the Lord:
20 This gate of the Lord,
Into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise thee : for thou hast heard me,
And art become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused
Is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the Lord's doing ;
It is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made ;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord :
O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity,
26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord :
We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light :
Bind the sacrifice with cords,
Even unto the horns of the altar.
28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee ;
Thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
29 O give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Compositeon. — The Psalm be-
gins with an exhortation, of an altogether litur-
gical character, to offer thanksgiving to Jehovah
in acknowledgment of His mercy (vers. 1-4).
It is addressed to the whole Church, its priests,
and its members. In the next strophe the
Psalmist, because he had himself experienced
the help of the Hearer of prayer, praises joyful-
ly the security of those who do not seek refuge
in men, even in princes, but confidently seek it
in God. This passage is interspersed with sen-
tences repeated like a refrain (vers. 5-9). Con-
fidence of victory in the name of Jehovah over
enemies that have risen up all around him is
then boldly expressed (vers. 10-12). And lastly
he celebrates the power of Jehovah, who has
helped and will help, and vows that he will pro-
claim His doings, because he has been delivered
by Him (vers. 13-18). Then follows a command
to open the temple-gates that the just may enter
to praise Jehovah ; for He had actually heard
and answered prayer, and made the stone, re-
jected as useless by the builders, the corner
stone, and that in a wonderful manner (vers. 19
-23). This is succeeded by a demand for solemn
rejoicing on the feast-day, with the usual prayers
and blessings, and for the offering of the sacri-
fice (vers. 24-26). The Psalm then closes with
a profession of faith made to God, and a vow of
thanksgiving, returning to the mode of expres-
sion employed in the opening sentence (vers.
27-28.)
This is unmistakably a Temple-Song. Several
PSALM CXVIII.
577
expressions seem to allude to a particular feast,
with its peculiar prayers and sacrifices. — One
feels tempted to assign the several strophes to
the several divisions of the congregation, priests
or people, who were marching up to the temple,
or welcoming the festal train, or preparing the
sacrifice, or praising God, But there are no
convincing grounds to enable us to pronounce
decisively upon the special event, even if there
is no reason to deny a definite historical situation
and occasion for the composition (Hupfeld).
There is no need of going down to the Macca-
bsean period in order to establish a connection
with the inauguration of Simon (Venema, De
Wette, Rosenmiiller), or with Judas Macca-
bseus after the victory over Nicanor (Hesse),
or with the rescue of King Demetrius II., by the
help of the despised Jews, from the uprising in
Antioch, 1 Mace. xi. 44 ff. (Olshausen), or with
the return of Jonathan from his victorious cam-
paign, 1 Mace. xi. 74 (Hitzig). The period suc-
ceeding the return from Exile affords a more
suitable occasion, and, since vers. 19, 20 pre-
suppose the completion of the Temple, this
occasion could not have been the Feast of Taber-
nacles in the seventh month of the first year
after the return, Ezra iii. 1-4 (Ewald), or the
laying of the foundation-stone of the Temple in
the second month of the second year, Ezra iii.
8 f. (Hengst.), but either the dedication of the
completed Temple in the twelfth month of the
sixth year of Darius, Ezraviii. 15 ff. (Del.), or
the first complete celebration, according to the
legal ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles,
Neh. viii. 14 ff. (Stier).
[Perowne adopts this last view. He thus
sums up the arguments in its favor, mainly
following the discussion by Delitzsch, from
whom most of the remarks given above are
also taken: *=1. The use of the Psalm in
the ritual of the Second Temple leads to the
conclusion that it was originally composed for
the Feast of Tabernacles. For the words of the
25th verse were sung during the feast, when the
altar of burnt-offering was solemnly compassed,
that is, once on each of the first six days of the
feast, and seven times on the seventh day. This
day was called 'the great Hosanna' [save now,
ver, 25), and not only the prayers for the feast,
but even the branches of trees, including the
myrtles which were attached to the palm-
branches, were called ' Hosannas.' Further,
although the Psalm itself contains no allusion
to any of the national feasts, the word 'tents,'
in ver, 15, at least accords very well with the
Feast of Tabernacles. 2. In the second place,
it seems equally clear that the Psalm supposes
the completion of the Temple. The language of
vers. 19, 20 ... . and the figure employed in
ver. 22 , , . . cannot be easily explained on any
other supposition. The allusions in vers. 8-12
to the deceitfulness of human help and the favor
of princes, as well as to the active interference
of troublesome enemies, are exactly in accord-
ance with all that we read of the circumstances
connected with the rebuilding of the Temple.
The most probable conclusion, therefore, is, that
the Psalm was composed for the first celebration
of the Feast of Tabernacles, after the comple-
tion of the Second Temple."— J. F. M.]
37
The Messianic interpretation (the Rabbins
and most of the ancients) is based especially
upon vers. 22 and 25, 26, and confounds the
application of the Psalm with the original sense.
To seek, in addition, a three-fold prophetic sense
(Stier), is at variance with the principles of a
sound interpretation. Luther: "This is my
Psalm, which I love. Although the whole of the
Psalter, and of Holy Scripture itself, which is
my only consolation in life, are also dear to me,
yet I have chosen this Psalm particularly to be
called and to be mine ; for it has ofien deserved
my love, and helped me out of many deep distress-
es, when neither emperor, nor kings, nor the wise
and prudent, nor saints, could have helped me."
[In the second member of each of the vers.
2, y, 4, the translation, ^'■for His mercy, etc.,''' is
most favored. — J. F, M.]
Ver. 5. Through the wide expanse [B.
v., and set me in a large place], that is, from His
lofty heavens (Ps. xx. 7). But it is admissible
also to translate: with the wide space:^freedom
(Olshausen), or to suppose a pregnant construc-
tion: by setting me in a large place (most).
Instead of Jah at the end of ver. 5 b, there is a
reading recognized also by the Masora (comp.
Baer, Fsalterium, p. 132), according to which
the TV, which expresses the utmost degree of any
condition, is to be read as the final syllable of
the preceding word (comp. Jer. ii. 31). If this
be correct, boundless space would then be de-
scribed. But the usual pointing, having the first
member of the verse in view, is to be preferred.
Ver, 6 is related to Ps, Ivi. 10, and ver. 7 to
Ps. liv. 6. Accordingly, the meaning is not, that
Jehovah was one among many helpers, but that
He was the One, who surpassed all others. In
an historical connection the passage may allude
to the hostile efforts of the Samaritans and the
Satraps during the building of the Temple,
while the contrast which is drawn between the
confidence placed in man and that placed in God,
may bear some allusion to the fact, that the
work, begun under Cyrus and already brought
into suspicion under Pseudomerdis, was inter-
dicted under Cambyses, and not resumed until
the accession of Darius (Del.).
Ver. 10. We ought perhaps to translate :
"ward off" (Sept. and others), instead of "hew
in pieces" [E. V., destroy], since the Hebrew
word means literally: to cut off (Hupfeld). But
it is scarcely to be supposed that this action
was a token of violent subjection (1 Sam. xviii.
25 ; 2 Sam. iii. 14 ; Josephus Ant, xiii. 9, 1 ; ii.
3 ;) and mentioned with allusion to the sign
which distinguished the Jew and the Gentile,
Gal. V. 12; Phil. iii. 2 (J. H. Mich., Hengst.).
Such a translation is held to be possible from a
comparison with the Arabic, so that there is no
need of changing dV??X into oSoX (Hupfeld).
[Alexander : The construction of the last clause
is unusual and doubtful .... Perhaps the best
solution is the one afforded by the Hebrew usage
of suppressing the principal verb in oaths or
solemn afl&rmations. . . . The sense will then
be: in the name of Jehovah (I swear or solemnly
affirm) that I will cut them off.''
Vers. 19-23. Gates of righteousness are
identical with the gate of Jehovah, ver. 20, by
578
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
which the righteous, that is, the Israelites, en-
tered into the outer court of the Temple on the
eastern side, it alone being accessible to them.
There is not the slightest occasion to abandon
this local designation, and to regard it as a figu-
rative expression (Hupfeld) for turning to God,
or to import into it religious and theological
notions of righteousness (older and recent ex-
positors with all possible references). For in
ver, 27 religious rites are expressly spoken of. It
is only through the symbolical significance and
the typical aspect which all of these had in Israel
that they contained the germs of a higher develop-
ment, and it was in the process of development
that they disclosed a deeper import and unfolded
a richer meaning. The same principle also
justifies the final reference to Jesus Christ of
the statement (ver. 22 f.) with regard to the
stone that had been rejected, but which became
the chief corner-stone through God's wonderful
power (Matt. xxi. 42 flF. ; Mark xii. 10 f. ; Acts
iv. 11 ; 1 Pet. ii. 7). This purpose is equally well
served whether the sentence be viewed as a pro-
verb (De Wette, Ewald) or not. It is self-evident
that tbe expression is figurative. So also is the
allusion to the builders (Hupfeld), and therefore
this designation is not to be pressed, in order
to make it apply, so early as in this Psalm,
specially and historically to the heathen (Kurtz),
or to the Jews (Del.). The declaration of Jeho-
vah, Isa. xxviii. 16 : " Behold it is I who have
laid in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried
stone, a precious corner-stone of a sure founda-
tion— he who believes, shall not waver," is spe-
cially important for the biblical conception of
this figure. What is said of the servant of
Jehovah in Isa. xlii. f. furnishes also essential
points of comparison.
[Alexander: "As this Psalm was sung
by the people at the last Jewish festival at-
tended by our Saviour, He applies this pro-
verb to Himself, as one rejected by the Jews
and their rulers, yet before long to be recognized
as their Messiali whom they had denied and
murdered, but whom God had exalted as a
Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to
Israel and the remission of sins (Acts v. 31).
This, though really another application of the
proverb in its general meaning, has a certain
aflSnity with its original application in the verse
before us, because the fortunes of the ancient
Israel, especially in reference to great conjunc-
tures, bore a designed resemblance to the history
of Christ Himself, by a kind of sympathy be-
tween the Body and the Head. Even the temple,
which suggested the original expression, did
but teach the doctrine of Divine inhabitation,
and was therefore superseded by the advent of
the Son Himself. The head of the corner means
the chief or corner-stone of the foundation even
in Zech. iv. 7, where the Engl. Vers, translates
headstone:'— :3. F. M.]
Vers. 24-29. This is the day, etc. — This word
also admits of manifold applications to sacred
seasons and to God's gracious deeds in the lives
both of individuals and of nations, and has
always received them in full measure. In the
passage before us it is applied to the celebration
alluded to in this Psalm. This we are inclined
to regard as that of the Feast of Tabernacles
(Ewald), since ver. 25 appears to contain th«
exclamation with which, in the time of the Se-
cond Temple, the altar of burnt-offering wag so-
lemnly compassed, once on each of the first six
days of the feast, and seven times on the seventh
day (comp. Delitzsch, Der Hosannaruf, Zeitschrift
fur luther. Kirche und Theologie, 1855). [See the
addition in the introduction to this Psalm. J,
F. M.]. At the entrance of Jesus into Jerusa-
lem this exclamation in the mouths of the people,
when they hailed the visitor at the festival as
the Messiah (Matt. xxi. 9), was coupled with the
words of ver. 26 a, with which according to
Jewish tradition the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were accustomed to greet the pilgrims to the
Temple. Here it appears to have been the
priests who welcomed the congregation as they
ascended the Temple-hill with the animals to be
sacrificed. [The view of Delitzsch ; see the in-
troduction above. — J. F. M.]. According to
Ezra vi. 17, the victims were very numerous.
This appears to agree with ver. 27. For the
translation : adorn the feast with boughs (Lu-
ther, Geier and others, after the Sept., Aquila,
.Jerome), is untenable. Although 1^)2}^ may
perhaps mean : thickly-leaved clusters of twigs,
Ezek. xix. 11 ; xxxi. 3 f, (a meaning disputed,
however, by Hengst. and Havernick), yet
•"O *1DX cannot mean : to bind round, wrap
round, and still less: to decorate, but only: to
bind on with cords (Judges xv. 13 ; xvi. 11 ;
Ezek. iii. 25). jn must therefore be taken in
the sense of: victim, as in Ezek. xxiii. 18;
comp. 2 Chron. xxx. 22; Deut. xvi. 2; John
xviii. 28. And since the victims were not bound
to the horns of the altar, but their blood was
sprinkled upon them, the words "even unto"
are not intended to mean that they were fastened
close against the horns with short cords (Hitzig).
The expression is either a pregnant one, convey-
ing, in a general manner, the idea that the ani-
mals should be bound even until the sacrifice
(Chald., Kimchi, J. H. Mich., Hengst, Hupfeld),
or crowded so closely together as to fill up all
the space even to the horns of the altar (Del.
and others). [Del., referring the Psalm to
the dedication of the Second Temple, com-
pares Ezra vi. 17, where it is mentioned that
great numbers of animals were sacrificed on
that occasion. On his explanation Perowne
remarks: "But in this interpretation there is
nothing appropriate in the mention of the horns
of the altar. These have always a reference to
the blood of the sacrifice. — The expression is
apparently a pregnant one and the sense is :
Bind the victim with cords till it is sacrificed
and its blood sprinkled on the horns of the
altar." Alexander explains: "Hold fast the
sacrifice with cords until it comes to the horns
of the altar, poetically put for the altar itself,
not only as its prominent or salient points, but
as the parts to which the blood, the essential
vehicle of expiation, was applied," — J. F. M.]
According to the context the words of ver.
26 : in the name of Jehovah, are not to be
connected with: he that cometh, but with:
blessed. [For the force of the particles
of entreaty in ver. 25, see on Ps. cxvi. 16 and
the additional note. — J. F. M.]. The second
PSALM CXVIII.
579
clause of ver. 27 a [God is Jehovah and hath
given us light], which is not to be rendered
as a present (Luther, De Wette), but as a pree-
terite, does not allude, as does Numb. vi. 26, to
the priestly blessing, but, like Ex. xii. 21 ; xiv.
20, to the shining forth in the pillar of cloud and
fire in the history of the march through the de-
sert (Hupfeld), comp. Neh. ix. 12, 19. It is
only the application of this expression which can
afford the idea of. the light of mercy, freedom,
and joy (Del.) The correction /X'1: and he led
(Hitzig), is unnecessary.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Not only the priests, but all the members
of God's Church are to praise Him. The ordi-
nary service of God affords opportunity for the
expression of this relation in an edifying man-
ner. The believer finds occasion for it in the
goodness of the Highest, ever manifested anew
in His kindness, which endures forever, of which
individuals and the whole Church have rich ex-
periences, while, by particular instances of
prayer-hearing, they are urged to mutual en-
couragement. "Let him who can learn, learn
here, and let every one become like a falcon,
which in its distress soars far upwards into hea-
ven. It is said : I called upon the Lord. Thou
must learn to call, and not sit by thyself or lie
upon the bench, hanging and shaking thy head,
and letting thy thoughts bite and devour thee ;
but rouse up thou indolent fellow ! fall upon thy
knees, raise thy hands and eyes to heaven, re-
peat a Psalm or the Lord's Prayer, and present
thy distress before God with tears." (Luther).
2. Under such experiences and the reception
of such benefits, trust in God increases, along
with the growing insight into the value of His
help, and info the blessing of such trust. Thus
increases also courage to face a hostile world in
the midst of dangers and afflictions.. The re-
sulting evidences of our assurance have a vivi-
fying and gladdening influence, but have nothing
in common with the boasting of presumption.
They are based, along with the confession of the
perishableness of all earthly greatness and hu-
man power, upon the wonderful help of God's
mercy, and are therefore surrounded and sus-
tained by thankful praise for that help, and by
ardent entreaties for its continuance.
3. The sufferings which God's people have to
endure, are regarded by believers as chastenings
from the hand of the Most High ; and they are
80 severe, that they are felt to be heavy and pain-
ful strokes. But the same Hand which has chas-
tened them so severely, delivers them again from
death and all their enemies, if they humble them-
selves before Him. By His wonderful working
He makes the stone rejected by men, the corner-
stone of a building indestructible and pleasing
to Him, so that there is joy in the tabernacles of
the righteous, and songs of thanksgiving resound
in the house of the Lord.
4. God be praised that He has His house
amongst us, and has opened its gates that His
people might enter before His face, to celebrate
those sacred feasts which He has ordained ! May
we, on the days consecrated by the Lord, always
become ourselves consecrated, to perform joy-
fully the service which He requires of us: not
to count up or lament the sacrifices demanded,
but only to seek how we may please Him, how
we, as " the righteous," may go in and out, and
receive and take with us the blessing which ia
held in readiness for those who come in the name
of the Lord (Numb. vi. 24 ff. ; Deut. xxi. 6).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Those are the right prayers which have thanks-
giving for their support. God will not be weary
of them; let us not be indolent or wearied in
them. — We have certainly not deserved, and we
cannot repay, all that God has done for us and
for our house ; but we can offer our thanks, and
proclaim His goodness in His house. — God has
attached great blessing to His day, and to coming
to His house ; but it rests with us to obtain that
blessing. — If our church-going is one of bless-
ing, it will be seen also to be one of prayer, of
penitence, and of faith. — The courage of trust in
God: (1) its sources; (2) its manifestations; (3)
its results. — He who comes to God's house as one
of His people, is to pass through the gates of
righteousness, and gain His presence, and will
be blessed with the name of God. — If God's judg-
ments are not to tend to our death, but to our
life, we are to make them serve as chastenings
unto righteousness.
Starke : God's goodness is unspeakably great,
as well in the kingdom of nature as in the king-
dom of grace. — The ground of thanksgiving and
praise to God is the knowledge of His valiant
doings and great goodness. — Well for the coun-
try, the city, and the Church, when the three
great orders of the people are united in the true
fear of God and in praising Him. — Religion does
not make a life free from distress, but it does not
allow us to remain held under distress. — The
arm of men cannot take away my courage, as it
cannot give me courage. The former is a ground-
less fear, the latter a vain hope. — Strong faith in
God begets unwavering courage in all the events
of life. The name of the Lord is a strong tower
(Prov. xviii. 10). — We have a Lord who helps us
and holds us by the hand. Let him thrust at us
who will; but who will help him whom God
casts aside? — God is our Pi^alm ; of Him we must
glory and sing, and His name we must confess,
though we should have to suffer for so doing. —
He who praises with joy tbe power of the Divine
mercy, will evermore share in His salvation. —
The song of joy is born of the cross. — If God has
given thee thy life, employ it in proclaiming His
deeds of mercy. — Let him who would enter with
praise and thanksgiving into the gates of glory,
enter in faith the gates of God's righteousness
here, and glorify His name. — Do not wonder at
it if the Lord deals with thee in wonderful ways.
He who would be something precious in the sight
of God must first be rejected and ennobled by
affliction. — As the sun in heaven makes the
natural day by his light, so does Christ the Sun
of Righteousness make ours a spiritual day. — He
who abides in the house of the Lord will hear
from heaven and earth no word but of blessing. — ■
If our service on our sacred days is to please God,
we must come before Him with penitent hearts,
80 that He may give us light, and thus rejoice us.
580
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
OsiANDEE : It is a greater work of God, to de-
liver a lost soul from the power of the devil, and
make it blessed, than it is to create a new world.
— FaisCH : Behold how much faith can do! It
gives an invincible courage which fears nothing.
— Adam introduced a day of sadness, but an-
other day is made by Christ: Abraham saw His
day from afar, and was glad ; we walk even now
in His light.— Oetinger: The most insignificant
event on the most unimportant occasion is to be
ascribed to grace, which achieves also the great-
est results in the most decisive junctures. — Rie-
OEK : Full trust in God may be excited and en-
dure, while all trust in man is counted as nought,
and, consequently, he who so trusts will be less
controlled by the fear of man ; and, at the same
time, he will humbly resolve to submit to all
chastening, yea, even to the suffering of death,
and yet never yield the blissful hope of glory. —
Tholuck: The glorious deliverances which God's
people experience give them the assurance of fu-
ture victory. — Diedrich: God has brought us
out of distress into blissful rest, that we may be
enabled to have heartfelt deliglit in Him. — Ex-
pect no aid from the world ; rather be prepared
for all kinds of rebuffs from it: but God's word
will give thee strength enough for victory, — Our
God welcomes all with blessing, who come toge-
ther to enjoy that blessing in Israel; and those
who are thus blessed on earth will also be blessed
in heaven. — Stier: A song of thanksgiving for
the victory of the Anointed and His people. —
Taube : Whenever the everlasting goodness
of God is sung, let all who have experienced it
say Amen. — Schaubach : An evidence of the
conflict, the victory, and the peace of the Re-
deemer.— Deichert : The victory of the risen
Saviour, and its far-reaching consequences : (1)
Death is vanquished ; (2) the gates of righteous-
ness are opened; (3) the corner-stone of the
Church is laid. — G. Huyssen (vers. 15-21):
The thanksgiving of the Christian in the joy of
victory: (1) the joy of victory and its source;
(2) the sacrifices of victory, and their signifi-
cance; (3) the thanksgiving for victory, and the
mode of rendering it.
[Matth. Henry: Without the Lord I am weak
and sad, but on Him I stay myself as my strength,
both for doing and suffering; and in Him I so-
lace myself as my song, by which I both express
my joy, and ease my grief; and making Him so,
I find Him so ; He doth strengthen my heart with
grace, and rejoice my heart with His comforts.
If God be our strength, He must be our song ;
if He work all our works in us, He must have all
praise and glory from us. God is sometimes the
strength of His people when He is not their song ;
they have spiritual supports, when they want
spiritual delights ; but if He be both to us, we
have abundant reason to triumph in Him; for if
He is our strength and our song, He is become
not only our Saviour, but our salvation; for His
being our strength is our protection to the sal-
vation, and His being our song is an earnest and
foretaste of the salvation. — We are weak and act
but cowardly for our lives, but God is mighty and
acts valiantly for us with jealousy and resolu-
tion, Isa. Ixiii. 5, and when God's right hand
doeth valiantly iox our salvation, it ought to be
exalted in our praises. — It is not worth our while
to live for any other purpose than to declare the
works of the Lord, for His honor and for the en-
couragement of others to serve Him and trust in
Him. — Sabbath days must be rejoicing days, and
then they are to us as the days of heaven. See
what a good Master we serve, who, having insti-
tuted a day for His service, appoints it to be
spent in holy joy.
Scott: As we need not dread the rage of the
ungodly, so we need not envy their carnal, vain,
and vanishing mirth. — Our thanksgivings on
earth must always be accompanied with prayers
for further mercies and the continuance of our
prosperity ; our Hallelujahs with Hosannas.
Barnes (ver. 15). There is nothing that dif-
fuses so much happiness through a family as re-
ligion ; there is no joy like that when a member
of a family is converted ; there is no place on
earth more happy than that where a family bows
before God, with the feeling that all are children
of God and heirs of salvation. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXIX.
ALEPH.
Blessed are the imdefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies,
And that seek him with the whole heart.
They also do no iniquity :
They walk in his ways.
Thou hast commanded us
To keep thy precepts diligently.
PSALM CXIX, 581
5 0 that my ways were directed
To keep thy statutes!
6 Then shall I not be ashamed,
When I have respect unto all thy commandments.
7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart,
When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments,
8 I will keep thy statutes :
O forsake me not utterly:
BETH.
9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way ?
By taking heed thereto according to thy word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought thee :
0 let me not wander from thy commandments.
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, a L
That I might not sin against thee.
12 Blessed art thou, O Lord :
Teach me thy statutes.
13 With my lips have I declared
All the judgments of thy mouth.
14 1 have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies,
As much 05 in all riches.
15 I will meditate in thy precepts,
And have respect unto thy ways.
16 I will delight myself in thy statutes:
1 will not forget thy word. "^
GIMEL.
17 Deal bountifully with thy servant.
That I may live, and keep thy word.
18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold
Wondrous things out of thy law.
19 I am a stranger in the earth :
Hide not thy commandments from me.
20 My soul breaketh for the longing
That it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
21 Thou hast rebuked the proud thai are cursed,
Which do err from thy commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt ;
For I have kept thy testimonies,
23 Princes also did sit anc? speak against me :
But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
24 Thy testimonies also are my delight,
And my counsellors.
DALETH.
25 My soul cleaveth unto the dust :
Quicken thou me according to thy word.
26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me :
Teach me thy statutes.
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts :
So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
28 My soul melteth for heaviness :
Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
29 Remove from me the way of lying :
And grant me thy law graciously.
582 THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
30 I have chosen the way of truth :
Thy judgments have 1 laid before me.
31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies :
O Lord, put me not to shame.
32 I will run the way of thy commandments.
When thou shalt enlarge my heart.
HE.
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes ;
And I shall keep it unto the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law ;
Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments ;
For therein do I delight.
36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies.
And not to covetousness.
37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity ;
And quicken thou me in thy way.
38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant,
Who is devoted to thy fear.
39 Turn away my reproach which I fear :
For thy judgments are good.
40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts :
Quicken me in thy righteousness.
VAU.
41 Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord,
Efven thy salvation, according to thy word.
42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me :
For I trust in thy word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth ;
For I have hoped in thy judgments.
44 So shall I keep thy law continually
Forever and ever.
45 And I will walk at liberty :
For I seek thy precepts.
46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings,
And will not be ashamed.
47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments,
Which I have loved.
48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved ;
And I will meditate in thy statutes. "
ZAIN.
49 Remember the word unto thy servant,
Upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction :
For thy word hath quickened me.
51 The proud have had me greatly in derision :
Yet have I not declined from thy law.
52 I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord :
And have comforted myself.
53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked
That forsake thy law.
64 Thy statutes have been my songs
Li the house of my pilgrimage.
PSALM CXIX. 583
55 I have remembered thy name, 0 Lord, in the night.
And have kept thy law.
56 This I had.
Because I kept thy precepts.
CHETH.
57 Thou art my portion, O XiOED ;
I have said that I would keep thy words.
58 I entreated thy favor with my whole heart :
Be merciful unto me according to thy word
59 I thought on my ways,
And turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
60 I made haste, and delayed not
To keep thy commandments.
61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me :
But I have not forgotten thy law.
62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee
Because of thy righteous judgments.
63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee,
And of them that keep thy precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy :
Teach me thy statutes.
TETH.
65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant,
O Lord, according unto thy word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge :
For I have believed thy commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray
But now have I kept thy word.
68 Thou art good, and doest good :
Teach me thy statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me :
But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as fat as grease :
Bvi I delight in thy law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted ;
That I might learn thy statutes.
72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me
Than thousands of gold and silver.
JOD.
73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me :
Give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me ;
Because I have hoped in thy word.
75 I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right,
And that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort,
According to thy word unto thy servant.
77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live :
For thy law is my delight.
78 Let the proud be ashamed ; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause :
But I will meditate in thy precepts.
79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me.
And those that have known thy testimonies.
684 THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes ;
That I be not ashamed.
CAPH.
81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation :
Biit I hope in thy word.
82 Mine eyes fail for thy word,
Saying, When wilt thou comfort me ?
83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke ;
Yet do I not forget thy statutes.
84 How many are the days of thy servant ?
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me ?
85 The proud have digged pits for me,
Which are not after thy law.
86 All thy commandments are faithful :
They persecute me wrongfully ; help thou me.
87 They had almost consumed me upon earth ;
But I forsook not thy precepts.
88 Quicken me after thy loving-kindness ;
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth,
LAMED
89 Forever, O Lord,
Thy word is settled in heaven.
90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations:
Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances :
For all are thy servants.
92 Unless thy law had been my delights,
I should then have perished in mine affliction.
93 I will never forget thy precepts :
For with them thou hast quickened me.
94 I am thine, save me ;
For I have sought thy precepts.
95 The wicked have waited for me to destroy me :
But I will consider thy testimonies.
96 I have seen an end of all perfection :
But thy commandment is exceeding broad,
MEM.
97 O how love I thy law !
It is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies :
For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers :
For thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients.
Because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way,
That I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments :
For thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste I
Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding -.
Therefore I hate every false way.
PSALM CXIX. 685
NUN.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
And a light unto my path.
106 I have sworn, and I will perform it,
That I will keep thy righteous judgments.
107 I am afflicted very much :
Quicken me, 0 Lord, according unto thy word.
108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
And teach me thy judgments.
109 My soul is continually in my hand :
Yet do I not forget thy law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me :
Yet I erred not from thy precepts.
111 Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever:
For they are the rejoicing of my heart.
112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes
Always, even unto the end.
SAMECH.
113 I hate vain thoughts :
But thy law do I love.
114 Thou art my hiding-place and my shield :
I hope in thy word.
115 Depart from me, ye evil doers :
For I will keep the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live:
And let me not be ashamed of my hope.
117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe :
And I will have respect unto thy statutes continvially.
118 Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes :
For their deceit is falsehood.
119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross :
Therefore I love thy testimonies.
120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee ;
And I am afraid of thy judgments.
AIN.
121 I have done judgment and justice :
Leave me not to mine oppressors.
122 Be surety for thy servant for good :
Let not the proud oppress me.
123 Mine eyes fail for thy salvation,
And for the word of thy righteousness.
124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy.
And teach me thy statutes.
125 I am thy servant ; give me understanding.
That I may know thy testimonies.
126 Bis time for thee, Lord, to work:
For they have made void thy law.
127 Therefore I love thy commandments
Above gold ; yea, above fine gold.
128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right?
And I hate every false way.
PE.
129 Thy testimonies are wonderful :
Therefore doth my soul keep them.
586 THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
130 The entrance of thy words giveth light ;
It giveth understanding unto the simple.
181 I opened my mouth, and panted :
For I longed for thy commandments.
132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me,
As thou usest to do unto those that love thy pame.
133 Order my steps in thy word :
And let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
134 Deliver me from the oppression of man :
So will I keep thy precepts.
135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant ;
And teach me thy statutes.
136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes,
Because they keep not thy law.
TZADDL
137 Righteous art thou, O Lord,
And upright are thy judgments.
138 Thy testimonies tJmt thou hast commanded are righteoua
And very faithful.
139 My zeal hath consumed me,
Because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.
140 Thy word is very pure :
Therefore thy servant loveth it.
141 I am small and despised :
Yet do not I forget thy precepts.
142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And thy law is the truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me :
Yet thy commandments are my delights.
144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting;
Give me understanding, and I shall live.
KOPH.
145 I cried with my whole heart ; hear me, O Lord :
I will keep thy statutes.
146 I cried unto thee ; save me,
And I shall keep thy testimonies.
147 I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried:
I hoped in thy word.
148 Mine eyes prevent the night watches.
That I might meditate in thy word.
149 Hear my voice according unto thy loving-kindness i
O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment.
150 They draw nigh that follow after mischief:
They are far from thy law.
151 Thou art near, O Lord ;
And all thy commandments are truth.
152 Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old
That thou hast founded them forever.
RESH.
153 Consider mine affliction, and deliver me ;
For I do not forget thy law.
154 Plead my cause, and deliver me :
Quicken me according to thy word.
PSALM CXIX.
687
i'-i
155 Salvation is far from the wicked :
For they seek not thy statutes.
156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord :
Quicken me according to thy judgments.
157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies ;
Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
158 I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved ;
Because they kept not thy word.
159 Consider how I love thy precepts :
Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving-kindness.
160 Thy word is true /rom the beginning:
And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.
SCHIN.
161 Princes have persecuted me without a cause :
But my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
162 I rejoice at thy word.
As one that findeth great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor lying :
But thy law do I love.
164 Seven times a day do I praise thee,
Because of thy righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have they which love thy law:
And nothing shall offend them.
166 Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation.
And done thy commandments.
167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies ;
And I love them exceedingly.
168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies :
For all my ways are before thee.
TAU.
169 Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord :
Give me understanding according to thy word.
170 Let my supplication come before thee :
Deliver me according to thy word.
171 My lips shall utter praise.
When thou hast taught me thy statutes.
172 My tongue shall speak of thy word :
For all thy commandments are righteousness.
173 Let thine hand help me ;
For I have chosen thy precepts.
174 I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord ;
And thy law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live and it shall praise thee ;
And let thy judgments help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep : seek thy servant ;
For I do not forget thy commandments.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
CoNTKNTs AND COMPOSITION. — The Christian's
golden A B C of the praise and love of the power
and profit of the word of God. This title in the
German Bible admirably expresses the character
of this Psalm. For in all the 176 verses there is
no other subject introduced than the excellence
of God's word, in its blessed influences and ob-
ligations. The Psalm is so disposed that every
one of the eight verses in each division begins
with the same letter, and these letters follow in
the order of the Hebrew alphabet. And it was
scarcely without design that in every verse, with
the exception of ver. 122, occurs one of the ten
expressions usually employed to designate the
law, and that the name Jehovah occurs in the
whole 22 times, though not once in every verse.
The carrying out of this artificial plan through
such a long series of verses with great compara-
tive simplicity, has not only occasioned many re-
petitions, with but slight changes in expression
and shades of thought, but has made it questiona-
ble whether there can be any internal structural
connection or progress of thought. It is cer-
388
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
tainly saying too much to maintam that there is
no connectioa whatever (De Wette) and to desig-
nate tbe Psalm as the most raoaotonoua and bar-
ren in thought of all aphoristic collections and a
specimen of the trifling of later times (Hupfeld^,
or a mnemonic book of devotion (Kdster), at thie
same time denying any reference to a special
situation or mental posture of the author.
But even if the notion be abandoned that there
is any regularity of plan, or any inner progress
of thought (Hengst.), the Psalm is, at all events,
not a collection of apophthegms, but is evidently
a Psalm of supplication composed not by an old
man (Ewald), but, according to vers. 9f., 99,
100, by a young man (Del.), who prays, particu-
larly after ver. 84, for steadfastness in the midst
of great trouble, surrounded by evil men and
persecutors. Yet it must be allowed that, along
with the praise of God's word and law, which is
repeated almost like a refrain, there are inter-
woven prayers for enlightenment to understand
them, and strength to be faithful to them, inter-
mingled here and there with complaints, promises,
and hopes, and also with supplications for Divine
assistance against mighty and crafty oppressors
and persecutors. All these occur so frequently
that it is unadvisable to limit the connection of
thought to a narrow range.
Whether the author was in imprisonment, and
shortened the time by thus weaving together his
complaints and comforting thoughts (Hitzig,
Del.) cannot be known with any degree of cer-
tainty. The same remark applies to the time of
composition and the person of the composer- It
is only certain that the Poet did not speak for
the Jewish people (Rudinger), and that the
Psalm is to be reckoned among the latest of the
whole collection (Ewald). Some of the older
commentators have assigned it to a Jew living in
captivity among the Syrians {Sylloge commentt.
theoll. ed. Pott. I., p. 814 flf.). There is also
something to be said in favor of referring it to
ihe period of Grecian rule, under which the go-
vernment was unfriendly, and a large party
among the Jews themselves, who favored the go-
vernment, persecuted the pronounced professors
of the Thora (Del.). If we go down to the time
of the Maccabees, an historical connection is pre-
sented with the imprisonment of Jonathan, 1
Mace. xii. 48 (Hitzig). But the closing period
of the Persian supremacy affords the contrasts
presented here, between a worldly government,
hostile to the religion of Jehovah and the Divine
dominion revealed in the Law ; between that
party of presumptuous blasphemers, who appear
as national enemies, and the pious worshippers
of Jehovah ; between disloyal, unfaithful, cove-
nant-breaking Jews, and the friends of the Law,
whose companion the Poet is (Ehrt, Abfassungs-
zeit und Abschluss dcs Psalters, p. ISH ).
Delitzsch gives the inner progress of thought
through the several strophes as follows : After
the Poet has praised fidelity to God's word (1).
and characterized it as the virtue of all virtues,
which is a blessing to the young, and which he
himself labors to gain (2), he prays, in the midst
of scornful and persecuting companions, for the
mercies of enlightenment (3), of strengthening
(4), of preservation (5), of suitable and joyful
profession of his faith (6) ; God's word is tlie ob-
ject of his striving and aspirations (7), he loves
the friendship of those who fear God (8), and,
though recognizing the salutary influences of his
humiliation (9), is yet in need of consolation ( 1 0),
and sighs: how long! (11). Without the im-
movable and mighty word of God he would de-
spond ( 12) ; it is his wisdom in situations of dis-
tress (13) ; he has sworn to be faithful to it, and
in persecution remains faithful (14); he abhors
and despises the faithless ; he is oppressed, but
God will not leave him under oppression (16),
or permit a godless conduct, which forces rivers
of tears from his eyes, to prevail over him (17),
over him who is small [youthful) and despised,
whom zeal, on account of the prevailing forget-
fulness of God, is consuming (18); he entreats
that God might hear his crying by day and by
night (19), might soon revive him with His help-
ful compassion (20), as he remains firm in his
fidelity to God, though persecuted by princes
(21), and seek the lamb, that was separated from
the flock and exposed to such dangers (22), —
This is, at least, a guiding thread in the efiForts
which are necessary to connect the several stro-
phes. The sections are then more or less indi-
vidualized in their single verses.
[Hengstenberg, holding the view given above
under his name, sums up the contents of the Psalm
thus: "The praise of God's word, the assertion
that it is the infinitely sure way of salvation, and
the only comfort in suffering, the determination to
be faithful to God's word and law, prayer for the
spiritual understanding of the law, and for
strength to fulfil it, and supplications for the sal-
vation promised in it, form the contents of this
Psalm." With reference to the stand-point of
the author, Hengstenberg considers it entirely
national, referring to vers. 23, 46, 87, with which
he compares Ps. cxv. 14, and ver. 161. He there-
fore considers large portions of it, which appear
to represent only individual feelings, as bearing a
hortatory character. But the true view appears to
me to be that of Alexander: " There is no Psalm
in the whole collection which has more the ap-
pearance of having been exclusively designed
for practical and personal improvement, with-
out any reference to national or even to ec-
clesiastical relations than the one before us."
After citing some of Hengstenberg's arguments
for the opposite view, he continues : " The opi-
nion that the ideal speaker throughout this Psalm
is Israel, considered as the Church or chosen
people, will never commend itself as natural or
likely to the mass of readers, and is scarcely con-
sistent with such passages as vers. 63, 74, 79,
and others, where the speaker expressly distin-
guishes himself from the body of the people.
The same difficulty, in a less degree, attends the
national interpretation of the Psalms immedi-
ately preceding. Perhaps the best mode of re-
conciling the two views is by supposing that this
Psalm was intended as a manual of pious and in-
structive thoughts, designed for popular im-
provement, and especially for that of the younger
generation, after the return from exile, and that
the person speaking is the individual believer,
not as an isolated personality, but as a member
of the general body, with which he identifies
himself so far, that many expressions of the
Psalm are strictly applicable only to the whole
PSALM CXIX.
589
as such considered, while others are appropri-
ate only to certain persons or to certain classes
in the ancient Israel. To this design of popular
instruction, and especially to that of constant re-
petition and reflection, the Psalm is admirably
suited by its form and structure. The alpha-
betical arrangement, of which it is at once the
most extended and the most perfect specimen,
and the aphoristic character, common to all al-
phabetic Psalms, are both adapted to assist the
memory as well as to give point to the immedi-
ate impression. It follows, of course, that the
Psalm was rather meant to be a storehouse of
materials for pious meditation, than a discourse
for continuous perusal." On this last question
Perowne also agrees with most commentators,
against the opinion of Delitzsch that there is a
continuity of thought in the Psalm.
On the opinion of Delitzsch and Ewald, re-
ferred to above, with regard to the period of the
author's life at the time of the composition, Pe-
rowne argues : " The language of ver 9 is rather
that of one, who looking back on his own past
life, draws the inference, which he seeks to im-
press upon the young, that youthful purity can
only be preserved by those, who from early
years take God's word as their guide. When it
18 said in* vers. 99, 100 that the Psalmist is
wiser than his teachers, wiser than the aged,
the only conclusion that can be drawn is, that
he is not advanced in life. It is plain that the
writer is not an old man, aa Ewald would have
us believe, or he would not compare his know-
ledge of the law with the knowledge of the aged.
But it does not follow that he is a young man.
The teachers whom he had outstript may have
been those, whose disciple he once was, not those
whose disciple he still is, or he may refer to
authorized teachers, to whom he listened because
they taught in Moses' seat, though he felt that
they had really nothing to teach him. Indeed
the whole strain of the Psalm, its depth and
breadth of spiritual life, and the long acquaint-
ance, which is every where implied in it, with the
word of God, can leave us no doubt that it was
written by a man who was no longer young, who
had at least reached 'the middle arch of life.'"
The spiritual worth and beauty of the Psalm
are not impaired by its artificial form. " If we
would fathom the depth of meaning in the writ-
ten law of Israel : if we would measure the
elevation of soul, the hope, the confidence, even
before princes and kings, which pious Jews de-
rived from it, we must turn to this Psalm. Here
is an epitome of all true religion as conceived by
the best spirits of that time. To such a loving
study and meditation on the law, the alphabeti-
cal arrangement is not inappropriate, and if the
poem be necessarily somewhat cramped, it is
nevertheless pervaded by the glow of love,
and abounds in spiritual life." (The Psalms
Chronologically Arranged by Four Friends, p.
385; quoted by Perowne). See also an estimate
of its spiritual teaching in Edwards on the Reli-
gious Affections, Part III. Sec. 3.— J. F. M.].
Aleph. Vers, 1-4. This Psalm in accordance
with the more extended treatment of its topics,
has a double ascription of blessedness, instead
of the single one in Ps. i. 1 ; cxii. 1. The prse-
terites, mingled as they are with futures in the
sense of the present, express the constanaj of the
relation described. — [The rendering of ver. 1 a,
in E, V. is not sufficiently perspicuous. The
literal translation is : Blessed are those who are
blameless in their ways. Its rendering of ver.
4 is also incorrect, neglecting the division of the
verse according to the accents. It should be :
Thou hast enjoined thy precepts; to observe
them diligently. The explanation follows. —
J. F. M.]. In ver. 4 b, the design in enjoining
the precepts is given, with the implication that
their observance is as earnestly enjoined, as it
is difficult to practise.
Vers. 5-7. The Psalmist does not say that he
would have his ways directed to the object ex-
pressed in Ver. 5 b. (Sept., De Wette, Del.), or
that he would have them established, standing
fast, for the sake of the object to be gained (Hup-
feld), Prov. iv. 26. [The former view which is
expressed in E. V. is also that of Alexander.
That of Dr. Moll is probably more correct. It
is expressed in his translation : Oh that my ways
were firmly set, to keep Thy statutes ! The dif-
ference between the two views is very slight. — ■
J. F. M.]. ■'ShN, for which in 2 Kings v. 3,
occurs ^7nX, is equivalent to Ohif! a sigh of
desire. Ver. 7. The judgments of thy righ-
teousness [E. V, righteous judgments] are
those decisions with regard to justice and in-
justice, which express and fulfil God's righteous-
ness, and which are to be learnt from Scripture in
connection with History (Del,) Ex, xxi, 1; xxiv.
3; Lev. xviii. ; Ps. xix. 19 f., and which form
the object of praise.
Beth. Ver. 9. In ver. 9 b, the answer given, in
the gerund, to the question in ver. 9 a, has a form
which is not quite suitable (Olahausen). After
ioiy may be supplied according to the analogy
of the Psalm : it, that is, the way, or the law
(Aben Ezra, J. H. Mich., Rosenmiiller, Hupfeld,
Hitzig). The reflexive construction (Luther,
De Wette, Hengst., Del.) is likewise admissible,
Josh. vi. 18. The cleansing of the way (Ps.
Ixxiii. 13 ; Prov. xr. 9) alludes to the defilement
of sin. [Alexander differs from all these critics.
He considers the construction of the infin. as a
gerund to be too rare and doubtful to be assumed
without necessity, and renders the second mem-
ber : ♦' (so) as to keep it according to thy word."
He says, " It is much more simple and agreeable
to usage, to regard the whole as one interroga-
tive, and the second clause as supplementary to the
first. The answer is suppressed, or rather, left to
be inferred from the whole tenor of the psalm,
which is, that men, and especially young men,
whose passions and temptations are strong in pro-
portion to their inexperience, can do nothing of
themselves, but are dependent on the grace of
God. The omission of an answer, which is thus
suggested by the whole psalm, rather strengthens
than impairs the impression on the reader."* —
J. F. M.]
r* Tbia mode of viewing the verse, which I do not find in
any of the other expositors, and which is certainly preferable
to the common one, illustrates the critical sagacity of its
author, which, together with his exquisite judgment, is in
none of his writings better illustrated than in his masterly
treatment of this Psalm throughout. It may not be out of
place here to call attention to a misconception widely preva-
lent with regard to his Commentary, that it is very little more
than an abridgement of that of Hengstenberg. Numeroua
690
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
Ver. 14. The Law is equalled in value
to all possible riches; that is, to all blessings
that can be conceived, and that are most highly
prized by men. The rendering should not be :
as it were more than all riches (Olsh.), but: as
above all riches (comp. ver. 162).
Gimel. Vers. 17, 18. In ver. 17, according
to the accentuation, H^nX belongs to the first
member, and indicates the end for which the di-
vine bounties are entreated: "that I may live."
Attached to the second member, with the trans-
lation: if I live, I will keep (held to be possible
by Hupfeld), the vow of obedience, prompted by
the divine gift of life, would be uttered. Or, if
we adopt the construction: may I live and keep
(Hitzig), both of these ends are distinguished
in one supplication, as simultaneous objects of
entreaty. [According to the accents, the best
translation is: Grant to thy servant (that) I
may live, and I will keep thy word. So most
translators. Alexander remarks that there may
be an allusion to the way in which the Law con-
nects life and obedience, and refers to Lev. xviii.
5; Deut. vi. 24. Hengstenberg, in accordance
with his hypothesis given above, holds that it is
the preservation of the national existence that is
meant. — J. F. M.] The vrondrous things in
ver. 18 are not events in which the direction
given by God is shown unexpectedly to have
been right (Hitzig), but truths disclosed to faith,
and revelations concerning God, lying in the
law beneath the veil of the letter, and perplexing
to the common understanding, to the knowledge
of which the removal of the veil suspended over
the eyes by nature is also necessary.
Vers, ly If. On earth we are only lodging as
strangers, and, as it were, in a foreign land (1
Chron. xxix. 15; Ps. xxxix. 13). Nor do we
know beforehand what is established there as
right and law. This we would fain discover ;
for the anger of God, which does not concern it-
self about our ignorance, dwells there too (Hit-
zig). Therefore wedo not need speedy compassion
on account of the fleetness of life (Hupfeld); we
need instruction (De Wette) in our helplessness
(Luther, Ilengst., Del.) [Luther explains: "I
have no inheritance but thy word ; therefore
forsake me not." — J. F. M.] — In ver. 22 7J is
not instead of /J, from 77J to roll off, Josh. v.
9 (Isaaki, Eos., De Wette, Hengst.), but it is
from XVf}, to uncover, draw away the covering
(Geier, J. H. Mich.), here that of contempt,
[which is regarded as if it were a garment or
cloak.— J. F. M.]
Daleth. Vers. 25-28. The reviving in ver.
25 refers as usual, not to the strengthening of
the spiritual, but to the restoration of the phy-
sical life, welfare, and prosperity, by deliverance
from distress and danger. [Alexander: "The
first clause seems intended to suggest two con-
sistent but distinct ideas: that of deep degrada-
tion as in Ps. xliv. 26, and that of death as in
Instances of disapireetnent bftween them are to be found in
the additions to this volu ne, and many more would be ob-
served in a comparison of the two worlis. The modesty of
Dr. Alexander's preface has misled many with regard to this
point; but his Exposition is an evidence of the independence
OS well aa of the power which chiiracterizod everything that
he wrote.— J. V. M.J
Ps. xxii. 30. The first would be more obvious
in itself and in connection with the parallel re-
ferred to; but the other seems to be the promi-
nent idea, from the correlative petition in the
last clause. . . . Thy word, the promise annexed
to Thy commandment, see ver. 28." Ver. 28 a,
should probably be rendered : My soul weeps
from sorrow. The verb means to drop. In Job
xvi. 20 it is applied to the eye. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 30 ff. In ver. 30 ''Pi')^ is scarcely to be
explained as a setting before the mind ; i. e. ac-
knowledging as binding (Koster), or as a mental
agreement; i. e. approving (Hitzig), but is to be
understood of the act of the subject, by which
something was placed before the eyes as a stan-
dard of action (Hengst., Del.). That which
should be contemplated is contemplated (Ewald).
The enlarging of the heart (ver. 32) does not
refer to the enlargement of the understanding, 1
Kings v. 9 (De Wette), but expresses the feeling
of well-being and joy (Is. Ix. 5; 2 Cor. vi. 11-
13), as contrasted with mental oppression
(Geier). [Render : For Thou shalt enlarge my
heart.— J. F. M.]
He. Vers. 37 ff. The outward senses present to
the heart the objects of forbidden desire, and ex-
cite pleasure in and desire for then^ (Is. xxxiii.
15 ; Job xxxi. 1-7) ; men must therefore shut their
ears and eyes against them and let them pass un-
heeded. In ver. 38 the relation can be referred
either to the word (Isaaki, J. H. Mich., De Wette,
Hengst., Del.), or to the servant (Syr., Geier,
Hitzig), without essentially altering the sense,
J^'HD abscindere is used of profiting by defrauding
one's neighbor, 1 Sam, viii. 3. i<W means that
which is without real, intrinsic worth; that is,
with relation to God ; doctrine and life opposed
to God. Ver. 39 does not speak of the judgments
of God, whether merciful (Kimchi, Geier and
others) or righteous ones (Hengst.), but, like
the whole Psalm, of the revealed ordinances of
justice.
Vau. Vers. 41, 42. As the Vau is really only
placed here on account of alphabetical require-
ments, its occurrence in ver. 42 is not to be pressed
so as to make it indicate the object aimed at in the
petition of the preceding verse : in order that I
may answer (De W.). The manifestations of God's
mex'cy in ver. 41 are, in the original, not in the
singular (Sept.) butin the plural (Chald., Jerome).
Vers. 46-48. Ver. 4G is the motto of the Augsburg
Confession according to the historical view of
the verbs in the Vulgate, which, however, does
not correspond with the Heb. text : £t loguebar
de {in) testimoniis tuis in conspectu regum et non
confundebar. The lifting up of the hands, ver.
48, does not refer to the observance of the com-
mandments, (most ), still less to the worship of
the law in the later Jewish manner (Koster), but
to the longing desire expressed by stretching out
the hands after the commandments (Hitzig),
often parallel to the lifting up of the heart to
the highest good, Pss. xxviii. 2; Ixiii. 6; Lam.
iii. 41 (Hengst., Hupfeld).
Zain. Vers. 60 ff. Ver. 50 reminds us of Job vi.
10. It is doubtful whether ^3 in the second mem-
ber of the verse is to be taken as explaining the
"this" hy mentioning what the comfort consisted
in, or as the confirmatory "for" (Hupf.). [In ver.
PSALM CXIX.
691
58 render: Indignation hath taken hold of me. —
J. F. M.] In ver. 54 the reference is not to exile
or any other misfortune, but human life is, after
Gen. xlvii., described as "the house of my so-
journings." Man has not upon earth his
Dn]f iT3, Eccl. xii. 6. The earth has been in-
deed given to him (Ps. cxv. 16), but not as his
abiding-place (see on ver. 19).
Cheth.— [Ver. 57 is translated by Dr. Moll :
My portion is Jehovah 1 I have said to keep thy
precepts (I have promised to keep thy precepts).
Alexander translates and comments thus: "JWy
portion, oh Jehovah, I have said (is) to keep thy
words. This construction is rejected by Heng-
stenberg and others as forbidden by the accents
and the analogy of Pss. xvi. 5 ; Ixxiii. 26. But,
as the same words may either express the sense
here given, or : My portion is Jehovah, we are at
liberty to choose the one best suited to the con-
text, even in opposition to the accents, which
cannot be regarded as an ultimate authority. In
favor of the sense first given is its perfect agree-
ment with the close of the preceding stanza. In
reference to the resolution there recorded and
described as being fulfilled, he here adds: thus
have I said (declared my purpose), oh Lord, to
obey thy words. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 61 ff. Ver. 61 is explained by ver. 110.
The pointing does not distinguish as clearly as
might be expected (Del.) between "*73n Ldlva^
and '7!3n (snares). [Dr. Moll translates : The
snares of the wicked have surrounded me. So
Delitzsch, Hupfeld and Hengst, Perowne trans-
lates : cords. Alexander: bands, "the cordage
of a net," Ps. xviii. 6. The meaning: bands, in
the sense of companies, troops, given in E. V. is
as Del. remarks, never found attached to that
word in the plural, though the sing, has that sense
in 1 Sam. x. 5-10. Bottcher, however (§ 800),
assigns to it that meaning here. The transla-
tion: "robbed" of E. V. in the same verse is
entirely unfounded. I cannot discover its source.
— ^J. F. M.] In ver. 62 we have the accusative
of time as in Job xxxiv. 20. With ver. 63 comp,
Prov. xxviii. 24. Ver. 64 a recalls Ps. xxxiii. 5.
Teth.— Vers. 69, 70. The poet will not bo
induced to err from fidelity to God's word by all
the falsehoods which presumptuous men smear
upon him (Bottcher) or better (absolutely as in
Job xiii, 4) smear all at once over him, making
the true nature of things undiscernible by daub-
ing them over with false colors (Del.), or pasting
on deceit (Hitzig). [Del. quotes the Chald.,
Talmud, and the Syr. in favor of the meaning
smear over or on. This is now generally accepted.
The idea of forging, devising, in E. V. follows the
meaning to sew together, formerly assigned to
73D as the primary idea. — J. F. M.] Ver. 70.
The heart which is overspread with fat or grease
is a figure employed to denote want of sensitive-
ness or hard-heart edness, Pss. xvii. 10; Ixxiii.
10 ; Is, vi. 10.
Yodh. Vers. 75-78. In ver. 75 it is not God
Himself who is called HJIOK after Deut. xxxii. 4
(Hengst.). The word is employed either as an
adverbial accusative: in fidelity (most), or as in
apposition and parallel to PH^.i ^^^ following
Word becoming a relative clause, attached at the
end of the verse (Hupf ). [The first member of
ver. 78 should be translated: Let the proud be
ashamed ; for they have wronged me by false-
hood.—J. F. M.]
Caph.— Vers. 83, 84. The bottle in the
smoke, ver. 88, is probably not a figurative
representation of one who had become mellow
and ripened by aflaiction (Hupfeld), taken from
the custom of the ancients of hanging bottles
filled with wine in the smoke high up above the
fire ; for wine is not the subject of the verse.
Nor is there any comparison to a bottle hung up
in order to make it dry and wrinkled, so as to
adapt it for preserving wine (De Wette). It
seems more suitable to refer to the effects of
smoke as destroying and rendering useless (Geier,
J. H. Mich., Hengst.). Accordingly, the mean-
ing would be, that he allows nothing to force
God's word from his consciousness, although
already he has become like a bottle blackened
and shrivelled up in the smoke (Del.). The ob-
ject of hanging such a bottle high up would then
be to set it aside in the meantime as not imme-
diately needed. And its contact with the smoke
would be merely the consequence of its hanging
in an elevated position, whither the smoke, in
the absence of chimneys, would naturally rise.
The point of comparison would then be the being
set aside (Hitzig, Del.). — The expression in ver.
84, translated: how many, in Gen. xlvii. 8, oc-
curs here in the sense: how few, Ps. xxxix. 5.
The entreaty of an immediate interference of God
is evoked and supported by the thought of the
brevity of human life.
Lamedh. — ^Vers. 89-91. The heavens are
mentioned with reference to their unchangeable-
ness, as in Pss. Ixxxix. 3 : xxx. 37, not as a lo-
cality. So the firm establishment of the earth,
as an actual proof and as the theatre of the un-
changeable faithfulness of God (Geier, Hupfeld,
Del.). The sense of ver. 91 is doubtful; its ex-
planation depending upon what is assumed as
the subject of HD^, and upon the meaning of
that word itself. If heaven and earth be taken
as the subject of the verb and the latter be un-
derstood in the sense of standing firm (Hupf.),
the meaning would then be that the heavens and
earth stand firm for the judgments and laws of
God, serving, as it were, to support them, after
the analogy of the preceding figure. If the sub-
ject is the judgments (Koster, De "Wette, Hitzig),
the meaning would be : As for thy judgments,
they stand to-day. The word would then not be
used in the sense which it bears in Is. Iv. 11,
but would mean His declared will, which, as the
moral order of the world, is the internal comple-
ment of the physical order. The preservation
of the world, ver. 90, the continuance of the
original creation, is an act of His unalterable
and gracious purpose. Gen. viii. 21 f. (Hitzig).
If the subject be taken aa generally as possible,
as in Job xxxviii. 15, and with a reference to
the following " all," then it would not be merely
meant, that all beings are subject to law, but
either that they all, as his servants, stand ready
to execute His will, Ps. 1. 6 (Hengst.), or better,
on account of the resemblance which the expres-
sions bear to Numb. xxx. 5, 10; Josh. xx. 6;
Ezek. xliv. 24, that they have humbly to obey
692
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
God's judicial decisions (Bottcher, Del.), and
that they must do so still to-day, because these
declarations, long since formulated in the Law,
are unalterably valid, as being words of God,
and sure from eternity.
Ver. 96 strictly says only in reference to ex-
tent in space, that the Psalmist had seen an end
of it, that a limit was to be found to everything
in the world. It is, however, usually so ex-
plained to mean that all perfection on earth was
wanting, and that the Psalmist knew that fact
from experience. — The breadth of the Law is its
immeasurableness, expressed likewise as though
in space, as, in Job xi. 7-9, the immeasurable-
ness of God.
Mem. Vers. 99-102. The meaning of ver. 99 is
not that the Psalmist had profited in understand-
ing from his teachers and from those who were
very old (the Rabbins), but that he was superior
in that quality to his teachers and the aged. An
opposition is indicated to a worldly wisdom whose
source is not the word of revelation. It is less
clear, whether opposition is felt by a younger
man, in his zeal for the law, to older men, who
were hellenizing, or whether the aged men are
here mentioned as representatives, like the
teachers, of human authority. — [Ver. 102, Alex-
ander: "The ^W\\iQ judgments in this Psalm are
always the external exhibitions of the divine
righteousness in word or deed, by precept or by
punishment. Here, of course, the former are
especially intended. The figure of a way, though
not expressed, is still indicated by the verbs de-
part and guide." — J. F. M.]
Nun. — To have one's soul in his hand (ver.
110) signifies, according to the context, to re-
main consciously in danger of death. To take
one's soul in his hand (Judges xii. 3; 1 Samuel
xix. 6; xxviii. 21; Job xiii. 14) means: to be
prepared to give up one's life. Delitzsch cites
the Talmudical saying: Man's prayer is not
heard unless he takes his life in his hand; i. e.
unless he is ready to sacrifice his life.
Samech. Vers. 113-118. The doubters are
called literally : divided persons, divided, that
is, between two views, or between two modes of
belief with their opposing claims (1 Kings xviii.
21), [E. V, translates the first clause: I hate
vain thoughts. The translation supposed the
word in question to be another form of D'3j7p
(written usually with fe?), thoughts, opinions,
Hitzig translates : double-tongued, referring to
Sirach v. 9. Riehm : "It is certainly more
suitable to suppose that the hating is directed
against hypocrites, or those wavering in
their belief between the true God and false
gods, than against doubters ; but it may be more
correct to explain according to Ps. xii. 3 ; 1
Kings xviii," — Ver, 115 b. should be translated:
and I will keep the commandments of God. Most
translators render: "that I may keep," etc. But
this is meaningless. The true view is that given
by Alexander : " The first clause is borrowed
from Ps. vi. 9. The meaning in both cases seems
to be that he has no fear of their enmity. The
reason given in this case is, because he is re-
solved to do the will of God, and is therefore
sure of His protection." Ver. 118 translate:
Thou hast despised, i. e., instead of: Thou hast
trodden down. — J. F. M.]
Vers, 119, 120. Dross, or the residuum of
smelted metal, is an image of the separating and
purifying process of God's judgments (Jer, vi,
28 f, ; Ezek. xxii, 18 f. ; Mai. iii. 2 f.),— In ver,
120, nns is probably the terror of God, i. e.. His
dreadful appearing for judgment, Is. ii, 10 f,
(Hupfeld), before which the hair and skin of the
Psalmist trembled (Ex. xxxiv, 7).
Ayin. [Ver, 122, Be surety, etc. Alex-
ander: " It means not merely: take me under
Thy protection, but: become answerable for me,
stand between me and those who, under any pre-
text, even that of legal right, may seek to oppress
me," See the phrase furtner discussed in De-
litzsch on Job xvii. 3, and in his remarks at the
end of that chapter, and comp, Alexander on Is.
xxxviii. 14, — J, F, M,]
Ver, 128, The words : hb ?n^p3-S3, in spite
of the analogy of Is. xxix, 11, as to the mean-
ing, and of Num. viii. 16; Ezek, xliv. 30, as to
the form, are rather strange if they are intended
to mean : all precepts concerning everything.
Yet the correction ^n^pS" /D : all Thy precepts
(Houbigant, Venema, Ewald, Olsh., Hupfeld), is
not absolutely necessary.
Pe, Vers, 129-132, Ver. 129 does not allude
to the observance of God's testimonies for the
sake of fulfilling them, but to the contemplation
of them in order to understand them; for they
are designated wonderful and marvellous (para-
doxical) things, elevated above every-day life
and the common understanding (Del,). Thereis
therefore a light demanded for men, as they are
simple (Prov. xxii. 3), which God gives by the
nn3, that is, the opening or unfolding of His
word. The opening of the mouth (ver. 131) is
an expression of the desire (Job xxix. 23) of the
man who pants after the heavenly food of such
disclosures. [The second member of ver. 132
should be rendered : according to the right of
those that love Thy name. In E, V. (2DUD was
" T : • ■
supposed to have here the sense of custom, a
meaning which it sometimes has, compare Greek
6iK7), and Arabic dinO.n. This translation is re-
tained by Perowne. But it is better, since the
suflBx is wanting, to take the word, as most do,
in the sense of jus (comp. Ps, Ixxxi. 5). —
J. F. M.]
Tzadhe, Vers, 138-141. Since n«p (ver, 138)
belongs, as in Ps, xlvii. 9, to the preceding sub-
stantive, it is, perhaps, better to take the sub-
stantive: nj^OX and its parallel PHV* Jio'- ^^'
verbially : in righteousness, in truth, or: in
justice, in fidelity (Syr,, Hupf., Del.), but as in
apposition: as righteousness, as truth, or: as
justice, as fidelity (Sept., Geier, Hitzig), [In E,
V. the Heb. order is entirely abandoned. Alex-
ander and Perowne follow the former of the
views above given: "Thou hast commanded thy
testimonies iu righteousness and exceeding
faithfulness,"— J. F. M.]— In ver. 141 the term
small, applied by the Psalmist to himself, is in-
terpreted by most, after the Sept. and Vulg., as
referring to his youth. Yet it may also mean:
insignificant (Hitzig).
Eoph. — Ver. 147 does not mean: I hastened
PSALM CXIX.
595
to meet thee (Pa. Ixxxviii. 14) or: I hastened
before thy face (Geier by supplying 'TJ^j. Nor
can the meaning be ; I anticipated the morning
dawn, for DTp has not the accusative here, as in
yer. 148, but stands absolutely =to go before
/Ps. Ixviii. 26), or: to hasten one's self, here
lollowed by the words: in the dawn. But the
object with which or to which he hastened is
here not connected with what precedes by 7, as
in Jonah iv. 2, but, in a looser construction,
with the sentence : and I cried. His eyes then
anticipated the night watches, in having not
been closed by sleep in the beginning of each of
them severally.
Ver. 152 means : I have long known from thy
testimonies that, &c. (most), or: concerning thy
testimonies, that (Hifzig). Hupfeld takes ob-
jection, and would rather translate, by doing
away with the preposition: I have long known
thy testimonies, for. Since, however, the pre-
position cannot be shown to be spurious, and the
explanation of some of the older expositors: I
know the times of old, or: antiquity, or: what
is past, for, etc., is not tenable, he is not disinclined
to take "TliH' absolutely : I am instructed, have
understanding.
Resh. — Ver. 160. W\^\ according to the con-
text, does not mean : the beginning (the ancient
translators and most expositors), but the sum,
the total number of all the items in the reckon-
ing. "The word of God is reckoned over in its
parts and as a whole. Truth is the grand de-
nominator and Truth the result" (Delitzsch).
Sin (Shin).— "While even in the oldest al-
phabetical Pijutim,* Sin sometimes represents
Samech also, and Shin never does, the reverse
is the case in^ the biblical alphabetical pieces ;
here Sin and Shin occur together, and to Samech
is assigned a place of its own" (Delitzsch) — Ver.
164. Seven times, as in Lev. xxvi. 18; Prov.
xxiv. 16, comp. Matt, xviii. xviii. 21, is not
merely a round number, as it is at all events, in
Prov. xxvi. 16, 26 (Hitzig), but a sacred num-
ber. It is to be understood here, however, not
arithmetically, but symbolically, representing a
continued course of devotional exercises, com-
plete in itself, and surrounding and pervading,
with its sacred influences, all the duties of the
day. In the same way such exercises three times
engaged in (Ps. Iv. 18), were shown to be spon-
taneous, rising above the perfunctory spirit,
which might characterize the customary morn-
ing and evening devotions. [Alexandee: "The
use of this form of expression here is not the ef-
fect, but the occasion of the use of canonical
hours."— J. F. M.]
; Tau. — [Ver. 171 translate : My lips shall pour
forth praise, for Thou wilt teach me Thy statutes.
—J. F. M.] Ver. 176. A lost sheep is one
separated from the flock (Is. xxvii. 13), and,
therefore, every moment in danger of destruc-
tion. The idea is explained by Is. liii. 6. The
accents (J. H. Mich., Hupf.,- Del.) are usually
not regarded. [Perowne: "The figure cannot
be employed here in the same sense in which it
is employed in our Lord's parable. He who is
r* The name applied to Jewish poetry after the 8th Cent.
Itja evidently derived from the Greek. See Etheridqe, Ha-
brew Literature, pp. 367 £f.— J. F. M.]
38
the lost sheep here is one who does not forget
God's commandments. The figure, therefore,
seems in this place to denote the helpless condi-
tion of the Psalmist, without protectors, exposed
to enemies, in the midst of whom he wanders,
not knowing where to find rest and shelter,"
Alexander: "As the preceding verse sums up
the petitions of the psalm, so this sums up its
complaints in the first clause, and its professions
in the last, connected by the short prayer [seek
thy servant) as a single link. The predominant
use of the past tense, even to the end, shows
how deeply the entire psalm is founded upon ac-
tual and previous experience." — J. F. M.J
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Vers. 1-8. The blessedness of those who love,
praise, and strive after God's word, in spite of
all its opposers. — From the relation in which
thou dost stand to God's word, thou canst derive
knowledge concerning the inclinations of thy
heart, the bias of thy soul, and the conduct of
thy life, — Be not satisfied with the possession
of God's word in the Holy Scriptures, but grow
in the knowledge of it, and exercise thyself in
its use. — Open thy heart to God in prayer for
the entrance of His Word in its power.
Starke: The blessed use of God's word con-,
sists in a pious life, regulated thereby sincerely
and steadfastly. — The world seeks its happiness-
in riches and honors, and does not find it, God's
word is a mine of gold in which we must dig, if
we would be eternally happy. — To walk in God's
ways, and not to do evil consciously, are tilings
inseparably connected. — If thou doest what God
bids thee, thou knowest thou canst do no wrong.
— We learn faith from the gospel, and love from
the law. How can these commands be better
kept, than when they are obeyed in the exercise
of faith and love? — Where there dwells a heaven-
ly mind there is a longing and sighing after the
things of heaven. — It is the highest of all arts,
to impress God's word deeply upon the heart,
and to desire to listen to nothing else. We have
to keep learning that art as long as we live. —
When we have God as our Teacher, and the Holy
Spirit as our Guide, we learn Divine things
aright. — It is the nature of God's word, that, the
more and the more diligently we read it aud
meditate upon it, the richer understanding, iur
struction, and comfort it imparts. Its teaching
can never be exhausted.
Frisch: Follow the known will of God, as in,
belief, so also in life, and depart neither from
the love nor the fear of it. — Kie<&ee: The blessed
purpose, to seek God in His word, to cleave to
Him according to His word, and to become a
man thoroughly furnished to every good work
through His word. — The word of God drives ua
to prayer by revealing to us our needs. — Rich-
tbr: God's word is the true expression and
mirror of His nature. — Guenther : Having re-
spect to God's commandments is the condition'
of deliverance from temporal and eternal ruin.
But this spiritual beholding is a looking to the
commandments, contemplating them, meditating
upon them, and observing them all without ex--
ception. — Dibdrich: A life according to God's
law. is not one of compulsion or servitude, but,
694
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
of the highest delight, of blissful enjoyment, and
of lofty sublime security. — Taube : The Psalmist
has a lofty aim before him, and yet there is a
sigh in his bosom ; he aspires to learn and per-
form assiduously God's commandments, and yet
to rest humbly in the mercy of God alone, and
all with the whole heart and with an upright
soul.
[Matt. Heney: It will not serve us to make
religion the subject of our talk, but we must
make it the rule of our walk, — See how the de-
sires and prayers of a good man exactly agree
with the will and command of a good God. Thou
wouldst have me keep Thy precepts, and, Lord, I
fain would keep them. — God's judgments are all
righteous, and therefore it is desirable, not only
to learn them, but to be learned in them, mighty
in the Scriptures. — We cannot keep God's com-
mandments, unless we learn them, but we learn
them in vain, unless we keep them. — Scott : It
is the will of God that we should wisely seek
our own happiness ; our self-love, indeed, should
be properly directed and subordinated : but it
cannot and ought not to be extirpated. -Bridges :
To exclude any commandment from a supreme
regard in the heart, is the brand of hypocrisy. —
We always find that as our mind is dark, our
tongue is dumb and we are unable to bear a tes-
timony for our God. — J. F. M].
Vers. 9-16. The greater the perils and the
stronger the temptations which beset the young
in the world (2 Tim. ii. 22), the more do they
need to hold us to God's word, whose wisdom
•will l^elp their inexperience, and whose power
will help their weakness. — We must begin early
to obey God's word (Prov. viii. 17; Lam. iii. 27),
and never cease. — From love to God's word,
there flow thanks that we have received it, joy
that we now possess it, and desire to make use
of it. — Those who have, hear, and learn God's
word, should also keep (Luke xi. 28), profess
and follow it, as the guide of their faith and life.
Starke : He who would be godly must begin
in time, for that to which one is habituated in
his boyhood, he does not abandon in his age
(Prov. xxii. 6). — God's word is the best school
for the youQg and the old (2 Tim. iii. 15 ; Lev.
ii. 31 f.). — True religion has its seat in the heart,
and is proved by words, by works, and by a
Christian life. — The more a believer exercises
himself in God's word, and tastes its gracious-
ness, the dearer it becomes to him. — The heart
as well as the memory must be a casket that
contains the treasure of the Divine word. —
Growth in godliness results from delight in God's
word.
Arndt: God's word must be fulfilled upon
thee, whether for life or death. — Riohter : Hold
to God's whole word early, earnestly, and joy-
fully.— DiEDRiOH : I cannot trust in myself to
remain steadfast. And the most advanced in
spiritual things must implore it as a favor from
God, that they may abide only in the truth. —
Tadbe : A youth of unimpaired purity and
strength, is a presage of the blessedness of the
whole life.
[Scott : As God is both perfectly holy and
perfectly happy, and as His blessedness is the
result of His infinite excellency, how absurd it
must be to expect happiness by being contrary
to Him and rebelling against Him ! — Bridges :
Let it be remembered that daily progress in the
heavenly walk is not maintained by yesterday's
supply of grace. A fresh supply must be con-
tinually drawn in by humble and dependent
prayer. — No better test can be needed of the
security of our heart with God, than a willing-
ness to come to the searching light of His holy
word. — If our inability to bear a testimony for
our Lord is not painful to us (comp. Ps. xxxix.
12 ; Jer. xx. 9), we have the greatest reason to
suspect, if not the sincerity, at least the strength
of our attachment to His precious name. —
Barnes : Such an apprehension (that there may
be a wandering from God's commandments) is
one of the best means of security, for it will lead
a man to pray, and while a man prays he is safe.
—J. F. M.].
Vers. 17-24. The word of God as the light and
the food of His servants, who, as strangers upon
earth, journey heavenwards. — Among the bene-
fits and the wonders of God, the gift of His holy
word shines forth in power, diffusing help and
blessing in its beams. — All men desire life and
well-being, and God furnishes the means of ob-
taining them. But how few are thoroughly ac-
quainted with them, and how few avail themselves
of them in the way appointed by God. — In order
to discern the truth of revelation, we need not
only to have the gift of sight, but also to pray
that both our eyes and the Scriptures may be
opened for us.
Starke : We can only be said rightly to re-
ceive the blessings of God with thanksgiving
when they are employed to advance our spiritual
life, and the exercise of true godliness. — The
wicked act as though they had to remain in the
world for ever : the pious, on the contrary,
know that their abiding place is in heaven, and
they long after that (Heb. xiii. 14). — The longing
of believers for the true service of God is not a
transient heat, but is hearty, ardent, and con-
stant.— The mystery of affliction is soon solved
if we keep God's testimonies. — It is much better
for us to live, so as to please the Supreme King
who lives eternally. Then we will find com-
fort enough in His word. — The fear of men, and
the desire to please them, poison true reUgioa
and prevent it from ever becoming pure.
Frisch : Thou mayest consult God's word upon
whatever thou wilt, and it will never send thee
away without advice. But it rests with thyself
to follow it. — Tholuok : God's law should not
be the object of an idle contemplation, but a
practical counsellor for all the relations of hu-
man life. — Guenther : A strong incitement to a
pure life may be found in the nature of man and
of his life, His temporal life is only the beginning
not the end; the earth is not his enduring dwell-
ing-place, but only a transient lodging-place.
Woe to the stranger who has not chosen here the
true home. — Diedrich : We must not allow our-
selves to be turned from God's word by the enmity
of the world. — Gerdk : God's commands to Hi*
strangers on earth as inscribed upon the gates
of the new year. They relate (1) to the heaven-
ly Protector, (2) to the earthly companions, (3)
to the heavenly goal. — Taube : God's word is the
greatest miracle ; it is the key to the knowledge
of His whole governmeat.
PSALM CXIX.
595
[Matt. Henry: I am a stranger, and therefore
stauJ in need of a guide, a guard, a companion,
a comforter ; let me have Thy commandments
always in view, for they will be all this to me,
all that a poor stranger can desire. / am a
stranger here, and must be gone shortly, by Thy
commandments let me be prepared for my re-
moval hence. — Bp. Hornb : Pride, prejudice,
and interest will compose a veil, through which
the Christian shall see as little of the New
Testament, as the Jew doth of the Old. Lord,
convince us of our blindness, and restore us to
our sight ! — Bridges : It is indeed an unspeaka-
ble mercy to know a little of the Lord, and yet,
at the same time, to feel that it is only a little
that we do know. In this spirit we shall be
longing to know more, and yet anxious to know
nothing, except as we are taught of God. — We
want, not a clearer rule, or a surer guide, but a
more single eye. — J. F. M.].
Vers. 25-32. — The sighs, tears, and anxieties
of the pious are as little understood by the
world, as their prayers, their joys, and their
hopes. — God's testimonies afford consolation,
strengthening, and hope, even to him that is per-
secuted by men, and that in his hours of great-
est extremity. — He who walks in the way which
the commands of God point out and prescribe to
us, learns ever to understand it more deeply, and
receives thereby renewed desire and fresh
strength to advance upon it.
Starke : That which supports the heart most
powerfully against spiritual feebleness, is the
gracious word of the gospel. — The word of God
is the touch-stone by which we can prove whether
a doctrine is true or false. — He who plans before
his eyes, as a rule, God's wise precepts, will find
mercy and help with Him. — Human wit and
learning may bring to shame, but God's word
and faith in it, never can. — God's comforts in-
cline and prepare the heart to become more
godly. — In the religion of Christ there must be
no standing still; the motto of a Christian must
be: ever onward through Christ (Eph. iv. 13).
Arndt : Everything is false (1.) which is not
and comes not from God ; (2.) which comes not
from the inmost depths of the heart; (3.) which
does not abide the test of affliction. — Frisch:
God is faithful ; do thou only keep what thou
hast vowed, and, if He has opened wide thy heart
from without and from within, continue thou the
more zealously and joyfully in His service, so as
to please Him well. — Guenther : Sin has crip-
pled the wings of the soul, and it is only through
God's word that it can soar aloft again ; and,
when it languishes, can revive it with the water
of life. — Taube: The heart that resorts con-
stantly and hopefully to God's word and to
prayer,- can never be driven from its stronghold,
but is preserved therein by God's power (1 Pet.
i. 5). And then the progress is firm and sure,
and the walk in God's ways, joyful and comfort-
ing.
[Matt. Henry : God's word should be our
guide and plea in every prayer. — God by His
Spirit enlarges the hearts of His people when He
puts wisdom there, 1 Kings iv. 29, and when He
sheds abroad the love of God in the heart, and
puts gladness there. The joy of our Lord should
be wheels to our obedience. — Bishop Horne :
How much depends upon the road we choose !
How difficult it is, in a divided and distracted
world, to choose aright ! Yet this choice, so im-
portant, so difficult, often remains to be made by
us, when we have neither judgment to choose,
nor strength to travel! — Bridges: No one can
lay claim to the character and privileges of a
Christian, to whom sin is not the greatest sorrow
and the heaviest burden. — It is the earthliness
of the soul that obstructs our brighter view of
the Saviour, dims the eye of faith, and hides
those brighter prospects which, if beheld in the
clear horizon, would enliven and invigorate us in
our heavenly way. — Barnes : Sin contracts the
soul, religion enlarges it. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 33-40. — Deviations from the right way
are very numerous and perilous, under the al-
lurements of sin. We, therefore, need not
merely instruction through God's word, but also
to have our hearts guided and inclined towards
what is right and pleasing to God, — We need
never flatter ourselves that we are secure. We
must labor to remain steadfast even to the end ;
and we can never do without God's assistance,
for such fidelity demands an observance of the
law with the whole heart. — There are few who
are contented with the gain which arises from
godliness (1 Tim. vi. 6), or who feel that they
have enough of the gifts of God (Gen. xxxiii. 11),
and yet avarice is a root of all evil (1 Tim.
vi. 10).
Starke : It is with most men, in spiritual
things, as with the blossoms on the trees in
spring. How many are whirled away by the
wind 1 how many are pierced by the worm ! This
is why constancy is so much insisted upon in
God's word. — It is impossible to preserve God's
word in the heart, and to obey it from the heart,
when there is no love for it (John xiv. 33).—
Pleasure I pleasure ! is the cry of the world ; in
all directions this is the great object. But who
seeks and finds pure pleasure in God and His
word ? — To hate, fear, and flee from sin is a no-
ble, yea, a godlike attribute, and results from
love of virtue and good. — When the heart begins
to doubt with regard to God's word, whether it
is His word or not, it falls into a most pitiable
condition. — The regenerate, in every event of
their lives, renew their resolution, not to sin
presumptuously, but fear God as little children.
Arndt : I care not for the disgrace of calum-
niation, which I innocently endure, if only I am
not put to shame before God. — Frisch : Why do
I complain so much of outward temptations ? I
have in myself the greatest distress. I find
darkness in my understanding, great indolence
in my will, and in my inclinations, and still too
much anxiety and love for the earthly, and in
my thoughts of external things, too great bias to-
wards the vain pursuits of this world. — Rieqer :
Show me Thy ways, instruct me, guide me, incline
my heart. In these prayers there is indeed shown
just distrust of ourselves, and a child-like cling-
ing to the hand of God. — Guenther : Thou must
free thy soul from earthly good and carnal de-
sires, else thou canst not rise, but •cilt remain
tied down, and forget at last how to fly. — Died-
rich: Be Thou my Teacher, Thou that art the
highest Wisdom and the Source of life, and then
shall I be able to live and love better. — Dishonor
596
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
from the world is our honor; it becomes our dis-
honor only when we by it are drawn away from
God. — God's guidance, which constrains us so
gently and yet so powerfully, is the best defence
against the evil impulses of the human heart,
which His servant feels deeply, and confesses so
unreservedly. t
[Matt. Henry: Beholding vanity deadens
and slackens our pace ; but if our eyes be kept
from that which will divert us, our hearts will
be kept to that which shall excite us. — BRioaEs:
If God loves you, He will not indeed lose you ;
but unless you "take heed and beware of covet-
cusness," He will not spare you (1 Tim. vi. 10).
— Watchfulness without prayer is presumption ;
prayer without watchfulness is self-delusion, —
In proportion as our interest in the great salva-
tion is assured us, will be the exercise of our
faith in pleading our interest in the great salva-
tion included in it. — Barnes : An ugly object
loses much of its deformity to us, when we look
often upon it. Sin follows this general law. —
J. F. M.]
Vers. 41-48. — If we had not God's gracious
promises, we poor sinners would not venture to
come before His face with petitions ; but now we
may and shall draw near unto Him, in penitence
and faith, on the ground of His word. — Our
calumniators, revilers, and enemies should not
rob us of our joy, and drive us from our faith,
but only urge us more strongly to God and His
word, — God's commandments are to have more
weight with us than the mandates of the mighty
of earth.
Gregory of Nazianzus: I have this advan-
tage over my revilers, that I become only more
devoted to religion and godliness on account of
their attacks.
Starke : God's mercy, help, and word are
closely united with one another ; each is based
upon the others, or flows from them. — The word
of truth does not help us so long as we regard it
as an empty husk, and do not strive to have our
faith kindled by it. — Dost thou really fear God,
oh soul? Then let thyself be heard, so that it
may be known what thou art. What is believed
in the heart must be confessed. — It is for the
honor of Christ, and also for thine own, if thou
dost fearlessly confess Him before men — The
less earnestness one shows in religion, the more
foolish he is, for it is just his half-heartedness
in his religion, that makes it painful and harass-
ing to him. — In a profession of faith there must
be steadfastness. Whatever is yea and amen
according to God's word remains ever so. Truth
to-day is nothing different from what it was
yesterday. — Frankb : The ten commandments
are an old-fashioned thing with the world. None
trouble themselves about them for they think
that no one can keep them. But with God's
shildren it is not so. His commandments are to
them not a house of correction, but a garden of
delights. — Frisoh: He, of whom you confess, is
greater than they before whom you confess.
Only see to it, that the heart and the hand agree
with the nftuth. — Rieqer: A good step is taken
forwards, when we become ready to give an
answer to him who demands a reason: when we
overcome the modesty which would keep itself
concealed, and are not kept back from confessing
the truth by the unbelief and scorn of others.—.
Guenther : It is demanded of us that we hold
fast to God's word, that we overcome humiliation
by humility, and that we esteem honor from
God, more highly than all the praise of the
world, — Taubb : That freedom, which has its
divinely powerful springs in a blessed devotion
to God's precepts, begets great joy, which is
manifested outwardly by fearless confession, in-
wardly by absorbing delight in His command-
ments.
[Matt. Henry; All that love God love His
government, and, therefore, love all His com-
mandments.— Bridges: General notions of the
mercy of God, without a distinct apprehension
of His salvation, can never have any other origin
than in presumption, which God abhors. — The
common topics of earthly conversation may fur-
nish a channel for heavenly intercourse, so that
our communication, even with the world, may
be like Jacob's ladder whose bottom rested upon
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. —
Acceptable obedience, must flow from love, and
be accompanied with a measure of delight. —
J. F. M.].
Vers, 49-56. The word of God, as the ground
of our hope in life, as a light in our night of
trouble, as a song on our pilgrimage. — To con-
tinue steadfast, patient, and courageous in the
word of God, is, according to the testimoBy of
history and the experience of all believers, the
everflowing fountain of blessing in the miseries
of this world. — God deigns to be reminded of
His word by our mouth. But he who under-
takes to do so must not only know God's word,
he must also sincerely love it, believe it from
the heart, and earnestly strive to keep it, — God
does not forget or abandon us: but oh that we,
at all times, by day and by night, in prosperity
and in adversity, might remember God and His
word, and cleave to them ! — To keep God's word,
is the endowment and e tate of the pious.
Starke: If God wills that our faith should
not forget His promises. He will surely, in His
faithfulness, not leave His promise unfulfilled. —
When God's word and hope and prayer are
united in any heart, there are found comfort,
life, and revival, — Former judgments of God are
a powerful mirror of terrors for the ungodly,
but comforting tokens of mercy for believers, —
The children of God resemble their heavenly
Father, inasmuch as what He abhors is abhorred
by them. — To abandon God and His word is
the first step to sin, and soon after that comes
the greatest degree of obduracy, — It is a burden
to the children of the world, to have much to do
with God's word, but to God's children it is a
delight, for it cheers and sweetens this troublous
life. — Those who assiduously call God's word to
mind through the day, and who commend them-
selves earnestly to Him on retiring to rest, have
in this the surest remedy against evil thoughts and
sinful dreams, — A good conscience, guarded well
in accordance with God's word, is better than all
the joys and riches of this world, — Rie^ger: It is a
great privilege, when we have to sustain new as-
saults, to be able to look back with comfort upon
temptations overcome. — Guenther: Thou must
now learn to make a difference amongst men, de-
termining thy friendships and thy enmities ao-
PSALM CXIX.
597
cording to God's word. — Dibdrich : God cannot
forsake those who wait for Hitn : the faith which
He Himself has evoked, He cannot leave unjusti-
fied.— Taube: God's words are the concealed
roots of His deeds, and His deeds are His words
laid bare. — A worldly man is enraged when he
himself is insulted, but quite indifferent when
God is insulted. It is the reverse with God's
children. Their holy indignation at the despisers
of God has, as its reverse side, a holy love for the
law of the Lord.
[Matt. Henry: Those that make God's pro-
mises their portion, may with humble boldness
make them their plea. — Those can bear but little
for Christ, that cannot bear a hard word for
Him. — God's work is its own wages: a heart to
obey the will of God is a most valuable reward
of obedience ; and the more we do, the more we
may do in the service of God: the branch that
beareth fruit is made more fruitful. — Bridges :
Seek to keep your heart in tune. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 67-64. It is impossible to keep God's
word without His gracious assistance, but He
affords such assistance to those who pray ear-
nestly for it, and continue thus to pray. — The
communion of believers is a rich fountain of
mutual comfort, support, and edification. — The
better we learn to know ourselves and the world
by an impartial trial, with the greater longing
will we entreat from God's mercy the light, the
comfort, and the power of His holy word. — Me-
lanchthon's custom was to rise up soon after
midnight, and after praying to meditate upon
God's word. — Starke : How earnestly men
strive after earthly possessions ! how many dis-
putes are caused thereby ! But they despise the
heavenly inheritance, and often even trifle it
away. — The chief matter of all our prayer should
be, that God would be merciful to us, and pre-
serve us in His mercy. — It is sometimes advisa-
ble in temporal matters to postpone the execution
of a purpose, but in things spiritual, every mo-
ment is fraught with peril if repentance be
deferred. — Guenther: As soon as thou showest
zeal in thy religion, many former friends will
forsake thee. No matter. — Ltncker: A retro-
spect of the past year teaches (1) how much we
have to be thankful for, (2) bow much we have
to implore pardon for, (3), whom we have to
comfort us. — Taube: He who is in haste to de-
liver his soul evinces a sincere heart. — The
riches of God's mercy, spread as they are over
all the earth, are disclosed to the eye of faith ;
but the greatest of His mercies is His word,
which excites faith, and teaches us to recognize
God in His ways and works.
[Matt. Henry: Those that take God for their
portion, must take Him for their prince, and
swear allegiance to Him ; and having promised
to keep His word , we must often put ourselves
in mind of our promise, Ps. xxxix. 1. — We must
never think the worse of God's ways for any
trouble we may meet with in those Ways: nor
fear being losers by our religion at last, however
we may be losers by it now. — See how the
Psalmist husbanded his time: when he could
not lie and sleep, he would rise and pray. — Bp.
Hoene: Mercy is the sole fountain of every good
gift for which we ask, and God's promise the
Bole ground upon which we ask it. — Bridqbs :
The more there is of our heart in seeking, the
more there will be of the Lord's heart in return-
ing to us. — J. F. M.].
Vers. 65-72. He who humbles himself under
God's powerful hand, will find his sufferings
turn to blessings ; they make him, especially,
learn and feel his own sins and God's mercy. —
He is blessed, who has become wise by experi-
ence, and who, by the discovery of his error,
has been driven from his own sins, and from the
ways of the world, to God and His word. — We
err most and most perilously, when we esteem
ourselves wise, righteous, and strong. — God's
word a treasure above all treasures ; why and
for what ends ?
Starke: God is the living source of all
good. — To this fountain men should trace it
all, so that God be not robbed of His
glory. — Affliction is a holy and profitable ordi-
nance of God ; a school of wisdom, in which is
learnt what God and man are. — Human know-
ledge and scientific understanding of Divine
truth does not make any truly taught of God.
Faith, prayer, and trials are also necessary. —
There is nothing that can be less well endured
than prosperity. Men commonly fall away, un-
der it, into false paths and into sin. — God may
bring us back to His way by gentle or by harsh
means, and yet they are all nothing but goodness
and mercy. — The rod makes good children, and
the uses of the cross, to those who are exercised
thereby, are great and manifold. — That so many
are lost and condemned is due to their worship-
ping gold and silver as their gods, and thus for-
getting the Eternal God. — He who is God's child
does not concern himself about gold and silver.
If he is God's child, he is also His heir, and
He will give him what he needs, when it is ne-
cessary for him. — If men would rightly consider
the origin of the Divine word, that it is a word
from the mouth of God, they would joyfully be-
come possessors of it ; they could not do other-
wise.— Frisch : From every work and word of
our beloved God, we must taste and see how kind
He is. — RiEGER : God brings men down from their
own wisdom by humiliations, and commonly
from their own righteousness by more severe
humiliations. — Taube : What are we without
God's word ? We know not what we are to do,
nor what He does.
[Matt. Henry: God's favors look best when
they are compared with the promise, when they
are seen flowing from that fountain. — Sanctified
afflictions soften the hfeart and open the ear for
discipline. The prodigal's distress brought him
to himself first and then to his father. — Scott :
How dreadful is the case of those who are hard-
ened in sin, even in the furnace of affliction ! —
Bridges : Let my heart never condemn me when
it ought not ! Let it never fail to condemn me
when it ought ! — There is none so communica-
tively good as God. — The first mark of the touch
of grace, is when the heart becomes sensible of
its own insensibility, and contrite on account
of its own hardness. — J. F. M.].
Vers. 73-80. We owe to God as our Creator
our natural life and its preservation. Is it
otherwise with our spiritual life ? — To those who
fear God, His faithfulness is discernible, even in
His judgments, as that of a merciful God. — The
598
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
sincere servant of God soon discovers that he has
no other consolation than the mercy of the Lord.
Staekb : The creation of a new heart creates
also the obligation to strive after progress in the
living knowledge of God, and to praise Him for
His benefits. — The good that God bestows upon
a believer serves not only to console and edify
him, but other believers also. — Nothing in God
and in great lords is more convenient to their
subjects than mercy, but there is nothing that
is so much abused or so capriciously drawn
upon. — God's mercy is not for the servants of
sin, but for His own. — Our consolation flows from
the fountain of eternal Compassion, and we re-
pose upon God's promise, when we are inclined
to receive this consolation.
Frisch: Others are directed to look at thee:
look then well at thyself. Oh, let them never
discover anything evil; think of the sad effects
of wickedness ! Rather let thy doing and for-
bearing be so regulated that they may follow thy
example with gladness and a good conscience. —
Rieqer: It is no small help to those who fear
God and yet are unable to throw off the oppres-
sion of the service of vanity, when they see one
who clings so fast to God in faith, confession,
holy deeds, and hope, and allows himself to be
overwhelmed by no obstruction. — Diedrich :
Like seeks comfort only in like, and so do those
who fear God. But they have also a long chain
of comforting thoughts behind them, and in these
thoughts they are raised up again. — Taube : The
flower and quintessence of the whole revealed
word is the gracious consolation promised by
God, and gained by prayer.
[Matt. Henry: The way in which God re-
covers and secures His interest in men is by
giving them an understanding ; for by that door
he enters into the soul and gains possession of
it. — Bp. Hornb : In all our trials let us remem-
ber that our brethren as well as ourselves are
deeply interested in the event which may either
weaken or strengthen the hands of multitudes. —
Bridges: Be chiefly afraid of an inward decay,
of a barren, sapless notion of experimental truth.
Remember that your profession can only be
thriving, vigorous, fruitful, as it is watered at
the root.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 81-88. God's word is and remains the
subject of our confession, the guide of our path,
and the ground of our hope. — If we do not make
such rapid progress as we would wish, we go
yet more surely forwards, if we do not allow
ourselves to be forced or enticed aside from the
word and way of God and the influence of His
mercy.
Starke : If God removes His consolation there
is nothing in the world which can comfort the
soul. — God often wounds the body that He may
heal the soul. — To have God's word ever and for-
ever in lively recollection, is an excellent cha-
racteristic of hope. — Presumption and pride in
the enemies of Christ and of His followers, is a
sure fore-token of the severe judgment that im-
pends over them. — As much as the world can af-
flict, torment, and slay, so much can God's grace
comfort, delight, and revive. — The mercy of God
must be beginning, middle, and end. Thou
livest in that mercy and upon it. — To God's
children every moment that He delays His help
appears too long. But God has His wise reasons.
He will surely fulfil His word at tlie right time.
Frisch ; The ungodly can only kill the body ;
they may take away the natural life and earthly
goods and possessions ; they must leave us the life
eternal. — Diedrich : In God consolation, in the
world distress ; with God faithfulness, with the
world deadly falsehood. — Taube : New troubles
and new conflicts, but the old hope and refuge
in his God. — It is the consolation of grace, that
first opens the way to the prayer for help.
[Matt. Henrt: God help me is an excellent
comprehensive prayer. It is a pity that it should
over be used lightly or as a by-word. — The surest
token of God's good-will towards us, is His good
work in us. — Bridges : Faith is indeed the soul's
venture for eternity, but it is a sure venture-
upon the ground of the word of God. — Be as-
sured that waiting time is most precious. Not a
moment of it will be found eventually to have
been lost. And not a moment of it could possi-
bly have been spared. It is the preparation and
work by which the Lord has been progressive-
ly moulding your heart for the reception of a
more refreshing and abundant mercy. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 89-96. Nothing is to be compared with
God but His word. From it we may learn to
know Him in His truth, and from it, too, we may
gain eternal life. — The world has been created
by the word of God, and by His word it shall
be prepared for His kingdom. — Everything
changes; but not God and His word.
Starke : Eternity is a word of terror, or a
word of delight, according to the character of
the person who contemplates it. — God will not
change His word, but men must change them-
selves according to that word, or it will judge
them on that day. — Remember God's word at all
times, and never forget it. If thou wilt forget
anything, forget created things, which prevent
thee from remembering it continually. — He who
rightly appropriates in faith the meaning of the
name Jesus, can truly pray: save me — The
friendship between God's children and the world
began with Cain, and will continue to the end
of the world. — The pre-eminent excellence of
God and His word must be so much clearer in
the eyes of one who compares with them the
things of this world.
Franks: The uniting of the heart with God,
so that God becomes ours and we become God's,
is the highest good that can be sought in this
life. — Frisch : Be not deluded by Satan, and per-
suaded that the word of the Lord is of the same
nature as that 6f men. Rather let experience
testify in thee, whether thou wouldst not long
since have perished in manifold distress, if this
word had not continued with thee, and strength-
ened thy heart. — Diedrich : We know surely,
that we have in God the greatest strength for us,
as well as the greatest love. — Taube: He who
abides by the -Father is established with the
word that is forever sure, and cannot perish.
[Matt. Henry : See here what is the best help
for bad memories, namely, good affections.—
Bridges: Will the Christian complain of the ex-
ceeding breadth of the commandment ? The con-
templation of it has lost its terrors in the recol-
lection that the gospel of the Saviour has met
its full demands. Broad as it may be, the love
PSALM CXIX.
599
that has fulfilled it is immeasutable. — Barnes :
A man who feels assured that he is a friend of
God, has a right to appeal to Him for pro-
tection, and he will not appeal to Him in vain.
—J. F. M.]
Vers. 97-104. The longer and the more seri-
ously we have to do with God's word, the clearer
it becomes to us ; and the more highly we value
it, the more will everything drive us to it. — It
will be manifest in our words and conduct how
we abide by the word of God.
Luther: Old age does not save from folly if
God'scoramands are not kept. — Starke : He who
has tasted in his soul the graciousness of God's
word, can never be satiated in its enjoyment. —
His hunger grows in such excess of supply : in
his case it is true : " the longer the fonder." — As
highly as grace surpasses nature, so much do
those who are enlightened by God surpass those
who are learned in the light of nature. True
wisdom is not to be gauged by the number of
years, but by the love to God and His word, and
a blameless life. — A regenerate Christian is his
own severe critic. He will not spare himself if
he detects his heart inclining to error. — God's
word is truly that miraculous tree which sweet-
ens the bitter waters of affliction. — Honey is
both medicine and food, so also is God's word to
our souls, but its fruit and taste far surpass
earthly honey. — The love of virtue always begeis
hatred of vice. The devil and Christ, light and
darkness, are never united. — Rieger: What a
sincere heart seems to say here in its own praise,
is really resolved into nothing but praise of God
and His word, by which it has been taught,
guided, and kept from every evil and false way.
— Diedrich: God's word is of infinite meaning.
One never wearies of it, but is ever more re-
freshed and revived. — Deichert: There is no
more precious treasure in the world than God's
word; for (1) it remains when all else disap-
pears ; (2) it comforts and revives in distresses
and sins; (3) and makes all wise for the blessed
overcoming. — Taube : Men cannot love God's
word without constant use of it, and they cannot
love the truth obtained from it without hating
falsehood.
[Matt. Henry : Heavenly wisdom will carry
the point at long run against carnal policy.
— By keeping the commandments we secure
God on our side, and make Him our friend, and
therein are certainly wiser than those who make
Him their enemy. — The love of the truth pre-
pares for the light of it. — Bp. Hoene : Our hea-
venly Teacher difFereth from all others in this,
that with the lesson, he bestowelh on the scholar
both a disposition to learn and the ability to
perform. — We shall ever find our relish for the
word of God to be greatest when that for the
world and the flesh is least, in time of affliction,
sickness and death ; for these are contrary one
to the other. In heaven the latter will be no
more, and therefore the former will be all in all.
— Bridges: Let us remark this frame of enjoy-
ment, this spiritual barometer, the pulse of the
soul, marking most accur.ately our progress or
decline in the divine life. With our advancement
in spiritual health, the word will be increasingly
sweet to our taste, while our declension will be
marked by a corresponding abatement in our
desires, and love and perception of its delights.
—J. F. M.]
Vers. 105-112. In the light of God's word we
see where we are to set our feet in the darkness
of this world, so as not to stumble and fall, and
whither we are to direct the way of our steps for
our salvation. — As God is so much in earnest
with His requirements, threatenings and pro-
mises, so it is incumbent upon us to govern our
lives according to them. — The perils of those
who confess God are great; but so also is the
reward of faithfulness. — If the heart has been
inclined in love to God's word, then the word
impels us, with the vigor of life, to the fulfilment
of our resolves and vows, to the praise of the
Lord, with the off'erings of the lips and the life.
— The word of God — a heavenly light, a comfort
to the soul, a life-giving force.
Starke: If God's word is a lamp and light, it
must be bright and clear. How do unbelievers
say then that it is dark ? — Keason may be alight,
and a fair one; but it cannot show or discover
the way from death to life. — Affliction may in-
deed subdue and humble us; but God's word
gives, under its influence, rich consolation. If
thou lovest life better than God's word, thou
wilt in death lose both thy life and Christ. —
What will men not do in order to acquire an
earthly inheritance ? And should not the eter-
nal inheritance be worth so much as that men
would willingly resign everything else, and aspite
after it alone ?
Frisch: Make a good beginning, and accus-
tom thy heart more and more to be conformed
to God's judgments, even to the end. — Rieger:
The best and most fervent resolutions may be
followed by the most complete humiliation, so
that the strange fire that has been introduced
may be separated, the spirit preserved from
self-elevation, and the professed zeal be put to a
suitable proof. — Diedrich: Worldlings would
have, as their inheritance, hard cash or real
estate; such possessions give them much vexa-
tion.— Taube: The word is always the strong
branch, which the believer seizes while about to
sink, so that he is not swallowed up in the abyss;
and his prayer from the depths is then the out-
stretched hand.
[Matt. Henry: The commandment is a lamp
kept burning by the oil of the Spirit ; it is like
the lamps in the sanctuary and the pillar of fire
to Israel. — Bp. Horne: Man is a traveller, his
life is a journey, heaven is his end, his road lies
through a wilderness, and he is in the dark, —
Bridges : The lamp must be lighted, or no re-
flection will shine upon our path. The word of
God must be accompanied with the teaching of
the Spirit, or all is "darkness, gross darkness"
still. — Those who have never realized the near-
ness of eternity can have but a faint idea of the
support that is needed in the hour when "flesh
and heart fail" to keep the soul in simple de-
pendence upon the Rock of ages. — How encou-
raging is it to trace every tender prayer,
every contrite groan, every working of spi-
ritual desire, to the assisting, upholding in-
fluence of the free Spirit of God. The same
hand that gave the new bias to direct the
soul in a heavenward motion will be put forth
from time to time to quicken that motion — to in-
600
THE FIFTH BOOft W PSALMS.
cline the heart even unto the end. — Barnes :
All who make a profession of religion solemnly
vow or swear. They do it in the house of God ;
they do it in the presence of the Discerner of
hearts; they do it at the communion table; they
do it at the family altar ; they do it in the closet
when alone with God. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 113-120. With half of the heart we can
neither love God, nor trust His word truly, nor
earnestly hate and forsake evil. — The turning
away from the world and the turning to God are
mutually conditioned and are the saving fruit of
a living fear of God. — The word of God, as a
word of truth, assures the deliverance of the
righteous and the ruin of the ungodly.
Staeke: That man has not a spark of true
^ove to God in his soul who can behold the wick-
edness of men with indifference and without
emotion. — No man can be so secure and free
from danger as a believer who dwells under the
protection of the Highest. — If a man would
withdraw himself gradually from evil society,
his endeavors will be useless : he always becomes
entangled in it again. The separation must be
made completely and at once. — Those reflections
are profitable which a believer makes when he
examines himself to discover whether he retains
Lis early strength of religious feeling or whether
he has declined. If he detects signs of the lat-
ter, what is more necessary than the prayer:
Strengthen "me that I may recover? — All false
doctrine and sinful living are seed and fruit
sown and raised by the devil; therefore God
hates and punishes them. — He who is not terri-
fied before the wrath of God and does not work
out his salvation with fear and trembling has in
store for himself in eternity unceasing despair
and wailing.
Fkanke : If a man be spiritually sound, God's
word will ever be sweet to him; his heart will
ever delight itself in God, and he will do His
will with alacrity and cheerfulness in all that is
enjoined upon him. By this it can be known
whether his soul is healthy or unsound. — Frisch:
Many suppose that they can believe what they
will, that no one will care anything about it,
that there will be no trouble or danger in it,
and so they cast God's word behind them, and
follow every changing opinion, and allow them-
selves to be deceived by false doctrine, and thus
are led to fall away ; but are they to do this
with impunity? They imagine, indeed, that
they may live as they please and no misfor-
tune will come upon them. But when they say:
There is peace ! there is no danger I destruction
quickly overtakes them. — Rieqer : Hatred of
evil must quicken and purify the love of good ;
while the love of good must control and regulate
the hatred of evil. — Diedrich : All the thoughts
and desires of the natural man are false ; for he
wishes what does not, and can never, come to
pass, and seeks life and honor in that which is
death and the vilest disgrace. — Taube: Fear
and love, in one and the same heart, and towards
one and the same object, God's testimonies and
judgments.
[Matt. Henry: Whatever others do, this I
will do; though I be singular ; though all about
ine be evil-doers and desert me; whatever I
have done hitherto, I will for the future walk
closely with God, They are the commandments
of God, of my God, and therefore I will keep
them. He is God, and may command me; my
God, and will command me nothing but what is
for my good. — We stand no longer than God
holds us, and go no further than He carries us.
— Bp. Horne : Encompassed with a frail body
and a sinful world, we need every possible tie;
and the affections both of fear and love must be
employed to restrain us from transgression; we
must, at the same time, love God's testimonies
and fear His judgments, — Bridges: There is no
humble believer that will not have observed how
intimately the "fear of the Lord" is connected
with the "comfort of the Holy Ghost," and with
his own steady progress in holiness and prepa-
ration for heaven. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 121-128. A good conscience comforts
and strengthens the soul in the bitter sufferings
of persecution which the world never forgets to
inflict upon the righteous; but it does not make
them vain or secure. — Courage and humility are
as closely united in the righteous as are thanks--
giving and prayer. — Those are the gloomiest
times when the faithless not merely transgress
the law of God, but seek to destroy it, and banish
the word of revelation from the world.
Starke: Thou must not depart from what is
right on account of the friendship or enmity of •
the world, but must continue courageously there-
in in the duties of thy profession or calling. —
It is ever true that the love of righteousness is
attended by persecution ; but it is also true that
right will ever remain right.— Divine consolation
can give far more joy than all calumnies can-
disturb. — Hope in a true believer is only the
stronger and more steadfast, the longer divine-
help is delayed. — The mercy of God is not to be
abused as an occasion for sin, but should urge
us to the most strenuous efforts to fulfil the will
of God in a holy life. — The longer we learn in
God's school, the more we become conscious of
our yet remaining ignorance, and therefore long:
more for growth in knowledge. — He who will
pray against his enemies must be more concerned
about the hallowing of God's name than about
his own welfare. — Not to regard God's word,
but to act according to one's own will, and to do
all the works of the flesh, are sure presages of
(he impending judgments of God. — Thou wilt not
be able to fulfil God's law unless thou hast love.
Love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. xiii. 10). —
God's word must not be divided. If we hold the
one portion, we must hold the other.
Frisch : Dishonor done to God should con-
cern thee more than disgrace or injury inflicted
upon thyself in the world. — Bieger: Let no
pleasure or pain tear me from the love of God
and of His word. — Diedrich : God so deals with
his servants as to make them wise and make
them His familiar friends (John xv. 14 f.). —
Taube : Earnest zeal for God is united in all sainta
with the deeply humble spirit of the publican.
[Matt. Henry: Though our eyes fail, God's
word doth not; and therefore those that build
upon it, though now discouraged, shall in due
time see His salvation. — Bp. Horne : How ought
a man to fear lest the next sin he commits should
fill up his measure and seal his eternal doom! —
Bridges : In a season of desertion, while we
PSALM CXIX.
601
maintain a godly jealousy over our own hearts,
let us beware of a mistrustful jealousy of God.
Distrust will not cure our wound or quicken us
to prayer, or recommend us to the favor of God,
or prepare us for the mercy of the gospel. Com-
plaining is not humility. Prayer without wait-
ing is not faith.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 129-136. The greater the departure from
God's word, the more ardent the prayer for the
diffusion of His light. The depth of love in the
faithful is gauged by the depth of their sorrow
for the fallen and deceived ( Jer, 1. 9 ; Luke xix.
41; Phil. iii. 18 f.). — ^Why should supplication
for God's merciful upholding never be permitted
to cease among His servants?
Starke : The more wonderful the things are
which are contained in God's word, the more
time and diligence should be employed in appre-
hending, comprehending, learning and practising
them. Many a troubled heart still experiences
the wonderful power of the divine word, draw-
ing from it consolation, joy and life. — The love
of God is the true school in which to have the
knowledge and mysteries of God. — A pious heart
bewails not only its own sins, but also those of
others.
Franke : The Holy Scriptures are a mine to
which not merely the learned have a right, but
which is opened to the w^hole world. — Frisch :
The madness and ruin of others should make us
wise to esteem more highly the word of God,
full, as it isj of precious secrets and wonders, a
treasure-house stored with saving instruction
and heart-enlivening consolation. — Rieger: In
the anguish of sin, God's word whispers forgive-
ness to the heart and preserves us when tempted
to new sins. — Diedrich: The greater our joy in
God, the more intense is our suflFering in the
world. — Taubb : It is just what is wonderful in
God's Scriptures, that the world stumbles at,
but which attracts the single-hearted.
[Matt. Henry: Then we may expect temporal
blessings, when we have this in our eye, that we
may serve God the better.— Comfort me with the
light of Thy countenance on every dark and
cloudy day. If the world frown upon me, yet
do Thou smile. — The sins of sinners are the sor-
rows of saints; we must mourn for that which
we cannot mend. — Bridges : It is the peculiar
character of the Christian, that he is as earnest
in his desires for deliverance from the power as
from the guilt of sin. — Barnes : Nothing is more
remarkable than that pious men ordinarily feel
80 little on account of the danger of their friends
and fellow-sinners. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 137-144. Love to God is the fountain of
that zeal which seeks not its own advantage, but
the honor of God, and consumes not others, but
itself. — We cannot value the word of God at
nearly its worth, nor praise it so much as it de-
serves of us. — The word of God has its value
mid power in this: it contains, reflects and holds
forth to the apprehension of men God's eternal
righteousness, His infallible truth, and His un-
changeable purity. ♦
Starke : God s word is a clear tnirror of the
Divine righteousness, both in its promises and in
its threatenings. — The preaching of the law is to
be attended to, as well as th'e preaching of the
gospel.— The Holy Scriptures, as they are the
oldest, are also the plainest and the best book ia
the world.— What is best should ever be to ua
dearest, and above all, God and His word. — Hu-
mility, suffering, and fidelity in the ways of God,
are infallible tokens of sincerity in religion. — If
men believed from the heart, that all God's words
are nothing but truth, they would also seek to
walk as children of the truth. — The children of
the world glory in their great prosperity and
riches ; true Christians glory in their tribula-
tions (2 Cor. xii. 9).— Delight in God's word
overcomes all misfortunes.
Frisch: If thou wouldst give a token that
God is in thee, labor, with God-like zeal, against
false doctrine and godless living. — Taube : What-
ever God has ordained, kings and beggars are
bound to obey, and he who disobeys, does it at
his peril and to his own hurt ; while he who
obeys, enjoys a rich reward. — It is a blessed con-
sequence of the world's despite, and the whole-
some fruit of all aflaiction, that the faith of the
man who cleaves to God, becomes thereby more
decided, his love to God more faithful and strong,
and his delight in the word more intense (1 Cor.
iv. 12).
[Matt. Henry: That which we are com-
manded to practice is righteous ; that which we
are commanded to believe is faithful. — Bishop
HoRNE : Let our study be now in the Scriptures,
if we expect our comfort from it in time to come.
Scott: Happy are those who love. the whole
word of God, because of its purity and its puri-
fying influence upon their hearts. — The law of
God is the truth, the standard of holiness, and
the rule of happiness. — Bridges : The most
satisfactory evidence of our zeal as a Christian
principle, is when it begins at home, in a narrow
scrutiny and vehement revenge against the sins
of our own hearts. — Barnes : He who can bear
contempt on account of his opinions, can usually
bear anything. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 145-102. — When danger increases, let
not anxiety increase, but faith and prayer. — The
assurance of being heard in prayer does not flow
from our piety and zeal, but from God's mercy
and truth. — When persecutors draw near us, let
us draw near to the Omnipresent God, and cast
all our cares upon Him.
Starke : God bestows Himself and His gifta
only to praying souls. If these gifts are at all
of importance to thee, never cease praying. — •
What does it help a man, that he knows the
means of grace, God's word, and prayer, and
yet does not employ them ? — If we neglect to do
good, we very soon begin to do evil. — God proves
that He is nigh His people, especially in times
of persecution, and that by unexpected help and
protection. — God's word and promise have an
eternal foundation, and therefore nothing earthly
can overturn them.
Rieger • The mercy and justice of God, an-
nounced and displayed in His word, are a staff
of comfort. — Diedrich : God's word has the
power to make us pious and faithful ; but it lies
with ourselves to win from it a blessing. — Taube:
The earnestness of our supplications may be
tested, not only by the urgency of our cries, but
also by the time when they are offered.
[Matt. Henry : The more intimately we con-
verse with the word of God, and the more w«
602
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
dwell upon it in our thoughts, the better able
Bhall we be to speak to God in His own
language, and the better we shall know what to
pray for as we ought. Reading the word will
not serve, but we must meditate upon it. —
Bridges: Near as the Lord is to His people, to
shield them from their enemies, is He not nearer
still, when He dwells in their hearts? — Barnes :
This conviction that God is near us, this manifes-
tation of God to the soul, as a present God, is
one of the most certain assurances to our own
minds, of the truth of religion and of our ac-
ceptance with Him. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 163-160.— God's dealings follow the rule
of His righteousness, as the word of His truth
testifies ; and therefore He remains far from the
despisers of His salvation, but vouchsafes the
help of His mercy to those who crave it earnestly.
Starke : It is already the beginning of deliv-
erance when God regards us in mercy. — He who
avenges himself robs God of His honor, and en-
croaches upon His prerogative; for vengeance is
His. — All who remain siocerely and steadfastly
by God's word, find in Him a mighty Defender
and strong Protector. — There is nothing more
precious or helpful, than to approach God by
laying hold upon His mercy ; for then He can
not pass thee by, He must grant to thee what
thou dost by faith grasp so hard. — It is as dif-
ficult for the penitent in distress to avail them-
selves of God's mercy with confidence, as it is easy
for the ungodly to abuse it. — The victory of be-
lievers is gained by faith and patience in the
word of God. — Sincere endeavors to fulfil God's
commands, and unchanging hatred of all that is
ungodly, flow from ardent love to God's word. —
If God's word is nothing but truth, the founda-
tion of faith is immovable and no prayer will be
lost.
Frisch : Consider well among what manner
of persons thou hast to live in tliia world. With
respect to God, thou wilt find most to be de-
spisers ; with respect to themselves, lost, and far
from salvation; with respect to thee, persecutors
and foes. — We can trace here how the Psalmist's
turning to God, through the medium of His be-
loved word, becomes ever more tender ; how he
becomes ever more anxious to separate himself
from the desperate condition of the ungodly, who
throw away all hope of salvation by forsaking
the judgments of God. — Diedrich: I cleave to
Thy promise, nor will remain in any sin; and on
such distress as mine, Tbou must have compas-
sion.— Taube : He who presents his plea to God's
mercy, ceases to boast of his own worthiness ;
and he who praises that mercy, has discovered
the greatness of his guilt and his own inability.
[Matt. Henry : A man that is steady in the
•way of his duties, though he may have many
enemies, need fear none. — Bridges : As often
as we feel the hindrance of straitened desires
and heartless affections, let us repair to the
loving-kindness of the Lord, as the overflowing
fountain of life to the soul. Remember, to be
"filled " is the promise. We have life, but oh,
give it us more abundantly, as much as these
houses of clay, as much as these earthen vessels
can contain. — .J. F. M.J
Vers. 161-168. — To love God's word, to enjoy
His peace, to wait for His salvation — this is the
employment, reward, and joy of faith. — God's
word will profit him little who prefers the favor
of princes to the mercy of God, and dreads their
power more than he does God's hand.
Starke ; The fear of God regards the eternal
and does not depart from God's word, even
though life itself should be sacrificed ; but the
fear of man regards the temporal and prefers
honor from men to honor from God. — As long as
the heart is rent with restless desires, it cannot
be called the peaceful dwelling of God. — In
spiritual matters we must flee from all trifling
fancies of men and hold fast to God's word. — If
we allow ourselves, wilfully or neglectfully, to
commit venial sins, they grow deadly ones,
which rob us of all our powers, of spiritual life
itself. — The daily spiritual occupation of the
Christian, is to endeavor to grow in love to God
and His word, to become ever more faithful in
striving after holiness, and to keep God's com-
mandments.— A believer loves both the Law and
the Gospel. As the latter leads him to Christ
and true faith, so the former urges him to a holy
life. — If there is anything which can create holy
impressions upon men's minds, so as to influence
them to leave wickedness and do good, it is
surely the thought, apprehended by faith, of
God's omnipresence.
Franke : If our hearts are temples of the
Holy Ghost, we will no longer keep counting up
our times of praising God, but from those hearts,
as from an altar of thanksgiving, the flame of
devotion and love will unceasingly ascend in
fervent praise to Him. — Frisch: If thou dost re-
tain God's word in thy heart, it will be to thee in-
stead of the richest spoil, and in outward disquie-
tude, thou mayst encourage thyself with inward
peace in God. — Diedrich : To men of the world,
the word of God is harsh, over-strict, and difficult,
but to us, it is the highest deligh t ; and our dread
is lest, amid the temptations of the enemy, we may
through unfaithfulness and indolence, depart
from it. — Taube : The praise of God and the
peace of God, are the legitimate consequences of
a sanctified life.
[Matt. Henry : The more we see of the amia-
ble beauty of truth, the more we shall see of the
detestable deformity of a lie. — They that love the
world have great vexation, for it does not an-
swer their expectations ; they that love God's
word have great peace, for it outdoes their ex-
pectations.— Bishop Horne : Christ alone kept
the old law, and He enableth us to observe the
new. — Bridges: Conscious unworthiness may
give a trembling feebleness to the hand of faith,
but the weakest apprehension of one of the least
of the gospel promises, assures of our interest in
them all. — Why may we not set all the fulness
of the covenant before the weakest believer, as
well as before the strongest, and proclaim to
both, with equal freedom, the triumphant chal-
lenge: " Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect?" — How beautiful is that spirit
which not only longs for holiness as the way to
heaven, but loves heaDipen better for the holy way
that leads to it, and for the perfect holiness that
reigns there eternally. — Barnes : Religion is es-
sentially voluntary, and the times of secret de
votion must also be'' voluntary ; and therefore a
man can easily determine, by his own secret de-
PSALM CXX.
603
Votion, whether he has any peculiar interest, at
any particular time, in religion, or whether he
has any religion at all. — J. F.' M.]
Vers. 169-176. — Thanksgiving for the hearing
of prayer emboldens to renewed supplication,
and opens the way for new blessings. ^The faith-
fulness of God our Shepherd the cause of our
salvation, and the perpetual subject of our
prayers and thanksgiving,
Stakke : As ingratitude stops the fountain of
the Divine mercy, so gratitude opens it. — Is it
not because men are ashamed of God and His
word before others, that there are so very few
conversations on Divine things ? — The more
God's word is read and heard, the more consola-
tion does it impart, like those odoriferous plants
and spices, which, the more they are bruised,
give forth the sweeter perfume. — The soul can-
not praise God if it does not live^ and no praise
is pleasing to God, unless it comes from a soul
which lives in Him. — Whenever a man fancies
he is better than others, and belongs to a higher
type of Christianity, he soon loses all the good he
once had. — The whole of religion is comprised
in three things, namely : a true knowledge of the
misery of sin, an earnest striving to gain re-
demption, and a genuine amendment of life ac-
cording to the precepts of God's word. — Luther:
A Christian is not in being, but in becoming ; his
life is not piety, but a becoming pious ; not
health, but convalescence ; not rest, but exer-
cise; we are not yet, we are only to be; with us
there is no completion, but only progress and
ceaseless action ; we are not at the goal, but
upon the way. — Franke : The cause of the
feebleness in religion, which many manifest, is
that they soon leave off praying, if God does not
hear at once. — The sinful lusts, which are
against God's commandment, contend also against
our souls, and slay us if we persist in them. —
DiEDRicH : Let me but understand Thy word
truly, and then come what will. — TAtruE : Pov-
erty of spirit is the beginning and the end of the
life of grace. — It was I that strayed and was
lost; it was Thou that didst seek and find and
keep.
[Matt. Henry: They that pray for God's
grace, must aim at God's glory. — We are apt to
wander like the sheep, and very unapt, when we
wander, to find the way again. — Lord, own me
for one of them, for, though I am a stray sheep,
I have Thy mark. Concern Thyself for me ; send
after me by the word and conscience and provi-
dence ; bring me back by Thy grace. — Thus he
concludes the Psalm, with a penitent sense of his
own sin, and a believing dependence on God's
grace. With these a devout Christian will con-
clude his duties, will conclude his life; he will
live and die repenting and praying. — Bishop
Horne : Restore us, oh Lord Jesus, by Thy
grace to righteousness, and by Thy power to
glory! — Bridges: The life of prayer is the cry
of the heart to God. The eloquence of prayer
is its earnestness. The power of prayer is the
spirit of supplication. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXX.
A Song of Degrees.
in my distress I cried
Unto the Lord, and he heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lip^
And from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee ?
Or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty,
, With coals of juniper.
6 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech,
Thai I dwell in the tents of Kedar I
6 My soul hath long dwelt
With him that hateth peace.
7 I am for peace : but when I speak.
They are for war.
604
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition, — On the super-
Bcription compare Introd. ^ 6, No. 5. We have
but little to add here. Ewald now decides for
the reference to the festival journeys to Jerusa-
lem. So also Liebusch in the Ouedlinburg Os-
terprogramin. 1866, mentions " The pilgrim songs
in the Fifth Book of the Psalms." Delitzsch, on
the contrary, now holds to the expression "songs
of ascents," but refers, it, with Gesenius and
others, to the artificial climactic form of the
rhythm, in which the poem, by the repetition of
one of the significant words immediately pre-
ceding advances by a gradual ascent. Hitzig
traces this obscure and doubtful term, for which
none of the explanations proposed are sufficient,
(Hupfeld), to a word-play, by the collector and
redactor of the fifteen Psalms which are fur-
nished with this title, referring to the steps of
the Temple. For the ascent to the outer court
was made through each of the three gates by se-
ven steps, and that to the inner court by eight ;
and in this small collection of songs, which are
closely connected by many similarities both of
form and contents, the first contains seven, the
second eight verses. It is further to be remarked
that, in Ps. cxxi. is written exceptionally lam-
madldth, which seems to favor the explanation :
"for the upward journeys" (Aquila, Symma-
chus), but may just as well mean : after the man-
ner of steps (Del.); for it is just in that Psalm
that the climactic structure, which in others al-
most disappears, is displayed quite characteris-
tically. This difference is entirely unnoticed by
the Sept., Chald., and Jerome, and regarded by
Hitzig as a mistake of the copyist.
[Hengstenberg, with whom Alexander and Pe-
rowne, as well as most commentators, agree, fa-
vors the view first mentioned above. Against the
view given in the Syrian translation, and also by
Chrysostom and Theodoret, and formerly held
by Ewald, that the title refers to those songs
which were sung by Israel on the way home
from Babylon, he urges the consideration that
David and Solomon are mentioned as the com-
posers of some of the Psalms which bear that
title. He accounts for the position assigned to
those Psalms, and the dissimilarity of style and
modes of thought between them and the others,
on the hypothesis, that " these five ancient
Psalms, sung by the people, as they went up to
Jerusalem, before the captivity, were made the
basis of a whole series or system, designed for
the same use, by an inspired writer, after the
restoration, who not only added new Psalms of
his own, as appears from the resemblances of
tone and diction, but joined them to the old ones
in a studied or artificial manner, entirely incon-
sistent with the supposition of fortuitous or ran-
dom combination." On the characteristics of
the Psalms bearing the general title, he re-
marks: " These Psalms have much in common.
The tone never rises in any of them above a cer-
tain height, and descends very speedily from
that height when gained. They all bear the cha-
racter of simplicity. With the exception of Ps.
cxxxii. they are all of short compass. In all of
them, with the same exception, the parallelism
of the clauses is little attended to. No one of'
them bears an individual character; they all re-
fer to the whole Church of God with the excep-
tion, in some measure, of Ps. cxxvii., which,
without being individual, places before us, in
the first instance, the particular members of the
Church, but which the collector has applied also
to the circumstances of the whole community." —
J. F. M.]
In the Psalm before us is first presented an
acknowledgment of prayer heard in former times
(ver. 1). There is then offered a prayer for deli-
verance from thepower of a false, warlike, and sa-
vage enemy (vers. 2-4). The suppliant longing for
peace then complains (vers. 6-7) of that enemy's
implacable hatred, this complaint being the more
sorrowful and urgent, as he had already bitterly
experienced, dwelling as he did in the midst of
such savage foes, the painful contrast, already
too much aggravated, to his former condition.
Nothing definitely can be said as to the histori-
cal situation, not even whether the author had
in mind purely personal experiences, or suffer-
ings of his nation shared by him. Nor can we'
say whether the name of the enemy is to be taken
historically or symbolically.
Vers. 2-4, The expressions here are so con-
cise and obscure, and it is possible to connect
them in so many different ways, that the sense
is highly doubtful. It is first most readily sug-
gested to consider ver. 3 as a Oontinuation of the
address to Jehovah, and to take the deceitful
tongue as the subject (Mendelssohn, Olshausen).'
But such a question would afford a sense but
little suitable, and would be still less aptly con-
nected with ver. 4. It has therefore been pro-
posed to invert this order, and to regard Jeho-
vah as the subject, and the deceitful tongue as
addressed-in the vocative (many since Isaaki,
also Hengst. and Del.) An allusion is then sup-
posed to exist to the formula usually employed
in the announcement of the Divine punishments,
(1 Sam. iii. 17 and frequently), and ver. 4 is
taken as a continuation of the question, and as a
figurative description of the tongue (J. D. Mich.,
Ewald), which is a sharp sword (Ps, Ivii. 5), and
a pointed arrow (Jer. ix, 7), and like the fire of
hell (James iii. 6) ; or it is regarded as the an-
swer to the question, and as a sarcastic descrip-
tion of the punishments (comp. Ps. cxl. 11) ac-
cording to the law of retribution. But the sup-*
position of a sudden change of subject is very
harsh in this connection, nor do adequate rea-
sons for it appear. If, then, we return to the
construction, according to which the deceitful
tongue is the subject, it would certainly be in
the highest degree forced and strange to suppose
the possessor of the tongue to be meant, as m6-
tonymically implied in ver. 2, and ver, 4 to men-
tion the punishments to be inflicted upon him for
his deceitful conduct (Chald., de Dieu) or to der
scribe figuratively the injuries which he causes
to others, while he himself gains nothing by them
(Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Calvin, and many of the
older expositors; also Rosenmiiller and De
Wette). But, instead of this, there would be an
address to the Poet, whether in the form of a
question put by himself, or by a third person, in
poetical fashion, or whether it is, which however
is least probable, referred to an indefinite per-
PSALM CXX.
TJVI
005,
son, as being a general expression. Ver. 4 would
then present the conditions which called forth
the prayer in ver. 2, expressing figuratively the
dangerous eifects of the tongue, but in the form
of an answer (Hitzig), and not as an explanatory
description (Luther," Geier)i [Dr. Moll thus
translates vers. 3, 4 : "What to thee gives, and
what to thee brings the tongue of deceit?" (tongue
being the subject). "Arrows of a strong one,
sharpened, along with coals of the broom-tree,"
This ingenious mode of viewing the passage ap-
pears to present its most natural connection,
and, at the same time, to bring out its poetic
beauty. The following rendering of— v-ers^.I^4
will exhibit this view, the arrangement of the
clauses in the original being in some cases ne-
glected for the sake of perspicuity.
1. {The Poet). I called to Jehovah in my dis-
tress, and He answered me.
2. Jehovah, deliver me from lips of lying, from
the tongue of deceit.
3. {A third person is represented as addressing
the Poet). What does the tongue of deceit give
thee and bring to thee ?
4. [The Poet). Arrows of a mighty man, sharp- 1
ened, with coals of the broom-tree.
The opinion mentioned above, as that of Heng-
stenberg and Delitzsch, is favored by Alexander
and Perowne. — J. F. M.]
The roots of the reihem, that is, of the broom-
tree (Gesen.), not of the juniper (Jerome, the-
Rabbins, and the older expositors), furnish the
best wood- coals in the opinion of the Arabs
(Burckhardt, Reisen in Syrien IL, 791, 1073.
Robinson, Palestine, I., 336). They retain the
glow longest, and, therefore, along with sharp
arrows, are a suitable figure in the present con-
nection. It is not said that the arrows .were
sharpened with broom-tree coals, or hardened,
pointed in them (older expositors cited in De
Wette), or that they were burning (Knapp). The
particular term is perhaps chosen in allusion to
the mention made in the following verse of !an
abode in the tents of Kedar, a predatory Arab
tribe (Gen. x. 2 ; Isa. xlii. }1 ; Ix. 7 ; Sol. Song
i. 6). But it does not folloW' from this, any more
than it does from the cry of woe, (Calv., J. H.
Mich.), that ver. 4 should be severed from the
preceding verse.
Vers. 6, 6. Neither can ver. 4 be combined
with the following verse, as though it represented
the same historical situation. For we cannot
justify the ingenious change of the reading ^SnJ
into ■' 7nX (Hupfeld), in order to gain the mean-
ing : the arrows of a warrior are sharp in the
tents of Rethamim, according to the analogy of
ver, 5, and the similar proper name in Numb,
xxxiii. 18. Moreover Mesech is named besides,
along with Kedar, as a place of residence. This
name points to a region between the Caspian and
Black Seas in the far North near Magog (Ezek.
xxxviii. 2). The attempts which have been
made to bring it into connection with Damascus
(Hitzig), or to refer it to another Ishmaelitish
tribe elsewhere unmentioned (Olshausen), or to
explain it appellatively of the long duration of the
abode in a strange land (Sept. et al.) and thus to
do av^ay y^ith the proper name, have arisen from
the difficulty of assigning to the. author a resi-
dence among two tribes so far apart, especially
when such reeidence is also described as still
continuing. Most expositors, theretore, since
Saadias and Calvin, regard both names as figu-
rative designations of rude and hostile compa-
nions. These are supposed by some to have
be^en the nations among whon^. the .Jews lived iti.
the Exile; by' others, the Samaritans, who re-
tarded the re-building of the city ; by others
still, the tribes among whom the people of God
dwelt during the dispersion.
[Ver. 7. Delitzsch : "He, for his part \s peace,
(corap. Micah ix. 4; Pss. cix. 4; ex. 3), inas-
.nuich-as.lov« of peace, readiness for peace, and
longing for peace fills his soul : yet, if he does
but open his mouth, they are for war, their voice
and conduct become hostile at once. . . . The
Psalm ends with the shrill dissonance of wh^O
and noriTD. The cry for help, with which it
begins,-^ lingers hovering over that discord, long-
ing for its removal." — J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. ^
To him who seeks peace, it is not always
granted, in this world, to live in peace with those
about him. He must often, and sometimes for
a long period, have the bitterest experiences of
their quarrelsome and hostile dispositions, and
suffer much pain from their sore and malicious
attacks by word and act. But the living God
remains ever his Refuge, and the blessed expe-
rience of prayers, heard in times past, strength-
ens and encourages his faith in the coming of a
like blessing in the troubled present, and his
hopes of deliverance after renewed supplication.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
"The pious have no peace in the world, but they
can rest in God -^Wounds, inflicted by a sharp
and malicious tongue, burn more severely than
fire does, but God has a balm for them. — Blessed
is he, who, though experiencing suffering in this
evil world, experiences deliverance too, from
answers to prayer.
Starke : Liars and calumniators are the most
injurious people in the world, and yet they in-
jure none as much as they do themselves ; for
they are accursed, and an abomination unto God.
— The kingdom of the devil is a kingdom of lies,
and will in all likelihood, continue so, but
Christ's kingdom is one of eternal truth, whose
fruit is peace and love. — The true Church has
ever to dwell among the most cruel enemies, and
under oppression. Frisch: It is much easier to
heal a severe wound, than to repair the effects
of a calumny circulated by lying tongues.—^
GuENTHER : The troubled, filthy spring of evil
speaking is selfishness, envy, hatred of brethren,
departure from God. If therefore, it is a sure
mark of godlessness, and of a carnal disposition,
to slander one's brother, it is not to be wondered
at, if the children of light have to suffer most
from such poisonous arrows. — Taube: He who
has entered into communion with the God of
peace, through the blood of reconciliation, is a
child of peace (Matt. v. 9), while the wicked are
like the troubled sea, which can never rest. (Is.
Ivii. 20f.). - ■'' ■ ^
606
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
[Bp. Horne: Marvel not, 0 disciple of Jesus!
if the world hate and oppose thee, but pray only
that, when thou shalt be used as He was, thou
mayest be enabled to bear that usage as He did.
Barnes : 1 cried unto the Lord, etc. I had no
other resource. I could not meet the slander, I
could not refute it. I could not prevent its ef-
fects on my reputation, and all that I could do
was to commit the case to the Lord. — There is a
world of peace, and the peace of heaven will be
all the more grateful and blessed, when we go
up to it from such a scene of conflict and war. —
J. F. M.].
PSALM CXXI.
A Song of degrees,
I will lift Up mine eyes unto the hills,
From whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord,
Which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved :
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper:
The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand,
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day.
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil :
He shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
From this time forth, and even for evermore.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Poet lifts
his eyes to the mountains, upon which is Jeho-
vah's seat, with the assurance, that from therice
protection from all that can imperil body and
soul, and help in every situation of life, will be
vouchsafed him by the almighty and eternal
God, who is not only the Creator of the world,
but the Keeper of Israel, and who never grows
weary in His activity and care. The change of
persons is probably to be regarded as a poetical
figure. A responsive song between a single
voice (vers. 1 and 3), and the believing Church
(vers. 2, 4), with the words of the Priest in
(vers. 6-8). in support of such trust (Olsh.), is
not definitely indicated. The confidence of
trust is expressed already in ver. 1 6, without
the need of taking the sentence relatively (the
German, English and Dutch Bibles) against the
prevailing usage of j'XD (yet comp. Josh. ii. 4).
The question is not one of uncertainty or doubt,
but is a figure of speech.
The particular situation of the Poet cannot be
discovered. It is not even to be assumed with
certainty that he was in exile, or on a festival
journey. For the mountains to which he lifts
his eyes are not any high places whatever
in the world (Calvin et al), from which
help was expected, or the mountains within his
present range of vision (Amyrald, Geier, J. H.
Mich.), or those of Palestine, which the home-
sick exile beholds in fancy (De Wette), but those
of Jerusalem, or of Zion (Ps. Ixxxvii. 1; cxxv,
2; cxxxiii. 3) as the dwelling-place of God and
the place whence help proceeds (Ps. iii. 6; xiv.
7). But there is nothing to show whether the
Poet was in Jerusalem itself, or in its vicinity,
or at a distance. The conjecture of an allusion
to Samaria, in the sixfold repetition of the catch-
word "^Oiy (Hengstenberg, Hitzig), is too bold,
since the guardianship of Jehovah is the funda-
mental thought.
PSALM CXXI.
607
Vers, 1-4. [The second member of ver. 1,
sLould be an interrogative sentence as explained
above. — J. F. M,]. It is by no means admissi-
ble to obliterate (Rosenm., De Wette) the dis-
tinction between the subjective negative 7K ver
3, and the objective i^l, ver. 4. [Pbeowne:
*' The Psalmist turns to address himself. First he
utters the wish that God's watchful care may be
extended to him, and then the conviction that the
Keeper of Israel, He who has been the God of his
fathers, who has led the nation through all its
eventful history, doth not, will not, cannot,
slumber or sleep, comp. cxxxii. 4, 1 Kings xviii.
27 ; Is. V. 27 ; Job vii. 20."— J. F. M.]. By the
exclamation: behold! (ver. 4), the assurance,
that the Keeper of Israel cannot sleep, is still
further supported. As the seed of Abraham,
Israel could appropriate to itself the promise of
Gen. xxviii. 15, so much the more confidently.
No climax, however, is to be sought (Calv. Geier,
J. H. Mich.), in the two verbs. On the contrary
the former is the stronger, meaning literally :
to snore. (Bupfeld). The strengthening of the
expression is effected by the accumulation of
synonyms.
Vers. 6, 6. The shade is an image of protection
(Numb. xiv. 9; Ps xci. 1); and this figure has some-
thing peculiarly attractive to the Oriental, even
when not a traveller. It occurs here as prepar-
ing the way for the mention of the Sun, which
immediately follows, but has not a physical and
local meaning=over thy right hand (Luther) or :
lying towai'ds thy right hand, that is, towards
the south, or protecting on the sunny side (J. D.
Mich., Muntinghe). This is plain, if we consider
that the injurious influences proceeding from
the sun and moon are introduced only as repre-
sentative of dangers by day and night, against
which the ever-watchful God grants protection.
But a real phenomenon of nature lies at the
foundation of the figure'. Recent travellers of
scientific culture report expressly, that hurtful
influences upon the human frame are not only
everywhere ascribed to the moon by popular be-
lief, but that effects similar to those manifested
in sun-stroke, are produced by the moonbeams.
There is no reference, therefore, to coldness by
nigbt as contrasted with the heat of the day.
Gen. xxxi, 40 ; Jer. xxxvi. 30 (Hengst., after
Aben Ezra, Kimohi, Calvin, Geier, et al.), nor is
the moon introduced for the sake of the poetic
parallelism (Hupfe^d) rt37} to smite, of the de-
structive beating of the sun (Is. xlix. 40), upon
plants, causing them to wither (Ps. cii. 6), and
upon the head (Jonah iv. 8), resulting (Del.) in
the symptoms of sunstroke (2 Kings iv. 19,
Judith viii. 2f.). [Delitzsch: " Many years
ago I heard a clergyman elucidate this passage
from his own experience. While he was ascend-
ing a peak of the Riesengebirge, the moon-
beams smote upon him so strongly, that he was
compelled to shield his eyes with leafy twigs.
And not long since I heard from Texas, that
sleeping in the open air when the moon shines
was in that country frequently followed by diz-
ziness, mental aberration, and even death."
Other accounts from Batavia are given by De
Wette and from the East generally by Ewald.
Many expositors, however, understand by the
smiting of the moon, the cold that is felt during
the night, as being contrasted with the heat of
the sun, comp. Gen. xxxi. 39; Jer. xxxvi. 30
(Hengst. et al.) De Sacy remarks: "they say
sometimes of intense cold, as of intense heat that
it is burning J" "The Arab also says of snow and
cold as of fire, jahrik, it burns." (Delitzsch).
The same usage was noticed by Defoe, who, in
Robinson Crtcsoe, makes Friday utter the same
exclamation during his first experience of snow.
—J. F. M.].
Ver. 8. The going out and the coming in do
not denote specially going abroad and returning
home, in the beginning and completion of any
undertaking (Hengst.). but the whole life, and
its occupations (Hupfeld, et al.). This is proved
by the usage of the expression in many passages
[Pebowne : "Comp. Deut. xxviii. 6; xxxi. 2; 1
bam. xxix. 6, etc. The threefold expression :
' shall keep thee. . . thy soul. . . thy going out and
thy coming in,' marks the completeness of the pro-
tection vouchsafed, extending to all that the man
is, and that he does. Comp. 1 Thess. v. 23." — J.
F. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Men have not only to expect confidently help
from God, they must also pray for it, and are
permitted to resort trustingly to Him. — What
consolation is contained in the reflection, that
the Creator of the world is not only the God of
revelation, but also the eternal Keeper of His
Church, and of each of its members! — God nei-
ther confines His help to time and place, nor is
limited in it by any creature whatever, nor directs
it to any exclusive sphere of bodily or spiritual
need. — God is our Keeper in everything; but do
we at all times place ourselves rightly under His
protection ?
Starke : In time of need, our ruined nature
is sorely inclined to seek help in those objects
which can render none. — As mountains are a
natural stronghold, so are God's protection and
assistance our more than natural mountain and
fortress. — Thou troubled child of God, dost thou
doubt that thou shalt be preserved ? If God pre-
serves the heavens and the earth which He has
made, should He not also preserve thee ?-God has
a watchful but loving and merciful eye upon His
children. He sees from afar all misfortune, and
can avert it in time. — If the soul is lost, all is
lost ; Satan is continually laying his snares for
it ; do thou then pray the more fervently ; 0
Lord! keep my soul! — The most important
changes of a man's life, are his entrance into
the world and his departure from it ; in both
the Divine preservation is indispensable. — Thou
hast God's promise, so do thou, 0 fellow Chris-
tian 1 appropriate it believingly to thyself in
every undertaking. — Frisch: Distress teaches
us men to look around for help. But it is to be
lamented that the timid heart does not know how
to compose itself and seek it in the right place.—
Help does not come to men from the place whither
the flesh looked for it, but whither the soul of Da-
vid turned to receive it. — Umbreit: All the acts
of the pious are performed under God's protec-
tion, whether abroad or at home. — Guentheb:
The departure from life, and the entrance into the
608
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
eternal abodes of safety, are the goal of life, the
first of all cares, and the highest of all joys. — 0
Lord ! we are all travellers through life ; we
would also be true pilgrims. — Taube; The
guardianship of God over the whole life, over
time and eternity. — Huyssen : The hope of the
Christian in the dangers of war. — Diedrich:
Grod's Church is exhausted here and encompassed
by dangers ; our comfort is, that God will guard
us His inheritance, and lead us home to Himself.
[Matt. Henry: It is infinite wisdom that
contrives, and infinite wisdom that works the
safety of those, that have put themselves under
God's protection. — Those must needs be well
kept, that have the Lord for their Keeper. If
by affliction they be made His prisoners, yet,
still He is their Keeper. — He shall prevent the
evil thou fearest, and sanctify, remove, or lighten
the evil thou feelest. He shall keep thee from
doing evil, 1 Cor. xiii. 7, and so far from suffer-
ing evil, as that whatever afflictions happen to
thee, there shall be no evil in them. Even that
which kills shall not hurt. — He will keep thee in
life and death, thy going out and thy going on
while thou livest, and thy coming in when thou
diest, going out (o thy labor in the morning of
thy days, and coming home to thy rest, when the
evening of old age calls thee in. Ps. civ. 20. — ■
J. F. M.].
PSALM CXXIL
A Song of degrees of David.
I TTas glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
2 Our feet shall stand
Within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is builded
As a city that is compact together :
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel,
To give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
6 For there are set thrones of judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem :
They shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy walls,
And prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sakes,
I will now say, Peace be witliin thee.
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God.
We will seek thy good.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist
had rejoiced in those, who, at the close of their
pilgrim-journey to Jerusalem, had expressed to
him their intention of visiting the bouse of God.
(vers. 1, 2). This gives occasion to him to cele-
brate the praise of Jerusalem, as a city unbroken
and perfectly regular in its structure, whither
the tribes of Jehovah, according to the law
established in Israel, made their festival jour-
iieys, and which, besides this religious import*
ance, exercised great political influence as the,
seat of the kingdom of David (vers. 3-6), Peace
and prosperity should be invoked for this city
and its inhabitants, and the Psalmist sets the
example of such supplication, as a companion of
the people and a lover of God's house (vers. 6-,
9). The text, however, on account of theindefi-
niteness of the Hebrew tenses, has given occasion
also to other explanations. But this view seems
most suitable, if the Davidio authorship be held.
The statement to that effect in the superscription
is, it is true, not found in the Sept. etal.; but it
occurs in the Heb. Text, and cannot be directly
PSALM CXXII.
609
disproved from the contents of the Psalm, or
from its linguistic peculiarities. For the E' pre-
fixed, vers. 3 and 4, is a poetical form which is
found even in the most ancient songs. — [Alex-
ander: "This Psalm, though so much older
than the two before it, was probably placed third
in the series because it was intended to be sung,
and actually was sung, at the entrance of the
Holy City, whereas the others were used at the
commencement of the march and on coming in
sight of Jerusalem." On the other hahd, Pe-
rowne prefers to look for a composition subse-
quent to the exile, and cannot regard the ex-
pression: " thrones of the house of David," as a
natural one in the mouth of David himself. But,
apart from the evidence of the superscription,
an argument against the lateness of the compo-
sition may be based upon this very expression,
as has been done by Hengstenberg. For it evi-
dently points to a time when the kingdom of
D.ivid was still flourishing. Besides as Hengst.
also remarks, how could the allusion to the
beautiful compactness of the city be of force
after the exile? Perowne very properly objects,
on account of the joyful tone of the poem, to the
opinion of Ewald, that it contains *' a blessing
on a party of pilgrims uttered by an old man re-
turned from the exile, himself unequal to a jour-
ney across the desert." — J, F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2 I joyed in those that said, etc,
[E. v.: I joyed when they said, e/c] The mode of
expression is not favorable to the supposition that
the Psalmist had just received the invitation to
join the festal train, that he expresses his joy
thereat, and directs his gaze to Jerusalem in hope
of speedily arriving thither (Luther and most).
It is a retrospect that he makes (Sept., Aquila,
and the ancient versions generally). But he
says neither that his joy was at an end, nor that
the time when it was excited was very remote.
This remains quite indefinite. The Psalmist
only mentions a certain experience and the feel-
ing thereby excited. His joyful feelings had fpr
their direct object, not the journey, but the per-
sons who had spoken to the Psalmist with regard
to it, and whose words contained both an invita-
tion and a positive statement. The invitation
relates to a journey to be made to the house of
God in company with the Psalmist; the informa-
tion, to journeys previously and happily per-
formed by the speakers, and therefore passes
over into an expression of praise. This could
very well have happened in the experience of
David in Jerusalem, before whom the pilgrims
had appeared. There is not the slightest occa-
sion for connecting it with the absence of David
and his longing after the sanctuary during the
flight before Absalom (Del.). [Delitzsch merely
gives this as the most suitable time, if the com-
position were to be assigned to David. But his
opinion, more decidedly pronounced in his last
edition, is that the Psalm was composed by one
who was gazing upon Jerusalem restored from
its ruin after the exile. He therefore renders,
inver. 3: rebuilt, instead of built.— J. F. M.]
No indication of longing or of sorrow is heard;
but everything breathes joy, and the assertion
that the absence of the poet from Jerusalem is
understood as a matter of course (Hupfeld), is
wholly a product of fancy. Nor is there any oc-
39
casion for taking the words as a prophecy (Cal-
vin, Venema). Nothing points to the future.
On the contrary, the participle with H^n ex-
presses duration of time, extending through the
past into the present. In any case, ver. 2 can
be detached entirely from the one preceding,
which would then be taken as the introduction,
and may be understood as expressing not the
words of the pilgrims, but of the poet harmoni-
zing with them. But this view is not absolutely
necessary. If it be the correct one, these words
in the mouth of David could be justified only on
the supposition that he speaks for the people
(Hengst.), and the poet would be made to appear
as a fellow-pilgrim, unknown to us from any
other indications, journeying from the country
outside to the Holy City, in company with the
visitors at the festival, who speak in ver. 1. He,
arrived at the end of his journey, breaks forth
in admiring praise at the sight of the glorious
beauty of Jerusalem, after first expressing the
delight which he had experienced at the time of
the invitation in those who had addressed it to
him. But this view is certainly more to be com-
mended than the assumption that ver. 2 also
contains a retrospect, and that the whole poem
was sung on the return from the journey (De-
litzsch), or by an exile (Ewald), who, in joyful
sympathy with the resolution of some pious Is-
raelites, to undertake a pilgrimage, relapsed into
reminiscences of the time when his feet too were
standing in the gates of Jerusalem. [Vers. 1, 2
are thus translated by Dr. Moll :
I took delight in those who said to me:
We will go into the house of Jehovah ;
Our feet have become standing
In thy gates, Jerusalem.
This view, according to which ver. 2 is a con-
tinuation of the words of the pilgrims, is the-
most suitable, if David be regarded as the author.
Perowne, holding the other view, joins it to ver.
3. — The rendering "tfhall stand" in E. V. iy
ungrammatical. The true meaning expressed
freely is probably: have gained a place. On the
meanings of the subst. verb with the part., see
Ewald, 168 c.— J. F. M.].
Ver. 3. Jerusalem, thou that art built up.
[E. v.: is builded.] Taken by itself, this ex-
pression would be meaningless. It has there-
fore often been taken emphatically: built up
loftily, stately (most), or, under the supposition-
of a composition after the exile: thou that art
rebuilt (Hupfeld, Del.). But the former is lin-
guistically inadmissible; the latter an unsup-
ported assumption. To gain the surest meaning,
it is best to connect it with the following word'
by which a sentence results, somewhat halting
in structure, it is true, but yet not altogether
without example. But the object of the building
is not that men should assemble there (Luther).
The character of Jerusalem is exhibited as a
city self-inclosed, adhering closely together as a-
community (Sept. Symmachus). The city, how-
ever, is not contrasted with the scattered dwell-
ings of a village (Aben Ezra and many older ex-
positors), as though the verse expressed the ad-
miration felt by a rustic pilgrim, who, for the
first time, beholds a great city (H-erder, De
Wette). It is mentioned, either as- one which
had no breaches in its wall (Hitaig, who refera.
610
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS,
specially to the building operations of Jonathan),
or, generally, as one that was secure and strong
on account of its compact structure. The older
Eabbins, following the Targum, interpreted the
expression as referring to the heavenly Jerusa-
lem; and so it has often been applied, in the
mystical sense, in the Christian Church. [Trans-
late ver. 3 : Jerusalem, thou that art built up as
a city that is compact together. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 4. This verse is a retrospect of actual
events ; but it does not intimate that they had
happened long, for centuries, or since ancient
times, but that the tribes which, as being those
of God s people, are here called the tribes of Je-
hovah, had already for some time observed this
custom. Accordingly the law referring to it,
Ex. xxiii. 14, 15 ; Deut. xvi. 16, is mentioned as
& *' testimony of Israel." The term !\^iy does
not imply that it was an old-established
custom, but only that the tribes who formed
the united Israel had already publicly professed
their allegiance to this law, and abided by it.
David, in the later years of his life, could express
himself thus, and apply the words of ver. 6,
■which are employed more objectively here with
relation to his house, with a meaning based upon
the prophecy in 2 Sam. vii., if the verse be not
itself a prophecy.
Ver. 6. The thrones are not magisterial
benches=court8 of justice under David's autho-
rity (Hengst.), or a court of inferior judges
formed by the sons of the king (J. H. Mich, et
4zl.), but the thrones of a judge=throne8 of the
king (Rosenmiiller et al.); for the administration
of justice was the original and principal duty of
the monarch in times of peace ^2 Sam. xv. 2; 1
Kings iii. 16). The word for is explained by
the consideration that Jerusalem owed its eleva-
tion, as the religious centre of the nation, to its
previous position as the civil capital (Hengst.).
[Render vers. 4, 6: Whither the tribes went up
— the tribes of Jehovah — a law of Israel — to give
thanks to the name of Jehovah. For there were
set thrones for judgment — thrones for the house
of David.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 6, 7. The wishes are arranged allitera-
tively, and contain unmistakable allusions to the
name Jerusalem and its signification=peacefuL
dwelling. But the word schaldm is more com-
prehensive than our word peace [_Friede]; it in-
cludes welfare or prosperity and happiness.
Ver. 6 does not call for an inquiry=ask after
the peace (Sept. et al.), but for intercession=
pray for the peace of Jerusalem. In ver. 6 b.
we are not to supply : saying (Isaaki, Geier) ; it
is the wish of the speaker himself (J. H. Mich.)
in behalf of those who love Jerusalem, as con-
trasted with those who hate Zion (Ps. cxxix. 5).
"The walls or the bulwarks and the palaces are
not intended to represent the outside and inside
(most), but express the idea of the city itself
(Ps. xlviii. 14).
Ver. 8 shows that no reproach of selfishness
or private interest could possibly be made. The
welfare of all the members of the Church lies
close to the heart of the Psalmist (comp. Jer.
xxix. 7). It is doubtful whether in the second
member the rendering should be : pronounce
peace over thee, i. e., wish and pray for thee
peace (Sept., Luther and most) or: speak peace,
for peace in thee (Calvin, Geier, Venema, Hup-
feld) or : say, peace be in thee (Piscator, Koster,
Hengst., Olshausen).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
He who loves the people of God must not only
be willing to build and protect for them the
house of God, but must also invite them thither,
and walk thither with them. — Peace rules only
where tlie God of peace dwells; cleave thou then
to the city of peace which is the Church of the
living God — When we go out of our houses, let
us see well to it, (1) with whom, (2) whither,
(3) for what purpose. — The greatest glory of a
city is not that it is large, strong and magnifi-
cent, but that it gathers, protects and builds up
God's Church within it. — He who delights to
give thanks, will also delight to pray, and that
not only for himself, but also with and for others.
Blessed is the man for whom attendance upon
the house of God is a season of delight and an
occasion of thanksgiving, praise and prayer. —
Blessed are the people whose national life has
for its centre the sanctuary of God.
Calvin : When the welfare of our brethren is
dear to us, when we have religion in our hearts,
then we must, as far as in us lies, care for the
prosperity of the Church.
Staeke: The true worship of God and the ex-
ercise of righteousness are strong pillars of a
city or state. — The ministers of God's word have
not only to pray themselves for the welfare of
the Church, but also to exhort their people dili-
gently to do the same. — Peace, with its delights,
is one of the most precious of earthly blessings.
But what is more abused ? — The true members
of the Church possess that inward spiritual peace
which includes all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places. — How blessed is the communion of saints !
Daily and hourly can a citizen of the spiritual
Jerusalem enjoy thousands of wishes of peace,
uttered for him by believers throughout the
whole world. — Those are the true patriots who,
without seeking their own advantage, seek and
entreat help for the well-being of their fellow-
countrymen and the furthering of true religion.
Frisch: A place is made illustrious and glo-
rious only by a good government and the true
worship of God. — Arnut: God blesses His peo-
ple with peace and all blessings when they ma-
nifest brotherly love; but see who the true
brethren of Christ are. — Rieqer: Prayer must
be made continually, that good regulations in
the Church and in schools may not fall into dis-
use, that good plans may not be marred by dis-
cord.— Reiohel : All the regulations which David
made had a reference to the house of the Lord.
He devoted every day of his latest years to
building it up and directing its services. He
delighted in all that spoke to him of it, and en-
joyed its worship. — Tholuok; David prepared
a dwelling-place for the Lord upon Zion, because
he loved it, and his heart clung more to that
place, because he had prepared a dwelling-place
there for God. — Diedrich: Wherever men as-
semble, according to God's appointment, to enjoy
in common what He reveals, there is JiTrijsalem.
— Taube: David's city is the city of Go4; for
in David's person is represented a two folo^typ*
PSALM CXXIII.
611
— the God-ordained king and the servant of the
Lord. — David desired to have one thing implored
for his beloved city — peace, that it might prevail
in the city of peace — vsrithout before the walls,
within in each dwelling. — Ltncker: Concerning
pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem, (1) what
joy it excites (vers. 1-3) ; (2) what prospects it
opens (vers. 4, 5) ; (3) what obligations it in-
volves (vers. 6-9).
[Matt. Henky : They that rejoice in the Lord,
will rejoice in calls and opportunities to wait
upon Him, — We should desire our Christian
friends, when they have any good work in hand,
to call for us and take us along with them. — We
must pray for Jerusalem, not out of custom or
for fashion's sake, but out of a principle of love
to God's government of man, and man's worship
of God. And in seeking the public welfare we
seek our own ; for so well doth God love the
gates of Zion, that He will love all those that
do love them ; and therefore they cannot but
prosper ; at least their souls shall prosper, by
the ordinances they so dearly love. — Whatever
lies within the sphere of our activity to do for
the public good, we must do it, else we are not
sincere in praying for it. — Scott: Satan's maxim
always has been, to divide that he might con-
quer, and few Christians have been sufficiently
aware of his design. — Barnes : The heart of a
pious man is in the Church of God ; his main
delight is there : his arrangements will be made
so as best to enjoy the privileges of the sanctu-
ary ; and his plans of life will all contemplate
the welfare, the extension, and 'the influence of
the Church of God.— J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXIII.
A Song of degrees.
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
0 thou that dweliest in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
Look unto the hand of their masters,
And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress f
So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,
Until that he have mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us :
For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled
With the scorning of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of th'^ proud.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition, — The situation
in which the poet was placed may be compared
with Neh. ii. 19. From this situation an ardent
prayer for a manifestation of the Divine mercy
arises, with an upward look of faith to that God,
who is exalted above all the world, and is its Sov-
ereign, ♦' This is a heavy sigh from an anguish-
stricken heart, which looks all around and seeks
friends, protectors, and comforters, but can find
none. Therefore it says : where ^all I find re-
fuge, poor, despised man that I am ? I am not
strong enough to defend myself; \?isdom and
counsel fail me amidst the multitude of the on-
sets of my enemies ; therefore come I to Thee,
0 my God ; unto Thee do I lift up mine eyes, 0
Thou that dweliest in the heavens ! " (Luther).
The Psalmist declares, first, in the singular num-
ber, what he does personally, but immediately
thereafter he employs the plural, as a member
and representative of a large community.
[The circumstances described in Neh. ii. 12 ff.
are generally accepted as the situation of the
writer of the Psalm. The following is the view
of Perowne: " The Psalm is either the sigh of
an exile, towards the close of the captivity,
looking in faith and patience for the deliverance,
which he had reason to hope was now nigh at
hand , or it is the sigh of those who, having al-
ready returned to their native land, were still
exposed to the scorn and contempt of the Samari-
tans and others, who, favored by the Persian Go-
vernment, took every opportunity of harassing
and insulting the Jews, comp. Neh. ii. 19 with
ver. 4." Delitzsch thinks that it is possibly a
Maccabean Pealm, in which case the last word
612
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
of the poem might allude "to the despotic rule
of the D'JV " (lonians, sonsof Javan, the Western
nations generally). With reference to the char-
acter of the Psalm, he quotes the beautiful ex-
pression of Alsted (died 1638), who styles it,
ocjilus sperans, the eye of hope — J. F. M.]..
[Ver. 1 b, should perhaps be rendered : Oh,
Thou that sittest in the heavens !• that is, God is
addressed as one who is enthroned as king, and
who can therefore be appealed to for sovereign
aid. This also supports the exposition of ver. 2,
defended below.— J. F. M.].
Ver. 2. Upon the hand of their masters.
The look is probably not directed to the punishing
hand, which administers deserved chastisement,
Gen. xvi. 6 f. (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Ewald,
Hengst,), or to the hand giving the sign for the
punishment to cease (Rosenmiiller). It would
be better to regard it as the hand that scatters
blessings, affords protection and sustenance,
Ps. civ. 27 f. ; cxlv. 15 f. (Chald., Calv., Geier,
J. H. Mich., Koster, et al.). But perhaps the
most correct interpretation is that which is based
upon the relation of dependence, so distinctly
expressed, and understands the hand which con-
trols the household, the disposing hand, to be
referred to, from which the dependants have to
expect confidently the supply of all their needs,
(De Welte, Hupf., Del.). [Delitzsch : "The
Israelites are Jehovah's servants, the Church of
Israel is Jehovah's handmaid. In His hani lies
hi.T future destiny. He will at last have com-
passion on His own. Therefore is her longing
unwearied gaze cast upwards to Him, Until He
shall remove her oppression." — J. F. M.].
Ver 4. The idea of presumption is proper to
the word p**^. (=:secure). [E. V.: who live at
ease, which is the first signification of the word.
J. F. M.]. It i^ here parallel to DT^KJ, which
the Masorites reckon among th« fifteen which
are written as one word, but to be read as two.
According to this the translation would be: of
the pride of the oppressors. But it has been al-
ready explained by Aben Ezra and Kimchi as
an adjective form, occurring only in this pas-
sage.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
When we are in trouble upon earth, it is our
comfort, that we have in heaven a God, into
whose controlling hand we can commit all our
cares. — If we are to act. as servants of the Al-
mighty, we must not merely raise our eyes to
heaven: we must also yield our hearts to Him. — ■
Servants of God must learn to endure contempt
and scorn from the children of the world; but
for this they have need of the faith and patience
of the saints, — God's hand of mercy and our
hand of faith are put forth simultaneously.
Starke : All believers are looking up to hea-
ven; and their Father in heaven is looking
down. And thus neither faithfulness nor love
grows less on either side until they meet. — That
faith, which looks untiringly upon God, is some-
thing great and powerful, which is not to be
found by the way, but must be gained by prayer
and supplication. — He who, for the sake of
Christ and God, can bear and suflFer faithfully
ridicule and contempt, has made great progress
in one element of true religion. — Frisch ; God
regards those who are faithful and obedient.
But I would that faithful servants and hand-
maids would regard the Lord who is over all. —
Riboer: My faith waits for the Lord, and for what
comforting- deeds He shall do for me and display
before me.-Fi,iCHTER : Unbelief first despises and
then ridicules, and after despite and ridicule
comes persecution. — Tholuck : As long as we
look to human hands, hope and fear must alter-
nate, but when those who dare to trust a merciful
God, look only to His hands, assurance abides
with them. — Gcenther: No man can give, un-
less God previously fills and opens his hand. —
Taubb: After men have looked towards God,
they run towards Him, and then they cannot be
put to shame.
[Matt. Henry: The eyes of a servant are,
(1) to his master's directing hand, (2) to his sup-
plying hand, (3) to his assisting hand, (4) to his
protecting hand, (5) to his correcting hand, (6)
to his rewarding hand. — Scott: Contempt is
very hard to bear ; but the servants of God
should not complain, if they are treated as His
beloved Son was. — Bp. Horne: Under the law
of Moses, a master was to demand satisfaction,
and to have it made him, for any hurt done to
his servants. And shall not the best of masters
avenge the wrongs done to those that serve
Him? — Barnes: The Church has performed its
duty better in the furnace of persecution, than
it has in the gay scenes of the world. — J. F. M.].
PSALM CXXIV.
A Song of degrees of David,
If it had not been tlie Lord who was on our side,
Now may Israel say ;
2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us :
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick,
When theii" wrath was kindled against us i
PSALM CXXIV,
613
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us,
The stream had gone over our soul :
5 Then the proud waters
Had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed he the Lord, who hath not given us
A^ a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird
Out of the snare of the fowlers t
The snare is broken.
And we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition : Great dangers,
by which the laraelitish people were threatened
and in which they would have perished if it had
not been for the help of God, for which He is
now gratefully praised, are here described by
the figures of overflowing floods of water and
the snare of the hunter. The mention of David
in the superscription is not found in any of the
ancient versions except the Chald., but the ima-
ges remind one strongly of expressions employed
by David, as also does the "lofty theological
spirit of faith " (Luther). The contents also are
suited to dangers of the war with Syria andEdom
(Hengsteuberg). The supposition of Aramaic
word-forms is disputed even by Hupfeld, who,
however, as do most of the recent commentators,
finds the condition of the people after the return
from exile, referred to. Delitzsch also assigns
the poem to the same period, but regards it as
one composed after the manner of David, while
Hitzig refers it to the sudden deliverance from
extreme danger (1 Mace. xiii. 20 f.), when Try-
phon withdrew his forces and returned to his
own country.
[The conjecture of Delitzsch that the words
"by David" were inserted in the title on account
of the resemblances to passages in the Davidic
Psalms, is improbable. Such an insertion would
at all events have been quite superfluous, for the
cotemporaries of the supposed author were cer-
tainly sufficiently versed in the psalmodic litera-
ture to perceive the allusions, and his object
could not have been to mislead them. In spite
of the conclusion of recent critics,* with whom
* [The treatment, by many modern critics, of the title of
this Psalm, furnishes an example of the capricious criticism
that would reject the superscription generally. The title is
shown to be spurious chiefly from the following considera/-
tions : The Psalm stands between two others whose authors
are not named in their superscriptions, but which, from their
contents, are supposed to be connected with the Captivity
and the Restoration. It also must belong to the same period.
It contains expressions which occur in some of David's
Psalms; this led the collector to think that David was the
author, and he recorded this conjecture as a fact. The first
plea assumes that those Psalms which belong to the same
period must have been placed together in the same group
(here in the Degree Psalms). But this principle, though oc-
casionally followed in the Psalter, is manifestly not the one
adopted in the Degree Psalms. This collection was probably
arranged on the principle that those Psalms which borei a
mutual resemblance in general subject, mental posture, or
external situation, should be grouped together. So Psalms
cxxiii.-cxxvi. are found as one series. Pss. cxxvii., cxxviii.
are strikingly similar, as also ja resemblance is clearly dis-
iiernible between Pss. cxxx., cxxxi. This suflSciently ac-
eouuts for the insertion of a Degree-Psalm of David between
Perowne also, among the English commentators,
agrees, it is best to remain with Hengst., by the
statement of the superscription. — J. F. M.].
Vers. 1-3. The explanation of B^ before TV7\
(ver. 1), is doubtful, whether it is to be construed
as a conjunction that, or as a relative who, or
whether it is to be regarded as a pleonasm of
later times (Hupfeld, et al.), or as a pregnant
construction with a contraction of the two
clauses."* But the sense remains unaffected by
any of these variations — The form 'IK for IK is
not a later but an ancient and poetical one. The
expression ver. 3 a is based upon Numb. xvi.
32, comp. Ps. Iv. 16 ; Prov. i. 12.f
Vers. 4, 5. The water as a figurative repre-
sentation of enemies (Ps. xxiii. 17; cxliv. 7).
In ver. 4 h occurs the fuller form H/nj and
not the accusative : to the stream, as in Numb,
xxxiv. 5, comp. Bottcher, Ausfuhrliche Sprachlehre
§ 615,— the form D'JITT (ver. 6) for Dnn Ps.
Ixxxvi. 14; cxix. 61, 78, is found also in Ps.
liv. 5, and is not an unhebraic form, although
only found in the Chaldee as the usual term.
[Ver. 8. Delitzsch: "The help of Israel is
in the name of Jehovah, theCreator of the world,
i. e. in His name revealed and perpetually at-
tested as Jehovah. If the power of the world
would seek to assimilate to itself, or to annihi-
late, the Church of Jehovah, it is not the denial
of her God that will deliver her, but faithful
confession, steadfast even unto death.-J. F. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is often only after deliverance that we real-
ize the extent of the danger we have escaped.
But does our gratitude correspond to this know-
ledge, and does our rejoicing continue? — God is
not merely the only but also the efficient Deliv-
erer of His people. To Him alone the honor is
others of a later date. The second Argument would assume
that David was very unlikely ever to repeat himself. It is
remarkable that these points of coincidence have been ad-
duced by othpr commentators with equal plausibility, as ad-
ditional evidence of a Davidic composition, which they
fortify by the citation of cases incontestably parallel. — J.
F. M.J
* [The last named construction, adopted in E. V., is the
more common as well as the more regular one. Ps. xciv. 17
is a real parallel, in spite of Hupfeld's objection to the con-
trary. For the relative clause here is equivalent to, or ra-
ther is, a real predicate, such as is found in that passage.
Pleonasms should only be assumed under absolute necessity.
—J. F. M.]
f [In E. v. notice the use of the word quicJc, in its an»
tiquated sense aZive. — J. F. M.J
614
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
due (Ps. xxviii. 6; xxxi. 22), with the unre-
served trust of the Church (Ps. Ivi. 12). — Com-
munion with God our only but certain deliverance
from ruin'; let us therefore draw nigh unto
Him, as he has drawn nigh unto us. — Let the
whole world be against us, if God be for us.—
The world is less mighty, but more harmful,
than many suppose.
Stabke: When God is present in mercy, there
can not only no evil harm us, but we also cannot
want any good thing, — It is not to be ascribed
to the clemency of the enemies of the Church
that she is not destroyed, as though they could
be so merciful; but to the defence and protection
of God. — It must be a cold winter when wolves
devour one another; but men are much more
wicked, and are inflamed with such cruel mutual
rage, that they fall upon one another like wild
beasts. — The faith which clings simply and alone
to God, obtains supernatural help from Him,
from His omnipotence and compassion. — That
which is built upon human strength stands upon
the yielding sand, and must fall to the ground;
but that which is built upon God's word and
power, stands firmly, and can. neither fail nor
fall.
RiEGEB : David presents two considerations to
the little band of God's people: first, from how
much danger God preserves them, and then, the
trust which they should repose in Him for such
mercy. — Fhisch : Let men be angry ; if only
God is not angry with thee, their anger cannot
harm thee. — Tholuck : A confession and a vow
that He, to whom all things must minister, as He
has made them all, shall be Israel's only Help
and Consolation. — Sohaubach : Blessed be the
Lord, to whom alone we owe it, that we remain
unharmed in body and soul even unto this hour.
— RicnTEE: If the world cannot always rage
against believers as it would like to do, give
to the Lord who restrains it all the glory. — Many
cherish the delusion that the world is not so very
hostile, and give it the honor instead of God/
follow thou in all things the Holy Scriptures. —
Let the redeemed be as swift to praise as God is
ready to help ; and as the need and help were
great, so let the thanks be abundant and hearty.
— DiEDEicH : As it is with the whole of the
Church, so also with each individual believing
soul ; it must ever keep toiling like the swim-
mer in the water ; for the world, the flesh, and
the devil keep up their attacks upon it. — Taube :
Two marks indicate perpetually the deeply en-
graved trace of the guidance of Israel : trouble
below, help from above. — Israel's thanksgiving
and expectation take refreshing rest in the name
of the Lord.
[Matt. Henry : It is a comfort to all that lay
the cause of God's Israel next their hearts, that
Israel's God is the same that made the world,
and therefore will have a Church in the world,
and can secure that Church in the times of the
greatest danger and distress. In Him, there-
fore, let the Church's friends put their confidence,
and they shall not be put to confusion. — Bp.
HoBNE : The redeemed are astonished upon look-
ing back at the greatness of the danger to which
they had been exposed. — Happy they who are
taken from the evil to come, and have passed
from the miseries of earth to the felicities of
heaven, where they are neither tempted nor mo-
lested more. — Barnes (ver. 8) : Often in life,
when delivered from danger, we may feel this:
we always may feel this, and should feel this,
when we think of the redemption of our souls. —
J. F. M.] .
PSALM CXXV.
A Song of Degrees.
They that trust in the Lord
Shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, hut abideth for ever.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
So the Lord is round about his people
From henceforth even for ever.
3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest
Upon the lot of the righteous ;
Lest the righteous put forth
Their hands unto iniquity.
4 Do good, O Lord, unto those that he good,
And to them that are upright in their hearts.
6 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways,
The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity :
But peace shall he upon Israel.
PSALM CXXV
CT."^
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The confession
of the immoyableaess of the trust of those that
believe in Jehovah is grounded upon His ever-
lasting protection of His people (vers. 1, 2). The
same consideration confirms the believing ex-
pectation, that the prolonged continuance of an
unrighteous dominion in. the Holy Land, which
would serve to tempt the righteous themselves,
would be impossible (ver. 3). A prayer is then
uttered for God's intervention, according to the
law of retribution, along with a wish for the
blessings of peace and prosperity upon Israel
(vers. 4, 6).
The nature of the contents favors the supposi-
tion that the people were not in Exile but in the
Holy Land; whether, at the time, under a hea-
then government, or under their own rulers who
were unrighteous and faithless, ig not definitely
indicated. Nor can we discover how far the
temptation in the situation described leads to ac-
tual consequences. Many word-forma point to
a late period.
[Hengstenberg, Alexander, Perowne, and
others, see, especially in ver. 3, allusion to
the circumstances of the nation after the re-
turn from captivity. The last named refers,
more definitely, to Neh. ii. 16; vi. 17, and to
other passages where the influences of the neigh-
boring tribes, hostile or otherwise, had wrought
evil among the Israelites. On other hand De-
litzsch and Hupfeld are undecided as to the proxi-
mate occasion of the Psalm. The conclusion of
Dr. Moll, above, coinciding with theirs, is pro-
bably the only safe one. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. Abideth forever ; literally: will
sit, not: will be inhabited. Eve* though Mt.
Zion should be laid waste (Micah iii. 12) it does
not lose thereby its continued existence or its
destiny (Mic. iv. 1). The interpretation which
understands the heavenly Zion (many older ex-
positors) transfers the stand-point, and mistakes
the fundamental conception, which is that of the
firmness, immovableness, indestructibleness of
mountains generally, and of Mt. Zion in parti-
cular. [Hengstenbei'g : " The figure is destroyed
by those ancient and modern expositors who un-
derstand by Mt. Zion itself something spiritual,
the Church. The Church is rather indicated by
'those who trust in the Lord,' and their firmness
is likened to that of the eternal Zion." The
beauty of the form of verse 2 in the original is
considerably lessened by the rendering in E. V.
The translation* is :
Jerusalem — mountains are round about her,
And the Lord is round about His people
Henceforth and to eternity. — J. P. M.]
Prom this image, which makes prominent the
idea of a firm foundation^ the course of thought
passes over immediately to a related and yet
different one, which describes figuratively the
protection which God vouchsafes to His people.
As in Is. xxxiii. 21, this is done by the figure of
a broad stream, and in Zech. ii. 9 by that of a
fiery wall, so here the figure is that of the pro-
tecting mountains which surround Jerusalem.
•' The sacred city lies upon the broad and high
mountain range, which is shut in by the two
valleys, Jehoshaphat and Hinnom. All the sur*
rounding hills are higher: in the east, the
Mount of Olives; on the south, the so-called
Hill of Evil Counsel, which ascends from the
Valley of Hinnom ; on the west, the ground
rises gently to the border of the great Wady,
as described above ; while in the north the bend
of a ridge, which adjoins the Mount of Olives,
limits the view to the distance of about a mile
and a half" (Robinson).
Vers. 3 ff. The lot is the Holy Land, allotted as
an inheritance to the righteous by God (Ps. xvi.
6)- — Many expositors, by the sceptre of unright-
eousness, iniquity, the crooked paths, the evil-
doers, understand specially heathen disorders
and participation in them, as a consequence of
departure from the precepts laid down in the
Mosaic law, and a deviation from the ways of God
therein enjoined. But the words themselves do
not require any such special reference. — De-
litzsch cites a talmudical riddle on ver. 4 men-
tioned by the Midrash : There came a good per-
son (Moses, Ex. ii. 2), and received something
good (the Law, Prov. iv. 2) from the Good (God,
Ps. cxlv. 9), for the good (Israel, Ps. cxxv. 4).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Those who lay their foundations upon God are
not moved ; those who commit their defence to
Him do not fall ; those who cleave to His ways
do not perish. — Even the righteous are not kept
absolutely from falling; but God gives the temp-
tation such an issue that we can bear it. — For-
mer faithfulness does not secure against the
punishment of later infidelity ; we must wait
until the end.
LtJTHER : It is much easier to teach than to
believe, that we, who have the divine word and
believe in it, are surrounded by divine aid. If
we were surrounded by walls of steel or fire, w©
would feel secure and bid defiance to the devil.
But it is the character of faith not to boast of
what the eye beholds, but of what the word re-
veals. Our only drawback is, therefore, that
we have no spiritual eyes, but follow only those
of the flesh. — Whether the conflict be inward in
the spirit or outward in the flesh, the victory
shall, through Christ, be ours at last. But this
promise is hard to be believed, both by us who
suffer and by our persecutors. But beware of
appointing to God a time for our deliverance.
— God allows us to be tempted even to the utter-
most. When it has come to the last extremity,
and we have nothing before us but despair, then
He delivers us, and in death gives us life, and in
the curse a blessing.
Starke : Because God is eternal, so is he also,
after his nature, who is in God and is united to
Him by faith. — If God has placed thee in a lofty
position, remember that the sceptre which thou
dost wield is not a sceptre of wickedness, but
that thou art to wield it to His glory, for the
good of the Church, and for the protection of the
righteous. — Let none avenge themselves, or seek
by violence or disturbance to free themselves
from godless power. No I The Lord will do it
at His own time. We are to commit our cause
to Him. — True religion is based upon upright-
ness of heart. But how rare it is I How easily
do we let the single eye become deceitful again.
616
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
through false views ! — Sin is the ruin of the peo-
ple, and yet they cling firmly to it and despise
the true way of life. — Let us live as we wish to
die, and before our end comes, let us learn to
rest only in God. — Those who are companions in
wickedness need not think it strange if they are
companions in punishment.
Frisch: It is a great offence to the under-
standing to see such misfortune attend the pious
and sincere heart in the world, — Oetinqer:
Those who do not conform to God's commands
do not imagine that they are so wicked as those
who transgress them. But they are equally sin-
ful. They only seek more to palliate their of-
fence and to excuse it by dishonest devices. —
Gtjenther : None should do evil that good may
come. God alone will turn the evil to good;
and, at the right time, He will cause the sceptre
of the ungodly to be broken. — Taubb: The
powerful influence of God's grace: how within
it makes firm the hearts of believers, and with-
out it surrounds them with its protection.
[Matt. Henry: All that deal with God must
deal upon trust, and He will give comfort to
those only who give credit to Him, and make it
appear they do so by quitting other confidences
and venturing to the utmost for God. The closer
our expectations are confined to God, the higher
our expectations may be raised from Him. —
Scott: The malice and enmity of the wicked
shall prove only a correcting rod, and not a de-
stroying sword. — Bp. Horne: Letnot our trust
in God be a presumptuous, ungrounded assu-
rance ; but let it be a confidence springing from
faith unfeigned, out of a pure heart, a good con-
science, and fervent charity. — Let us never for-
get that the promises to us, like those to Israel,
are conditional. " Because of unbelief, they
were broken off, and we stand by faith." — J.
F. M.]
PSALM CXXVI.
A Song of Degrees.
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion,
We were like men that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing :
Then said they among the heathen,
The Lord hath done great things for them.
The Lord hath done great things for us ;
Whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
As the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth.
Bearing precious seed.
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — In Vers. 1-3
the poet recalls the rejoicing which filled the
hearts and mouths of the Israelites on their re-
turn home from captivity, in the midst of the ac-
knowledgment by Gentiles and Jews, that this
deliverance was a wonderful and mighty deed of
Jehovah. In vers. 4-6 he adds a prayer for a
like restoration to their homes of their compa-
nions who still lingered in captivity, together
with the declaration, that a full harvest of joy
would grow from such seed sown in tears.
It is impossible to discover any closer approxi-
mation to the time of composition than the pe-
riod in general succeeding the exile. [So the
commentators generally agree. Hengstenberq :
"The special references are as usual only slightly
indicated. The sacred Psalmists were deeply
impressed with the conviction that they sung for
the Church of all ages. The Psalm always finds
1»SALM CXXVI.
fil7
a new application in those circumstances of the
Church iu which joyful hopes, awakened by a
previous deliverance, are in danger of being
frustrated; it was also composed for the purpose
of expressing the feelings of the individual be-
liever, in whom sin threatens, after his first love,
to become again powerful. It guides us to prepare,
out of the lively realization of the hope already re-
ceived, a sure foundation for prayer and hope in
reference to grace yet to be bestowed." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 1-3. It follows from the use of the perfect
^J",n, vers. 1 b and 8 6, that the bringing back
is not represented as about to happen (Isaaki,
Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Luther, Geier, etal.), but as
already past (Sept., Jerome, Calvin and most re-
cent commentators). It is doubtful whether
T\y\i^ is a tenable form with the transitive signi-
fication: leading back, after the analogy of
no'p. Lam. iii. 63 (Aben Ezra), while there also
exists the form T\2W, Is. xxx. 16 return=con-
"version, or with the intransitive sense : return
=those returning (Delitzsch and most), or whe-
ther we are to assume that it is an old mistake of
a copyist and read here, as in ver. 4, the familiar
phrase DMiU^W with 8 codices of Kennicott
(the ancient translators, J. D. Mich., De Wette,
Olsh., Hupfeld, Bottcher, Hitzig). [Taking the
common explanation, ver. 1 would be translated:
"When Jehovah was leading back the returning
ones of Zion, we were like dreamers. It will be
Noticed that the English translators adopted
from the ancient versions the view last given
above. — J. F. M.] Ver. I b does not refer to a
situation in which, like dreamers, they had no
control over their senses, that, therefore, they
are represented as being beside themselves with
joy and in an ecstasy (Hengst.), but to one in
which they could hardly consider the reality
anything but a dream (Geier, etal.). [Alexander
combines the two : " Incredulity may be included,
but must not be suflFered to exclude all other
feelings." — Perowne and most adopt the latter.
In ver. 2 a, b, Dr. Moll renders: "Then laugh-
ter filled our mouth and rejoicing our tongue,"
instead of following the construction in the Heb.
text as given correctly in E. V. In this he
seems to have been misled by the translation of
Delitzsch which he follows pretty closely through-
out the Psalm. The freer rendering might be
admissible in the plan pursued by D., in which
he follows the Hebrew rhythm closely in his
German translation ; but it is hardly so when it
is not necessary to forego the literal rendering.
—J. F. M.]
Ver, 4 prays for great accessions to the popu-
lation of the Holy Land and for consequent re-
newal of prosperity, as the N'egeb (dryness), that
is, the Land of Judah (Gen. xx. 1) and the coun-
try generally lying towards the desert of Sinai
represents the same thing in its geographical re-
lations by the rivulets which disappear in sum-
mer, and in winter are filled with water from
the rains.
Vers. 5, 6 contain a general truth (Matt. v. 4 ;
Gal. vi. 7/.), but, at the same time; also, an his-
torical allusion to the tearful return homewards
(Jer. xxx, 15), and the rebuilding of the Temple
amidst the tears of the people (Ezra iii. 12.) It
is not a mere exchange of joy for sorrow (Ps.
xxx. 6) but a transformation which depends upon
the exercise of patience and a humble working
and waiting in hope and faith. The sowing is
literally : the drawing, either because the hand
draws the seed out of the seed-bag (Clcricus,
Koster, Hupfeld), or in allusion to the scattering
of the seed in long extended furrows (Gesen.,
Del., Hitzig) Amos ix. 13.
[The translation of this word by "pre-
cious" in E, V. was a conjecture and has
no support. — The infinitive here, with the
finite verb, is generally supposed to ex-
press continuous action. Hengstenberg trans-
lates by simply repeating the finite verb : he goes,
he goes. Alexander does the same, but is care-
ful to give the force of the Hebrew future. De-
litzsch, whom Dr. Moll follows, renders : he goes
back and forward, which is more graphic. But
in the conclusion the idea of continuous or even
of repeated action is unsuitable, for it expresses
the final triumph. And therefore it seems bet-
ter to give to these expressions the sense which
similar constructions often have, of certitude, the
fundamental notion being the same, that of em-
phasis or intensity. See Green, Gr., ^ 282.
Ewald, Gr., g 280 b. The sense will then be :
" He surely weeps now as he sows, and he will
surely rejoice as he brings in his sheaves." Or
better, "just as surely as he weeps now, so surely
shall he rejoice then." But the text does furnish
also in the first member the idea of continuance,
so beautifully representing the patience of hope ;
for the verbs of motion are ^ot the same in both
parts. In the former it is "] /H : the sower keeps
walking along as he works in patience. In the
second it is ii)2 : in the harvest he comes in with
his sheaves. Thus viewed, the verse is not only
seen to have a greater fulness and beauty of
meaning, but the common idea that it is " merely
an expansion of the image in ver. 5," (Pe-
rowne) is shown to be a misconception. It is
in reality an advance upon it. For it declares
success to be the necessary result of patient and
hopeful, even though sorrowful toil. And it
then becomes the exact Old Testament counter-
part of Paul's words : " Let us not be weary in
well doing: for in due season we shall reap if
we faint not." The following rendering is
therefore suggested :
He surely toils along weeping,
Carrying the burden of seed ;
He surely comes in with rejoicing,
Carrying his sheaves. — J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The joyful harvest after tearful sowing: Who
assures it ? Who receives it ? Who awaits it ?
— We often accompany our working and suffer-
ing upon earth with tears, but is their desired
fruit given to us? If not, with whom lies the
cause ? — God's doings in His Church in their ef-
fects upon the world and the Church.
Starke : The spiritual redemption which was
effected by Jesus Christ is the Christian's highest
consolation and joy; and the greatest miracle
which God ever wrought among men. — God often
so deals with His children, that they receive
greater blessings than they themselves had hoped
618
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
for. — It 13 our duty as Christians to remember
before God, in our prayers, those who are in dis-
tress and have been wrongly imprisoned. — The
tears of true repentance and of sanctified afflic-
tion are a precious seed, from which will spring
a joyful harvest. — In the kingdom of nature the
seed bears after its own kind, but God has a dif-
ferent order for believers in the kingdom of
glory. They sow tears and reap joy. — Where
nothing is sown, nothing will be harvested.
Luther : The prophet would exhibit a con-
stant truth by the repetition of a little word; they
go, they go. For our weeping will not be finished
until we are hidden in the tomb, although a short
season is given for rest.
Frisch : Know, dear soul, that as long as thou
hast to live, and to be a pilgrim in the Babel of
this world, it will cost thee many tears in sow-
ing : It costs tears of repentance, as those of
David, Peter, and the great sinners. It costs
tears of thy ministry as those of David, Jere-
miah, Paul, and Christ Himself. It costs tears
of supplication, as those of David, whose tears
had almost become his meat. It costs tears for
the sorrows of others, yes, and of thyself, too.
But let none of these things make thee sad. The
joy of harvest restores everything to thee. —
Rieoer: This song contains (1) a joyful decla-
ration of the great deeds of God, as they have
been enjoyed by the children of Zion, and have
been acknowledged even by strangers; (2) a
prayer for the deliverance of those left behind;
(3) a word of encouragement to their hearts, to
strengthen themselves by patient waiting for the
Divine help. — Your mourning shall be turned
into joy. But this process of change is that of
sowing and reaping. — Richter : Men are often
comforted in the midst of, but usually after tears.
The true and complete harvest of grace follows
only in eternity. — Tears of wickedness and of
hypocrisy are not the sowing of grace. — Guen-
THER : We are all sowers. Grant, 0 Lord, that
we may sow Thy seed, even if with many tears,
so that the rich harvest of joy may yet be ours.
— DiEDRiCH : The more love, the more suffering.
— Taobe: How great soever the change in the
conversion of a sinner is, what is it compared to
that which God's children experience in and by
death? Does not that greatest of changes feel
like a dream to him that experiences it? — Huts^
SEN: God's help in the distress of His people:
(1) The redemption of the oppressed, and the
spirit in which it was effected; (2) the remem-
brance of it, and the encouragement it gives;
(3) its consequences, and the thanks which they
demand. — Nitzsch : We will rejoice just in pro-
portion as we suffer,
[Matt. Henry: The harps are never more
melodiously tunable than after such a disuse.— r
The long want of mercies greatly sweetens their
return. — There are tears which are themselves
the seed that we must sow; tears of sorrow for
sin, our own and others ; tears of sympathy with
the afflicted church ; and tears of tenderness in
prayer and under the word. These are precious
seed, such as the husbandman sows when corn
is dear, and he has but little for his family, and
therefore weeps to part with it, yet buries it
under ground, with the expectation of receiving
it again with advantage. Thus doth a good man
sow in tears. — They that sow in the tears of
godly sorrow, shall reap in the joy of a sealed
pardon and a settled peace. — Scott : Let sinners
recollect how dreadful their case will be, if they
have all their little joy in this mourning world,
(Gal. vi. 6-10;.— J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXVII.
A Song of Degrees for Solomoiu
Except the Lord build the house,
They labour in vain that build it :
Except the Lord keep the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows :
For so he giveth his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord :
• And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man :
So are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them ; '
They shall not be ashamed,
But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate, .
PSALM CXXVII.
619
EXEGETIOAL AND ORITIOAL.
Contents and Composition. — All help, all
protecUon, and all blessing come from God;
without Him all labor, care, and trouble are
vain. This thought, related to Prov. x. 22, and
expressed in the form of a mashal is individual-
ized by the building of a house, the watching of
a city, and the earning of bread (vers. 1, 2), and
the- Divine blessing of a numerous oflFspring (vers.
.8-5). There is no definite allusion to the build-
ing of the Temple by Solomon (most of the older
expositors after the Rabbins), or to that after
the Restoration (many since Theodoret). Nor
is there any trace of a special connection with
the two following Psalms (Hitzig). There is
nothing to falsify the reference to Solomon as
the author in the superscription. [The title
should be rendered : by Solomon] This state-
ment, however, is not found in the Sept. Nor is
it decisive of itself that in 2 Sam. xii. 26 the
name Jedediah, beloved^ is given to Solomon, and
that he was promised prosperity, 1 Kings iii. 6,
in a dream (Hengst.) It may have been just
from these resemblances that the inference of a
galomonic authorship was made (Olsh., Delitzsch,
Hitzig). It is purely arbitrary to infer (Stier),
from the aphoristic form that David here speaks
of Solomon (Syr.) although the forcible language
and vivacious tone, if not, in the absence of all
political allusion, necessarily indicating a highly
flourishing state of the kingdom (Hengst. after
the older commentators), yet do a«*gtte^ apros-
perous period in the life of the author and a soul
satisfied In Qod. The assumption that the Psalm
is a fragment is devoid of all support. [If it was
the Collector who inseri.3d the statement with
regard to the authorship, he probably had bet-
ter reasons for his opinion than those which have
led so many critics (in whose wake Perowne again
seems inclined to follow) to fancy that Solomon
was not the author.* — J. F M.j
Vers. 1, 2. Build the house — It is nof the
laying of the foundation of a patrimony (Calvin,
Geier, Calov., et al.) but of house buitding in its
strict sense. [Translate; They have labored, they
have watched. " The writer places himself at the
end of the work and sees its result " (Perowne)
— J. F. M.] In ver. 2 the sitting down is to be
closely connected with what follows. They come
late to sit down to eat (Hitzig, Del); they get
their bread by toiling and moiling. Others take
* [Mr. Perowne, following an opinion alluded to above, as-
eens (I. p. 95) that " a misunderstanding of the words : ' ex-
cept Jehovah buildthe house,' which were supposed to allude
to the building of the Temple, led the Psalm to be ascribed
to Solomon." In other words, the Collector committed a
blunder in interpretation, of which no unlenrned reader of
our day is guilty. On the other hand, why should he ign6re
the possibility that Solomon, who was something of a honse-
bnilder in his time, apart from his connection with the Tem-
ple, and who speaks elsewhere so feelingly of the vanity of
unaided human labor, might have generalized his own ex-
perience for the benefit of his nation ; and that, being some-
thing of a moralist and proverbial philosopher, he might
have presented this and some tindred thoughts in the? form
of an apophthegmatic Psalm; and that, being an acknow-
ledged teacher in his kingdom, he might, in accoi dance with
a custom not unusual with him, have accompanied this ut-
terance with his own name ? The unqualified assertion just
quoted simply assumes the impossibility of this. As to why
Solomon should not have been the author we are left by Mr.
Perowne entirely in the dark, nothing approaching to an ar-
gument being found in his discussion of the subject. — J. F. M.]
the expression as equivalent to lying down, so
that by rising up early and retiring late, they
lengthen the natural day by artificial means
(Sept., Syr., Calvin, Geier, et al., Hupfeld). Sit-
ting at meals was customary (1 Sam. xx. 34) be-
fore the Greek custom of reclining was intro-
duced among the Jews The words do not refer
to sitting at work until late at night (Aben Ezra,
Luther, ei ai.) |3 does not mean: for (Luther)
but : thus. This means ; without more trouble,
(Bottcher) or: in like manner, and passes over
into the notion ; such, or: the same. — Sleep is
here not contrasted with labor but with trouble
and care, and expresses the freedom from trou-
ble and the peace of the man who reposes ia
God's protection. A false translation is: when
he giveth His beloved sleep (Sept., Vulg.) [The
explanation of the last clause of the verse which
is now generally followed is this: God is repre-
sented as giving to those whom he loves "in
sleep," that is without any fatiguing toil on their
part, all things that are for their own good.
Sleep is evidently contrasted with the late work-
ing of those who do not give themselves up to
God's protection, and who are alluded to in the
first part of the verse. The following is proba-
bly the correct translation : " It is vain for you
rising early, sitting down late, eating the bread
of toil ; thus (the things thus sought for) He
giveth His beloved in sleep." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 4, 6. The children of youth are not
young children (Luth., Rudinger, Rosenm.), but
they are contrasted with the children of old age
(Gen. xxxvii. 3). As such they are already grown
up when their father is growing old, and are
therefore able to assist him (Geier). The gate
(ver. 6) is used for the places of public resort
(Ps V. 9), especially those where justice is ad-
ministered (Deut. xxi. 19 and elsewhere). A
taking part in such affairs, in general, therefore,
judging (Is. xx..4; 2 Sam. xix. 30; Jer. xii. 1)
is probably meant here also, and not specially a
struggle in defence of the fatherland (Rudinger,
Rosenm., Umbreit). The subject of the state-
ment is not merely the sons as defenders (Calvin,
Geier, De Wette, Hengst.), or the fathers as ac-
cused but not pronounced guilty (Grotius, Kos-
ter), but both in common (Aben Ezra, Kimchi,
Grotius, and most). — In the translation : sons
of the outcasts (Sept., Vulg.), an allusion was
perceived to those born in the captivity. The
translation in ver. 5 : blessed is he whose desire
is fulfilled by them, weakens the sense.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Through God's blessing our labor prospers
without harassing trial and without anxiety. —
Parents have not given their children to them-
selves. God has presented them to them ; are
they also treated and educated accordingly ? —
We must gratefully and humbly ascribe to God
every successful result, and nothing to our own
strength, ability, or endurance, and employ all
our strength, time, and gifts in reliance upon
God's assistance, and according to His will, so
that we may not be ashamed. — To begin and
end with God, takes from every day its burden.
Starke : Let God be the beginning and the
end in all things, and thou wilt walk securely
620
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
on thy way so that thy foot shall not stumble.—
God's servants in the ministry of His Church
built Him a spiritual house. If it is to be built
rightly, God Himself must be the Master-builder
— Be first a friend of God, and then do what is
commanded thee, leaving the rest to Him He
will prosper thy affairs even while thou sleepest,
if thou dost lie down with full trust in Him. —
To be able to sleep quietly in the midst of much
labor, is a blessing of God. — Gifts are not to be
forced from the giver.^Parents act sinfully who
murmur against God, if He does not bless their
married life with offspring. — It is an affliction
of married life to have no children ; but to have
spoiled children is much worse. Prayer and
wisdom are necessary to educate them rightly.
FEiscn: All the servants of God have to build
tip the house of the Lord, that is, the Church of
God. But God must be the Master-builder, and
give success from above to the work of His ser-
vants.— RiEQER : In all situations, success does
not depend upon diligence, skill, or natural sa-
gacity, but upon God's blessing and providence.
Men should therefore not lose their trust in God
by immoderate application, or suffer themselves to
be annoyed by difficulties which meet them, or
become self-exalted with success. — Richtee :
Sous well brought up are a protection, honor,
and blessing to their father. — Guenther
do Thou thus build our houses, defend o
and country, bless our exertions, educ
children to become citizens of the city (
and at last show us mercy in the fina
ment — Taube : The secret of domestic b
how it rests, not upon our labor or care,
human watching and power, but only
gifts of mercy from above.
[Matt. Henry ; Such children are an
the hand, which with prudence may be d
aright 10 the mark, God's glory and the
of their generation, but afterwards wh«
are gone out into the world, they are arr(
of the hand ', it is too late to bend then
But these arrows in the hand prove often
in the heart, a constant grief to their go<
rents, whose grey hairs they bring with
to the grave. — Bishop Hornb : If God's
called in, if part of our time be spent in ]
not the whole of it in prayerless toilii
moiling, our work will become easier and
better. — Scott • Children should also ren
their obligations to their parents, and st
requite them by laboring to supply their
to vindicate their characters, and to
them from oppression in their old age. — J.
PSALM CXXVIIL
A Song of degrees.
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord ;
That walketh in his ways.
2 For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands :
Happy shalt thou he, and it shall he well with thee*
3 Thy wife shall he as a fruitful vine
By the side of thine house:
Thy children like olive plants
Bound about thy table.
4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed
That feareth the Lord.
5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion :
And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem
All the days of thy life.
6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children,
And peace upon Israel.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist
first praises (vers. 1-4) the blessedness of the
man who fears God, to whom the promise is
given that he shall enjoy the results of his labor
.J ■U~l>_1J iU.
■J\f^^r^ ^f
^if^
\-w> f\ ^l^vlH vt^-k-rt 1 VI
his house. He then utters a prayer tb
well-doing of such a man will ever contii
connection with the weal of Jerusale
Israel (vers. 5, 6).
In the foregoing Psalm conjugal
was extolled not merely as a gift of Jel
mercy, but as a reward of those who fea
PSALM CXXVIII.
621
this Psalm as supplementary to Ps. cxxvii. (De-
litzBch). Even externally they do not indicate
any closer connection, or, least of all, such a
resemblance that one Psalm is to be regarded as
a response to the other, sung by the congrega-
tion in chorus (Pott). There is a similarity in
some of the ideas, in the aphoristic mode of ex-
pression, and in the felicitation at the end of the
one and at the beginning of the other, but these
do not oblige us to hold a contemporaneous com-
position^
[HENQSTENBERa : " The subject is not as in
Ps. cxxvii. the individual fearer of God, but the
ideal of God-fearers, the God-fearing Israel,
who is also frequently personified elsewhere, e.
g., in Lam. iii. 1. This is clear from the expres-
sion in ver. 6 : •behold the good of Jerusalem,'
froBQ the conclusion in ver. 6 : • peace be upon
Israel ; " finally from the circumstance that all
the fundamental passages alluded to in it refer
to Israel. — In a time of trouble and distress the
fear of God appeared to be forever deprived of
its reward. This appearance threatened to af-
fect its operation. An antidote against the dis-
heartening sadness which would then be apt to
insinuate itself against Israel, is provided in our
Psalm, on which Zech. viii. may be regarded as
a commentary." — Luthee: "To this Psalm we
will give the title of an Epithalamium or mar-
riage song. In it the prophet cheereth them
that are married, wishing unto them, and pro-
mising them from God, all manner of blessings."
—J. F. M.]
Ver. 2. The labor of thy hands appears to
allude specially to the produce of the garden
and field. It probably does not imply that the
prosperity consisted in his being maintained by
his own labor, as contrasted with living on
charity (Kimchi, Calvin, Venema, Del.), but that
the laborer himself and not others enjoyed the
profits of his toil (Is. iii. 10), and was to rejoice
in this privilege, Is. ix. 19 ; Hos. iv. 10; Mic. vi.
14 ; Hagg. i. 6 (Geier, Hupfeld). Against trans-
posing the two members of ver. 2, as has been
proposed (Hupfeld), it may be argued that the
particle ""'p does not stand here at the beginning
of the sentence, and therefore cannot be taken
as meaning/or [E. V.] or since (Symm., Jerome,
Calvin, Olshausen). Such a position is admissi-
ble only with the meaning that, as in ver. 4, or,
when the particle confirms a statement, yea, Ps.
cxviii. 10, comp. Is. vii, 9 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 39
(Ewald, Maurer, Del.). Hence, in translating,
the word may be neglected (Septuagint, Hitzig).
Vers. 8 flf. The same particle can be taken in
a confirmatory sense in ver. 4 also (Calvin, Ve-
nema, Delitzsch), but it is then also wrong to
translate: mark, /or (Rudinger, Clericus, J. H.
Mich., Rosenm., Maurer). [It will be observed
that in this verse E. V. has the correct transla-
tion.—J. F. M.] The inner part of the house
[ver. 8, E. V. literally : the sides of the house,
comp. Amos vi. 10 — J. F. M.] is here desig-
nated literally : the corner or hinder portion,
since the female apartments occupied the most
retired portion of the tent or house.
"All the blessings of each individual come
from the God of salvation, who has made Zion
His dwelling-place, and is completed by partici-
pation in the prosperity of the Holy City and
the whole Church, of which it forms the centre.
A New Testament song would here direct the
view to the Heavenly Jerusalem. But the cha-
racter of this-sideduess [Diesseitiffkeit) which is
impressed upon the Old Testament, does not per-
mit this. The promise only tells of participation
in Jerusalem's well-being on this side heaven
(Zech. viii. 15), and a life prolonged through
children's children, and in this sense it invokes
and intercedes for peace upon Israel in all its
members, in all places, and at all times" (Del.).
[Translate the last line of the Psalm: Peace,
be upon Israel J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The blessing of piety on heart, house, and
estate. — The fear of God does not make sorrow-
ful, but joyful and blessed. — Godliness is a power
to give prosperity, not only on the other side of
death, but also on this. — The happiness of do-
mestic life which is blessed by God: (1.) wherein
it consists ; (2.) on what it is founded ; (3.) how
it is maintained. — The close connection between
the public prosperity, a domestic life pleasing to
God, and personal piety.
Starke : He who lives in the fear of God is
no idler, but eats of the labor of his hands, that
is, of his honorable calling blessed by God, by
which He sustains him. — An harmonious married
life and children well nurtured, are the dearest
of temporal delights. — Parents, train up your
children in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord! If ye neglect this, you will train up, in-
stead of useful olive-branches, useless thorn-
bushes, unprofitable for any good purpose —
God, for the sake of pious parents, often grants
peace in their days to a country or city.
Arndt : Jerusalem never enjoyed greater
blessings than Christ on the cross and the Holy
Spirit from heaven ; for on these depended God's
mercy, the forgiveness of sin, redemption from
death, the devil and hell, righteousness, faith,
love, hope, and eternal life ; all these will thy be-
loved God grant thee to see, yea, to experience
and enjoy. — Frisoh : The channel through
which the stream of blessing flows upcn thy con-
jugal relations and thy house, is the spiritual
Zion of the Church of God. — Rieqer : There is
much spoken and written about patriotism in the
world; but the foundation of such a spirit must
be laid deep in the fear of God ; for without this
we can neither have true prosperity ourselves,
nor share in the blessings of the general good.
— RiCHTBR : He who has received God's kingdom
in his heart, must give his heart to it, and what-
ever blessings a believer receives, he wishes for
all, and prays, hopes, and works in the comr
munion of the saints for that kingdom. — Goen-
ther: Happy are those parents who regard
their children as plants in the garden of God,
and entrusted to their care.^ScHAUBAOH : The
obligations and the blessings of pious parents. —
DiEDRiOH : The ever-during blessedness of
those who fear God, who do not refuse to labor
in His ways, but have found, in this present
time, in the knowledge of God's love, the sweet-
est and dearest communion. — Taube: The fear
of God the source of all prosperity. A God-
fearing man has God not merely before his eyes
and in his heart, but walks also before Him in
622
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
His ways. The lines have fallen in pleasant
places for him who fears God thus.
[Matt. Henry : The wife's place is in the
husband's house, there her business lies. — It is
pleasant to parents that have a table spread,
though but with ordinary fare, to see their
children round about it, Job xxi. 6 ; to have
them at table, to keep up the pleasantness of the
table-talk ; to have them in health, to have them
like olive-plants, straight and green, sucking in
the sap of their good education, and likely .to
become serviceable. — A good man can have little
comfort in seeing his children's children, unless
without he sees peace upon Israel, and have
hopes of transmitting the entail of religion, pure
and entire, to those that shall come after him,
for that is the best inheritance. — Bishop Horne :
The good of Jerusalem with peace upon Israel,
is all the good we can expect to see upon earth.
Hereafter we shall see greater things than these.
— Barnes : No higher blessing could be pro-
mised to a good man , . . than that he
should die in a revival of religion. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXIX.
A Song of degrees.
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,
May Israel now say :
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth ;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The ploughers ploughed upon my back :
They made long their jpurrows.
4 The Lord is righteous :
He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back
That hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops,
Which withereth afore it groweth up :
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand :
Nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say,
The blessing of the Lord he upon you :
We bless you in the name of the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist
recalls (vers. 1-4) the severe oppression which
Israel, the servant of the Lord, had repeatedly
suffered from his youth, and which is described
by the image of physical ill-treatment, as in Is.
xlix. 1 f.; 1. 4 f., from which, however, the
righteous God granted deliverance. From this
he educes a wish (vers. 6-8) that all the enemies
of Zion may be consigned to utter ruin.
There is a very close resemblance to Ps. oxxiv.
— Israel's youth is the sojourn in Kgypt (Hos. ii.
17 ; xi. 1 ; Jer. ii. 2 ; Ezek. xxiii. 8). Since
that time a long period had passed, full of na-
tional troubles and divine deliverances. Just at
this time Israel begins to breathe freely after
such a visitation, but knows that Zion's enemies
have not disappeared wholly and forever. Hence
arises the expression used towards them at the
close, with reference to the greeting which in
former times used to be given by passers by
even to heathen mowers (comp. Ruth ii. 4). The
period shortly after the return from exile may
be regarded as a suitable occasion for the com-
position.
[Ver. 1. The Hebrew word rendered : many a
time in E. V., means literally : greatly. It some-
times refers to time, but has no special reference
to it. The opinion that most interpreters render
it in that sense (Alexander) is incorrect. Ge-
senius, Ewald, Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Moll, Pe-
rowne and many others, give it the more general
reference. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 2. Yet. DJ is employed here, as in Ex.
PSALM CXXX.
623
xvi. 28; Ecol. vi, 7, in the sense of; althougTi or
nevertheless (Ewald, § 484 a.). [Hupfeld denies
that this sense ever exists, and asserts that it
has here as always the sense of: also. He com-
pares Gen. XXX. 8. He also discusses the
question in his Quxstiones in Jobeidos locos vexatos
on ii. 19. The meaning of the verse is unaffect-
ed by either view.— J. F. M.].
Ver. 3. As in Is. li. 23; Ixvi 12, Israel is
compared to a street, and men are rej^resented
as walking and riding over his back, so here
they are compared to a strip of land, which the
ploughman goes over in such a way, that every
time he reaches either end he turns his team for
the purpose of making a new furrow (Wetzstein
in his excursus in Delitzsch, p. 795). Relentless-
and regardless treatment is better exhibited by
this than by the usual explanation by v^hich
long furrows are understood to be meant.
Ver. 6 ff. The grass upon the roofs which are
flat and covered with loose stones or earth (.Jahn
Bibl. Arch I. 1. 200 f.), Is. xxxvii. 27 grows up
rapidly but soon withers. It is doubtful wheth-
er '^'71!^ means: to draw out, pluck up (most).
[Here impersonally: one plucks it up, instead of
the passive — J. F. M.], or: to sprout forth in
blossom (Aquila, Chald., Calvin, Ewald, De-
litzsch.) [In connection with the passage cited
in the introduction with regard to the greeting,
ver. 8. Delitzsch remarks : " It is the passers-by
here who salute the harvesters thus : the bless-
ing of Jehovah be upon you, and (since the fol-
lowing in the mouths of the same persons would
be a purposeless excess of courtesy) receive the
greeting in return : we bless you, etc The con-
trast to this is, that the righteous, joyfully ex-
changing greetings, will be able to bring in all
the harvest they have sown." — J. F. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
As compared with the world the pious are
righteous, and may expect, from the righteous
Rewarder, deliverance from the power of the
enemy. — The ungodly have only the appear-
ance of power and prosperity : after their brief
season of bloom comes swift, certain, and awful
destruction by God's judgments. — The Church
of God has upon earth to suffer much and se-
verely. But God is and remains her Deliverer
from each and every distress.
Starke : As the Church has never been with-
out tribulation, so she has never failed of strength
and victory. — The names of the persecutors of
God's people are not written in heaven, but their
wickedness and enmity are remembered to their
shame. — The Church is and remains a rose
among thorns, until the thorny ground of this
world is destroyed by fire, and its thistles are
cast into hell. — The longer the furrows are
drawn, and the deeper the plowshares of suffer-
ing sink, the more abuhdant and precious fruits
grow therefrom. — It is the part of faith to
praise God's righteousness in affliction, and so to
overcome the offence of the cross. — What is be-
gun without God, or rather against God, ends in
wailing. — The sighs and tears of afflicted Zion
have already become to many an enemy of
truth and godliness, a flood of waters which
sweeps away them and their followers.
Frisoh : If Zion is God's inheritance, whoever
harms Zion touches God Himself — RiCHTBtt:
Let it not be an offence unto thee, that the world
is hostile to the Israel of God; but ponder in
faith the examples in Heb. xi. and especially the
example of Christ, of whom suffering Israel was
a type. — Guentheb, : The sword with which God
shall cut asunder the bands which persecutors
have thrown around His people, has been sharp-
ened from eternity. — Diedrioh: The despisers
of the Word and the true Church have no sure
ground of continued existence. They are like the
wild grass upon the roof. For all their achieve-
ments are nothing in the light of truth ; they
are found too light in God's balances. — Taube :
For the lovers of Zion the crown is gleaming
beyond the cross, and the harvest of joy is wav-
ing beyond the tearful sowing.
[Matt. Henry: The enemies of God's Church
wither of themselves, and stay not till they are
rooted out by the judgments of God. — Woe to
those who have the prayers of the saints against
them I— J. F. M.].
PSALM CXXX
A Song of degrees.
Out of tKe deptlis have I cried unto thee, 0 Lord.
2 Lordi hear my voice :
Let thine ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,
' 0 Lord,. who shall stand? , .
624
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
4 But th&re is forgiveness with thee,
That thou may est be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait,
And in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord
More than they that watch for the morning :
I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord:
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Compo3Ition. — The distress
out of which the Psalmist cries to Jehovah is
very deep, and as he feels himself sinking, he
sends forth an urgent cry to God that He would
hear him (vers. 1, 2). This supplication rests
upon the power to forgive, which is possessed
by God alone, and is indispensable to the sinner's
deliverance (vers. 3, 4). It flows from the hope
cherished in his soul, which turns with longing
to God and His word (vers. 5, 6). It also sym-
pathizingly remembers the need which all Israel
has of redemption, and therefore points, on the
one hand, with exhortation, to the indispensable
waiting upon Jehovah, and. on the other, to the
mercy of God which is ready to be imparted
(vers. 7, 8).
It is easily understood how the Church has
regarded this as the sixth of the seven Peniten-
tial Psalms (vi. xxxii. xxxviii. li. cii. cxxx
cxliii.) and how Luther reckoned it as one of the
Pauline Psalms, which he specified, when asked
which were the best of all the Psalms. When
asked further which were the Pauline Psalms,
he named Pss. xxxii. li. cxxx. cxliii.
Several expressions which are found besides
only in Nehemiah, Daniel, and Chronicles indi-
cate that the Psalm was composed at a late
period Yet it preceded the Books of the
Chronicles ; for the addition to the prayer of
Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, 2
Chron. vi. 40-42, is composed of Ps. cxxx. 2 and
Ps. cxxxii. 8-10. [As additional evidence of a
late origin, it may be remarked that the word
meaning : attentive, in ver. 2, is found besides
only in 2 Chron. vi. 40, vii. 16, and that rendered:
forgiveness, ver. 4, only in Dan. ix. 9; Neh.
ix. 17. — J. F. M ]. The conjecture that this
Psalm was first sung on the day of general hu-
miliation, Ezra ix. 5 f. (Rosenmiiller) has no
support more definite than this. There are
many points of similarity with Ps Ixxxvi. Does
it indicate design that God is named Jehovah four
times, Adonai ihreQ times, and Jah once ?
Ver. 1. Out of the depths. — These are not
the depths of the soul, specially those of sorrow
on account of the greatness of its sins (Amyrald,
J. H. Mich.). Nor are they the depths of sin
(Geier) ; but depths of distress, calamity and
peril, represented by the image of deep waters
(Ps. Ixix. 3, 15; Is. li. 10), whose waves (Ps.
Ixxxviii. 8), have passed over him (Ps. xlii. 8),
so that he is pressed down very deep, sunk even
unto the gates of death (Pss. ix. 4, cvii. 18).
Vers. 3, 4. God regards and marks human ini-
quities (Ps, xc. 8; Job X. 14, xiv.), but retains
them also in remembrance (Gen. xxxvii. 11.),
and, as it were, seals them up, keeping them
(Job xiv. 17,) bearing them in mind (Amos i. 11 ;
Jer. iii. 6) ; He remembers them in the sense of
imputing' them (Psalm xxxii. 2). The destruc-
tion of the sinner would thence follow, if the
Divine punitive righteousness, which in its ex-
ercise nothing can resist (Is. li. 16 ; Nahum i.
6; Mai. iii. 2; Ezra ix. 16) were not by the
mercy of God Himself manifested in suck a way
that the forgiveness of sins, effected thereby,
should serve, on the one hand, to glorify His
name as the only Redeemer and Author of sal-
vation (Ps. Ixxix. 9), and, on the other, to
quicken the true fear of Him.
Vers. 6 ff. the reference is not to those who
wait from one watch to another (Sept., Syr.,
Luther), or to the watchers who hold the morn-
ing watch, that is, the last one (Chald., J. H.
Mich , Rosenmiiller). It is the watch, more ge-
nerally, the morning dawn, when they shall be
released from their tedious duty (Aben Ezra,
Geier, and most.) [Delitzsch : "The repeti--
tion of the words gives the impression of painful
and long-continued waiting. The anger beneath
whose influence the Poet now lies, is the dark-
ness of night, from which he would be transferred
to the sunny influence of love (Mai, iii. 20);
and not he'alone, but all Israel also, whose needs
are the same, and for whom, as for him, faithful
waiting is the way of salvation. With Jehovah,
with Him exclusively, and with Him in all its
fulness, is the mercy which releases from the
guilt of sin and its consequences, and gives free-
dom, peace, and joy to (he heart. And redemp-
tion is plenteous with Him, i. e., he possesses in
abundant measure the willingness, power, and
wisdom, needed in order to effect the redemp-
tion, which, like a wall of separation, (Ex. viii,.
19) is placed between the imperilled and
rum. To Him therefore must each one look, if
he would obtain mercy ; to Him must His people
look ; and this hope fixed upon Him will not be
put to shame. He in the mighty fulness of His
free grace, will redeem Israel from all his ini-
quities, in forgiving them and removing all
PSALM CXXXI.
625
baleful consequences within and without. The
Poet comforts himself with this promise (comp,
XXV. 22). He means complete and final spiritual
deliverance from all that holds in bondage, just
as in the New Testament." — J. P. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
From the depths of thy distress send thy cry
upward to God; from the depths of His com-
passion He will send help down. — A change in
our situation would avail nothing without the
forgiveness of sins ; but the mercy of Grod effects
our redemption. — He who wails for the Lord
and His deliverance, must know how to wait in
faith and patience, with watching and prayer,
and learn to strengthen his hope in God's word.
— God possesses in fullest measure all that is
necessary to our redemption, and from the ful-
ness of His grace He imparts richly what serves
to accomplish it. But the fulness of faith is only
too often wanting in us.
Staeke: The deeper men sink in the waters
of temptation, tribulation, and distress, the
stronger support do they find in the fathomless
mercy of God. — Blessed is he who feels the
depths of sin in a season of grace, and by cries
of repentance to the Lord, is delivered from
them ; raised above them, he need not feel the
depths of hell. The cry of supplication has no
greater hindrance than the cries of sin, until
they are removed by sincere repentance. — No
man is so willing to pray to God as He is willing
to be entreated ; He will give us His benefits
and forgive. our sins. — Right views of God's mer-
cy do not lead to carnal security, but to a child-
like fear and service of Him. — Justification is a
source of sanctification ; before a soul is justified
it can have no childlike fear of God. — All the
reasons which bind us to love God, constrain us
also to hope in Him. — The Christian's hope must
be founded upon the word of God's mercy. For
to hope and believe without God's word, is to
tempt God. — The best consolation in the night
of trial and sorrow is the promise of God that it
will be followed by a clear day of rejoicing. —
The many promises of the conversion of the
Jewish people in the last time, urge the true
Christian to pray the more fervently for this poor
people.
Feisoh: There are many depths into which
sin plunges us. But, as Luther says, it is well
for us, that, though we are all in deep distress,
we do not feel it where we are. — The grace,
long-suffering, and mercy of God, should incite
us not to sin, but from sin, not to fall, but from
falling, to repentance and conversion. — Riegee:
It is the nature of the new man ever to manifest
a constant waiting, hoping, trusting, and be-
lieving in God. But to the natural man such an
attachment to God's word is more diflScult than
the greatest work of any other kind. — Guen-
thee: The distressed believer, in trusting, rises
upward from the abyss, and the suppliant draws
the Almighty down to him in his compassion.
The greater the need the greater the assurance.
— Engelhardt: The path of sincere repentance
leads (1) into the depth of our hearts and is,
a) knowledge of sin, b) prayer for gracious aid,
c) distrust of our own righteousness; (2) to the
paternal heart of God: there alone are to be
found, a) compassion and forgiveness, b) certain
help even when long delayed, c) final redemption
from all sin. — Taube ; The royal road from the
depths of the misery of sin to the heights of the
consolation of redemption.
[Matt. Henry: There is an all sufficient ful-
ness of merit and grace in the Redeemer, enough
for all, enough for each; enough for me, saith
the believer. — Bp. Horne: True repentance is
founded upon a sense of our own wretchedness
and faith in the Divine mercy. Without the
former we should never seek for pardon and
grace; without the latter we should despair of
finding them. — Scott: Faith in His faithful tes-
timony and sure promise, confirmed by experi-
ence, form the soul to a holy fear and love of
the Lord our God. — J. F. M.].
PSALM CXXXL
A Song of degrees of DavicU
Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor mine eyes lofty :
Neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
Or in things too high for me.
2 Surely I have hehaved and quieted myself.
As a child that is weaned of his mother;
My soul is even as a weaned child.
3 Let Israel hope in the Lord
From henceforth and for ever.
40
626
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist
asseverates that in humility of heart he has kept
himself from occasioas of and temptations to the
indulgence of pride and over-ambitious schemes,
(ver. 1), and has quieted his soul (ver. 2), and
then exhorts all Israel to wait unceasingly upon
Jehovah (ver. 3).
The tone of feeling is so personally ardent,
that the supposition that the Psalmist in the first
two verses speaks for Israel (De Wette) is alto-
gether unjustifiable. But it can hardly be de-
nied that there is a close reference to Israel. If
it must be admitted, that in 1 Sam. xviii. 18, 23,
and still more in 2 Sam. vi. 22, are found expres-
sions resembling those of this Psalm, and that,
in general, the history, disposition, and religious
posture of David agree fully with the professions ,
here made of personal character, and with the
anxiety here manifested for Israel's true reli-
gious relations to God, the adherence to the Da-
vidic authorship (Hengsteaberg) is not so un-
justifiable as to permit us to say, that such an
assumption requires no contradiction (Hupfeld).
This situation, as furnishing an historical expla
nation, has much better ground of support than
v?hat is related of Simon Maccabseus (1 Mace,
xiv.), to which Hitzig refers. All the efforts to
discover a composition in any intermediate pe-
riod only manoeuvre in the field of boundlesa con-
jecture.
[When there is absolutely nothing in the
Psalm which bears against a composition by
David, those critics who refer it to some
occasioa subsequent to the exile ought surely
not shut their eyes to the force of the ar
gument advanced by Hengstenberg, that a pro-
testation addressed to Israel against cherishing
high-minded thoughts and undertakings would
be utterly meaningless in times of trouble, such
as those succeeding that event. The thought
naturally suggests itself that modern criticism
would surely have assigned a larger number of
Psalms to David than it has conceded to him, if the
superscriptions had not been aflSxed. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 1. — Haughty, &c. "Arrogance has its
seat in the. heart ; it finds expressioq chiefly in
the eyes, and great matters are the objects in
which it is studiously displayed" (Delitzsch),
The perfects express past time reaching into the
present: "Hitherto I have not been haughty,
nor am I so now" (Hitzig). Older expositors
frequently present the idea of the past too pro-
minently. It is not till the following clause that
the great matters (Jer. xxxiii. 3) are denoted as
wonderful to the speaker (Gen. xviii. 14), i, e.,
out of his reach.
Ver. 2 does not begin with a question ; for
to DN is not Xvri. Nor is it correct to suppose,
that it is a conditioning protasis: if not (Luther),
for there is no apodosis, though it is sometimes
arbitrarily assumed. And it does not introduce
a contrast to the foregoing negation (Gesenius,
Stier), but an asseveration, as frequently em-
ployed elsewhere after words of swearing. The
weaned child is not referred to as being helpless
(Flaminius), or humble (Rudinger, Hengst.), or
as being quieted slowly (Rosenmiiller), or in al-
lusion to its distress and crying while being
weaned (Geier, J. H. Michaelis), but as being
already weaned and clinging with perfect satis
faction and contentment to its mother (Is. xxviii.
9). [Translate ver. 2: Surely I have soothed and
stilled my soul, like a weaned child upon its
mother: my soul is to me like a weaned child.
Perowne : " The figure is beautifully expressive
of the humility of a soul chastened by disap-
pointment. As the weaned child no longer cries,
frets and longs for the breast, but lies still
and is content, because it is with its mother, so
my soul is weaned from all discontented thoughts,
from all fretful desires for earthly good, waiting
in stillness upon God, finding its satisfaction in
His presence, resting peacefully in His arms." —
J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Our desires disquiet the heart. Resignation
to God's will makes the soul still. — Pride sepa-
rates men from fellowship with God. Humility
strengthens that bond. The one makes the heart
restless; the other imparts quietness and peace.
— A childlike disposition, humble, patient and
satisfied in God, as the fruit of severe conflict.
Starke : Pride defiles the best endowments
and actions, and makes them, as it were, worm>
eaten. — He who aims to build higher than God
has ordained for him loses thereby the gift
which he has received. — All who seek heaven
must seek the humility of Christ. — Quiet the tu-
mult of the thoughts and the desires of the heart.
But what thou wouldst do, do soon. If thou
waitest until lust has taken possession, thou
only invitest sin to enter. — Out of fellowship
with God there is nothing but disquietude. —
True hope serves, so to speak, as a telescope to
faith, by which it sees from time into eternity ;
nor does it put to shame.
Frisch : If thou art wise, chocse the path of
humility. If David's Example cannot influence
thee, contemplate the pattern of thy humble Sa-
viour : before that the heart will melt into self-
abasement.— Rieger : An humble abiding by a
life of faith in mercy found. — Guenther : We
all desire to be at rest. We have unrest enough,
weeping now from hunger, now from pain, and
now from ill temper. The Lord grant that we
may cling to the right mother ; not to the world,
which, though giving rest sometimes, urges to
ever-renewed hunger, but to the love of God,
which grants the most blessed stillness, and that
in fasting. — Tadbe : The sign, victory, and bless-
ing of true humility.
[Matt. Henry: The love of God reigning in
the heart will subdue all inordinate self-love. —
Barnes: Whatever suggestions one in early life
may be disposed to make, they should be con-
nected with a spirit that is humble, gentle and
retiring. Religion produces self-control, and is
inconsistent with a proud, arrogant, or ambitious
spirit. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXXII.
627,
PSALM CXXXII.
A Song of degreet.
Lord, remember David,
And all his afflictions :
2 How he sware unto the Lord,
And vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob ;
3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house.
Nor go up into my bed ,
4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes.
Or slumber to mine eyelids,
5 Until I find out a place for the Lord,
A habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah :
We found it in the fields of the wood.
7 We will go into his tabernacles:
We will worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, into thy rest ;
Thou, and the ark of thy strength.
9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness ;
And let thy saints shout for joy.
10 For thy servant David's sake
Turn not away the face of thine anointed.
11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David;
He will not turn from it ;
Of the fruit of thy body
Will I set upon thy throne.
12 If thy children will keep my covenant.
And my testimony that I shall teach them,
Their children shall also sit
Upon thy throne for evermore.
13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion ;
He hath desired it for his habitation.
14 This i8 my rest for ever :
Here will I dwell ; for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provision:
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation:
And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
17 There will I make the horn of David to bud :
I )iave ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
18 Hl3 enemies will I clothe with shame ;
But upon himself shall his crown flourish.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
CoNTBNTS AND COMPOSITION. — A prayer is ut-
tered (vers. 1-6), that a recompense might be
niade for those toilsome eflforts with which David
sought to fulfil his vow to find a dwelling for Je-
hovah. An invitation to enter into this dwelling-
of God for worship is then addressed (vers. 6, 7).
Next follows a supplicatioil that the sanctuary
and its ministers may be blessed for David's
sake (vers. 8-10), to whose throne Jehovah had
628
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
Bworn to grant perpetuity, provided his descend-
ants would keep his covenant (vers. 11, 12), and
which He had sworn to bless in Zion as the seat
of the Theocracy, together with all her members
and servants (vers. 13-18).
The mode of expression is not such as to lead
to the conclusion, that the Psalm was a prayer
uttered by David at the dedication of the sanc-
tuary after the removal of the ark into the holy
Tent on Zion (Aben Ezra, et al.), or at the con-
secration of the threshing-floor of Araunah, 2
Sam. xxiv. (Kimchi, Geier). Ver. 10, especially,
contradicts this ; for though the suppliant styles
himself the anointed of Jehovah, which expres-
sion must be understood as applied, not to the
High Priest, nor to the people, but to a theocratic
king, yet this king, in his petition, prays for an
answer "for the sake of David thy servant."
But we should not go very far down into later
times ; for, according to ver. 8, the ark of the
covenant must be regarded as still in existence.
This not only forbids a resort to the Maccabaean
period (Olshausen, Hitzig, who refers to Simon's
entry into the conquered city, 1 Mace, xiii.), or
to the end of the period of Persian rule (Ewald),
but also excludes any occasion subsequent to the
exile (Roster, Hengst., et al.). For all support
is wanting to the supposition which the contrary
view would necessitate, that the poet only em-
ployed the language of an earlier time, and
sought to cheer and encourage his cotempora-
ries, either by borrowing directly from older
compositions, or by transferring his stand-point
with poetical freedom to a period of past glory,
and exhibiting that glory to them, together with
the prophecies uttered at that time and fulfilled
in part when the Psalm was penned. If we con-
sider the former hypothesis, that of a borrowing,
it is suggested that the passage, vers. 8-10, with
a few changes, embodies the conclusion of Solo-
mon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple, as
it is recorded in 2 Chron. vi. 41 f, in a more ex-
tended form than in 1 Kings viii. But these
difi'erences are of such a nature as to lead to the
conclusion that the Chronicler (Del., Hupfeld),
and not the Psalmist (Hengst., Olsh., Hitzig),
was the borrower (comp. Ps. cxxx. 2). With
regard to the hypothesis of a poetical transfer
of stand-point, it must be admitted that it would
be the gloomiest times that would be most ap-
propriately directed to a brilliant past with its
promises (Koster, Hupfeld), and that, in parti-
cular, the expectation of a revival of the king-
dom and family of David would most naturally
have been excited during the founding of the
new colony (Hengst.). But ver. 10 creates the
impression, not of a Messianic (Stier and older
commentators), but of an historical reference,
and, as mentioned above, of having been spoken
by a theocratic king. For this reason, we can-
not refer directly to Zerubbabel (Ewald, Bauer,
«^ aZ.) as the offspring of the Davidic stock (1
Chron. iii. 1, 19), at the head of those who re-
turned from the exile (Ezra ii. 2), who fixed in
him especially their joyful hopes of a restoration
of the Theocracy (Hagg. ii. 23; Zech. iv. 6, 7).
It is possible that the Psalm is the application
of an older one to him and to his age (De Wette) ;
but there are grave objections to supposing that
it was composed at this or a later time, when
there was no actual king such as is here de-
scribed. For the history of Israel does not ex-
hibit theocratic expectations grounded upon po-
etical conceptions and representations, but con-
tains the development of God's kingdom on the
ground of prophetic revelations. If this view be
taken, there is occasion sufl&cient to justify a
reference to the building of Solomon's Temple
and the transfer of the ark from the Tabernacle
to the House on Zion (Amyrald, De Wette, Tho-
luck), nqt employed as a poetical figure and as
the drapery of another meaning (Hupfeld), but
as the actual occasion of the origin of this
Psalm. — Yet a confident decision cannot be made.
Even Delitzsch, who still remarks the resem-
blance to Ps. Ixxii. in a certain diffuseness, a
repetition of words, and a progress of thought
advancing with diflSculty here and there with
uncertain steps, remains finally of the opinion,
" that the acts done, according to 2 Sam. vi, 7,
by David for the honor of Jehovah, and the
promise made to him by Jehovah there repeated,
are here employed by a poet after his time, who
bases upon them a prayer full of hope, a prayer
for the kingdom and priesthood of Zion, and for
the Church regulated by them." He, however,
presents this view in close connection with the
following words: "It, at all events, proceeded
from an age when the throne of David still re-
mained and the holy ark was not yet irrecovera-
bly lost." Nothing points specially to king Jo-
siah (Maurer). The same remark applies to
the supposition that the Psalm was to be sung
in responses by the congregation and a choir of
the priests (OlshausenJ.
[Hengstenberg's opinion that the Psalm was
designed for the " new colony " is largely based
upon his assumption that all the anonymous
pilgrim-songs were composed after the exile.
But each Psalm must be treated independently,
nor can a general rule of this nature be employed
to support any special case. His other main
argument is that the Psalm begins with an allu-
sion to the depressed state of David's kingdom.
But it is impossible to discover anything of the
kind, the "trouble" of David (ver. 1) being
manifestly, as is evident from the connection in
which he stands, supported by the form of the
word in the Hebrew, that which he underwent
in preparing a dwelling for God. On this point
see further iu the exposition. On the other
hand, the only view which is not encumbered
with difficulties is that which assigns the compo-
sition to Solomon or some contemporary poet,
after the building of the Temple. So Perowne,
who says : "It is perfectly natural that Solomon
or a poet of his age, writing a song for such an
occasion, should recur to the earlier efforts made
by his father to prepare a habitation for Jeho-
vah. On the completion of the work, his thoughts
would inevitably revert to all the steps which
had led to its accomplishment. It is no less na-
tural that, at such a time, the promise given to
David should seem doubly precious, that it
should be clothed with a new interest, a fresh
significance, when David's son sat on the throne,
and when the auspicious opening of his reign
might itself be hailed as a fulfilment of the pro-
mise."—J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. All his trouble [;£. V.: all bia
PSALM CXXXII.
629
afflictions]. The infinitive Pual used as a sub-
stantive here describes the anxieties and vexa-
tions by which men are harassed, and. by which
they feel themselves inwardly as well as out-
wardly oppressed (Is. liii. 4; Ps. cxix. 71), the
troubles which attend eflForts that are long with-
out result, and of which they yet never weary
(1 Kings V. 17). — The mighty one of Jacob
is a designation of God taken from Gen. xlix. 24,
and frequent in Isaiah. [Render vers. 1,2:
Remember, Jehovab, to David, all his harassing
cares, who sware to Jehovah, vowed to the
Mighty One of Jacob. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 3-7. It is idle to discuss whether the
words of the oath, which the Septuagint present
still more fully, are given literally. It is not
indicated whether the allusion is to the vow
made by David, that he would build a temple,
which is inferred from 2 Sam. vii. 2, or only to
the preparation of a secure place generally (Ps.
Ixxviii. 67) for the ark which had previously no
fixed residence, by transferring it to Zion (2
Sam. vi.). In the days of Saul there was very
little concern felt for the ark (1 Chron. xiii. 3).
From the hands of the Philistines it was taken
to Kirjathjearim, and remained there twenty
years, as though forgotten (1 Sam. vi. 21 ; vii.
,1 f.). This city is mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment under several different names. It is there-
fore not absolutely impossible that the field of
yaar, or the field of the wood, ver. 66. was
intended to designate this city Kirjathjearim, i.e.,
forest-city, the sense being: we have at last
found the ark in that place. Under this view
the preceding clause is to be understood : we
heard that it was in Ephrathah. But what
place is that? Bethlehem, which anciently (Ruth
iv. 11 , Gen. xxxv. 16, 19 ; xlviii. 7) was so de-
signated (Micah V. 1), cannot be meant; for the
ark had never been in that city. The explana-
tion also: we in Ephrathah, t. e., David and
other Bethlehemites, heard of it by report (Kim-
chi, Grotius, Hengst.), is inadmissible, in the
light both of grammatical rules and of actual
fact. So, too, with the supposition of an allusion
to th^ birth of the Messiah (Jerome, Stier), or
to Jerusalem as lying in the vicinity of Bethle-
hem (Aben Ezra, et al.). Most hold, therefore,
that Ephraim is meant, since in Judges xii. 5 ; 1
Sam. i. 1 ; 1 Kings xi. 26, 'P^SX means: an
Ephraimite. But they differ as to the precise lo-
cality referred to. Some suppose that it is
Shiloh, as a place within the bounds of Ephraim,
and where the ark resided in older times
(Piscator, Cocceius, Amyrald, et al). Others
maintain that the word is a figurative and ap-
pellative designation of Bethshemesh, when the
ark was set down by the Philistines, and where
it created a great sensation by its effects, 1 Sam.
vi. 16 (Hupfeld). Others, again, explain Ephra-
thah as the name of the district in which
Kirjathjearim lay, referring to the circumstance
that Caleb had, by his third wife, a son Hur (1
Cliron. ii. 19), who was the ancestral head of the
Bethlehemites (1 Chr. iv. 4), and, through his son
Shobal, the head also of the inhabitants of Kir-
jathjearim (1 Chr. ii. 50). The latter accordingly
would belong to Caleb Ephratha (1 Chr. ii. 24). as
the northern part of this portion of the country
appears to, have been designated, in distinction
from negeb Caleb (1 Sam. xxx. 14), the southern
portion (Del., Hitzig). But all these explana-
tions have, in addition to the objections which
may be urged against them individually, to meet
in common the following difl&culty : If the suflBx
in ver. 6 a be referred to the ark, which is not
named before ver. 8 b, and there in a quite dif-
ferent connection, and especially when it is con-
sidered that the sufl&x depends upon J7DE^, the
discourse becomes very abrupt, odd, and ob-
scure. This is so marked that it has even been
conjectured that part of the text has fallen out
(Olshausen). It would be better, therefore, to
refer the suflSx to the notion which lies concealed
in the word, viz: the report heard. There is
then no ground for the division of the verse in
such a way that the first member is made to re-
late to the hearing of the report of David's in-
tention in Bethlehem, while the second tells of
the finding of the ark in Kirjathjearim (Baur)»
For in both members the speakers are the samej
namely, the Israelites generally ; for it is inad-
missible to assume that David here continues
(Hengst.) what had been announced to be only
avow. The Psalmist is included in the Israelites
as a member of the same united nation, as in Ps.
Ixvi. 6. It is impossible that the latter are de-
scribed here as people of Bethlehem ; for special
prominence is given in this Psalm to David and
his house, and Bethlehem was the seat of his
family. It lay, moreover, not far from Jerusa-
lem, 30 that one would be at once reminded of
the Holy City and its environs. Under these cir-
cumstances, it is much more natural to suppose
that the name is not used here topographically
but figuratively (Calvin), and that it is put by
periphrasis for the whole land of Judea, whether
this be indicated by a contrasting of the arable
and wooded, the inhabited and uninhabited land,
or by that of the South and the North, Ephratha
and the wooded land of Lebanon, Is. xxii. 8;
xxix. 17 ; Ps. Ixxv. 7 ; Haggai i. 8 (Venema,
Ewald, Kamphausen). The sense would then be
that everywhere throughout the land there was
heard, not the report of David's vow, but as the
word "lo!" indicates, and the whole style and
purport of what follows require, the voice or
discourse, whose words are given in ver. 7, i. e.,
the voice which utters the invitation to enter the
house of God which had since been completed,
and to worship there.
Vers. 8-10. According to this view, ver. 8 is
not a continuation of the address, but a prayer
of the Psalmist, uniting his supplications with
those of the congregation, and worshipping be-
fore the ark. He, as we think, is identical with
the anointed (ver. 10), and he with Solomon,
and his prayer is that Jehovah would arise and,
with the ark of His covenant, would enter into
the place prepared as His dwelling. And the
place where this happens is not the house of
Abinadab in Kirjathjearim, where the ark once
resided, but the Tabernacle on Zion, whither
David had brought it, and whence Solomon now
brings it into the Temple (1 Kings viii. 3). The
expression : raise thyself, or : arise, is taken
from Numb. x. 35, where it is employed to sum-
mon the congregation to set forward. The place
of rest is the place where the ark was securely
placed (Numb. x. 33, 36 ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 2)*
630
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
In ver. 9 prayer is offered for the worthy attend-
ants at the temple: first for the priests, that
they may not only be clothed with white gar-
ments, the symbol of innocence and purity (Luke
xxiii. 11; Rev. viii. 6), to minister in their midst
the rejoicings of the people, 2 Sam. vi. 14, 15,
comp. Lev. vi. 3 f (Hitzig), but that they may
wear the spiritual robe of righteousness (Job
xxix. 14 ; Is. Ixi. 10) ; and then for the people,
as they shall serve God in the ordinances of His
worship (Kimchi, J. H. Mich., Koster, Hupfeld,
Del.). Ver. 10 then forms a much more suitable
conclusion to this division by its reference to ver
1, than would be made if it were treated as the
beginning of a new section (Calvin, De Wette.)
Vers. 11, 12. Ver. 11 refers to the prophecy
in 2 Sam. vii., which receives its complete ful-
filment in the Messiah (comp. Ps. Ixxxix.). The
swearing is not to be sought in any single word
of the promise (Kimchi), but is to be taken as
setting forth its inviolability, for the purpose of
strengthening faith so often wavering, and there
fore also the reliability of the promise is, in ad-
dition, brought out expressly on its positive
side as truth (2 Sam. vii. 28), and negatively, by
the additional statement that God will notldepart
from it (Is. xlv. 23; Joel ii. 14). Most join DDK
as an accusative to the first member; but see,
on the other hand, Delitzsch and Hupfeld. [Pe-
BOWNB : "This is not the object of the verb
Jf2ll/i : • He hath sworn a faithful oath.' De-
litzsch makes it an adverbial accusative, and
claims the support of the accents, the Pazer (dis-
tinctive) marking the close of the first member
of the verse. But it is better to take it inde-
pendently, as standing at the beginning of a pa-
l-enthetical clause : ' It (i e., the oath) is truth.
He will not depart from it.' "—J. F. M.] The
condition (ver. 12) of the fulfilment of the pro-
phecy, namely, faithfulness to the covenant,
manifested by obedience to God's testimony of
Himself, that is, His revelation, is presented
also in 2 Sam. vii. 14 f, similarly to Gen. xviii.
19; xxvi. 6 ; 1 Kings viii. 25; Ps. Ixxxix. 31 f.
Vers. 13-18. The choice of Zion, i. e,, of Jeru-
salem as the seat of the sanctuary and of God's
dwelling, is finally, in ver. 13, mentioned as the
ground, not of the invitation expressed in ver. 7
(Amyrald, Rosenm.), or of a supposed prayer for
the restoration of the family of David (Heng-
stenberg), but of the sure fulfilment of the pro-
mise just sworn or adduced as a reliable one.
In the following verses, also, it is cited in Jeho-
vah's own words in attestation of its reliability,
first as a fact realized by Divine power, and then
described in its blessed effects, which shall reach
through all time and bear a Messianic character.
The anointed, ver. 17, i|, it is true, not the
same person who prays in ver. 10, but, accord-
ing to the context, David, to whom the promise
was given. But the growing of the horn, the
symbol of victorious power and warlike strength
(Ezek. xxix. 31), and the blooming of the
princely crov^n, as of an unfading wreath
which shall flourish perpetually and ever
renew its blossoms, while his enemies shall be
covered with shame as with a garment (Job viii.
22), and the lamp ordained for the anointed (Ps.
xviii. 29 ; 1 Kings xi. 86), as the symbol of a
brilliant, glorious, and unquenchable life, are di-
rected, in the mouth of God, beyond the mortal
and in part faithless descendants of David, to
that Seed who, in prophetic visions and announce-
ments, appears as the Sprout of Jehovah, Is. iv.
2; Jer. xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 15; Zech. iii. 8; vi. 12
(Calvin, et al, Koster, Olshausen, Del.). So the
Synagogue have also regarded it, which in its
daily prayers, consisting of eighteen passages in
which blessings occur, has the words: "may the
Sprout of David Thy servant soon shoot forth,
and his horn soon be exalted by Thy salvation."
This the father of the Baptist employs in the
form of a prayer with thanksgiving, with his
eyes directed to the approaching fulfilment (Luke
i. 68-70). " Shiloh has been rejected (Ps.
Ixxviii. 60) ; in Bethel and Mizpah the sacred
ark remained but a short time (Judges xx. 27) ;
the house of Abinadab in Kirjath sheltered it
only a little over twenty years (1 Sam. vii. 2) ;
the house of Edom in Perez-Uzzah (2 Sam. vi.
11) only three months. But Zion is Jehovah's
abiding dwelling-place, his own place of settled
nnijp (as in Is xi. 10 ; Ixvi. 1, and besides in
1 Chron, xxviii. 2). In Zion, His chosen and
delightful dwelling-place, Jehovah blesses that
which supplies the temporal needs of her poor,
so that they will not starve ; for Divine love is
specially displayed towards the poor. The other
blessing which He gives He bestows upon the
priests ; for it is through them that He takes up
His abode among His people. He makes Zion's
priesthood a system actually representative of
His salvation ; clothes her priests with salvation,
80 that they shall, not merely as instruments, be
the media of its communication, but shall per-
sonally possess it ; and their whole appearance
shall announce its message. And to all the
pious He gives reason and matter for exalted
and abiding joy, by manifesting Himself also in
acts of mercy to the Church which He hnsmade
His dwelling. Truly in Zion is the kingdom of
promise, wl^ose fulfilment cannot fail!" (De-
litzsch).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
What we do and suffer for the sake of» God,
may indeed be sore to the flesh, but it will be
more than fully rewarded by Him. — When we
build a house to the Lord of the universe, let ns
never forget that we should worship Him in it,
and prepare ourselves to be His dwelling through
the appointed means of grace. — We should rely
upon God's word, and serve Him in accordance
with it, and then with His blessing we shall
never fail in temporal and spiritual well-being.
Starke : The sufferings of believers for the
cause of truth are not meritorious, but neither
are they in vain ; they are not forgotten ty God
(Matt. V. 11, 12). — It is a great blessing of God,
that men can come together in freedom of con-
science to worship Him ; but how little is it re-
garded!— The more perilous the situation of
Christ's kingdom appears to be, with the more
devotion must we utter the next petition of our
Lord's prayer. — The true life in Christ Jesus is
required especially in public teachers ; this sanc-
tifies all their natiiral gifts. — Those who would
enjoy the benefit of the promises made to the
fathers, must walk in their footsteps of faith and
godliness. — God loves to dwell where. His word
PSALM CXXXIII.
631
is preached in its simplicity and purity, and
vi^here He is served in accordance with it. But
He nas no pleasure in self-selected service. — Ho
who follows after Christ will never fail of spi-
ritual strength or true enlightenment.
Fbisch : A man must forego his own comfort
and rest rather than neglect the Lord ; for that
would be to seek his own pleasure and forget
God. — If God has so favored thee as to make
thee stand in His Church, thank Him for it your
whole life long ; perform its duties worthily, and
hold fast to the precious promises which thou
bast heard. — Riboer: Oh that nothing were so
great in our eyes as the kingdom of God ! and
that we, by prayer and by searching out, con-
tinued as firmly in the Divine promises as be-
lievers of old! — Tholuck: God's rich pleasure
in the Church, which He founded from His free
purpose of mercy, moves Him to give gracious
promises with regard to all three relations of
life, as needing maintenance, instruction, and
defence. — Guenther : The true Temple can only
be that which He, who has been declared King
of Glory, keeps building up until the fulness of
the times. David and Solomon were the types
of Christ. — DiEDRiCH : When we become anxious
about the safety of the Church, we must only
keep up a lively remembrance of the Divine pro-
mises ; all distrust will then disappear, for God's
word is the most certain of all things. — Taube :
When God blesses. He does it with no niggardly
hand ; He gives far above what we have asked
or can understand. This is to be marked at the
table, in the heart, and on the throne.
[Matt. Henri. What God sanctifies to us we
shall and may be satisfied with. — God gives more
than we ask, and when He gives salvation He
will give an abundant joy. — Whom God clothes
with righteousness He will also clothe with sal-
vation ; we must pray for righteousness and with
it God will give salvation. — Scott : If God an-
swered the prayers grounded upon His covenant
with^ David, He will never turn away His face
from us, when we plead the covenant made with
His anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. — J.
F. M.]
PSALM cxxxin.
A Song of Degrees of David.
Behold how good and how pleasaut it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity !
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head,
That ran down upon the beard,
Even Aaron's beard :
That went down to the skirts of his garments ;
3 As the dew of Hermon,
And as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion ;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,.
Even life for evermore.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The praise of
fraternal unity (ver. 1), as it diffuses blessings
and communicates them by mutual influence. It
is compared first to the refined oil with which
Aaron was anointed at his consecration (Ex. xxx.
22 f.) and whose abundant and exuberant ful-
ness is brought further into special prominence,-
(ver. 2) ; and then to the abundant and refresh-
ing dew of the mountains, flowing down from
the lofty Hermon to the lower heights of Zion,
where the blessing ordained by God is to be
found, even eternal life (ver. 3).
The Psalm applies to brothers and friends sit-
ting together in peace, and may also be applied
to the union of tribes and races previously sepa-
rated. The idea is primarily not that of do-
mestic and political, but of religious unity and
communion in God's worship. But it is not ne-
cessary to suppose that the Psalm is a liturgical
formulary (Olshausen) for the celebration of the
high Festivals which united all Israel at the sanc-
tuary in Jerusalem. In David's life there may
be found abundant points of connection with the
Psalm; but the use of the relative ^ with the
participle, which is unknown to the usage of the
language before the Exile, is in especial unfa-
vorable to the opinion that he was its composer.
The title "by David" is not found, moreover,
either in the Chald. or the Alex, version. [These
two arguments are taken from Delitzsch. Their
insuflfioiency is easily perceived. No other com-
632
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
mentator that I have consulted haa noted this ex-
ceptional use of tif ; nor was there reason for
doing so. It is probable that if any of the
writers before the Exile had had occasion to em-
ploy the combination here cited, he would have
done so. There was nothing in the analogy of
pure Hebrew to prevent it. Besides, that form
of the relative does not occur frequently enough
to justify such an inference, based upon usage,
from this unusual construction. As there is not
the slightest clue given in the Poem, to lead us to
the date of its composition, the only refuge is
the superscription. But Hengstenberg, who
holds to its correctness, has, strange to say, very
few to support him, — J. F. M.]
Ver. 2. — Aaron's beard. It is not the priests
generally who are designated by this name (De
Wette, Hupfeld), but Aaron himself is brought
before us in person (Hengst.). For the priests
were called anointed (Numb. iii. 3) only because
their clothes were sprinkled with the anointing
oil and with the blood of a ram. Even Aaron's
sons were only sprinkled with the oil. But this
oil was poured upon the head of Aaron himself
(Ex. xxix.; Lev. viii. ). Its abundance, as well
as its good quality (Is. xxxix. 2; Eccl. vii. 1)
are here presented to the mind by the statement
that it flowed down upon the beard, which
being, according to Lev. xxi. 5, permitted its
natural growth, allowed the oil to run down
upon the garments, not merely to the upper edge,
th^opening for the head, but to the lower one.
For this simile is intended to illustrate the pos-
sibility even of an external union, by appropriate
means, of those widely separated. For this rea-
son the relative is not to be referred to the beard
(J. H. Mich, et al., Hupfeld, Hitzig), but to the
oil (Del. and most).
There is, however, no necessity of explaining:
along the garments (Venema), or : which de-
scends over his whole length (Bottcher), as
though the beard were as long as his body
(Sachs). These explanations are the rather to
be avoided, as the person of Aaron is not brought
into view simply as representing Aaron himself,
but as being the type of the High-priesthood
(Ewald) in the fulness of its divine consecration
(Lev. xxi. 10), so that here any representative
of that dignity is called Aajon, as a descendant
of his ancestor of that name, just as the king of
David's family (1 Kings xii. 16; Hos. iii.«6) is
himself called David (Hitzig). Delitzsch cites
as parallel to this a sentence from the Haggada:
"Two drops of the sacred anointing oil remain
forever upon Aaron's beard like two pearls, as
an image of reconciliation and peace."
[Pekowne: "The point of the comparison
does not lie in the preciousness of the oil, in its
all-pervading fragrance, but in this: that being
poured upon the head, it did not rest there, but
flowed to the beard, and descended even to the
garments, and thus, as it were, consecrated the
whole body in all its parts. All the members par-
ticipate in the same blessing. Comp. 1 Cor. xii. . .
Other thoughts may be suggested by the compa-
rison, as that a spirit of concord, both in a state
and a family, will descend from those who go-
vern to those who are governed, or again, that
concord is a holy thing like the holy oil, or sweet
and fragrant like the fragrant oil; but these are
mere accessories *of the image, not that which
suggested its use." — J. F. M.]
Ver. 3. — The dew of Hermon. As Jeremiah
(xviii. 14) was aware of a connection between
the waters of Lebanon and the snow of Lebanon,
so the Psalmist here recognizes a similar con-
nection between the dew of Hermon and the
moistening of the mountains which surround
Zion, " What we read in Ps. cxxxiii. of the dew
of Hermon falling upon the mountains of Zion is
now made quite plain to me. Sitting here at
the foot of Hermon, I was able to understand
how the particles of water, which ascend from
its wood-crowned peaks and from its highest
gorges filled with perpetual snow, after they
have been rarified by the beams of the sun and
the atmosphere has been moistened by them, fall
in the evening in the form of a heavy dew upon
the lower mountains which lie around it at its
projecting ridges. One must behold Hermon,
with its light-golden crown glistening in the
blue heaven, before he can understand this
image. In no part of the whole country is such
a heavy dew observed as that which falls in the
districts near Hermon " (Van de Velde, Reise, i.
97). If the north wind bears the rain-clouds
southwards (Prov. xxv. 23), it may also carry
the dewy mist (Is. xviii. 4) in the same direction
(Hitzig). We may also take into comparison the
widely traceable effects of the atmospliere of the
Alps (Del.). Under these considerations there
is no need of denying the physical relation be-
tween the dew of Hermon and the same dew as
flowing down upon Mt. Zion, which is acknow-
ledged even by Olshausen. Some of the expo-
sitors who do so endeavor to arrive at a solution
by repeating in ver. 3 b. against the rules of
grammar and parallelism, the words: "as the
dew," in order to show that two altogether inde-
pendent descents of dew are referred to (Aben
Ezra, Kimchi, Geier, J. H. Mich., De Wette).
Others give a figurative explanation equally in-
admissible, and either interpret the mountains
of Zion as meaning parched mountains (Doder-
lein, Dathe), or the dew of Hermon as pleasant
dew in general (Stier, Koster, Hengst.). Others,
finally, import into the expression: "dew of
Hermon " the idea of the "blessing of the height,"
and at the same in vers. 2 and 3 regard the first
3=a3, the second 3=rso, by which the descent
of the blessing upon Zion, already expressed
figuratively, is supposed to be set forth by &
comparison with the flowing down of the holy
oil, which is likewise symbolical (Isaaki, Hupf.).
At most it may be said that the image employed
in ver. 8 may have been occasioned by the
thought of the northern and southern tribes
coming together in Jerusalem, and being there
united in fraternal communion, and with an in-
fluence upon one another made mutually benefi-
cent through the Divine blessing (Herder, De-
litzsch). The for of the last sentence is best
explained under this view. For the conclusion
of the Psalm declares not every place of frater-
nal gathering (Flam., Amyrald, Geier, Rosenm.,
De Wette), but Zion (Kimchi and most) to be
the place where God has ordained by His com-
mand the blessing which bestows life which it
was designed to convey. [Perowne : " Here
again it is not the refreshing nature of the dew,
PSALM CXXXIV.
635
nor its gentle, all-pervading influence, which is
the prominent feature. That which renders it
to the poet's eye so striking an image of bro-
therly concord is the fact that it falls alike on
both mountains, that the same dew which de-
scends upon the lofty Hermon descends also
upon the humble Zion. High and low drink in
the same sweet refreshment. Thus the image is
exactly parallel to the last : the oil descends
from the head to the beard; the dew from the
higher mountain to the lower." — J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Fraternal unity ; (11 how it is most attract-
ively exhibited ; (2) wnat is its firmest founda-
tion; (3) how it IS most securely strengthened
and maintained until the end. — Concord should
not merely be praised with the lips and desired
with the heart, it must also be striven after in
life, and be exhibited in action. — The Church of
the Lord is the place where the blessing from
above, Divinely ordained, is won by prayer, and
imparted, received, and spread abroad in fra-
ternal communion. — The blessing of fraternal
concord grows only upon the soil of God's king-
dom in this divided world.
Starke : True brotherly love and all fraternal
and sisterly concord receive mercy and blessing
from God, and are praised and honored by the
world. — As long as a man remains unconverted
he does not know Vhat true love is. — Inward
peace with God is truly a dew upon us, so that
we bloom as the rose. — A place where spiritual
and temporal peace are united, is an earthly pa-
radise, and a foretaste of the heavenly. — Our
love is not a ground of eternal blessedness, but
those who truly love are, for the sake of Christ's
merit, to be heirs of eternal life.— Tholuck:
The blessing of this unity rejoices the feelings
and strengthens the heart ; and as it flows forth
and is all-embracing in its influence, even the
most insignificant are supported by it.— Richter :
All unity comes down from above as a blessing
of God, and produces further blessings. — In the
world, self-seeking and hatred prevail ; but in
Zion, among God's children, true unity reigns,
All party and sectarian discord are carnal.—
GuENTHEB.: The love which gives the greatest
happiness is not that which makes the least sa-
crifices, but that which, with the greatest cheer-
fulness, ofi'ers the most. But like every good re-
sult, this is not accomplished of itself, but by the
mercy of God. — Diedrich : The holy communion
of believers. The blessing of heaven has united
their souls. God's gracious Spirit is the atmos-
phere and dew of their lives. Their love returns
to Him like clouds of incense, floating upwards ;
while their hearts are strengthened with renewed
energy.— Taube : The delightful blessing of fra-
ternal inter-communion.
[Matt. Henry: Behold and wonder that there
should be so much goodness and pleasantness
among men, so much of heaven upon earth I
Holy love is in the sight of God of great price,
and that is precious indeed wliich is so in God's
sight. — Our love to our brethren should not stay
for their's to us; that is publican's love; but
should prevent it; that is Divine love.^They
that dwell in love not only dwell in God, but
dwell already in heaven. As the perfection of
love is the blessedness of heaven, so the sincerity
of love is the earnest of heaven. — J. F. M.j
PSALM CXXXIV.
A Song of Degrees.
Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord,
Which by night stand in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
And bless the Lord.
3 The Lord that made heaven and earth
Bless thee out of Zion.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — It is held by
Borne that this Psalm is occupied with the mutual
irelation of blessing subsisting between God and
His servants who praise Him in the sanctuary
(£imchi, J. U. Mich., Hupfeld). Other views
are that it Is a responaive song between the pre-p
sident of the Levites who hold the night-watch
in the Temple, and the Levites themselves (Aray-
rald), or between those of the Temple-v/atchera
who are mounting guard, and those who are re-
tiring (Kdster, Tholuck), or between the Levites
on guard among themselves, in order to encou-
rage one another to watchfulness, forming one of
634
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
a class of songs of the night-watchers (DeWette).
But that view is probably the preferable one
which regards it as (vers. 1, 2) an exhortation
of the Church to the priests end Levites, who
are charged with the night service, and a greet-
ing in response (ver. 3), after the priestly model
(Numb. vi. 24), to the Church " as one person,
and to the individual members in this united
Church " (Delitzsch, following older commenta-
tors, similarly, Hengstenberg and Hitzig). [De-
litzsch: "This Psalm consists of a greeting,
vers. 1, 2, and a reply, ver. 3. The greeting is
addressed to those priests and Levites who held
the night-watch in the Temple. This antiphone
is intentionally placed at the end of the collec-
tion of the Songs of the Ascents, in order to
take the place of a final blessing." — J. F. M.]
There is no indication that it was a form era-
ployed to introduce the nightly recitation of
hymns, whether by priests or other pious Is-
raelites (Olsh.), The time of composition cannot
be determined.
Ver. 1. Behold. — An exclamation to excite
Mtention (Gen. xix. 1), instead of pointing with
the finger. Every believer is and is called a
minister or servant of the Lord, but the designa-
tion : " those who stand in the house of the
Lord," is a technical expression, not for the
priests and Levites generally, but for those who
stand ready before Jehovah to minister in His
service. The phrase: at nights, is not to be
joined to the following verse (Sept. et al.), or
with: "blessed" (Kimchi, Rudinger, Hupfeld).
For such cases as that mentioned in Luke ii. 37
form exceptions, and the idea: at all times, un-
ceasingly, or: early and late, would require an-
other mode of expression.
Ver. 2. tyip is not an accusative of definition
=in holiness, that is, after the hands have been
washed (Rabbins), or holiness of the kind al-
luded to in 1 Tim. ii. 8 (Juiiilius). Nor does it
indicate the position of the worshipper=in the
sanctuary (Kimchi, Luther). It is an accusative
of direction, Ps. xxviii. 2 (Sept., Jerome): to-
wards the Holy of Holies. [So nearly all the ex-
positors, E. V. has, by conjecture, the wrong
preposition. — J. F. M.]
According to Delitzsch, the Temple-watch was
arranged as follows : " After midnight the chief
of the door-keepers took the key of the inner
Temple, and went, with some of the priests,
through the postern in the Fire-gate. In the
inner court, this patrol divided itself into two
companies, each carrying a burning torch, one
company turning west, the other east; and so
they compassed the court, to see whether all
were in readiness for the following morning. At
the bake-house, where the meat-offering of the
high-priest was baked, they met, exclaiming:
' all is well.' Meanwhile, the rest of the priests
arose, bathed themselves, and put on their gar-
ments of service. They (hen went into the
square-chamber (one-half of which formed the
hall of session of the Sanhedrim), where, under
the direction of the Superintendent of the Lot,
and of one of the Sanhedrim, surrounded by
priests dressed in their robes of office, the duties
of the several priests for the ensuing day were
assigned them by lot." Comp. Reland^ Antiq.
Sacrse, II. 6, 7 ; 6, 7.
Venema has supposed that mTj3 (^n
nights) is syncopated from flwwnS (=with
shouts of praise). Delitzsch rightly character-
izes this as a product of fancy, and says : " The
Psalter contains Morning Psalms (iii. Ixiii.) and
Evening Psalms (iv. cxli.) ; why then may it
not have a Watch-Psalm ? "
[Ver. 3. Hengstenbeko : " That the people
ane addressed, is clear from the parallel passage,
Ps. cxxviii. 5. Only in that case does the Psalm
form a suitable conclusion to the whole Pilgrim-
book. That the future is to be taken optatively,
... is clear from the undeniable reference to
the Mosaic blessing. Numb. vi. 24. The expres-
sion: Creator of heaven and earth, comp. Pss.
cxxi. 2 ; cxxiv. 8, forms the counterpoise to the
depth of misery and weakness in which the com-
munity of God was sunk."— J. F. M.]
HOMILBTICAL AND PRACTICAL.
To praise God is the surest means of gaining
blessing from Him. — Watching and praying are
inseparably connected, and should be the con-
cern of all believers; the ordained ministers of
the sanctuary must not allow the people to put
them to shame in these duties.
Augustine : If the wicked enemy is ever on the
watch to tempt thee, shouldst thou not watch in
order to resist him? — Starke: He who would
praise the Lord worthily myst be a servant of
the Lord, and, consequently, not a servant of the
world and sin. — God, it is true, is present every-
where, even in the smallest peasant-huts, yea, in
the most sequestered nooks, but pre-eminently
in the Church. — Those outward gestures in prayer
which conduce to devotion and humility, are
justly to be retained, and a suppliant has no
need to be ashamed of them. — If the blessing of
an earthly father can build houses for his chil-
dren, and extend even to children's children, how
should not still more than this be imparted by
the blessing of Him who is the true Father of all
that are called His children in Heaven and upon
earth ! (Eph. iii. 16),
Frisch: If God is so ready and vrilling to be-
stow His blessing upon thee, do not by presump-
tion maiie thyself unfit or not entitled to receive
it. — RiCHTER : How seldom is God praised in the
night! — Guenther: God will have the praise,
and give us new life thereby. — Diedrich: He
who has no higher wish than that God may be
blessed unceasingly, shall receive from Him
blessing without end. — Taube : God alone is so
Almighty as to be able to bless us bodily and
spiritually, temporally and eternally, and so
compassionate as to be willing to do it.
[Matt. Henry : It would be an excellent piece
of good husbandry to fill up the vacancies of time
with pious meditations and ejaculations, and
surely it is a modest and reasonable demand to
converse with God when we have nothing else to
do. — We ought to beg those blessings not only
for ourselves, but for others also; not only: the
Lord bless me, but : the Lord bless thee; thus
testifying our belief of the fulness of the Divine
blessings, that there is enough for others as well
as for us ; and our good-will also to others. — Bp.
HoRNE : Thus it is that prayer and praise, which
by grace are caused to ascend from our heart to
PSALM CXXXV.
636
God, will certainly return in the benedictions of
heaven upon our souls and bodies, our persons
and our families, our churches and our country.
Scott : If our hearts were filled with the love
of God, as His holy law commands, our mouths
would be filled with His praises, and though our
frail bodies would need rest, yet our souls would
never be weary of His pleasant service. — Barnes:
There is always in Zion — in the Church — a voice
by day and night which pronounces a blessing on
those who wish it well, who seek its good, and
who desire to partake of the favor of God, — Go
not away unblessed ; go not without a token of
the Divine favor; for God will bless you. — J.
F. M.]
PSALM CXXXV.
1 Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the name of the Lord ;
Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord.
2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord,
In the courts of the house of our God,
3 Praise the Lord ; for the Lord is good :
Sing praises unto his name ; for it is pleasant.
4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself,
And Israel for his peculiar treasure.
5 For I know that the Lord is great,
And that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he
In heaven, and in earth.
In the seas, and all deep places.
7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth ;
He maketh lightnings for the rain ;
He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.
8 Who smote the firstborn of Egypt,
Both of man and beast.
9 Who sent tokens and wonders
Into the midst of thee, O Egypt,
Upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants.
10 Who smote great nations,
And slew mighty kings ;
11 Sihon king of the Amoritea,
And Og king of Bashan,
And all the kingdoms of Canaan :
12 And gave their land for a heritage,
A heritage unto Israel his people.
13 Thy name, 0 Lord, endureth for ever ;
And thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.
14 For the Lord will judge his people.
And he will repent himself concerning his servants.
15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold.
The work of men's hands.
636
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
16 They have mouths, but they speak not ;
Eyes have they, but they see not ;
17 They have ears, but they hear not ;
Neither is there any breath in their mouths.
18 They that make them are like unto them :
So is every one that trusteth in them.
19 Bless the Lord, O house of Israel :
Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron ;
20 Bless the Lord, O house of Levi :
Ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord
21 Blessed be the Lord out of Zion,
Which dwelleth at Jerusalem.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — Au exhortation
to praise the name of Jehovah, addressed to His
servants who stand in the sanctuary and its
courts prepared for His worship (vers. 1, 2).
Such praise is a pleasant employment, and one
befitting the People of Jehovah's choice and in-
heritance (vers. 3, 4). For Jehovah hath made
Himself known as the great God and Lord by
mighty deeds in the realm of nature (vers. 5-7),
and in history, specially in leading His people
forth from Egypt (vers. 8, 9) and into the Pro-
mised Land (vers. 10-12), and, in His helpful
and saving'power, proves Himself to His people,
who transmit His memory to all generations upon
the ground of His self-revelation (vers. 13, 14),
to be the Living God as contrasted with worth-
less idols and their powerless worshippers (vers.
16-18). Finally a repeated exhortation to the
whole house of Israel, in all the classes of all its
members, to praise Jehovah, passes over into
the hymn of praise itself (vers. 19-21).
This Psalm is indisputably one of the latest in
the Psalter; for it is almost wholly composed of
passages taken from other Psalms, and inter-
woven with allusions to the law and the pro-
phets. The beginning, ver. 1, is from Psalm
cxxxiv. 1, enlarged by an allusion to Ps. cxvi. 19,
or xcii. 14. Ver. 3 points to Ps. cxlvii. 1, comp.
Prov. xxii, 18, from which it becomes manifest
that the subject is not Jehovah (Hupfeld), but
either His name, as in Ps. liv. 8 (Sept., Chald.,
Jerome, Luther, Hitzig), or His praise (Del.).
Ver. 6 is like Ps. cxv. 3. Ver. 7 is an echo of
Jer. X. 13 : li. 16, with an allusion to the three
departments of creation, as in Ex. xx. 4. The
effects of lightning as bringing rain, as in Zech.
X. 1, vers. 8 f., follows Ps. cxxxvi. 10 f. The
form: ^3311^3, ver. 9, is probably an imitation
of Ps. cxvi. 19. Ver. 10 alludes to Deut. iv. 38,
and the related passages, Numb. vii. 1 ; ix. 1 ;
xi. 23 ; Josh, xxiii. 9. Ver. 13 is from Ex.xiii.
15, comp. Ps. oii. 13, and ver. 14 from Deut.
xxxil. 86, comp. Ps. xc. 13. Finally, vers. 15 f.
are taken with slight modifications from Ps. cxv.
4-11, comp. oxviii. 2, 4. In the very midst of
expressions taken from Deut., linguistic indica-
tions of a late period suddenly appear.
[Dblitzsch : '* This Psalm ia composed like a
piece of mosaic. The early Italian poet Lucilius
makes a comparison between mosaic-work and
certain styles of writing : quam lepidelezeis com-
postse ut tesserulx omnes, — Ps. cxxxv. is not the
first instance of the employment of such a style.
We have already seen specimens of it in Pss.
cvii. ; xcviii. These Psalms are chiefly com-
posed of passages from the second part of Isaiah,
while Ps. cxxxv. selects its tesserulse from the
Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms." — J. F. M.]
[Vers. 1, 2. Hengstenbebg: " The hallelujah
at the beginning announces in one word the sub-
ject of the Psalm. That by the expression : the
servants of the Lord, the whole people are to be
understood, and not the priests, as in Ps. cxxxiv.,
is rendered more evident from the mention of the
courts in ver. 2, and from the conclusion, vers.
19, 20, where the whole of the Lord's servants
are distributed into their several divisions, priests,
Levites, and believers. But the diflFerence be-
tween this and Ps. cxxxiv. is of no great moment.
For there the priests must praise the Lord as
from the heart of believers ; and that here, too,
the priests stand at the head, is manifest from
ver. 19."— J. F. M.]
Ver. 6 being introduced as supporting the ex-
hortation to praise God, refers to the conviction
of the Psalmist, xx. 7, confirmed by experience,
that the matter of praise is most abundant, and
that the appeal drawn therefrom is most just.
It contains no reference to the duty of marking
God's revelation in nature as contrasted with the
practice of the heathen, Romans i. 19 f. (Kimchi,
Calvin).
Vers. 7-14. The end of the earth does not
mean the horizon, the boundary line of vision
(Grotius, Rosen., De Wette), or the sea, the limit
of the solid land (Kimchi, Amyrald) ; but it de-
fines the earth as separate from the heavens
(Aben Ezra, Flaminius, Hupfeld). Ver. 7 b.
probably does not allude to any miraculous mix-
ture of the opposite elements, fire and water
(Kimchi, Calvin, Geier, and others), but to the
usual occurrence of lightning together with rain
in a thunder-storm. [The rendering of ver. 7 c.
in E. V. would be improved by the substitution
of: store-houses for : treasuries. Ver. 14. Ps-
EOWNE : " Here is the proof and evidence that
Jehovah's name abideth for ever, that He will
manifest, as in the past, so in the future, His
righteousness and His mercy to laraeL" —
J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXXVI.
637
Ver. 21. It is worthy of attention in the final
verse, that Zion, which elsewhere designates the
seat of Jehovah, from out of which He dispenses
blessing (Pss. cxxviii. 5 ; cxxxiv. 3), is men-
tioned here as the plaoe from which a blessing
is directed to Jehovah, that is, the answer to
Jehovah's blessing proceeding from Zion, and
acknowledging with praise that it is a true bless-
ing of God. This corresponds fully, however,
to the actual relations of Zion.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
What we know of God, we are also to utter in
the Church in His presence, and to confess in the
face of the whole world. — Those only can praise
the Lord aright, who know His name, love His
honor, and, as God-fearing men, trust to the dis-
posing will of the Eternal. — God's judgments in
the world are deeds of deliverance for the people
of His choice. — God has chosen us to be the peo-
ple of His inheritance, but are we ever ready to
offer that which is due to Him and becoming to
us? — Idols can give no help, and yet the heathen
cleave to them tenaciously, even until their cer-
tain destruction ; but how often do we suffer
ourselves to be called in vain to God's, worship,
while that worship is given to the only good,
mighty and living God. — God has done so much
for us that we can never thank Him sufficiently
for it ; but what do we do for Him ? — If we seri-
ously believe that the Almighty Ruler of the
universe is our gracious God and faithful Father,
what need we fear from the elements and the
forces of the world ?
Stabke: Your election to blessedness is an
inestimable gift of God's mercy, but just for this
reason be the more diligent to make your calling
and election sure (2 Peter i. 10). — Great benefits
entail great obligations ; if we have been pur-
chased by God as His inheritance, we must not
live according to our own will, but the will of
Him. who died for us and rose again. — As soon
as a man becomes small in his own heart, Ood
becomes great there. In proportion as he has
true humility in his heart, will he have a lofty
regard for God in his soul, — God has His power
in His will, and His will is all power, so that it
can fail of nothing. — Look around everywhere,
go whither thou wilt, thou wilt find everywhere
proofs of the Divine omnipotence and wisdom. —
It is a sign that a man is altogether dead in his
heart, when he can look upon the heavens with-
out rejoiciog that He who created them is his
Father, and that his inheritance there is eternal.
— 'The hearts of many are still like those of the
Egyptians, first they would see signs and won-
ders, and when they see them they do not be-
lieve.^Sin drives people from their own land
and brings them to misfortune, with regard both
to their temporal and spiritual life. — Be not over-
anxious, dear soul, about the Christian Church,
as though it will be quite extirpated. No ; as
Gad abides for ever, so is He ever able to pre-
serve and protect His little band, and to judge
its enemies. — God does not judge His people
otherwise than in mercy. — Satan easily urges
from one folly and state of blindness to another,
the victims of his delusion. — How many are
like idol-images, when they have eyes, ears and
mouths as though they had none, that is, when
they do not use them when and how they should!
— God's praise is a part of His true fear ; it can-
not therefore be intermitted without sin. — God
who once dwelt in Jerusalem, desires to dwell
in thy heart ; it shall be His Zion and His Tem-
ple. Refuse it not to Him (John xiv. 23),
Frisch : I am chosen to be God's inheritance,
and therefore I cannot conform myself to the great
mass of the world. I am God's and not my own.
I am a vessel of His mercy, alas for me if I
should become a vessel of His wrath I I am an
instrument of His mercies, whose influence I
would have shed upon me. I am His heir, a
joint-heir with His Son ; with this I am satis-
fied.— GuENTHER : Cast your idols away from
your heart and house, and you will become a
priest of the Highest. — Diedrich: According to
a man's God, is he himself. — Taube : Zion and
Jerusalem are the starting-place and goal of all
God's revelations of Himself. They have an
eternal significance. — L. Harms: To have a
living God, to whom we can pray, is bliss.
[Matt. Henrt : The reasons why we should
praise God: (1) because He whom we are to
praise is good ; (2) because the work is its own
wages ; (3) because of the peculiar privileges
of God's people, — God is and ever will be the
same to Hjs Church, a gracious, faithful, and
wonder-working God ; and His Church is and
will be the same to Him, a thankful, praising
people; and thus His name endures for ever, —
Bishop Horne (vers, 8, 9) : The objects of a
man's sin frequently become in the end the in-
struments of his punishment, — Barnes : Who,
in reading this Psalm, can fail to catch the feel-
ing of the Psalmist, and say amen and amen ?—*
J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXXVI.
0 give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
0 give thanks unto the God of gods :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
638
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
4 To him who alone doeth great wonders :
For his mercy endureth for etver.
5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
7 To him that made great lights :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
8 The sun to rule by day :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
9 The moon and stars to rule by night :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
10 To him that smote Egypt in their first-bom ;
For his mercy endureth for ever :
11 And brought out Israel from among them :
I'or his mercy endureth for ever :
12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
13 To him which divided the Red sea into parts :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
16 To him which led his people through the wilderness :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
17 To him which smote great kings :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
18 And slew famous kings:
For his mercy endureth for ever :
19 Sihon king of the Amorites :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
20 And Og the king of Bashan : i
For his mercy endureth for ever : -^
21 And gave their land for a heritage :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
22 Even a heritage unto Israel his servant :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
23 Who remembered us in our low estate :
For his mercy endureth for ever :
24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
25 Who giveth food to all flesh :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven :
For his mercy endureth for ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm is
an exhortation to give thanks to Jehovah, the
true God and the real Lord of the universe, and of
all its powers and dominions (vers. 1-3) who, by
mighty deeds in nature, has displayed His great-
ness as the Creator of the world (vers. 4-9), and
by deeds of deliverance and judgment in history.
His pre-eminence as the Redeemer, Guide, and
Guardian of His people (vers. 10-25), for which
they are to offer their thanksgiving. — It is essen-
tially a repetition of the foregoing, with some in-
sertions, full of allusions to passages in Deute-
ronomy and the second part of Isaiah, and
adapted by antiphonal arrangement for liturgical
use, after the analogy of Exodus xv. 51 ; Deuf.
xxvii. 14 f. For the introduction see Pss. cvi.
and cxviii. ; on the name ffreal Hallel applied to
it, see Ps. cxiii.
[The coDJecture of Delitzsch in hia first edition
PSALM CXXXVI.
689
that the Psalm originally oonsisted of 22
verses, corresponding to the number of letters
in the Hebrew alphabet, vers. 19-22 being inter-
polated from Ps. cxxxv., is considered possible
by Perowne, but is wisely withdrawn by De-
litzsch himself in his last edition. — Alexander :
" The grand peculiarity of form in this Psalm,
by which it is distinguished from all others, is
the regular ooourrenoe at the end of every verse
of a burden or refrain, like the responses in the
Litany, but carried through with still more per-
fect uniformity. ... It has been a favorite idea
with interpreters that such repetitions necessa-
rily imply alternate or responsive choirs. But
the other indications of this usage in the Psalter
are extremely doubtful, and every exegetical
condition may be satisfied by simply supposing
that the singers in some cases answered their
own questions, and that in others, as in the case
before us, the people united in the burden or
chorus, as they were wont to do in the Amen." —
J. P.M.]
Vers. 2-4. God of gods is an expression af-
ter Deut. X. 17. It sets forth His creative and
providential power by His strong hand and His
outstretched arm (Deut. iv. 34; v. 15, compare
Jer. xxxli. 21). The term great (ver. 4), applied
to the wonders which God alone does, recalls Ps.
Ixxii. 18 (comp. Ixxxvi. 10.
Vers. 5-7. The term riJ'Oil (ver. 5), applied
to the wisdom which made the world, is taken
from Prov. iii. 19 or Jer. x. 12. ;^p'l (ver. 6) is
an epithet of God, Is. xlii. 5; xliv. 24, as of Him
who spreads out the earth like a plain upon the
waters or over the waters (Ex. xx. 4 ; Ps. xxiv.
2^. [Dblitzsch : " Because the water is partly
visible and partly invisible." — J. P. M.] It does
not mean : He who makes firm (De Wette). Else-
where God is called: lD^=sierneus. The plural :
0'']"iK=ZM<;g«, for r\fiKD=ZMwimffi, occurs only
here.
Vers. 9-15.— The dominions (ver. 9) [the do-
minions of the night; E. V.: to rule the night]
do not mean ruling powers, but the two-fold ex-
ercise of ruling (Ps. cxiv. 2) ; here those of the
moon and of the stars. In ver. 13 1?Jl is used of
the dividing of the Red Sea, as of something cut
into two parts, Gen. xv. 17, instead of ^02, Ps.
Ixxviii. 13; Neh. ix. 11, which follow Ex. xiv.
21. But "^jfi (ver. 16) is the established term
taken from Ex. xiv. 27.
Ver. 26.— The name God of heaven is, as in
Neh. i. 4; ii. 4, an appellation of God which
originated in a late period. The language, also,
employed after ver. 17 conveys a strong impres-
sion of the same age. [Alexander: "The
God of heaven is a new description as to form,
but substantially equivalent to that in Pss. vii.
8; xi. 4; xiv. 2; xxxiii. 13, 14."—/. P. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God will have a people in the world which be-
longs to Him alone and serves Him ; for this He
jias created the world and preserves it with its
inhabitants.— It is well, in considering all the
wonderful works and great deeds of God in na-
ture and history, to regard mercy as their divine
source: by this we learn to thank God most fer-
vently and to trust Him most firmly. — We have
ever reason enough to praise God with gratitude,
and occasion enough, also, as we are so often
urged to do ; but, alas I we have not always de-
light in that service, and too often but little zeal.
— God's power is incomparable, His wisdom
boundless, His love infinite. Alasl that men
begin so late to know God and cease so soon to
thank Him, that they falter so much in their
faith, and exercise themselves so little in the
obedience of love.
Starke: God is goodness itself: therefore as
long as GK)d remains, goodness remains. He is a
stronghold in distress. — He who would praise
God's goodness worthily must have had some ex-
perience, some tokens of it, and Lave retained
them still further in blissful enjoyment. — The
world ascribes nothing to God's goodness. With
it everything depends upon fortune ; but be thou
of a difi'erent mind. Let it not so often be said
in vain to thee: His goodness endurgth forever.
— The work of creation is so full of depths of
God's omnipotence and wisdom that a mortal be-
comes lost in reflecting upon it and must take
His stand upon the everlasting goodness of God.
— God will perform in His Church works which
supersede the laws of nature, rather than allow
her to succumb and perish in her afflictions. —
He who will oppose God's will, as Pharaoh did,
need expect nothing else than that the mighty
hand of God will urge him on to destruction. —
Whenever we eat a morsel of bread or take a re-
viving draught, we can taste and see how kind
God is. — If God were to portion out His goodness
to us according to the measure of our recogni-
tion and acknowledgment of it, it might well not
linger with us another hour, for no manifesta-
tion of it comes to us which we do not sin away.
Richter: God, while showing special favor
towards Israel, His chosen people, His first-born,
is also gracious and merciful to all. He it is
who has adapted and arranged the whole hea-
vens for the good of the earth and of all created
things. — Guenther: 0 that every deliverance
here below .were an earnest of the last great de-
liverance from the enemy of all enemies, and
that the assurance of the children of God were
unchangeably firm! — Taube: It must and will
be Israel that leads the song of thanksgiving,
inspired by that nearer revelation given to them
in the history of redemption, which gave them
the key to the knowledge of the works of God.
[Matt. Henry: We are never so earnestly
called upon to pray and repent as to ffive thanks.
For it is the will of God that we should abound
most in the most pleasant exercises of religioti,
in that which is the work of heaven. — It is good
to enter into the detail of God's favors, and not
to view them in the gross, and in each instance
to observe and own that God's mercy endureth
forever. — We should trace each stream to the
fountain. This and that particular mercy may
perhaps endure for a while ; but the mercy that
is in God endures forever : it is an inexhaustible
fountain. — Bp. Horne : How many of those for
whom the works of creation, providence, and re-
demption have been wrought think none of them
worthy their attention! Angels admire and
adore when man will not deign to cast an eye or
employ a thought. — Be God's praise as universal
640
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
and lasting as His mercy ! — Soott : Bepetitions,
disgustful to the fastidious, are often salutary
and necessary, because we are so prone to over-
look or forget the Lord's goodness and mercy ;
yet they convey a severe reproof and should
oause us to unite humiliatioa with our gratitude
to our condescending Instructor. — Barnes : Mere
power might fill us with dread; power, mingled
with mercy and able to carry out the purposes
of mercy, must lay the foundation for praise.—
J. F. M.1
PSALM CXXXVII.
1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept>
When we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps
Upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they tliat carried us away captive required of us
A song ; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying.
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the Lord's song
In a strange land ?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning.
6 If I do not remember thee.
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ;
If I prefer not Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem ;
Who said. Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed ;
Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us,
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones
Against the stones.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The poetically-
gifted author, at one time speakingin an elegiac,
at another in an epic strain, begins with a
mournful reminiscence of the occasion when the
exiles were derisively invited by the inhabitants
of Babylon to sing their devotional song^, and
could only answer by silence (vers. 1-3). He
then makes the strongest assurances of his per-
sonal attachment to Jerusalem, which he ever
loves in faithful remembrance and prefers to all
joys (vers. d-6). Finally, he entreats the divine
retributive judgment upon Babylon and Edom
in a tone of threatening and imprecation (vers.
7-9).
The time when this despite was endured seems
■till to remain in lively remembrance and to
re^oh into the personal experience cf ihe Psalm-
ist (Venema and most) ; and there is no support
for the assumption which connects the Psalm
specially with the dedication of the Second Tem-
ple and the restoration of the sacred music (Ru-
dinger), or for that which discovers (Hengsten-
berg) a more definite indication of the time in
ver. 8 (see the exposition). It would make the
poem artificial to suppose that the longing of the
exiles was introduced merely as the counterpart
of that of the poet himself who lived in the Mac-
cabaean age (Hitzig). The superscription: by
David (Sept.), with the addition in some Greek
versions : by Jeremiah, can be defended neither
by the assumption of a prophetical poem of David
representing the feelings of Jeremiah (Geier, J.
H. Michaelis), nor by that of a composition by
Jeremiah after the manner and model of David
(Du Pin, etal.).
[Perowne says, that there can be no doubt
whatever as to the time when the Psalm wa«
PSALM CXXXVII.
641
composed. He then says; "It expresses the
feeling of an exile who had but just returned
from the land of his captivity. In all probability
the writer was a Levite who had been carried
away captive by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar,
.... and was one of the first, after the edict
of Cyrus was published, to return to Jerusalem."
But for this specializing view he does not adduce
the least evidence. Alexander rejects the opi-
nion of Hengstenberg that the composition took
place after the final destruction of Babylon by
Darius Hystaspis. It is best to "adhere to the
general view mentioned above. — .J. F. M,]
Vera. 1-2. — By the rivers of Babylon. Not
only the capital city with the Euphrates and its
canals are here brought into view, but the whole
Babylonian territory, intersected everywhere by
rivers and canals. Ezekiel also (i. 8) and Daniel
(viii. 2) experienced their propnetio visions on
the banks of the Chaboras and Eulseus. These
Burrounding8,*moreover, suggested the image of
the willows upon which the captives sorrowfully
hung theiiv harps. This expression, if not ex-
actly a proverbial one (Geier, J. H. Michaelis)
is, at all events, a poetical method of referring
to the hushing of their joyful and festal songs,
especially those in which the harp was employed
(Gen. xxxi. 27 ; 2 Sam. vi. 5, and frequently in
the Psalms), and wbose silence indicated public
misfortune and national grief (Is. xxiv. 8; Ezek.
xxvi. 13; Amos v. 23; Job xxx. 31; Lam. v.
14 f ). The silent and pensive sitting among the
willows by the side of the gently-flowing stream
is in admirable agreement witti the feeling of
home-sickness. There is no allusion to the situ-
ation of the Jewish houses of devotion placed
near water for the sake of the ceremonial lustra-
tions (Venema, et al). [Alexander: *'It has
been objected that the willow is unknown in the
region once called Babylonia, which is said to
produce nothing but the palm-tree. Some avoid
this difficulty by explaining the whole verse as
metaphorical, hanging up the harps being a.
figure for renouncing music, and willows being
suggested by the mention of streams, perhaps
with some allusion to associations connected with
this particular tree. It may also be observed,
that extraordinary changes have taken place in
the vegetable products, and especially the trees
of certain countries. Thus the palm-tree, so
frequently referred to in the Scriptures and so
common once that cities were called after it, is
now almost unknown in Palestine." — Delitzsch:
"The n3l£, whose boughs formed a part of the
Lulab at the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii.
40), is understood to mean the brook-willow,
and in our passage there is scarcely such a close
botanical distinction made, that the weeping-
willow (salix babylonica) could not be included
under this term." D^l. also states that in the
lower, well-watered portions of Babylonia, thr^
\illow and viburnum are indigenous. — J. F M.]
Ver. 3 — The grief occasioned by their length-
Sned sojourn as captives in a foreign land was
Heightened, on the one hand, by their oppressors
/nsisting that they should strike up some one of
Iheir sacred songs, and, on the other, by the re-
collection of the blessings received in Jerusalem
through these songs and the celebration of God's
worship generally. Nothing could supply their
41
place as long as this celebration was inseparabib
from the Temple, and God was found there as
His only dwelling-place on earth. The singing
of sacred songs which were connected with the
public worship of Jehovah (2 Chron. xxix. 27,
corap. 1 Chron. xxv. 7), and therefore of a litur-
gical character, in a foreign country, was, how-
ever, not contrary to the Law, but, under the
present circumstances, was opposed to religious
and moral feelings. In ver. 3 c joy [E. V. mirth]
may, according to the parallelism, mean here the
expression of joy (Geier), especially in hymns
of praise (Sept.) and joyful songs (Rosenmullcr,
De Wette, Hengst.). But it may also denote
merely the frame of mind inspiring such songs
(Hupfeld). [The translation in E. V.: They
that wasted us, follows the Sept , Chald. and
Syr. The word is thus regarded as an Aramaic
form. But no such form exists; the one most
resembling it being shdlal, which has a passive
meaning and E' instead of fi . It is therefore
now usually taken from 77"', to howl, and trans-
lated: those who made us to cry out — our tor-
turers. The second clause of the verse is in E.
V. rendered simply: a song. The Hebr. is: the
words of a song. Del.: "Words of the songs,
as portions or fragments of the national treasure
of song, like I'K'p farther on, which Rosenmiil-
ler correctly explains: sacrum aliquod carmen ex
veteribua illia suia Sionicis." Ver. 5. Pekowne :
Forget. Probably there is an aposiopesis, or we
may supply either, as E. V. : "her cunning," i. e.
her skill with the harp, or more generally "the
power of motion." — J. F. M.] .
Vers. 6, 7. — The head of my joy is the
highest joy (Ex. xxx. 23; Song Sol. iv. 14).
[WoRDSwoKTH literally: "If I advance not
Jerusalem above the head of my joy. If I set
not Jerusalem as a diadem upon the head of my
rejoicing and crown all my happiness with it."
J. F. M.] — The Edomites were particularly ac-
tive in the destruction of Jerusalem (Amos i. 11;
Joel iv. 19; Obad. 10 f), for which they are
threatened with the divine vengeance (Jer. xlix.
7f; Lam. iv. 21 f; Ezek. xxv. 12f; Is. xxxiv.,
Ixiii. 1 f ). As the kindred of Israel, they wero
still more odious to them tl-an the Chaldseans
were, and possibly for this reason are here men-
tioQcd before the latter (Hupfeld). [See Stan-
ley, Jewish Church, ii., p. 656, quoted by Pe-
rowne. Ver. 7 ab should be rendered : Remem-
ber, Jehovah, for the children of Edom, the day
of Jerusalem. The day, according to the com-
mon Oriental usage of the word, is the day of
calamity.— J. F. M.]
Ver. 8. — Thou that art destroyed. It is
not admissible to substitute for this rendering:
thou who art to be destroyed (Theodotion, Amy-
raid, J. H. Michaelis, et al.), or: thou destroyer
De Wette), or: thou murderess (Hit-
robber (Syr., Chald., Symma,chus).
according to the existing ppinting, is
part., and therefore means: vaatata
From this it does not follow, that
there is an allusion here to the second capture
of Babylon by Darius (Hengst.), which was the
only one that could be connected wiih a real de-
struction. For the object addressed is the
daughter of Babel, i. e., her population, and the
(Rosenm,,
zig), or:
The form,
the pass.
(Jerome).
642
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
process of destruction, already begun, is repre-
sented in the following wish as still to be com-
pleted before the final destruction can take place.
It is therefore also unsuitable to assume, with
Bome expositors, that in this expression that
event is prophetically represented as having ac-
tually taken place. It is threatened against the
Babylonians in Is. xiii. 16 f, also, that their chil-
dren shall be dashed to pieces. The custom was
not unknown to antiquity generally, comp. Ho-
mer, Iliad xxii. 63; xxiv. 732, nor to the Israel-
ites (2 Kings vi. 12; Hos. x. 14; xiv. 1; Nahura
iii. 10). No new generation is to be permitted
to raise from her ruins th« shattered world-
power (Is. xiv. 21 f).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
There is a sorrow which becomes the pious
and is pleasing to God, even though the world
does not understand it. — No earthly calamity, no
worldly pleasure, no allurement of men, should
make us forget that which we have received from
God as members of His people, or what we have
Btill to expect from Him, or what, for these rex-
sons it is due to Him, to ourselves, and to the
Church, that we should leave undone as well as
perform. — It is well for us if we do not begin to
prize and love the highest blessings of life only
when we are in danger of losing them I
Starke ; Rememberyour blessings with hearty
thanksgiving to God while you have them, lest
they be taken from you for your ingratitude. —
Many a one hungers and thirsts in captivity for
the nourishment of the Divine word, to whom it
was once distasteful when he had more abundant
opportunities of listening to it. — A true Chris-
tian cannot rightly ridicule the word of God, or
quote sacred songs or Scripture phrases in jest.
— A Christian cannot be truly joyful in this
world, for here he is not at home, but in a strange
land; his Fatherland is above, in heaven. — No
place, no country, no tyrant, no imprisonment,
no created object whatever can sever from Christ
' the citizen of the spiritual Zion. — Citizenship in
the heavenly Jerusalem, compared to which
everything which this world can give is only a
shadow, must be the chief joy of a believer. —
God's punishment awaits not only those who
make actual assaults upon His Church, but also
those who by counselling, conniving, and in-
citing, become partakers of other men's sins.
Arndt : It is the highest joy and delight of a
true Cliristian to know, to extol, and to praise
God, and to be in the society and citizenship of
the heavenly Jerusalem. — Feisch : We should
ever have before our eyes the Lord of all lords,
and never let dishonor be done to His name. —
Diedrich: He who loves only the new nature,
hates the old, and wishes his destruction. —
Taubb : The deep sorrow of God's people in Ba-
bylon ; their ardent zeal of love for Zion ; their
holy zeal of vengeance against Edom and Ba-
bylon.
[Matt. Henry: It argues a base and sordid
spirit to upbraid those who are in distress, either
with their former joys or present griefs, or to
challenge those to be merry whom we know are
out of time for it; this is adding affliction to the
afflicted. — We must not serve common mirth,
much less profane mirth, with anything that is
appropriated to God, who is sometimes to be ho-
nored by a religious silence as well as by reli-
gious speaking. — The destruction of Babylon: (1)
a just destruction ; (2) an utter destruction ; (3)
a destruction which should reflect honor upon
the instruments of it. — The fall of the New Tes-
tament Babylon will be the triumph of all the
saints. — Bp. Hornb: The hope of a return to
Thee is my only comfort in this vale of tears,
where I am and will be a mourner until my cap-
tivity be brought back, and my sorrow be turned
into joy. — Barnes : When the joy of religion is
sacrificed for the joy of the world, it proves that
there is no true piety in the soul. Religion, if
it exists at all, will always be supreme.
.F. M.]
PSALM CXXXVIII.
A Psalm of David.
I will praise thee with my whole heart :
Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee,
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple,
And praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth
For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
3 la the day when 1 cried thou answeredst me
And strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord,
When they hear the words of thy mouth.
PSALM CXXXVITI.
643
5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord ;
For great is the glory of the Lord.
6 Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly :
But the proud he knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me :
Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies,
And thy right hand shall save me.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me :
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever :
Forsake not the works of thine own hands.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm con-
BiBts of three strophes, moved by three closely
connected thoughts : First, a vow is made by the
Psalmist that he will praise God thankfully in
His Church, for a great deed done for him in an-
swer to prayer, by which a distinct promise pre-
viously given had been still more glorified (vers.
1-3). Next he predicts that all the kings of the
earth, upon hearing of this, would thank the
living God of Revelation for it, and would extol
the ways of this exalted God and His glory, as
made known in the manner in which He regards
both the abased and the proud (vers. 4-6). Fi-
nally: he utters his assurance of the Divine help
in time of need and against the anger of His
foes, as the completion of the gracious work be-
gun for him by God (vers. 7, 8)
This creates the impression that both the per-
son and the experiences of the Psalmist were de-
serving of pw^^zc attention, and had enlisted it.
It is further to be inferred that these conditions
stand in connection with Divine promise and its
fulfilment, exceeding all expectation, by Divine
action, and consequently in connection with the
history of redemption. It appears, still further,
that these relations had a significance extending
beyond the person of the Psalmist to the history
of his kingdom, and beyond particular interests
to those of the world. And it is manifest, lastly,
that all that had already taken place was, on
God's part, but the beginning of a plan and
course of working carried forwards with the cer-
tainty of fulfilment by the performance of deeds
of mercy. Consequently the Psalm bears aprophe-
tico-messianic character. How much its several
features are appropriate to David, his experi-
ences, and his position in the history of religion,
does not, after our previous attempts to unfold
them, require any special proof here. We there-
fore refer this Psalm not to Johannes Hyrcanus,
(Hitzig), but (0 David, who is named in the su-
perscription, and with whose Psalms many ex-
pressions are found to have points of coincidence.
We are also of the opinion that it was not writ-
tea by an unknown person who had David's
Psalms in mind, and uttered it as if from David's
personality, being a picture taken from 2 Sam.
vii. (Delitzsch); but that it had David himself
for its author, and that it was composed when
he, after a victorious warfare, and elevated with
the sense of his great destiny, did yet with hu-
mility give God the glory, and formed the pur-
pose of building for Him a Temple instead of
the Tabernacle upon Zion (Hengstenberg). It is
uncertain whether the addition to the superscrip-
tion in the Sept. and Vulg. : of Haggai and Ze-
chariah, would refer the present recension of
the Text to the prophets named (Kohler, Haggai,
p. 33). These and the similar additions in other
Psalms show, at all events, that in the opinion of
the Seventy, the Psalm collection was not com-
pleted later than the time of Nehemiah (De-
litzsch).
[HENasTENBERo: " The Psalm belongs to that
chain of Davidic Psalms which was called forth
by the promise in 2 Sam. vii., and which rest
upon it: Pss. xviii., xxi., Ixi., ci.-ciii., ex. Comp.
Pss. Ixxii., Ixxxix., cxxxii. That the promise
here celebrated is no other than that, is as clear
as day. Here as well as there the subject
handled has respect to a blessing of surpassing
greatness. Further, here as well as there, we
have to do, not with a particular blessing, but
with a chain of blessings reaching even to eter-
nity, ver. 8. Finally, the promise has here the
same subject as there. If the Psalm refers to
the promise in 2 Sam. vii., there can be no doubt
of the correctness of the superscription which
assigns it to David. For he on whom the pro-
mise has been conferred, himself stands forth as
the speaker. There is a proof also that the au-
thor was David, in the union, so characteristic
of him, of bold courage (see especially ver. 3)
and deep humility (see ver. 6). And in proof
of the same comes, finally, the near relationship
in which it stands to the other Psalms of David."
—J. F. M.]
Ver. 1. In presence of Blohim. — [B. V.:
before the gods]. These words are certainly in-
tended to set forth the publicity and solemnity
of the praise rendered to Jehovah, and probably
also the exultation proceeding from the joy of
victory. For in the first place the expression is
not: before the face of, but njJ, which, with
the idea oi presence, combines that of the person
opposite. In the second place Elohim does not
refer to the angels (Sept., Luth., Calv., J. H.
Michaelis, Rosenmiiller) which is a very rare
sense (see on Ps. xxix. 1). Nor does it desig-
nate God throned upon the ark as parallel to the
sacred places of worship mentioned immediately
thereafter (Drusius, De Wette, Ewald, Olshau-
sen) ; but either the rulers as earth-gods [pow-
erful ones of earth], Ps. Ixxxii. 1, comp. xlv. 7;
Ixxxix. 28; cxix. 46; 2 Sam. vii. 9 (Rabbins,
Flaminius, Geier, Bucer, Clericus, Delitzsch), or
the gods of the nations ( Aquila, Symmachus, Je-
rome, Kdster, Hengst., Hupf., Hitzig), which are
644
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
then regarded as being able to do nothing like
those things which God does for His own, and as
only evincing their impotence to the shame of
their worshippers. [The last named view is sup-
ported by Perowne and Alexander, and most
Engl, expositors, and has, it may be presumed,
the common consent of uncritical readers. Words-
worth and Noyes are undecided as to the appli-
cation.— J. F. M.]
Ver. 2. Thou hast magnified thy Tvord
above all thy name. — This mode of expression,
which does not occur elsewhere, has in some cases
called forth very forced explanations. It gave
such oflFence to Clericus that this learned critic
preferred, in place of ^OK^, to read ^"'IpE', as in
Ps. viii. 4: thy heavens (comp. cviii. 6; cxiii.
4 ; cxix. 89). But the sentence is not so distorted
(Hupfeld) that a transposition of h3~hy must be
resorted to (Kimchi), giving the sense: Thy
name above all Thy word, i. e., Thou hast glori-
fied it above all promises. It is certainly inad-
missible to translate : Thou hast glorified thy
name above all through Thy word (Luth., Cal-
vin), or; according to Thy word (Venema) or:
and Thy word (Flaminius, Dbderlein), even if
the pointing 13 l^l be chosen. But if we do not
disallow so sweepingly as Hupfeld has done the
historical allusions, it becomes no arbitrary limi-
tation, but an interpretation consistent with
those events, to understand this passage not to
relate to the totality of all the possible names of
God, or to His revelation of His nature, but to
everything by which He had hitherto made for
Himself a name and established a memorial, and
that not to the word of God generally, but to a
special promise. There remain then only two
points undecided : first, whether this promise is
to be regarded as the one celebrated in 2 Sam.
vii., or as another also historically and religi-
ously significant; secondly, whether the exalting,
glorifying, and magnifying relates to this pro-
mise as such (Hengstenberg, Delitzsch) or to its
fulfilment (Geier, J. H. Micbaelis, Koster, 01s-
hausen, Ewald, Hitzig). Since the giving of
such a promise is also a great deed on the part
of God, no decision can be arrived at from the
word itself, which, besides, occurs in different
applications in tbe prophecy in 2 Sam, vii. Nor
is there more light thrown on the question by the
following sentences viewed separately. But if
we view the whole Psalm as a unit, and in the
light of 2 Sam. vii., then the reference to the
promise sought for is readily perceived. This
promise of the eternal dominion of David's fa-
mily is then in ver. 3 declared by him to be the
i)ivine answer to his prayer (Hengstenberg) Ps.
xxi. 3, 5; Ixi. 6; and has filled his soul with
lofty courage and strength in reliance upon God's
word (Ps. xviii, 30), of whose efficiency he had
already during his life experienced so very many
proofs. [Translate ver. Zb: Thou hast made
me courageous in my soul with strenffth.— J.
F. M.] ^
Vers. 4-6. The words of the mouth of Jehovah
(ver, 4) are thus not God's word in general (Hup-
feld) nor, specially, the Gospel after the inter-
vening fulfilment (many of the older expositors)
but this promise itself, both before and after
its fulfilment, which is here viewed as one that
is in course of actual realization through God's
guiding and disposing power. For the ways of
God (ver, 6) are not the commands according to
which, or the ways in which, the converted
kings of the Gentile world walk, (Hengstenberg
after the older expositors), but the dealings of
God which will form the subject of even their
praise (Chald., Syr., and most), [Translate
ver. 5 : They shall sing of the ways, etc. Ver. 6.
Peeowne : He knoweth afar off. This is the only
proper rendering of the clause ; but thje expres-
sion is somewhat remarkable. (1). It has been
explained by reference to cxxxix. 2, which would
mean, God knows (observes) the proud, distant
as they may think themselves to be from His con-
trol. (2). But it seems rather to mean, God
knows (regards) them only at a distance, does
not admit them into Hia fellowship; He does not
' see ' them as He seeth the humble. (3). Or
it would be possible to explain : He knows them
so as to keep them at a distance," — J. F, M.]
Ver. 8. The works of God's hands, from which
God will not cease, and in whose performance He
will not remit His working, are the historical
acts and provisions of His gracious working and
disposing. To those belong also even the eleva-
tion of David to the kingdom from a low posi-
tion, his deliverance from the persecutions of
Saul and the like proud enemies, and the gift of
a blessed posterity. The word h^ in the last
line, expressing denial, indicates the inward
emotion, the subjective interest felt by the
speaker.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
With us men everything is piece-work, but
God lets nothing be half done. He fulfils His
purposes completely. — Alas how hard it is to
find pleasure in God's ways, in those which Hia
law enjoins upon us, and in those in which His
hand leads us ! — The conversion of the world as
the gracious work of God and the believing hope
of His servants,
Luthek: Christ's ruling is to sit on high
and to help the abased.
Starke : The less we pray, the more unskilful
we become in prayer, the more are our hearts
filled with vain, worldly thoughts, and the less
inclination do we discover in ourselves to pray
and praise, — Up, dear soul, what though thou
hast once complained like Israel ? Ps. cxxxvii. 1,
sing now once more a song of joy to the Lord ;
thou hast been pressed also like a grape, give
forth thy sweet juice. — He who undismayed con-
fesses Jesus before the mighty .of the earth, and
has thus fixed his hope in God, has then sung a
hymn of praise before the gods. — Goodness and
faithfulness are the foundations of our faith;
goodness has won salvation and blessedness for
us poor sinners, and faithfulness preserves ua in
the enjoyment of them. — None know how much
the prayer for spiritual strength can give, but
those who have experienced it. — Lowliness and
humility are the court-dress of God; He who
wears them will please Him well, — The more
highly man exalts himself the further he departs
from God. How many of tlie proud have found
that out to their cost I — God changes not in
PSALM CXXXIX.
645
goodness and faithfulness, how great soever dis-
tress and afflictions maybe. — The life of belicTers
is like an unsafe road, which is infested every-
where with robbers and murderers. — But let not
your courage fail, God needs only to stretch out
His hand and thej are beaten back, while we are
saved. — He who knows no sorrow will not receive
God's strength. It is not until we suffer that wo
know how God revives and saves. — As a good
artificer does not leave his work until he has
finished and completed it, so will God carry on
His work begun in thee, until the day of Jesus
Christ, Entrust that to Him.
Feisoh: God gives Himself fully to us men;
It is therefore just that we, in return, should
yield up our whole heart to His service and glory.
God bestows upon us not only domestic but pub-
lic good ; then again, it is right and just that
we should praise Him not only in the silence of
our hearts, but in public, and before all the
yroxld. — Guenther: From faith, love; in love
the true thanksgiving. — Ho who does not expe-
rience in himself what a daily answer to prayer
brings with it, does not believe it ; and he who
will not make trial of it with Christ, does not
experience it. — Taube : The Lord will complete
for me ! That is the most beautiful and profound
expression of faith, the joyous exhibition of the
title-deed of the great inheritance.
[Matt. Henry : Christ is our Temple, and to-
wards Him we must look with an eye of faith, as
the Mediator between God and man, in all our
praises of Him. — The Psalmist had been in af-
fliction and remembers with thankfulness: (1)
the sweet communion he then had with God ; (2)
sweet communication he then had from God. — If
God give us strength in our souls to bear the
burdens, resist the temptations, and do the duties
of an afflicted state ; if He strengthen us to
keep hold of Himself by faith, to maintain the
peace of our own minds, and to wait patiently
for the issue, we must own that He hath an-
swered us, and are bound to be thankful. — Those
that walk in the ways of God, have reason to
sing in those ways. — Scott : In performing His
promises God more magnifies His perfections
than in all His other works ; of which He has
given us an illustrious specimen and earnest in
sending the promised Saviour. — Barnes : Prayer
is one of the means — and an essential means —
by which the saints are to be kept unto salva-
tion. The doctrine of the " perseverance of the
saints " is not inconsistent with prayer, but ra-
ther prompts to it. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXXXIX.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
0 Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising ;
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
And art acquainted vrith all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue,
But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before,
And laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me :
It is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence ?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there :
If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there,
9 ijf I take the wings of the morning.
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me.
And thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say. Surely the darkness shall cover me ;
Even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ;
But the night shineth as the day :
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee: *
n*Ji.
646
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins :
Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made
Marvellous are thy works ;
And thai my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee,
When I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect ;
And in thy book all my members were written,
Which in continuance were fashioned.
When as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God I
How great is the sum of them !
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand :
When I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God :
Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men
20 For they speak against thee wickedly,
And thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee ?
And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred :
I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know ray heart :
Try me, and know my thoughts :
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAIi.
Contents and Composition. — The depth of
religious feeling, the weightiness of thought, and
the force and beauty of expression, which char-
acterize this Psalm, may be readily acknowledged
without praising it, in an excess of admiration,
as the crown of Psalra-poetry (Aben Ezra). On
account of some words anl word-forms incon-
testably Aramaic, the correctness of the super-
scription is brought into question, and the com-
position of this poem, which otherwise might
well be justly held as David's, must, on linguistic
grounds, be assigned to a period subsequent to
the exile. The Ood. Alex, of the Sept. has also
the addition : of Zechariah, and besides, by a
second hand : in the Diaspora.
IFew of the German commentators hold to a
Davidic authorship. Ewald, Hupfeld and Del.
pronounce against it for the reasons cited above.
Hengstenberg clings to it firmly, and accounts
for the Aramaisms as he does in Pss. vi., xvii.,
xviii., by supposing that the Psalmist " pene-
trated by the loftiness of his subject, shuns also
in the form what is of common and daily use."
He also remarks that a late writer could have no
motive for prefixing the formula : " to the chief
musician." Perowne seems inclined to the
opinion of a late origin, but in this he may have
been influenced by his erroneous supposition
that in the Hebrew the Psalm is anonymous,
which error he repeats in his last edition. He
however feels the force of the view that linguistic
anomalies may be due to the use of anothei
dialect within Palestine. The English commen-
tators generally are unwilling to give up the Da-
vidic authorship. — J. F. M.]
There are four clearly distinguishable strophes,
each consisting of six verses, although the latter
are not all of equal length. The Psalmist de-
clares his persuasion that he is intimately and
completely scanned and proved by Jehovah, the
omniscient God (vers. 1-6), that he is surrounded
by His illuminating presence, as the omnipresent
God (vers. 7-12), that he is perfectly known and
understood by Him as his almighty and eternal
Creator (vers. (13-18), and feeling this pro-
foundly and truly, is thereby admonished and
comforted. Then, after strong asseverations of
his abhorrence of men who act wickedly against
God and are thus deserving of punishment, he
prays that he may be preserved from self-decep-
tion by the revelation of the true condition of his
soul, and that he may be led in the way which
excludes the danger of destruction (vers. 19-24).
[Peeowne : " Nowhere are the great attri-
butes of God — His omniscience. His omnipre-
sence, His omnipotence — set forth so strikingly
as Ihey are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere
is there a more overwhelming sense of the fact
that man is beset and compassed about by God,
pervaded by His Spirit, and unable to take a
step without His control; and yet nowhere is
there a more emphatic assertion of the person-
ality of man as distinct from, not absorbed in,
the Deity. This is no pantheistic speculation.
Man is here the workmanship of God, and stands
PSALM CXXXIX.
647
in the presence and under the eye of Him who is
his Judge. The power of conscience, the sense
of sin and responsibility, are felt and acknow-
ledged, and prayer is offered to One who is not
only the Judge but the Friend ; One who is feared
as none else are feared ; One who is loved as
none else are loved." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. And kno^va. It is scarcely con-
ceivable that no special object is to be under-
stood here (Stier, Koster, Hengstenberg). For
the connection by vav conversive shows that
knowing is regarded as a consequence of search-
ing, and it is as natural to supply "me " from
the preceding here, as it is in Ex. ii. 25. The
word j^T (ver. 2), hero is not the familiar term
denoting: a friend, but an Aramaic one, with
the signification : willing, wishing, striving, and
also, as in Syriao and Arabic : thinking. The
expression : afar off is, as in Ps. cxxxviii. 6, to
be understood as contradicting the delusion (Job
xxii. 12-14) that God's dwelling in heaven pre-
vents Him from observing mundane things (Cal-
vin, Hengst., Hupfeld), comp. Jer. xxii. 23. It
is hardly intended to be expressed that God
knows the thought when it is only in process of
conception (Del.).
Vers. 8-6. The translation in ver. 3: Thou art
around me (Luther), results from a false deriva-
tion of mr from "}}/. a garland, which was held
by some of the Rabbins. But the word in ques-
tion signifies: to winnow, to sift; poetically: to
prove, try. [Translate accordingly ver. 8 a;
Thou triest my wjilking and lying down. The
translation of 6 6 in E. V, is rather ambiguous.
Literally it vfould be : I am not able for it, not
capable of it, that is, of comprehending it. — J.
F. M.]
Vers. 7-10. From thy Spirit, namely, in His
power over the univei'se (Ps. civ. 30) and not in
His all-comprehending Vision of it. [Ver. 8. If
I make my bed in Sheol — the unseen world. — J.
F. M.] — The Virings of the morning (ver. 9)
denote, like the wings of the sun (MaL iii. 20),
and of the wind (Ps. xviii. 11), extreme swift-
ness in a long flight (ver. 8), as also do the wings
of a dove (Ps. Iv. 7). The morning is here the
starting in the Easi, in a flight to the uttermost
part of the sea, the extreme West. None can
escape from the hand (ver. 10) of the Omnipo-
tent and Omnipresent God (Amosix. 2; comp.
Jer. xxiii. 24; Job xxxiv. 21) and before the
light of His eyes no darkness can exclude His
power of vision. Hence the righteous may trust
in God even in darkness (Is. 1. 10).
Vers. II, 12. The translation in ver. 11: yea
darkness will crush me (Hengst.) accords with
the reading in the Text, for ^^l^f means only
conterere, contundere (Gen. iii. 1 ') ; Job ix. 17).
But the meaning obvelare corresponds perfectly
with the context (Chaldee, Symmachus, Je-
rome, Saadias, et al.); and if it is preferred here
it is better to make a slight change in the Text
ia order to gain a suitable word (Ewald). The
best word to insert is ^}}, after Job xi. 17
(Bcittcher, Hupfeld, Del). This is preferable to
giving to the word as it stands the meaning : to
fall upon (Hitzig) or, by comparing with HNl!^,
the sense of inhiare, insidiari, invadere (Umbreit,
Qesenius) or, by comparing with i^pi : to be-
cloud, darken (the Rabbins, Geier, and most).
The apodosis begins not in ver. 116, (Luther),
but in 12 a (Calvin). And in that verse it is not
a state of darkness (Luther) that is mentioned,
but a making dark (Ps. cv. 28). [Dr. Moll ac-
cordingly translates vers. 11, 12, And if I say:
only let darkness cover me, and let night be the
light about me ; even the darkness, etc. — J.
F. M.]
Vers. 13-16. Formed my reins. — According
to the context Hip here does not mean ; to pos-
sess, hold in one's power (Hengst., with Sept.,
Vulg., Luth., and most of the ancients) but : to
fashion, as Deut. xxii. 6, comp. Gen. xiv. 19;
Prov. viii. 22 (most of the recent expositors since
Clericus with the Syr., Arab., and Ethiop. Ver-
sions). And 13D does not mean: to cover,
(Hengst., vvith the ancients), but, as Job x. 11
shows: to plait, to weave, in allusion to the body
framed and interwoven with bones, sinews, and
veins (Chald., and the recent expositors). In
ver. 16 it is said to be wrought or embroidered
with various colors [E. V.: curiously wrought],
on account of its seemingly elaborate formation
from parts of different forms and colors. [Trans-
late ver. 15: My frame-work (lit., bones) was
not hidden from Thee when I was formed in se-
cret, curiously wrought (as) in the depths of
the earth. On the last clause Perowne: " Else-
where the phrase denotes the 'unseen world,'
comp. Ixiii. 9; Ixxxvi. 13. Here, as the paral-
lelism shows, it is used in a figurative sense to
describe a region of darkness and mystery." — J.
F. M.] The choice of the word oSj (ver. 16),
was probably connected with the phrase just
discussed. It signifies something rolled up (2
Kings ii. i\) a mantle (Ezek. xxvii. 24), a crude
and unformed mass, as designating the human
embryo (Sept., Aquila, Symmachus, Rabbins).
But if we study the word in connection with the
remaining clauses of the verse, it will appear
probable that the conception of an undeveloped
complex mass of members (so most), passes over
into that of a skein of life, in which the threads
which are to form the web of human existence
and destiny (Is. xxxviii. 12), are not yet un-
rolled (Hupfeld). For the simplest way of con.
struing D13 is to refer it to "days" [E. V.: in
continuance^ which, with the future they enfold,
are formed [E. V.: fashicmed], i. e., planned,
predetermined in the Divine counsel, when not a
single one of them had come into the sphere of
actual existence. Yet they were beheld by God
even then, and so were entered (imperfect) in
His book (Pss. Ivi. 9; Ixix. 29). This view, at
all events, gives a sound sense, agreeing with
the accents and with grammatical rules. Others
tefer the 0^3 to the members of the body form-
ing in the embryo (Kimchi, Geier, ei al.), which
were being fashioned through the course of clays,
i. c, gradually, and not at once. But it would
not then be said of them that they were recorded
in the book of life. [Hupfeld says that this
would be an absurdity.— J. F. M.] Another in-
terpretation refers "all of them " to all men as
embryos (Clericus, Hitzig); but this ia very
648
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
forced. The reading of the Masorites, also, v71
instead of the written N /I, leads to the explana-
tion either that all the days formed by God are
to Him only a single day (Rabbins) which is over-
subtle, or that, among those days, there was one
at hand for him, that is, for the undeveloped
mass of the embryo, namely, the day of his
birth, (Hitzig, Del.), which appears strange in
the connection. Such a simple thought would
not be expressed in such a curious manner. Vav
in the adverbial clause might have the sense:
while or as, and i(h be used for j'N, incorrectly
indeed, but not without example (comp. Lev.
XV. 25; Job xv. 32). It is against the accents
to construe, according to a view opposed already
by Geier, the suffix in q13 pleonastically as re-
ferring to the following' D'O' (De Wette and
most of the recent expositors). In ver. 15, ac-
cording to the pointing, the word is not DV^
which denotes directly the bones and also the
body, but n]f j^: strength, power, from which no-
tion the bones receive their Hebrew name. The
place where the human body is formed before
birth is called secret (Eccl. xi. 6). It appears as
if the parallel expression: in the depths of the
earth, were only intended to serve as a poetical
comparison (Hupfeld, comp. Isa. xlv. 19). At
all events there is no reference to apre-existence
ill the realm of shadows (as in Virg. jEneid V.
713 f.) or to a laboratory in the under-world (J.
D. Michaelis, Knapp, Muntinghe), It may pos-
sibly be, however, that there is some more spe-
cial reference to man's origin from thedust (De-
litzsch, Hitzig), in tins comparison of the depths
of the earth with the maternal womb (Job i. 21 ;
xxxiii. 6; Jon. ii. 3; Sir. xl. 1; li. 6) even if
not in the form disputed by Hupfeld {Qusenliones
in Jobeidos locos vexatos). f Alexander agrees ex-
actly with Hupfeld and Moll. Hengst. agrees
also in the main. So also do Perowne and Words-
worth. Noyes translates generally: and in Thy
book, was everything written. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 17, 18. TSovr -weiglity are thy
thoughts. — [E. v.: How precious, e<c.] The
primary notion : heavy, may be transferred to
that of value, costly, precious (Del. and most),
or with reference to mental judgment or compre-
hension it may have the sense of: difficult of
conception (Kimchi, De Wette, Maurer, Olshau-
sen, Hupfeld), or weighty, important (Hitzig),
Job vi. 2; Dan. ii. 11. The context apppearsto
favor the latter. The sum, the total amount of
these arriving through different channels, is so
overpowering (Ps. xl. 6) that if they were to be
reckoned up [fut. hypoth.) they would be shown
to be as the sand of the sea. He does not reach
the end of them, although his wakeful heart
(Sol. Song V. 2) busies itself even in sleep with
these thoughts, which he ponders over by night
upon his couch (Job iv. 13) and, wearied with
the effort, falls asleep. When he wakes he finds
himself still attended and occupied with the same
thoughts concerning God, His counsels, and deal-
ings. The Text says nothing of any hope or be-
lief that after death, in his communion with God,
he shall still be reckoning up that sum of thoughts
more numerous than the sand (see Hofmann).
Vers. 19, 20. Depart from me. — The transi-
tion from the optative [if thou wouldst slay the
wicked! — J. F. M.], to the imperative is harfh,
especially on accountof the Vav copulative. Yet
there is no ground for a change of mO into
^"IID"' (Olshausen). A change in the text of ver.
20 would be more justifiable. For YVy is, it is
true, not meaningless (Hupfeld), but the expres-
sion: they say, with thee as an object, is harsh,
and can only by extreme necessity (2 Sam. xix.
24 ; Isa. xxvi. 13) be explained as equivalent to :
they mention Thee (Del.) they pronounce Thy
name (Chald.) or: they speak against Thee as
plotters. The correction into inp2- they em-
bitter (the Fifth Greek version),* they provoke
Thee (Olsh.), they excite rebellion against Thee
(Hupf. after Jerome, Ven , De W,), is very readily
suggested, and, since it changes only the vowel, is
preferable to the conjecture ^"^©2 which affords
the sense : they sing praises to Thee w^ith deceit
(Hitzig). In the following member of the verse,
also, '"]''^^ occasions some difficulty. The mean-
ing properly is: Thy cities (Sept., Vulg., Ara-
bic Vers., Cocceius). But there is no suitable-
ness in the thought: Tliy cities have risen la
vain, or for wickedness, or faithlessly. But if
we translate: Thy enemies (Aquila, Symmachus,
Chald., Rosen., De Wet(e)the doubt of the cor-
rectness of this sense is scarcely removed by Dan.
iv. 16; for in 1 Sam. xxviii. 16 the reading is
suspected. [The word occurs in the Chald. of
Dan. in the place referred to. Hupfeld remarks
that it is unknown elsewhere, even in the Ara-
maic, in that sense. — J. F. M.] The conjecture
^^y (Hupfeld, Kamphausen) : against Thee, is
then naturally suggested. But t<t!/J means not
only to raise (Ps. xxiv. 4) and to arise (Hab. i. 3)
but also to ulter (Ex. xx. 7). Now if we follow
that passage where the connection with i<}B^7
also occurs we would be tempted to change the
doubtful word into ^pE'> thus giving the sense :
utter thy name to falsehood, swear falsely
(Olsh., Bottcher), or into ^.")3T thy remembrance
(Hitzig formerly) or ^""jjt^,, thy testimonies
(Ewald). The last conjecture agrees very nearly
at least in the consonants with a reading 'j^TJ'*
to Thee, in seven Codices of Kennicott and twenty
of De Rossi. So also does the reading '"jnjl',
which Would lead to the rendering : they wore
Thy robe with deceit (Hitzig now). We may,
however, hold to the Text and retain the signifi-
cation : enemies. This, as Delitzsch shows, is
gained by means of the intermediate notion :
ardent persons, zealots. [Delitzsch illustrates
this sense of the root llj^ from the Arabic, as
well as from the passages referred to above, and
considers the use of the word in the Text as in
keeping with the Aramaisms in which it abounds.
— J. F. M.] But assuming this, we are still not
to regard the enemies as the subject of the wicked
rising (most), for a subject has already occurred
in the relative, and a thought parallel to that of
• [The fifth of the versions collected by Origen in the
Hexapla, author unknown, like those of the Sixth and
Seventh. They are called reepectivoly the Quinta, Sextft,
and Septima versionfl. — J. F. M.J
PSALM CXXXIX.
649
the preceding clause would be expected, or of
false swearing (Hengst. after Chald. and Rab-
bins). Nor are they the object of an exaltation,
by which God's enemies are said to be brought
to honor through deceit and wickedness (Rudin-
ger, Geier). They are in apposition to the last.
[That is, in apposition to the subject of the pre-
ceding member of the verse. This view is ex-
pressed in the following translation : Who men-
tion Thee in craftiness (and) speak with deceit,
Thine enemies. For the peculiar form of the
verb in the second member see Green, Heb. Gr.,
g]64, 3.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 21, 22. Should I not hate, etcJ—lE.
v.: Do I not, etc.'] This question does not ex-
press uncertainty or doubt in the mind of the
Psalmist, but the most unshaken assurance that
he is right in feeling thus. [Dr. Moll thus
translates the verse: Should I not hate tby
haters, Jehovah, and abhor thy adversaries ? —
J. F. M.] The extent of this feeling of hatred
is expressed by a word which denotes the ex-
treme end of an object [With perfection of ha-
tred.—J. F. M.]
Vers. 23, 24. In ver. 24 the phrase which we
translate: way of suffering, Ps. xvi. 6; Is. xiv. 3
[E. v.: wicked way], is, according to our view,
the way of provoking and arousing God to anger
(Kimchi, Amyrald, Bott.), Is. Ixiii. 10. According
to another, it is the way of the idol-image, i. e., to
the idol (Is. xlviii. 6) as contrasted with the way
of Jehovah, Ps. xxv. 4 (Rosenm., Gesen., Mau-
rer), identical with the way of opposition to the
la^w (Sept.), of falsehood (Syr.), of the erring
(Chald.). It is best to regard it as the way
which causes both inward and outward pain.
[See the different significations of the Heb. word.
— J. F. M.]. Whether this is endured only in
time or in eternity also, is not stated here. And
the way which is contrasted with this by the
Psalmist is not that which leads to bliss in eter-
nity (Flaminius, Geier, Hengst., et al.), or that
of former or ancient times, Jer. vi. 16; xviii. 15
(Rosenm,, De Wette, Maurer, Olsh.), but the one
which endures forever. The idea is therefore
not to be limited to that of an unchangeable pur-
pose, followed out during the whole life, even to
the end (Calvin, Clericus), comp. Ps. i. 6; xxvii.
11. In ver. 23 thoughts are represented by
the term branches (Ezek. xxxi. 6) as ramifying
thoughts and cares (Ps. xciv. 19), The demand
is not the challenge of a confident and vain man,
conscious of his own purity, but it is a prayer
for divine help and illumination, for the proving
of the conscience and the searching out of the
8oul.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Men are not to suppose that God's omnis-
cience is an attribute in repose, and standing in
exclusive relation to Himself. They must ever
keep in remembrance that He gives proof Of it
by constant exercise, and that in relation to the
person of man; not as being cognizant of certain
individual facts, but of the whole sum of inner
and outer circumstances, actions and needs, and
likewise of their whole range and significance.
Its transcendent superiority to human possibili-
ties of knowing, imagining, and comprehending
is a fact of the divine nature, whose salutary
truth becomes fruitful certainty when viewed in
its proper connection with the fact of the divine
omnipresence.
2. For it is in the omnipresence of God that
we are able and bound to trace the proofs that
He does not, like a limited human creature or an
isolated being, move through the perpetual
change of place, circumstances, and employment,
by which alone nearness and distance, repose
and action, suffering and influencing, receive
their significance. And if we hold fast to the
truth that God is completely and indivisibly
Spirit, Life, and active Energy, we can under-
stand the close relation of His omnipresence, with
His omniscience, on the one hand, and with His
omnipotence, on the other, and also their practi-
cal bearing upon human life, especially in its
moral and religious aspects.
3. From this point of view, even the natural
life of man, from its miraculous origin in the
mysterious depths of the laboratory of creation,
and onwards through its whole course in the
world's history, receives a highly increased sig-
nificance. It is not merely unfolded under the
eye of God ; it even assumes its outward form
in conformity to divine pre-determination. Of
so much the greater moment does it become, that
such a life should be regulated religiously and
morally in accordance with the divine will, that
its relation to eternity and to its divinely-ap-
pointed destiny should ever be kept in mind,
and be deeply impressed upon the spiritual na-
ture.
4. To realize this end, it is necessary that men
should continually yield themselves up to God ;
especially that they should give themselves up
to meditation upon His "thonghts," though they
cannot sum them up, even if they should be
busied with their contemplation in their wake-
ful hours and in their dreams, by day and by
night, as in the noblest and sweetest employment
(Jer. xxxi, 25, 26) ; that they should give them-
selves up to obedience to His holy will in oppo-
sition to transgressors and hypocrites, in order
to overcome evil; that they should give them-
selves up to love, believing in God's gracious
guidance, in order to obtain real and abiding
salvation.
[5. Hengstenbekq: The more glorious the
formation of man is, so much the stronger is the
proof of God's absolute omniscience and omni-
presence, so much the more striking the testi-
mony it furnishes against those who abandon
themselves to sin, under the idea that God does
not see or judge, or those who surrender them-
selves to despair, saying: My way is hidden
from God, Job x. 9-11.— J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
What avails all knowledge of God's nature,
words, works and ways, if it is not improved ac-
cording to His will? — We should impress upon
our conscience what we hear, experience, and
learn to know of God, so that we shall not only
meditate upon His counsels, but consider what
shall promote our peace. — We cannot compre-
hend God; all is wonder and mystery; but we
can apprehend wh&t He has ordained and revealed
650
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
and communicated to us for our salvation. —
When shall the time arrive when we shall not
only cease to have outward fellowship with the
wicked, but shall also have no inward and pri-
vate connection with them? — God is ever round
about us; oh that we were ever with Him!
Starke: Blessed is that soul which can appear
before God, the omniscient God, with joy and
confidence. But to do this it must have been
continually controlled by conscience. — God's
omniscience is terrible to the wicked, but com-
forting to the pious. — Continue in what is good,
and God will behold it, and so behold it as to
further it. — God can press upon a man so closely
that he will acknowledge at last that the hand
of God is there. —It is foolish and unavailing for
a man to try to measure the divine mysteries by
the short standard of the understanding. Mirari
licet, non rimari. Anything that is done in dark-
ness lies as clear before God as if it were done
in mid-day and in the bright sunshine. — Men
can inflict no greater injury upon themselves
than to imagine that the Spirit of God is far
away from them. This persuasion of Satan
makes them daily more presumptuous. — If great
earthly rulers can reach so far that it is often
very difficult to escape from them, how is it pos-
sible to flee from the Lord of all lords who fills
heaven and earth? — If there is so much that is
wonderful and incomprehensible in the natural
birth, what shall we say of regeneration? Oh
that all might know and experience it truly! —
Be not so insensible and indifferent towards
God's wonderful works and the dealings in which
thou also dost share. Be thou able to say: And
that my soul knoweth welU. — If a soul has not
communion with God, it cannot be said to be
surrendered to Him. In heavenly contempla-
tion the soul is with God. The anchor of its
hope and desire is cast in heaven. — A true
Christian can and must pray against those ene-
mies of God and His Church who oppose them-
selves, not through ignorance or weakness, but
from wickedness; yet he must do it in such a
way as not to prescribe' to God the time, mode,
or place of punishment. — We must hate the
wicked, yet not their persons, for we should
seek their conversion, but on account of their
wickedness. — The noblest hatred is that which is
directed against wickedness. — The first effect of
divine illumination is to make men learn the
fully of their hearts. — The reason why so many
awakened souls relapse again into slumber and
even fall away from every good thing, is chiefly
because they neglect to prove themselves. — Man
carries the Judge and the judgment in his own
breast, even in the smallest actions. This is
conscience, implanted within him by God. —
There are only two ways leading to eternity,
the narrow and the broad. Let no one think
that he will reach heaven by an intermediate
road. All such by-ways lead into the broad
road.
Feisch: Do not fancy that your demeanor,
posture, dress, or deportment are not under God's
providence. You deceive yourself. Do not
think that your thoughts pass free from inspec-
tion. The Lord understands them afar off.
Think not that your words are dissipated in the
air before God can hear. Oh, no ! He knows
them even when still upon your tongue. Do not
think that your ways are so private and con-
cealed that there is none to know or censure
them. You mistake. God knows all your ways.
— Give thyself up to God as guilty, and seek His
mercy. Flee not from Him, but to Him. It is
always better to fall into the hand of God than
into the hands of men, — If the heart is not well .
kept, it goes astray and becomes lost from God.
— RiEGER : We learn how well it is with that soul
which has been withdrawn away from sin by
the word of truth, and brought to a just hatred
of all wickedness ; when it has, and desires to
have, no secrets from God, who is so near, and
no secret connection with evil, but can behold
reflected in conscience all that God knows of us,
and rejoice in the comfort it gives.— Stier:
Why would David flee from Him who is so near
on every side of him? Or why does he say first
that he cannot do so, even if he were to fly over
the ^hole creation in its height and depth, from
east to west ? Because as soon as he reflects
with wonder upon God's omnipresence, the ter-
rors of conscience are awakened with the con-
sciousness of unrighteous courses and sinful
words and thoughts, which are manifest to the
sight of the Eternal and Holy One. — Tholcck:
Who can embrace or touch that Spirit by whom
he is everywhere embraced and touched? —
Richter: The unconverted fear to search their
hearts earnestly, to try them and judge them-
selves, and much more to pray God that He
would enlighten them.-GuENTHER: God is every-
where, even in the realms of death, and there-
fore men can never rid themselves of His pre-
sence; if they do not follow Him willingly, they
must submit themselves to His omnipotence un-
willingly,— I must love my enemy and hate
God's; but it is hard to make the distinction.
How easily does self-love deceive us, desire of
revenge lead us into error, and anger make us
sin! Yet I must decide between them. Who
helps me to judge aright? — Diedrich: To know
the truth when it is presented, and yet to slight
it, and come to terms with falsehood, is an act
worthy of double stripes. — The seeing and know-
ing which are attributed to God were nothing
but loving and caring, helping and delivering,
leading and blessing, bo as to crown with bles-
sedness.
[Matt. Henry: Divine truths look as well
when they are prayed over as when they are
preached over, and much better than when they
are disputed over. — Those that are upright can
take comfort in God's omniscience as a witness
to their uprightness, and can with humble confi-
dence beg Him to search and try them, and dis-
cover them to themselves; for a good man de-
sires to know the worst about himself, and to
discover them to others; he that means honestly
could wish he had a window in his breast, that
any man may look into his heart. — All the saints
desire to be led in the way everlasting, that they
may not miss it, turn out of it, or tire in it. —
Bp. Horne: The same consideration which
should restrain us from sin should also encou-
rage us to work righteousness, and comfort us
under all our sorrows; namely the thought that
we are never out of the sight and protection of
our Maker. — The reformation of our corrupted
PSALM CXL.
651
and dissolved bodies, which is to be wrought at
the last day in the womb of the earth, in order
to their new birth, will crown the works of the
Almighty. — We are neither to hate men on ac-
count of the vices they practise, nor love the
vices for the sake of the men who practise them.
He who observeth invariably this distinction
fulfiUeth the perfect law of charity and hath the
love of God and of his neighbor abiding in him.
— Scott: We should inquire what the Lord
would have us to do, and whither we ought to
remove, and pray that His gracious presence
may always attend us; and then we shall have
everything to hope, and nothing to fear, in life,
in death, and in the eternal world.— Barnes :
Search me thoroughly; examine not merely my
outward conduct, but what I think about; what
are my purposes ; what passes through my mind;
what occupies my imagination and my memory;
what secures my affection and controls my wilL
—J. F. M.J ^
PSALM CXL.
To the chief Musician^ A Psalm of DavitL
2 Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man :
Preserve me from the violent man ;
3 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart ;
Continually are they gathered together for war.
4 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent;
Adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
5 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from the violent man;
Who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
6 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the way side;
They have set gins for me. Selah.
7 I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God:
Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord,
8 O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation.
Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
9 Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked :
Further not his wicked device ; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.
10 As for the head of those that compass me about,
Let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
11 Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire;
Into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
12 Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth:
Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
13 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted.
And the right of the poor.
14 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name:
The upright shall dwell in thy presence.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — A prayer for
divine help against violent and slanderous ene-
mies, who were daily exciting warlike attempts
and disturbances (vers. 2-4), and had closely
surrounded the Psalmist with the plans which
they had contrived, as with snares and nets
(vers. 6, 6). He entreats, upon the ground of
former experiences of mercy, with confidence
and full expectation of being heard, that these
652
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
plots may prove futile (vera. 7-9), that his foes,
especially their leaders, may be punished (vers.
10-12). For this he looks to the judicial con-
trol of Jehovah, which has been known by ex-
perience to deliver the afflicted righteous, and
for which he will give the thanks that are due
(vers. 13, 14).
The expressions are, in some parts, of an un-
usual character. Yet the mode in which the
thoughts are presented, marked sometimes by
an abrupt manner of expression and a bold
structure of the sentences, is quite characteristic
of David. In the thoughts, abo, and in the cir-
cumstances in which the Psalmist stood, so far
as indicated, there is nothing which ought to
compel us to assume a mere imitation of Davidic
Psalms, or which can be better explained from
the period and history of John Hyrcanus (Hit-
zig), or of Manasseh (Ewald), or of the people
of Israel after the return from exile (Rosenm.),
than from those of David, whether we prefer a
reference to his relation to Saul (Hengstenberg
with the ancients), or to Absalom (Delitzsch).
The Syriac Version has an addition to the su-
perscription: when Saul threw the spear after
him.
[Delitzsch thinks the title is justified because
the Psalm abounds with Davidic ideas and
images, and may be explained from the rebellion
of Absalom and the succeeding revolt of Sheba.
He also calls attention to the striking resem-
blances between it and Pss. Iviii., Ixiv., in the
ending of each, the occurrence of rare words,
and the "dreadful obscurity" of those expres-
sions that are directed against the enemies. The
English expositors accept the correctness of the
title, with the exception of Perowne, who says
that we have no means of testing its accuracy,
but acknowledges that it is our only guide in
this investigation. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 3. Stir up [E. V.: are gathered to-
gether]. "^U means usually : gather themselves
together. Most assume the same sense here also.
But it is then necessary to supply a preposition,
which is not allowable. Still less admissible is
the explanation: they dwell (Koster, Maurer),
i. e., are occupied altogether with war. If the
verb be viewed as transitive : to assemble (Kim-
chi), it does not suit the object. It is best there-
fore to regard it as n"iJl=to excite (Syr., Chald.,
Clericus, Rosenm., Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Hitzig).
[Translate : who devise evil in their heart : they
stir up war evei'y day. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 8. The day of armour is not the day of
preparation for battle, but the day on which the
armor is carried for the battle^ consequently :
the day of battle (Septuagint, Chald., Jerome).
[All the recent German expositors take the first
member of this verse as declarative : Jehovah,
my Lord is, etc. But the whole strophe is the
rehearsal of an address to God, and it seems
more suitable to preserve the corresponding form
here, as is done in E. V.]
Ver. 9.* The last word of this verse, ^Dn',
* [The formatioa of the anomalous word: "1N^3, which
occurs In this verse, is discnssed in Green's Heb. 6r. g 207, 2
a, Ewald, g 189. There seems to be no good reason for de-
parting with Hupfeld from the ending : ^-, as the probable
T
termination of the sing, which is assumed by these authora
cannot mean: lest they exalt themselves (Sept.,
Symm.j, for the negative cannot be arbitrarily
supplied. If the sense were: they would or
might exalt themselves in consequence of suc-
cess (Isaaki, Kimchi, and most ), the conjunction
|3 could scarcely have been absent. But from
this we are not to conclude that the word is a
meaningless appendage (Hupfeld), which must
necessarily be attached to the following sentence,
which is then supposed to be mutilated, giving
the sense : those who encompass me lift up the
head. This connection with the following is
only a possible one (Venema, Olshausen); and
if it be assumed, the new member of the verse
thus formed can be taken as a protasis. But in
the Psalms of David's composition, an elevation
of feeling appears quite frequently expressed ia
abrupt sentences, and in brief, striking expres-
sions, representing in a disjointed, ejaculatory
manner the progress of the feelings, conceptions
and thoughts. [Dr. Moll therefore translates
simply : they exalt themselves. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 10, 11. K'Xl (ver. 10) may be very well
referred collectively to the leaders [E. V.: head]
of the enemies (Kimchi, Calvin, et al). The in-
terpretations: poison (Grotius, Geier, Ewald),
and : misfortune (Luther) are less to be re-
commended. The translation : the head of my
revilers (Hitzig) is possible according to the
Arabic usage, but unknown to the Hebrew, for
the Hiphil of 3DD, followed by an accusative,
means : to go round about an object, like ene-
mies in spying out a city (Delitzsch). The trouble
(Del.) [E. v.: mischief] or the misfortune (Hup-
feld), or Bufl^ering (Hengstenberg), which they
cause by means of their lips, shall recoil as a re-
tribution upon themselves. The coals (ver. 11)
do not mean flashes (Luther) of lightning, for it
is not until the words immediately following that
God appears as the agent. Here those who
throw, cast them, are represented as an indefi-
nite number by the 3d per. plur.=:men [German
man. Transl. : Let burning coals be cast upon
them, etc. — J. F. M.] There is not the least ne-
cessity of changing the reading in order to gain
the idea : He will cause to rain upon them (Hup-
feld). [Hupfeld proposes: I'tpD^.—J. F. M.]
There is no allusion to fire from on high, light-
ning with torrents of rain (Aben Ezra, et al.).
But the reference is to perils and situations of
an appalling character, into which the wicked
are to be thrust for their destruction. The
abysses or pits (Chald., Symm., Jerome, Kimchi),
are pits of water, named along with the fire as
an image of inevitable dangers, Ps. Ixvi. 12 (De-
litzsch).
Ver. 12. The punishment is denoted by the
word : y^, as that which is harmful to the per-
son in question, and resulting from his wicked-
ness, or as an evil, showing how that punish-
ment bears the character of destruction inflicted
by Divine retribution. The man of tongue [E, V.:
evil speaker] is not a boaster or chatterer, but a
man with an evil tongue of slander (Sir. viii. 4),
This is manifest from the context. There is then
as well as by Ge«enius. Hnpfeld would make it terminate in
n~, the correctness of which ho attempts to prove in hia
note on this passage. On the significance of the plural form
in this word, see Bottcher, g 705. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXL.
663
the less necessity for regarding J^l as an adjec-
tive describing the violence of the man more par-
ticularly, and abiding by the accents, which in-
dicate such a connection (Hengstenberg, Sachs,
Hiizig). It agrees best with the idea of the
passage, to follow the ancient versions, the Rab-
bins, and almost all expositors, in rejecting the
accents and regarding i?"\ as the subject, which
would otherwise be wanting. A subject may, it
is true, be supplied (Hitzig), but this would
break up the sentence. For the whole Psalm
shows that the evil speaker and the violent man
are not two distinct persons, and that for this
reason the view (J. H. Mich., Hengstenberg) is
false which assumes that "the man of wicked
violence" is opposed to the evil speaker and will
pursue him. [This view is wrongly assigned to
Hengstenberg. His opinion is that the former is
the counterpart of the latter, and that it is God
who is the pursuer. — J. P. M.] It is doubtful
whether we should translate : to a head-long fall
(Ewald), or: to destruction (Sept., Syr., Kimchi,
Rosenm.), namely, by repeated shocks, or: by
pushes (Kosterj, or: in haste, i. e., precipitately
(Del., Hitzig).
Ver. 14. Dwelling in God's presence (Ps. xvi.
11) is the portion of the righteous, to whom the
wicked give no place on earth, and whose life
they embittered if they could not rob them of
it. ["i|X in this last verse is by Dr. Moll trans-
lated : only. But it is generally taken, as in E.
v., to mean : surely. Delitzsch compares the
expression of assurance : " I know," in the pre-
ceding verse.-^J. F. M.]
HOMTLETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Daily conflict, severe struggles, enemies round
about, and yet not dismayed or forsaken or lost;
that is the situation, the character, the lot of
God's servants upon earth. — Distress and danger
may cause us perplexity, if only faith drives us
to God, and He remains as our strong Help ; He
will pursue the enemy and deliver us from his
nets and snares ; and we must thank Him in time
and eternity.
Starke : If thou art not strong enough to
escape from the hand of the ungodly, make, by
faith, God thy refuge ; He knows how to provide
means and ways to help His own against all craft
and devices. — The undying enmity which sub-
sists between the seed of the serpent and the
true children of God, results from a radical dif-
ference in heart and disposition. — Slanderers do
more harm than serpents, for there is no anti-
dote that can prevail against the poisonous
wounds of wicked and calumniating tongues. —
The supposed wisdom of the ungodly is really
nothing but wickedness and folly, by which they
are not only put to shame, but perish in the end.
— The simplicity of doves and the sagacity of
serpents, but above all, God's preserving care
are necessary to the children of God, that they
may escape from the countless snares of their
enemies. — Firm trust in God is the reason why
a believer does not cease to look to Him even in
the greatest troubles. — Behold how faith acts 1
it takes all that God is and has as best for it, and
is thus sustained. — Our enemies can as little pre-
vent our salvation or capture us, as they can
storm the bulwarks of heaven, — As nothing evil
can come from God, so He strengthens none in
evil. Yet for holy and righteous purposes He
suffers many things. — He who sows a maledic-
tion with an evil mouth, will also reap it again.
— In a good cause God is the best Patron ; he
who trusts Him cannot lose it, for God is also
the Supreme Judge. — We attain to the assurance
of faith by laying hold firmly upon the Divine
promise, and remembering the help which others
before us have received from God. — All that be-
falls the children of God in the world, ends
finally with their praise to the Lord for His good-
ness and for the wondrous things which He does
to the children of men.
Arndt : It is indeed a wonderful judgment, in
the way of like-for-like retribution, that God
usually rewards men as they act towards others,
and that they bring upon themselves the very
misfortune which they intended to bring upon
others. — Frisch : Be not dismayed if others act
towards thee as thy foes. If it does not lie in
thy power to fathom their evil thoughts, it does
lie in the power of God. — Rieger : The wicked
man is like a storm which passes by. Although
it may leave many traces of devastation behind
it, it is yet insignificant when compared with
God's goodness, of which the earth is full, and
over which the righteous should ever rejoice. —
Guenthbr: Stupid and unskilful transgressors
are rare, almost as rare as wise children of God.
— DiEDRiCH : If we have committed to God our
revenge and our protection, we may go calmly in
our way, and not heed the arrows of the enemy.
— My hope is in the privilege which is granted
to the poor, whose defence God has reserved to
Himself as His highest concern. — In the morning
pray God that thou mayst be able to thank Him
at evening, and pray daily that at the close of
thy earthly life, thou mayst give Him thy high-
est thanksgiving. Then thou wilt have labor be-
fore thee ; but thou wilt soon have finished it
with joy and laid it aside for ever. Taube :
The nearer danger comes, the more vigorously
does David's life of prayer and faith unfold it-
self.
[Matt. Henry : A malignant tongue makes
men like the old serpent ; and poison in the lips
is a certain sign of poison in the heart.^They
that agree in nothing else can agree to persecute
a good man. Herod and Pilate will unite in
this, and in this they resemble Satan, who is not
divided against himself, all the devils agreeing
in Beelzebub. — Proud men when they prosper are
much prouder, grow more impudent against God,
and insolent against His people, and therefore,
Lord, do not prosper them ! — Bishop Hornb :
We cannot put off our Christian armor for a
moment in this world ; nor enter into peace and
rest, but by a happy death and joyful resurrec-
tion. Barnes : It is not poverty or riches that
commend us to God ; it is faith and holiness and
love and obedience, in the condition of life iu
which we are placed, be it in a cottage or in a
palace.— J. F. M.]
654
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM CXLI.
A Psalm of David,
Lord, I cry unto tliee : make haste unto me ;
Give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ;
And the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice*
3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth ;
Keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
To practise wicked works
With men that work iniquity :
And let me not e^t of their dainties.
6 Let the righteous smite me; it shall he a kindness :
And let him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent oil,
Which shall not break my head :
For yet my prayer also shall bem their calamities.
6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places.
They shall hear my words ; for they are sweet.
7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth,
As when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord :
In thee is my trust ; leave not my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me,
And the gins of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets.
Whilst that I withal escape.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
CoNTENTa AND COMPOSITION. — Ttiis Psalm wag
used by the ancient Church (Constit. Apost. IL
69) as the Evening-psalm, as Ps. Ixiii. was the
Morning-psalm. It is in the middle part so ob-
scure, and its disjointed words and sentences,
which are either mutilated or very slightly con-
nected, are capable of explanations so different,
that no certain conclusion can be made as to the
circumstances or date of the author. The be-
ginning and end are perspicuous in them-
selves, but their allusions are quite dissimilar.
They are indeed capable of being accommodated
to one another, but the obscurity and doubtful-
ness of the intermediate passages render uncer-
tain all attempts to secure this end.
In the first portion the Psalmist prays in gen-
eral terms for Divine help and an answer to his
petitions (vers. 1, 2), then specially, that his
mouth and heart may be kept so that he may not
incline to fellowship with the wicked, who are
in possession of means to do violence, and of the
good things of this life (vers. 3, 4). At the end
(vers. 8-10) he prays that his life may be de-
livered, by being defended against the snares of
the wicked, and wishes tha^ they may be de-
stroyed in their own nets. These are perhaps
the same transgressors who in the beginning are
described as seeking to tempt the Psalmist into
fellowship with themselves, but who, when he by
God's help, overcame the temptation, did not re-
buke him in a friendly manner, as the righteous
would have done, with his cheerful acquiescence
(ver. 6), but sought to destroy him with the
same malice against which he had already di-
rected his prayer. They, however, shall be de-
stroyed, while the words of the Psalmist shall
be received by many as delightful ; for, from the
very mouth of the grave, a blooming life shall
spring forth for him and for those who are with
him (vers, 6, 7).
This connection may, at all events, be made
out from the fragments of sentences which are
like stones in a brook leading from one bank to
the other. There is also much that may be
brought into connection with circumstances in
David's life, his peculiar feelings and spiritual
characteristics, and his manner of expression.
And yet these cannot be identified with such cer-
tainty as that with which Hengstenberg, follow-
PSALM CXLI.
655
ing the ancients, regards the Psalm as arising
out of David's relations to Saul, and as connected
specially with 1 Sam. xxiv. Many expressions,
moreover, are less Davidic than after the Da-
vidic manner. It is, however, pure hypothesis
to assume (Del.) that imitative poems of this
class have been taken out of books of history,
in which they had been connected with events in
the life of David. The same remark applies to
the attempts to connect the Psalm with the pe-
riod of the reign of Manasseh, as also with that of
the kingdom of the Ten Tribes (Ewald), and
with John Hyrcanus (Hitzig),
[With reference to the first opinion cited above,
that of Hengstenberg, Perowne remarks : " Ver.
6 has generally been supposed to allude to Da-
vid's generous conduct in sparing the life of his
foe when he was in his power, .... but it is
quite impossible on this supposition to give any
plausible interpretation to ver. 7." But to those
who adopt the figurative explanation of ver. 7
(see below), and this view is at least as well sup-
ported as the other, no diflficulty will arise from
this source. Still, though this opinion has more
in its favor than any other, the question cannot
be. regarded as settled, and it is best to remain
content with the general statement of the title,
and the other evidence of the Davidic author-
ship. Perowne also calls attention to the curious
fact that De Wette considered this Psalm to be
one of the latest, on account of its being "a very
original, and therefore a diflBcult Psalm," and
that Maurer, on almost the same grounds, as-
signs it to a comparatively late period. — J. F. M.]
Vets. 1, 2. Make haste unto me. — The ad-
ditional words : to help, are here wanting, though
occurring in other Davidic Psalms (xxii. 30 ;
xxxviii. 23 ; xl. 14). In distress the anguish-
stricken soul frets as though God were far from
him, and therefore calls him near (Ps. Ivii. 3). —
Instead of: be placed [ver. 2, E. V.: come] in
the sense of being prepared, Am. iv. 12 (Hup-
feld), we may also translate : be established, Ps.
ci. 7, i. e., find acceptance and acknowledgment,
(Del.) There is no indication that the speaker
was a priest. It is rather highly improbable
that such was the case ; and the allusion is not
necessarily to the oflFering of incense while pre-
sented on the morning and evening of each day
by the Priest upon the golden altar of the Holy
Place (Ex. xxx. 7f.), but probably to the con-
secrated incense which accompanied the Azkara
[the part of the meat-offering burnt with frank-
incense " for a memorial," J. F. M.] of the meat-
ofi"ering (Is. i. 13) which the priest consumed en-
tirely upon the altar (Is. Ixvi. 3). The morning
meat-offering is mentioned but seldom, but that
of the evening more frequently, as concluding
the daily service in connection with the burnt-
offering or whole sacrifice at that time, according
to Ex. xxix. 38 f. ; Numb, xxviii. 3. Therefore
later, after the example of Ezra ix. 4 f. ; Dan. ix.
21, nnjD means directly: the afternoon or
evening (Del.) The prayers of the individual
members of the Church became gradually more
and more regulated according to the time of the
Temple offerings (comp. Ewald, Akerthdmer, 2
ed., p, 182). But here the emphasis is laid upon
the prayers. For the lifting up of the hands is
not an expression for offering a sacrificial gift,
the heaving of the hands (Syr.), here intended to
take the place of the meat-offering, the supposed
symbol of the good works of the believer (Heng-
stenb. ). It is the accompanying sign of prayer,
(Ps. xxviii. 2), standing parallel to the breath
of the sacred incense ascending to heaven, which
sets forth the fact that the offering was directed
to God (Rev. V. 8; viii. 3f.) Perowne: "The
same would hold also of the meat-offering of
which it is said that the priest was to burn a
part, as a memorial, ' a sweet savor unto Jeho-
vah.' " Alexander : " He prays not only fdr
acceptance, but for constant or perpetual accept-
ance, as the offerings referred to were the stated
daily services of the Mosaic ritual." Translate
ver. 2, more literally : Let my prayer be set as
an incense-offering before Thee, and the lifting
up of my hands as the evening meat-offering.
J. F. M.]
Vers. 3, 4. The dainties do not allude to ido-
latrous sacrifices (Rosenm., De Wette), but de-
note sensual enjoyments and ease, especially of
those who had gained their possessions unjustly,
Prov. iv. 17; ix. 5, (Kimchi, Calvin, Geier).
Such pleasures have something alluring, Ps.
Ixxiii. 10, (Hengst.), notwithstanding the evil
consequences, which should act as a warning,
Job XX. 12 f; Prov. xxiii. If., 6f. (Hupfeld).
[Ver. 4 b is, literally : to work works in wicked-
ness. Hengstenberg: " In ver. 3 the Psalmist
prays for preservation from the danger of sin-
ning in word, which the temptation brought with
it, and in ver. 4 from that of sinning in deed. Ps.
xxxix. 1 forms a commentary on ver. 3. The
reference is not, as Calvin and others suppose, to
hard speeches against his enemies, but to impa-
tient, irreverent expressions against God." — J.
F. M.]
Ver. 5. Let a righteous person smite me.
— The righteous one here mentioned is certainly
not God (Amyrald, Maurer, Tholuck, Hengst.),
but any man, contrasted with the wicked, whose
reproofs contrasted with the allurements of the
wicked, are not destructive but salutary; not,
indeed, pleasant outwardly, like their dainties,
but yet reviving, rejoicing, and strengthening,
like oil upon the head. And if at first they
wound and smart like blows, yet they neither
proceed from an evil heart, nor inflict harm, but
are most closely connected with kindness and
deliverance, and are therefore cheerfully received
by all who would escape ruin in this world and
gain, instead, the salvation which the reprover
himself possesses. This connection is rightly
found in this passage by most since Kimchi, Cal-
vin, and Geler, and gives expression to a thought
similar to that in Eccl. vii. 6; Prov. iii. 11, and
frequent elsewhere. According to the accents
we must translate: Let a righteous man smite
me in kindness and reprove me, my head shall
not refuse head-oil, i, e., not: precious oil, or
balm, but: oil for the head (Delitzsch). But
most expositors prefer the translation given by
us in the text [Let a righteous man smite me —
a kindness (is it) ; and let him reprove me — oil
(is it) to the head, let not my head refuse it, —
J. F. M.] ; for the accents are not absolutely
binding, and by thus departing from them we
gain a clearer expression of a like thought, and
only thus a real parallelism in the structure of
656
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
the sentence. The translation : let the head-oil
not soften my head (Ewald) proceeds from an
uncertain derivation, and gives an obscure sense.
If it is intended to mean that even when the
righteous rebuke him for lukewarmness and the
like oflFences, the joys offered to him by the wicked
shall not change his feelings, the Sept. and Vulg.
have expressed this much more clearly: The oil
of the wicked shall not anoint my head. But
they, evidently, have read J^K'T for E^KI. They,
as also the Syr. and Jerome, have interpreted
the verb according to a word in Arabic, which,
however, is entirely unknown to the Aramaic,
meaning: to be fat. But ''T is a defective form
for ii''y, meaning : to deny, frustrate, prevent,
Ps. xxxiii. 10.
For yet, etc. — Here begins a mutilation of the
Text which is continued through verses 6, 7,
and which has occasioned interpretations quite
opposite, and in some parts quite strange. Their
enumeration may be here properly passed over.
There is no doubt that something must be sup-
plied after "yet," for it is not admissible to drop
the ^ as most prefer to do. There is very little
gained, moreover, by the attempt made by some
expositors to connect l^J^'^D with the preceding
line against the accents. To complete the thought
there might then be supplied: let me contend.
But many other insertions are equally tenable.
[Dr. Moll gives merely the literal rendering of
tlie words as they stand in the original: For
still — and my prayer — against their malice. De-
litzsch translates: For still I meet their malice
only with prayer. With this, compare the rend-
ering of Mendelssohn: I still keep praying while
they practice their shameful deeds, as furnish-
ing perhaps the best explanation of this dis-
puted member of the verse. Tiie 1 must introduce
the apodosis; for (so it is) still, that my prayer,
etc. (Perowne). Comp. Zech. viil. 20; Prov.
xxiv. 27, for similar instances (Del.) — .J. F. M.]
Ver. 6. The obscure words of the Text furnish
a good sense most readily, if the judges be un-
derstood to mean the rulers, cliief men, leaders of
these people, against whose malice the Psalmist
employs the weapons of prayer and nothing else,
whose destruction he yet foresees, and in this
Psalm, which is in fact a prayer, foretells. For
the "hands " of the rock [E. V., stony places]
are probably its sides or walls. To be cast down
from one of them was a punishment not unex-
ampled (2 Chron. xxv. 12). No subject is named
in the following member. It cannot be the
judges, for the words of the Psalmist would not
be heard with pleasure by them, and it is not
their conversion that is dwelt upon, but their
destruction. The plural of the verb is therefore
to be taken impersonally. [Render therefore:
Tlieir judges are cast down by the sides of the
rock; and my words are heard that they are
sweet. — J. F. M.]
Vers. 7, 8. It remains here unexplained di-
rectly, whence the sudden deadly peril to the
Psalmist and his companions arises. For this
reason the change of reading which gives: their,
instead of: our (Sept. Cod. Al., Syr., Arab.,
Ethiop., Theodoret), and which Jerome also no-
tices, is favored by Bottcher. Referring to the
bones of those who have been hurled down, he
translates : broken into fragments. A suitable
parallel to the image in ver. 7 would then be af-
forded. But this explauation is no more oeytain
than that of Ewald, who thinks that the extreme
emaciation of the afflicted righteous is here figu-
ratively, or rather, plainly described by the
words: our bones protrude themselves. This he
connects with ver. 5 d, in which he supposes that
the Psalmist keeps directing his prayer to God
on account of the misery of the righteous. If now
we remain by the usual and most natural trans-
lation, it becomes again doubtful whether the
bones are thrown to the abyss of the underworld
(Is. V. 14; Prov. i. 12) to be swallowed up, and a
complaint is uttered on account of slaughter and
overthrow (Hupfeld and most); or whether we
are to suppose that victory in spite of prostra-
tion (Is. xxvi. 19; Ezek. xxxvii.), is represented
by the figure of the ploughing of the soil and the
confirmatory declarations of ver, 8, and that the
passage is an expression of hope for the future
(Hengstenberg, Delitzsch). — The expression in
ver. 8: pour not out, that is, unto death, since
the life is in the blood, occurs also in Is. liii. 12.
[The members of ver. 7 are inverted in E. V.
The literal translation of the first clause is: as
one furroweth and cleaveth in the earth. There
is no need of supplying a subject as E. V. does.
According to the last explanation given above,
the bones are compared to the seed which is
scattered in the upturned earth, and whijph
should yet spring up into a rich harvest. This
is the point of the referehce to the passages in
Is. and Ezek. where the resurrection is hinted at.
Translate in ver. S b : Pour not out my soul, and
see the explanation above. — J. F. M.J
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is a necessary and a saving act to place our-
selves under God's protection, not merely against
outward enemies, but also against our own na-
ture.— Men sin with the tongue more frequently
than they think. This may be done by com-
plaining and self-praise, no less than by false
accusations, unjust reproaches, and baseless ex-
cuses.— Even confirmed Christians need continu-
ally to watch and pray, lest they yield to temp-
tation.— Good resolves are not sufficient; pater-
nal reproof and loving rebuke can do much ; but
God's grace must crown the work.
Starke : A believing prayer is a pleasing and
acceptable incense-offering to God. By it His
punishment and anger may be averted. — The
mouth and the heart are man's two fairest jew-
els ; but if they are to be well guarded they must
be committed to God. — Much frivolous speaking
hinders prayer perceptibly, and often stings our
hearts so that we are ashamed before God of our
words. — Men in positions of influence may, by
their evil example, obstruct in others the course
of godliness. How necessary is then the prayer
for Divine leading to God for the sake of others.
— If men would become sincerely and actively
religious they must begin by reforming the
heart. — In hereditary sin man has an alluring
dainty ; if he follows it and becomes like the
world, he loses his taste for the heavenly manna,
the true food of the soul. — Let none consider
themselves so blameless that they do not need
PSALM CXLIL
657
any admonition. — The disciplinary power of the
Holy Spirit must not be restrained, nor the law
be abolished in the Church. For the teaching
inspired by God is profitable also for correction,
(2 Tim. iii. 13). Fraternal reproof has, alas!
become almost obsolete in the Christianity of to-
day. Flattery and false politeness have gained
the upper hand. — It is always better to do a
thing in meekness than in anger. — Wicked lead-
ers in all departments of life cause much sorrow
and ruin, but their judgment and condemnation
do not slumber. — Unity and steadfastness in
faith, in prayer, and in patience, are most ne-
cessary to pious Christians in their afflictions.
They will at last be redeemed from all evil.
Frisoh: There are none in the world more
odious than those who are most forward in re-
sisting evil and implanting good. — Riegeb : The
tongue is never harder to be tamed than under
Buflfering at the hands of others. It is therefore
the more necessary that God should guard it
then. — Many things are wounds to the old na-
ture, which are balm to the new, — Guenther :
How will I learn to say "my God," if I do not
earn the right of possession by daily experiences
of His gracious assistance ? — Diedrich : He who
will have faithfully confessed the Truth in his
daily duties, will find in this Psalm the groans
of his heart repeated. — Tatjbb : The prayer of
faith is the victory which overcomes the world
within and without, for it forces its way into
God's light, and brings us to His strength.
[Matt. Henry: They that cry in prayer ma^
hope to be heard in prayer, not for their loud-
ness, but for their lowliness. — Prayer is of a
sweet-smelling savor to God, as incense, which
yet had no savor without fire ; nor has prayer
without the fire of holy love and fervor. — We
must be as earnest for God's grace in us, as for
His favor towards us. — Nature having made my
lips to be a door to my mouth, let grace keep
that door, that nothing may be suflFered to go out
which may any way tend to the dishonor of God
or the hurt of others. — Good men will pray
against even the Sweets of sin. — When the world
is bitter the word is sweet. — All that are bound
over to God's justice are held in the cords of
their own iniquity. But let me at the same time
obtain a discharge. — J. F. M.}
PSALM CXLn.
Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was m the eave.
2 I cried unto the Lord with my voice ;
With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication*
3 I poured out my complaint before him ;
I shewed before him my trouble.
4 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me.
Then thou knewest my path.
In the way wherein I walked
Have they privily laid a snare for me.
6 I looked on my right hand, and beheld,
But there i^^oa no man that would know me:
Refuge failed me;
No man cared for my souL
6 I cried unto thee, O Lord :
I said, Thou art my refuge
And my portion in the land of the living,
7 Attend unto my cry ;
For I am brought very low :
Deliver me from my persecutors ;
For they are stronger than I.
8 Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may praise thy name :
The righteoiis shall compass me about J
For thou shalt deal bountifully with m&
668
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — On maskil see
Introd. § 8, No. 3. The Psalm ia closely related
to Ps. cxli., cxliii. The superscription assigns
it to the time of 1 Sam. xxii., if the cave of Adul-
1am be meant, here designated by the article as
a well-known one, or to that of 1 Sam, xxiv., if
the cave of Engedi be meant. The contents
agree with this statement, which cannot be suc-
cessfully impugned on linguistic grounds, al-
though there appears to be a certain dependence
upon Ps. Ixxvii. which has given rise to some
hesitation.
The Author calls upon God, with a loud voice,
for deliverance on account of the greatness of
his distress and anguish ; for even the eye of
God, to whom his every way is known, will see
only snares in his path, but no helping friend,
(vers. 2-5). And he cries to God, for He remains
his refuge and his portion, and will deliver him
from oppression and weakness in spite of his
powerful persecutors, so that he may praise Him
amid the acclamations of His people (vers. 6-8).
[Ver. 4. When my spirit was over-
"whelmed. — The same mode of expression oc-
curs in Ps. Ixxvii. 4. Hupfeld would connect
this line with the preceding verse, as is done in
Ps. cii. 1. This would certainly give a more na-
tural and easy connection. — J. F. M.]
Ver. 5. Look to the right hand [E. V.:
I looked, etc.'\ — The ancient versions and Rab-
bins whom Calvin follows, and by whose in-
^uence Ewald is moved to change the pointing,
translate as if the verb, instead of being in the
imperat. Hiphil, were in the absolute infinitive,
which they then render in the first person. They
mistake the character of the language of prayer.
The right side is mentioned since being the side
defended, it was the point of attack (Ps. cix. 6)
where, therefore, the defenders post themselves
(Pss. cix. 31 ; ex. 5) as a shelter (Ps. cxxi. 6).
There is no need of changing the reading with a
view to gain the sense: looking all the day long
and seeing (Hitzig). [Translate: look at the
right hand and see. No friend (appears) for me ;
refuge for me is lost. There is none that in-
quireth after my soul. Perownb; "There is no
contradiction in this prayer to the previous state-
ment of belief in God's omniscience ; Thou know-
est my path, as has been alleged. Such appeals to
God to see, to regard, etc., are common enough,
and ' are bound up with the very nature of
prayer, which is one great anthropomorphism.'"
— J. F. M.]
Ver. 8. It is not indicated in the text whether
the term prison, employed for affliction, is figu-
rative or not. The translation of the last line:
the righteous wait for me (Septuagint, Syriac,
Aquila, Ewald), would require the construction
with 7 (Job xxxvi. 2). The renderings: crown
(Symm., Jerome), or figuratively: triumph in
me as in a crown (AbenEzra, Kimchi), or: deck
themselves as with a crown, i. c, triumph like a
king (Cocceius, Venema, Del.), are far-fetched.
The explanation : surround, here naturally not
in a hostile but in a friendly manner (Luther,
after Felix Pratensis and most of the recent ex-
positors), has to meet only the difficulty of the
construction with 3. [The sense of the E. V. ia
therefore probably the correct one. On the
feelings of the Psalmist, Delitzsch : " The poet
thus finds himself not so completely alone as
might appear from ver. 6, He does not fancy
that he is the only righteous one. He is only a
member of a common Church, whose lot is in-
terwoven with his, and who will triumph in
his deliverance as in their own (1 Cor. xii. 26)."
—J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The great distress of God's children, the con-
duct of the believer, and his certain help. — We
can lose everything on earth without harm to
us, if only God remains as our Portion. — The
friendship of God and the enmity of the world,
in the community of the righteous.
Starke: The inner suffering of the heart,
when the spirit is under deepest oppression, is
the true school of prayer. — God often purposely
permits His children to come into great afflic-
tion, so that His works may become manifest.
He will yet be acknowledged by us as our only
and best Helper. — When other men find reasons
for despairing, believers make God their refuge,
and He then manifests His might and help in a
way that gladdens their hearts. — There is no
better friend than God ; He does not forsake His
own even in the greatest need. — Oppression and
affliction, faith and prayer, often meet ; affliction
tries faith and strengthens prayer. — This whole
world is to God's children often nothing but a
prison, in which with tears and groans they
await the redemption of the body. — God does
not yield His honor. When He knows how to
glorify it through them or others. He will not
spare Himself. Recall it to Him in an earnest,
upright spirit, and thou shalt see thy desire in
His mercy and help.
Frisch : Those who pray best do not know
how to sink deep enough before God's supreme
majesty. — Diedrich : If the soul has only its re-
fuge and its light in God, it can praise Him even
in the midst of enemies, and then also be assured
of the greatest triumph. — Tattbe: Persecution
from the side of enemies presses sorely, but
abandonment by friends, who should have stood
by one's side as helpers and defenders, presses
more sorely still.
[Matt. Henry: We are apt to show our
trouble too much to ourselves, aggravating it
and poring upon it, which doth us unkindness,
whereas by showing it to God, we might cast the
care on Him who careth for us, and thereby ease
ourselves. Nor should we allow of any com-
plaint to ourselves and others, which we cannot
with the due decency and sincerity make to God,
and stand to before Him. — This is the greatest
comfort of our temporal mercies, that they fur-
nish us with matter and give us opportunity for
the excellent duty of praise. — Others' mercies
ought to be the matter of our praises to God ;
and others' praises on our behalf ought to be
both desired and rejoiced in by us. — Bp. Hornb :
When danger besetteth us around, and fear is on
every side, let us follow the example of David,
and that of a greater than David, who, when
PSALM CXLni.
659
Jews and Gentiles conspired against Him, and
He was left all alone in the garden and on the
cross, gave Himself unto prayer. — Barnes : That
God may be honored, is an object at all times
much more important than our own welfare,
even than our salTation. — It is an honor to be de-
sired, to be associated with good men, to possess
their esteem, to have their sympathy, their
prayers, and their affections, to share their joys
here and their triumphs in the world to come.— ^
J. F. M.]
PSALM CXLIIL
A Psalm of David,
Hear my prayer, O Loed, give ear to my supplications :
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant ;
For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul ;
He hath smitten my life down to the ground ;
He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmsd within me ;
My heart within me is desolate.
5 I remember the days of old ;
I meditate on all thy works ;
I muse on the work of thy hands.
6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee :
My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah,
7 Hear me speedily, O Lord ; my spirit faileth :
Hide not thy face from me.
Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning ;
For in thee do I trust :
Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk ;
For I lift up my soul unto thee.
9 Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies :
I flee unto thee to hide me.
10 Teach me to do thy will ;
For thou art my God ^
Thy Spirit is good ; lead me into the land of uprightness.
11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake : ^
For thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies.
And destroy all them that afflict my soul ;
For I am thy servant.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This, the last of
the seven penitential Psalms, is in some manu-
scripts without a superscription. In others
there is besides the one above given, the addi-
tion: When Absalom his son pursued him. The
circumstances of the suppliant as here depicted,
agree with this statement. For, surrounded by
implacable enemies, who have brought him nigh
to death, the servant of God has only Him re-
maining as his refuge. This Refuge is a sure
one, and is ardently desired, and therefore be-
sought in prayer with the fervor of a soul that
longs for deliverance. For with all his trust ia
660
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
God's faithfulness and helpful righteousness, so
far as his relation to his enemies is concerned,
he has yet a strong feeling of his human sinful-
ness before God, and therefore a strong need of
His pardoning mercy and of guidance through
His good Spirit.
These thoughts are characteristic of David,
but here and there they appear in a form which
might be regarded as " a later effort to copy af-
ter the Davidic Psalm-poetry" (Delitzsch). *' He
who knows David, finds here also that penitent
confession to God, that humility, that longing
after God, that sure confiding in Him as his re-
fuge, and invocation of His help and deliverance
from enemies for the sake of His goodness, that
submission to Him, that desire for His holy
guidance, that experience of the Lord, and
praise inspired by such experience, that confi-
dence in His holy righteousness, and that humble
and elevating consciousness of being the ser-
vant of the Lord, which are so entirely charac-
teristic of David " (Clauss.) This may be granted
and yet it be doubted, whether such a poet as
David would have so copied himself, as would be
the case if the Davidic authorship were proved.
One might pray in the same language, but would
not repeat himself in different poems. The
numerous reminiscences of other passages of
Scripture which are found confirm this suppo-
sition.
[The application of this canon to Hebrew
poets, and especially to such a one as David, who
wrote so much in this style, and who seemed to
make his repeated experiences of similar dis-
tresses so many occasions of compositions of this
nature, is hardly just. Besides, there are many
instances of repetitions in Psalms in the ear.ier
portion of the Psalter, which are acknowledged
to be those of David, and they do not occasion
any difi&culty. Of course there is no instance
there so striking as this, but they give an indi-
cation of what David might accomplish in the
way of combining familiar thoughts and images,
and setting them in the light of renewed revela-
tions of God's power and goodness in the midst
of his owd renewed distress and feeling of weak-
ness. At all events, the poem, even with the
familiarity of its ideas, forms a complete whole
which is worthy of David, and which no critic
need on that score hesitate to assign to him.
Heogstenberg again stands alone among recent
continental commentators in maintaining the
Davidic authorship. Perowne again follows the
majority on the other side, and inclines to the
view of a late composition. Delitzsch finds in
the addition to the title given in some copies of
the Septuagint \[uoted above, confirmation of
his favorite idea that most of the Psalms in this
group were intended to describe the feelings of
David during his flight before Absalom. This is
probable enough ; but Ls it probable that any
writer at a late period would seek to illustrate
by a series of Psalms, this or any other period
of David's life, when it had already been so
abundantly illustrated by David himself? Alex-
ander, Wordsworth, and most English commen-
tators hold to the Davidic composition. — J.
F. M]
Vers. 1. 2. In Thy faithfulness ansTver
me, in Thy righteousness. — It does not re-
main undefined what God is to answer. For in the
first place, " answering " is only another expres-
sion for hearing, and, in the next place, the two
additions to the request furnish a more definite
indication of its meaning. The faithfulness of
God is His faithfulness to His promises, or the
truthfulness of His nature, in conformity with
which everything that He has spoken or or-
dained is reliable and unchangeable. His right-
eousness is the corresponding course of action by
which His ordinances are firmly established and
fulfilled in the world, so that there is rendered
to every man according to his works. There is
no occasion of thinking here of particular pro-
mises, or of 2 Sam. vii. (Hengstenberg) ; or for
changing the notion of righteousness into that
of goodness (Koster). God's faithfulness and
righteousness are thus assured, as in 1 John i. 9,
and the repenting receive the forgiveness of their
sins, but the impenitent, judgment. From one
point of view, therefore, the pious man is right-
eous, a servant of God ; from another, he, as a man,
is not perfect like God, but rather needing to be
spared in judgment, to receive pardon and
mercy. Ver. 12 shows that iu ver. 2 also the
phrase: " Thy servant " is not a mere oriental
circumlocution for the person speaking (Hupf ),
and not merely a term of polite address. The
prayer that God might not enter into judgment
with him as his Accuser and Judge, (Job ix. 32 ;
xi V. 3 ; xxii. 4 f. ; Is. iii. 14), has a twofold ground :
first, the absence, common to all the living,
of perfect righteousness, acceptable before God,
(Ps. cxxx. 3 ; Job iv. 17; ix. 2; siv. 4; xv. 14;
XXV. 4 ; Rom. iii. 20^ ; then his own personal
and deadly peril, wnich the suppliant suffers
through the persecutions of his enemies, and
which he knows to be a Divine judgment upon
him for his sins which are not expiated.
Ver. 3 c. is in the exact words of Lam. iii. 6.
But the expression does not mean : the dead of
the world (Septuagint, Luther). [This transla-
tion arises from the false adoption of the later
Hebrew and Rabbinical usage of 6lafn. See on
Ps. Ixxxix. 2. — J. F. M.] It refers either to
those who died long before, and are placed
among those of the olden time, Ezek. xxvi. 20
(Jerome, Hitzig), or to those who are eternally,
for ever dead (Syriac, Hupfeld, Delitzsch), who
have an existence without hope, sleep an eternal
sleep (Jer. li. 39, 57) in the gloomy abode of the
dead, which remains ever as it is (Eccl. xii. 6),
in contrast to the life which has no end (Dan.
xii. 7). The latter explanation suits the present
passage best, for the Psalmist evidently means to
say that his enemies are intent upon his utter
destruction, and that he would remain without
deliverance, unless God in mercy were to take
up his defence.
Vers. 4-8. On this account his distress is so
great that he is inwardly overwhelmed with
darkneas (Ps. Ixxvii. 4; cxlii. 4), and is like a
languishing land (Ps. Ixiii. 2). [Ver. 6, E. V.:
thirsty land, comp. Is. xxlii. 2.] The contrast
to former times, with the recollection of God's
dealings then, joined to thoughtful contemplation
of the reality of His power as displayed in His
works, makes his anguish the more intense, his
longing the more consuming, his supplicating
cry the more urgent (Ps. xxvii. 9; Ixix. 18;
PSALM CXLIII.
4T
661
Ixxxiv. 3 ; oil. 3). If the help of God should
tarry (ver. 7) he would become like those that
descend to the abyss (Ps. xxviii, 1 ; Ixxxviii. 5).
He prays that even the next morning should end
the night of his sorrow, and expects an answer
to his prayer upon the ground of his trust (Pss,
XXV. 1 f. ; Ixxxvi. 4). [The mode of expression
in ver. 6 b. is peculiar. It is literally : my soul
(is), like a languishing land for Thee, i. e., my
Boul languishes for Thee, as a thirsty "^land for"
rain. Calvin : " In great heat, we see the earth
cracking and gaping, as though with open mouth
she asked for the rain from heaven." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 9-12. [In ver. 9 b., E. V. combines the
Septuagint rendering : I fled to Thee, with the
notion of the Hebrew word which means here :
to cover, hide one's self. The latter was thus
assumed to be a pregnant expression, and so
translated. But the Septuagint had a false read-
ing : TiDJ, I fled, which gave rise to misconcep^
tions among the older expositors. Calvin, how-
ever, perceived the true construction, for which
Hengst., Delitzsch, Ewald, Maurer, Alexander,
Perowne, Wordsworth and most recent exposi-
tors decide. Delitzsch expresses it thus : ad
(apud) ie abscondidi [me): To (with) Thee have
I hidden (myself). Gen. xxxviii. 14 affords the
most perfect parallel in construction. See fur-
ther by Dr. Moll. — J. F. M.] In ver. 9 b. \vq
might be tempted to change ^^^"'03, which lias
been variously explained, into ^iT'On, the idea
conveyed by which the ancient translations and
expositions directly express. But it is not abso-
lutely necessary, for the notions of covering and
refuge are united in the intermediate one of hidi ng.
The way of deliverance is to the servant of God
no external one, but a way of salvation, which
the commandments of God point out, in which
the Spirit of God, who is good (so must we trans-
late literally in ver 10 c), is the Guide. And
those who submit to this guidance to fulfil the
commandments of God, walk not merely upon a
direct or right way (Ps. xxvii. 11), but in an
even land, i. e., without stumbling or being ob-
structed in their successful and happy progress.
It is therefore quite unnecessary to change V'^X
into Xyy». (Hupfeld). [Delitzsch refers to Isaiah
xxvi. 7 as a parallel passage, and remarks that
these words, which in Deut. iv. 43 ; Jer. xxviii.
41, are a geographical designation, are here ap-
plied spiritually. The verbs in vers. 11, 12
should be rendered by the future : Thou wilt
quicken me, etc., not in the imper., as in E. V.
With ver. 11 comp. Ps. cxxxviii. 7; xxv, 15;
xxxiv. 18; cxlii. 8; with ver. 12, Pss. xxxi. 17;
xviiL 41 ; Deut. vii. 24.— J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is not only the man who is persecuted in
the world that is permitted to make God his re-
fuge; the mourning sinner may come to Him
also ; but he must do so according to the ap-
pointed way of salvation. — God not only teaches
His servants by His word; He guides them also
by His Spirit, and helps them to live by His
Btrength.— If God goes with us into judgment,
we are lost; but if we repent. He delivers us. —
God's faithfulness and righteousness are a terror
to sinners, but a consolation to the penitent and
an assurance of salvation to His pious servants.
Staeke : It is no easy matter to pray rightly
and so as to obtain an answer. Great and ear-
nest striving are necessary to it. — The only-
ground upon which repenting sinners can with
assurance approach God's throne is His mercy
and truth in Christ Jesus. — Learn to know the
multitude of thy sins and the strict judgment of
God, scthat thou may est know His great mercy
and pray the more earnestly for forgiveness. —
Because even pious men sometimes love the
darkness rather than the light, God sends them
affliction, that the world may become distasteful
to them. — The examples of the saints of old are
at this hour a comfort to afflicted souls and ter-
rifying to their enemies. — Thirsting, longing,
hoping, and yearning after God are sure indica-
tions of a believing soul and of true prayer. —
When a soul thirsts after God's favor, it is a
sure proof that it is not utterly forsaken by
Him. — Many pray for a speedy answer, and do
not reflect that God must have waited long for
their crying. — As distress is felt, so also is
prayer ; it breaks forth all the more strongly,
the more distressed the suppliant is in his own
eyes. — The divine ^nsolation is the sweeter to
the soul, the longer it had to wait for it, and the
greater its sufferings had been. — The favor of '
God is the most necessary thing for man in this
life, and should be the object of his highest con-
cern.— There are many false guides who pretend
to bear us happily over the journey of life; but
he who does not keep close to God as his leader
and guide and follow Him in everything, i-s led
astray. — The divine deliverance of believers is
commonly connected with the destruction of
their ungodly enemies.
Frankb: When a man resolves with heart
and soul to be and remain a servant of God, God
will not forsake him; but where He is, there
will also His servant be. — Dibdrich: In all
earthly trials we must learn, after all our dis-
tress, to know our own hearts better, for only
so will suffering draw us to the living God. —
Taube: In the lasting heat of suffering, true
faith will only burn more strongly and be lit up
with a brighter glow. — The connection of justifi-
cation and sanctification.
[Matt. Henry: As a thirsty land, which,
being parched with excessive heat, gapes for
rain, so do I need, so do I crave the support and
refreshment of divine consolation under mine
afflictions, and nothing else will relieve me. —
This is the best course we can take when our
spirits are overwhelmed; and justly do they
sink under their load who do not take such a
ready way as this to relieve themselves. — Those
that have the truth of grace cannot but desire
to have the evidence of it. — Preservations are
pledges of salvation, and those shall find God
their hiding-place that by faith make Him so.—
Bp. Hoene (ver. 6): While we muse on such in-
stances of His goodness, the reflection is ob-
vious: Is He not st.JH the same gracious God?
Will He not do as much for us upon our repent-
ance as He formerly did for others upon theirs?
Let us arise and go to our Father.— Scott: The
believer has not only the faithfulness, but the
righteousness of God engaged in his behalf:
662
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
much more then may he be confident that he has
justice on his side in those causes that are pend-
ing between him and his persecutors before the
supreme Judge. — The trembling sinner, who has
lately discovered that he cannot stand in judg-
ment before God, need not be discouraged on
that account; for the greatest of saints have
confessed the same. — Barnes ; Our hope is in
the mercy, not in the justice of God. — J.
F. M.J
PSALM CXLIV.
A Psalm of David,
Blessed he the Lord my strength,
"Which teacheth my hands to war,
And my fingers to fight:
2 My goodness, and my fortress ;
My high tower, and my deliverer;
My shield, and he in whom I trust ;
Who subdueth my people under me.
8 Lord, what is man, tliat thou takest knowledge of him I
Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him !
4 Man is like to vanity :
His days are as a shadow that passeth away.
5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down :
Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them :
Shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them,
7 Send thine hand from above ;
Rid me, and deliver me out of great waters,
From the hand of strange children ;
8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity.
And their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song unto thee, 0 God :
Upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
10 It is he that giveth salvation unto kings :
Who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
11 Kid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children,
Whose mouth speaketh vanity.
And their right hand is a right hand of falsehood :
12 That our sons may he as plants
Grown up in their youth ;
That our daughters may he as corner stones,
Polished ajter the similitude of a palace :
13 That our garners may he full,
Affording all manner of store ;
That our sheep may bring forth thousands
And ten thousands in our streets :
14 That our oxen may he strong to labor ;
Tliat there he no breaking in, nor going out ;
That there he no complaining in our streets.
15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case:
Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord,
PSALM CXLIV.
663
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL,
Contents and Composition. — The Psalmist,
who evidently speaks as a king (see ver. 2), be-
gins by praising God for help experienced per-
sonally in various ways in battle and in distress
(vers. 1, 2). The recollection of the comforting
truth that God does indeed in love take notice
of perishing man (vers. 3, 4^ leads him to utter
the prayer that God v^ould personally display
from heaven His irresistible power to deliver
him from great peril prepared for him by power-
ful and faithless strangers (vers. 5-8). With
this he connects a promise of a new song refer-
ring to God's manner of dealing with David His
servant both generally and specially, and then
turns back to the prayer by repeating, like a re-
frain, the description of his enemies (vers. 9-11).
The Chald. Paraphrase explains the evil sword
(ver. 10) as being that of Goliath, and some ma-
nuscripts of the Sept. have as an addition to the
superscription: in reference to Goliath. This
event of David's life may perhaps have given oc-
casion to the poem ; but it is doubtful whether
it should be assigned to David himself (Hengst.),
especially as the portion just discussed consists
entirely of fragments of other psalms, and is
particularly rich in expressions found in Ps.
xviii. It is mere hypothesis to suppose that
these verses were recorded in an ancient histo-
rical book and expressed the feelings with which
David went into battle, being drawn from his
declaration in 1 Sam. xvii. 27 (Del.). Theodoret
already has referred it to the Maccabaean period,
and Hitzig assigns it specially to Alexander
JannsBus. — Attached to this first portion is a
section (vers. 12-!-15) which is entirely dissimilar
in thought, mode of expression, and linguistic
character, and is connected with it loosely and
perhaps violently by IK^X, which is capable of
so many meanings. This passage praises the
prosperity of the people as a blessed result of
their having Jehovah as their God. It appears
to be a fragment of another Psalm whose origin
is entirely unknown.
[Hengstenbebq: "It is only the Psalms of
David which form the ground-work of this. But
that it is one of David's peculiarities to derive
from his earlier productions a foundation for
new ones, is evident from a variety of facts,
which, if any doubt might still be entertained
on the subject, would obtain a firm ground to
rest upon in this Psalm ; for it can only be the
work of David. Then the way and manner of
the use made of such materials must be kept in
view. This is always of a spirited and feeling
nature; and no trace anywhere exists of a life-
less borrowing. That we cannot assume such
borrowing here, that the appropriation of earlier
materials did not proceed from spiritual impo-
tence, but rests upon deeper grounds, is mani-
fest if we consider the second part, where the
dependence entirely ceases, and where the oppo-
nents of the Davidic authorship have not been
able to overlook the strong poetical spirit of the
time of David. They resort to the wretched ex-
pedient of aflSrming that the Psalmist had bor-
rowed this portion from a much older poem now
lost." — Alexander: "The Davidic origin of the
Psalm is as marked as that of any in the Psal-
ter." Noyes and Perowne are disinclined to
follow the superscription. The rest of the Eng-
lish expositors, so far as I know, accept its au-
thenticity.—J. F. M.]
Vers. 1-6. — [Translate ver. 1 : Blessed be
Jehovah, my Rock, &c. Comp. Ps. xviii, 36, 47.
— J. F. M.]. My mercy [ver. 2, E. V.: my
goodness], i. e. my merciful God (Ps. lix. 11, 18,
comp. Jon. ii. 9). Since it is not extension of
power (Chald., Isaaki, Kimchi, Calvin) that is
mentioned, but compulsion or really subjugation,
there would be expected here, instead of ''By
my people, the plural 0'©^ nations. This reading
does occur in some manuscripts, but is only in-
serted as serving to facilitate the rendering. The
Syr,, Chald., and Jerome express it in their
translations, and others in their interpretations.
The difficulty disappears if it be remembered
that it is not the despotic authority of the king
that is meant, but the controlling power of God,
to which those must submit who oppose the king
chosen by God. Ps. xviii. 48 does not decide
for us, for the verbs in the two passages are dif-
ferent. If the writer had that passage in mind,
he altered it intentionally, as we find that in
other cases the imitation is not a mere copying
or simple repetition. So ver. 3, in imitation of
Ps. viii. 6, and ver. 4, partly from Ps. xxxix. 6,
11, partly from Ps. cii. 12. [The connection
between vers. 1, 2 and 3, 4 is shown by Calvin.
"David remembers all that God has done for
him, and then, like Jacob, thinks: Lord, I am
too little for all thy loving-kindness, and so con-
trasts his own nothingness and that of mankind
generally with the greatness of such a gracious
God." With ver. 6 comp. Pss. xviii. 10; civ. 32.
With ver- 6, Ps. xviiL 16; 2 Sam, xxii. 16. —
J. F. M.]
Vers. 7-11 — It is worthy of remark that 71^3,
which in Pss. xxii, 14; Ixvi. 16, is used of the
gaping of the mouth, has here in ver. 7 the
meaning of snatching out [E, V.: rid], as in the
Arabic and Aramaic. The right hand of false-
hood [ver. 8] parallel to the tongue of falsehood
(Ps. cix, 2) is the hand raised in taking a false
oath. It alludes here to covenant-breaking.
The designation Elohim, suddenly addressed to
Jehovah in ver, 9, is unusual in the last two
books of the Psalter. [It occurs besides in Ps.
cviii. The second member of the verse should
be translated: Upon a lyre of ten (strings) will
I make music to Thee. — J. F, M] The expres-
sion also in ver. 10: evil sword, is peculiar. It
hardly means that the sword is employed in the
service of an evil man (Delitzschj, but rather
that it causes evil and misfortune. The mention
of David in a Psalm ascribed to him follows the
example of Ps. xviii. 61.
Ver. 12. — Both the peculiar contents and the
expression of the following sentences, and the
connection with the preceding by "li^li, create
difficulty. Following the contents of the passage,
it is first mentioned that the children are thriving
at home, that the fruits of the field and the herds
of large and small cattle are flourishing, and
that the inhabitants of the city are prosperous,
and finally the people so situated are felici-
tated. It is in the highest degree improbable
664
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
that Israel, whose God is Jehovah, in contrast
to a nation rich in earthly blessings, is, in the
last line, pronounced happy, and that therefore
there is presented a contrast between individual
prosperity and spiritual blessings. If we look
at the passages which promise a blessing to the
people of God, Deut, vii. 13; xxviii. 4, 8, 51,
and compare also the description of the blessing
in Ps. xcii. 13 f.; cxxviii. 2 f., we cannot doubt
that the prosperity of Israel under the blessing
of God is described here also. The several pe-
culiar words and phrases cannot alter this ac-
tual relation. Consequently the relative is not
to be referred to enemie8=who8e sons (Sept.,
et al.). Nor can we supply "^HN/., and referring
to the words of falsehood, vers. 8, 11, regard
the passage as quoting the terms in which the
children of the world boast of their possessions
(Geier, Clericus). On account of the structure
of the sentence, it would be a very forced con-
struction to refer the relative to God, who causes
our sons to be, &c. So also with the assump-
tion that the new song promised in ver. 9 is
given here (Venema, Koster). In this case we
would have to strike out ver. 11 (Olsh.), which,
however, would be better than to change IB'K
into '^.K'i?^?, I will pronounce happy (Doeder-
lein, Dathe). Some expositors pass over this
connecting word. It must be taken, however,
as a relative conjunction, but not as meaning:
that, in order that they may be so (Hengst. and
most), as a consequence of the deliverance men-
tioned in ver. 11, or as introducing a prayer,
whether the word: grant, be supplied or not,
but as meaning: because, since (Delitzsch, Hit-
zig), aa supporting the prayer for deliverance.
There is still, however, something harsh and
forced in the transition to a passage so peculiar
in contents and expression. It has therefore
been conjectured that a later insertion has been
made here (most of the moderns since Knapp),
whether a gloss of a copyist (Hitzig), or an ad-
dition by the Psalmist himself (Maurer), or bor-
rowed from some other composition, and here
awkwardly attached by liyK (Hupfeld), or in-
terpolated in some corruption of the text (Olsh.,
Kamphausen). [Hengstenberg gives the connec-
tion between this strophe and the preceding
briefly, and in a manner satisfying to those who
hold the Davidic authorship: "I thank Thee for
the help which is assured to me through faith,
vers. 9, 10. Nay more, deliver Thou me from
the hands of the sons of strangers, and let Thy
blessing return to rest upon Thy people, vers.
ll_14."_j. F. M.]
The phrase grown np, of trees (Isa. xliv. 14)
transferred to sons (Is. i. 2 ; xxiii. 4 ; Hos. ix.
12) represents the vigorous and well-propor-
tioned growth to which the young men had at-
tained. For youth is designated here by a word
which excludes the idea of childhood. The rend-
ering: projectures (Luther, Hengstenberg) in-
stead of: corners (Zech. ix. 15) cannot be justi-
fied. So with : corner-pillars (Geier and most),
which sense has been assumed through a sup-
posed "reference to Caryatides, especially because
it was supposed that the following word must
tave the meaning : hewn out. But 3£3n is em-
ployed everywhere (according to Wetzstein i]
Delitzsch) only of the preparation of fueL Ye
through the Arabic it may have the sense
streaked, variegated (Prov. vii. 16). And, whili
the Syrian and Palestinian architecture, so fai
as known, exhibits no corner-pillars, corneri
with carved work of gay colors, are found at th<
present day in the reception-hall of every hous(
of pretension in Damascus (Lane, Manners anc
Customs of the modern Egyptians, i. 11). WetZ'
stein inclines to the opinion that an architectura
ornament of this kind, formed with much taste
and elaborate workmanship out of carved wood,
glistening with gold and brilliant colors, anc
covering the upper portion of the corner, is em-
ployed here to illustrate the beauty, brilliani
attire, and rich ornaments of the women ; per-
haps, also, because they are not only modest and
chaste, but are also, like the children of the up-
per class, concealed from sight.
Vers. 13-15. As many rare expressions occui
here, it cannot appear surprising that in ver, 14
the oxen are not named D"'i3SK as in Ps. viii. 8,
but D''fll7N, which in an older stage of the lan-
guage, meant: princes. But it would bt
strange here to translate: our princes are set
up (Maurer, Koster, Von Lengerke, Fiirst) after
Ezra vi. 8, that is : are standing upright, as a
sign of confidence and strength. The latter
word means also strictly : burdened, not: strong
for bearing burdens (Chald., Kimchi), or: laden
with the abundance of produce (Hengstenberg),
or : with fat and flesh, and therefore = fat and
strong (Sept., Syr., Jerome, Geier, et al.) but
laden with young, gravida (Bochart, J. H. Mich,,
and most of the recent expositors) The word
therefore does not express capacity for work
(Luther). In ver, 13 b jr does not mean : store,
or provision (Geier, Venema, et al), but is an
Aramaic term denoting: class, kind. From class
to class, i. e., of all kinds. The expressions for
breach and falling out are so general, that they
are not to be referred specially to miscarrying,
(Syr., Kimchi), or to breaches in the folds where
the flocks might break out (Sept., Geier), or to
breaches in the city wall (Aben Ezra, Calvin,
Hupf.), and losses in war (De Wette), but to in-
jury and deficiency, misfortune and loss gene-
rally.— [The author's translation of vers. 13, 14,
accordingly ig : Our garners full, supplying of
all kinds, our sheep multiplying by thousands, by
tens of thousands in our pastures; our cattle
laden (with young) ; no breach and no falling
ofi", and no cry of complaint in our streets. — J.
F. M.] On the last line the combination of the
shortened form ^ of the relative with the qua-
driliteral into one word is remarkable. There is
no ground for taking the copula adversatively :
but (Luther). The expression T\D3p is found
also in Sol. Song v. 9.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is not an unessential matter to a people how
its king stands with relation to God the Lord,
nor to a king, whether he has religious and obe-
dient subjects. — Even temporal blessings come
from the living God of revelation ; but for a man
PSALM CXLV.
665
to have God Himself as his God, is the highest
privilege and an eternal good. — To consider se-
riously what God is and what we are, begets hu-
mility, but also trust in God.
Starke : Pious soldiers learn best how to fight
in the school of the Holy Spirit. — By protection
and victory over our enemies, God's glory is well-
extended. — Christ wars and triumphs in His be-
lievers.— It is a great favor of God . to have re-
spect, fear, and obedience in subjects. When
He is angry He poureth contempt upon princes.
— To know our human nothingness rightly, gives
us humility. Assiduous meditation upon God's
infinite pre-eminence is the best means of gain-
ing this object. Where God takes from man as
His own possession what a man possesses, no-
thing but a shadow remains ; therefore the glory
belongs to God in whatever a man is or has. —
The help of the Christian must come from hea-
ven, either through means or without them. —
Every doctrine which has not in view God's ho-
nor and man's blessedness is false. — Thoughts,
words, demeanor, works, all must accord in the
praise of God, must sound forth nothing but
Christ, and extol His victory and blessing. — The
external prosperity of the true Church and of a
country depends upon the continuance of pious
kings and religious rulers. — A pious and grate-
ful heart does not take into account the Divine
benefits which have been experienced by itself
alone, but also those which He has bestowed upon
others, and thanks Him for both. — According as
faith is iu the heart, so is also the life directed.
— The blessing of many children is a great gift
of God, and an ornament to a house, especially
if they follow after the fear of God and virtue. —
Daughters that are trifling, vain, and decked out
after the fashion of the world, are like fair pa-
laces in which the world dwells, and not God. —
He who seeks first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, will receive from Him just as
much as He knows will be profitable for him. —
The prosperity of the ungodly is like glass ; when
it seems clearest it breaks ; but the prosperity
of the righteous will endure; for it rests on a
good foundation. — The true happiness of men
consists in their union and communion with God
in Christ.
Frisch : God, thy friend, is great in counsel,
and mighty in working. — Rieger : It is easy to
say in dejection: Man is as nothing! But it is
better to do so in humility ; in humility which
then does not hide itself away, but clings to the
gracious hand of God in Christ, held out to the
upright. — DiEDRiCH : If God's people are still in
conflict with malignant enemies, they have still
the victory and all blessings. — Taube : It is the
depth of Divine condescension towards the son
of the dust, which gives him to discover the
glory of grace in its clearest light.
[Matt. Henry : Wherever a believer goes he
carries his protection along with him. — Man's
days have litLle substance in them, considering
how many of the thoughts and cares of an im-
mortal soul are employed about a poor, dying
body ; they are as a shadow, dark and flitting,
and finishing with the sun, and when that sets,
resolving itself into all shadow. — Living plenti-
fully, we should not live luxuriously, lor then we
abuse our plenty, but cheerfully and usefully,
that, having abundance, we may be thankful to
God, generous to our friends, and charitable to
the poor. Otherwise what profit is it to have
our garners full ? James v. 3. — National piety
commonly brings national prosperity, for na-
tions, as such, are capable of rewards and pun-
ishments only in this life. — Happy is the people
that have God's favor, and love, and grace, ac-
cording to the tenor of the covenant, though they
have not abundance of this world's goods. As
all this and much more, cannot make us happy,
unless the Lord be our God ; so the want of ibis,
the loss of this, nay, the reverse of this, cannot
make us miserable if He bo. — Bp. HoRNfs : The
righteous are distinguished from the wicked by
the use which they make of the good things of
this life when given, and by their meek resigna-
tion of them when taken away. — Whatever be
the will of God concerning our having or want-
ing these outward comforts, we know that we
have, as the faithful servants of God have had in
every age before us, greater and more precious
promises, a better and more enduring substance,
pleasures that fade not, and riches that fly not
away, reserved for us in a heavenly country,
and a city which hath foundations. — Scott :
Happy are they whom the Lord teaches to fight
the good fight of faith, and to whom He gives
that noblest victory and rule, the conquest and
dominion over their own spirits ! — The daughters
of this land are indeed sufficiently polished, with
exterior beauty and embellishment and every su-
perficial accomplishment ; but few of them have
the polishing of a corner-stone, as qualifying
them to be the ornament of families, the cement
of society, and a blessing to the land and the
next generation, by an attentive, judicious, and
virtuous performance of the duties of domestio
life, and still fewer are possessed of that adorn-
ing which the word of God almost exclusively
recommends. — Hengstenberg: Humility ia the
mother of confidence (vers. 1-4). — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXLV.
David's Psalm of Praise.
I will extol thee, my God, O King ;
And I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless thee ;
And I will praise thy name for ever ana ever.
666
THE FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised ;
And his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall praise thy works to another,
And shall declare thy mighty acts.
5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,
And of thy wondrous works.
6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts :
And I will declare thy greatness.
7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness,
And shall sing of thy righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion ;
Slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all :
And his tender mercies are over all his works
10 All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ;
And thy saints shall bless thee.
11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,
And talk of thy power ;
12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall,
And raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait upon thee ;
And thou givest them their meat in due season.
16 Thou openest thine hand,
And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
And holy in all his works.
18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him,
To all that call upon him in truth.
19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him :
He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him :
But all the wicked will he destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord :
And let all flesh bless his holy name
Fo'r ever and ever.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — Tt is only in
this Psalm that the word tehilla occurs in the su-
perscription as indicating the character of the
poem itself. It is probably taken from ver. 21.
The plural of the same word is used to denote
the whole Psalm-collection. The contents of this
Psalm are admirably described by this word, for
it is taken up exclusively with God's praise
The Psalmist (vers. 1, 2) engages to praise Him
for all time to come and unceasingly, even into
eternity, on account (vers. 3-7) of His greatness
which is unsearchable, but is displayed in glo-
rious deeds of power and wondrous working, and
is worthy of the eternal remembrance and un-
bounded praise of all generationa of men. Hia
goodness, (vers. 8-13), is as glorious and all-
embracing as His kingdom ; therefore all tha:
need turn with trustfulness to Him and He will
never disappoint them (vers. 14-16). In order
to experience that goodness, man need only for-
sake the wicked, and unite with those who fear
God (vers. 17-20), The conclusion (ver. 21)
turns back to the opening, but with an enlarged
view.
The strophical structure, like the progress of
thought, is rather irregular. This is possibly
due to the acrostic character of the poem, the
first letters of the verses following the order of
the Hebrew alphabet. Nun only is absent; for
what reason does not appear. The Sept., it is
true, followed by the derived translations, inserts
PSALM CXLV.
667
between vers. 13 and 14, a verse: Jehovah is
faithful in all His words, and gracious* in all His
works, the latter half being the same as that of
ver. 17. But neither Aquila nor Symmachus
gives it, and neither Origen nor Jerome has it in
his Heb. Text. Only a single Heb. manuscript
has it (Cod. Kennicott 142), and that on the lower
margin, at the bottom of the page. The Chald.
and the Jewish interpreters reject it, and a scho-
lium of the Cod. Vat. of the Sept. characterizes
it as spurious. It ought scarcely therefore to be
regarded as having fallen out (Grotius, Ewald) ;
and it is still less probable that Ps. cxli. 6 be-
longed originally to this passage (Hitzig).
The Ancient Church employed this Psalm at
the mid-day-meal, and ver. 15 at the Passover.
The Talmud assures us [Berachoth 4 6), that
every one who repeats this Psalm three times
daily, may be satisfied that he is a child of the
future world. The Gemara adduces in support
of this the curious reason, that it is not only
written in alphabetical order, like Ps. cxix. and
others, and not only praises the Divine care over
all creatures, like Ps. cxxxvi. 26, but combines
both these important characteristics in itself
(Del.). — In this Psalm the mode of presenting
the thoughts is pleasing, the language easy and
transparent, recalling in many expressions and
phrases familiar passages in the Psalms. It can-
not be definitely determined which are the ear-
lier, or whether any were borrowed from any
others. Ver. 13 agrees just as closely with Dan.
iii. 83 ; iv. 31. But this does not justify the con-
clusion that the latter are the original passages,
and that our Psalm belongs to the age of the
Maccabees (Hitzig).
[Alexander : " This has been happily cha-
racterized as the * new song,' promised in Ps.
cxliv. 9. In other words, it is the song of praise,
corresponding to the didactic, penitential, and
supplicatory Psalms of this series. In form it
is an alphabetical Psalm, and, like others of this
class, admits of no analysis, being made up of
variations on a single theme, the righteousness
and goodness of God to men in general, to His
own people in particular, and more especially to
those that suffer."— J. P. M.]
Vers. 1-7. My God, oh King !— Thia com-
bination of the words elohai hammelech (the lat-
ter as in Pss. xx. 10 -, xcviii. 6 ; the former as
in Ps. cxliii. 10, with 1 written fully), is rather
harsh, in place of the usual expression : my
King and my God (Pss. v. 3 ; Ixxxiv. 4). God's
right of pre-eminence is, at all events, set forth
in forcible terms, first in connection with the ex-
altation and majesty of the Highest, as after-
wards in relation to their extent and duration
God's greatness is exhibited also in 1 Chr. xxix.
11, and its unsearchableness in Is, xl. 28 ; Job
xi. 7. [Delitzsch : " The thought of the mute
shades of the departed, which elsewhere in-
trudes itself, as in Ps. vi. 6, when the conscious-
ness of the poet was disturbed by sin, is here
entirely banished ; for now the poet's conscious-
ness is the undisturbed mirror of the Divine
glory." — J. F. M.] It may be a matter of dis-
pute whether the "'"l^n, in ver. 6 6., denote the
• [It is ■ holy in all His works, in the Sept. Dr. Moll also
has an error in his version of ver. 18, where he tranfllates :
Jehovatx is near to all that fear Him.— J. F. M.]
wondrous deeds of God (Ps. cv. 27), or the
words which tell of them, for both may be made
the object of thoughtful contemplation and cele-
bration. In ver. 7 the combination aiD-DT shows
that great goodness is not referred to, in the
sense of abundant mercy (most), but in the sense
of the universal excellence of His attributes. His
goodness in every relation.
Vers. 8-21. Ver. 8 is like Ps. ciii. 8. Ver. 15
f. like Ps. civ. 27 f. The concluding part of ver.
16, as ver. 19 and the fundamental passage,
Deut. xxxiii. 23, show, comp. Acts. xiv. 17, does
not mean that God is well pleased (Septuagint,
Isaaki, Luther, Calvin), nor does it refer to His
willingness (Hitzig), or blessing (Vulg., Geier),
but to the desire, wishing, craving of living
creatures (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and most of the
recent expositors). [Translate ver. 17 b. : and
gracious in all His works. — J. F. M.] The last
word of ver. 18 b. does not express a contrast to
doubt, as in James i. 6, so that the translation
should be : in faith, believingly (Hitzig)* but a
contrast to hypocrisy, and thoughtless perfunc-
toriness in prayer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is easier to promise to praise God unceas-
ingly than it is to fulfil that promise ; for there
come evil times, when some do not stand the
test. — As we know God to be the sum and source
of all good, let us ever draw from that fountain
ourselves, and direct others to it also. — Every
day has its troubles, has it also its prayers 1 —
The blessedness of living in God's kingdom, un-
der the dominion of the heavenly King.
Stabkb : The more a soul knows the great-
ness of God's glorious mercy, the more will it
be stirred up to praise Him. — If the Holy Spirit
does but once enkindle the heart, it will never be
satisfied in praising Him, it must praise Him for
ever. — The greatness of the King of glory is es-
pecially manifested in the compassion which He
manifests to sinners, whose consciences tell them
that they are guilty of eternal death, — It is an
act worthy of severe punishmfent for a man to
limit God's love and mercy, and wantonly to ex-
clude himself from their influence. — All angels,
all saints, yea, all God's works praise Him their
Creator ; dost thou, 0 man, not praise Him too ?
Thou then art not worthy to be or to be called a
work or creature of His. — The extension of
Christ's kingdom through the word of the gos-
pel is a great work of God. Every true Chris-
tian should help to advance that work by coun-
sel and deed. — Christ begins His kingdom here
on earth in the hearts of believers, and takes
them at last into the kingdom of glory, where
they shall be ever with the Lord. — Our gracious
God fulfils His promise even in regard to bodily
afflictions ; for He lays no more upon the suf-
ferer than he can bear, and in his afflictions of-
ten revives him with the sweetest consolation. —
You sometimes distress yourself about temporal
sustenance; but what are you in need of?
Whither all eyes are directed turn yours too, —
We are all beggars before God ; we would have
nothing, if He did not answer our prayers by
giving us food and the necessaries of life. — Our
appetite and the relish which we have in our
668
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
bread and other food is alas ! not recognized by
most as one of God's blessings until they are de- ■
prived of them. — To know God as near and
omnipresent may deter the wicked from sin, but
to the pious it is a consolation in all their
troubles. — It is much better that God should an-
swer us in a way that will bless us, than accord-
ing to the will of the flesh. In that case our
souls would often suffer harm. — He who sincerely
loves God is in awe of Him also, lest he should
offend Him by transgressing His commands and
forfeit His favor. — Thy mouth should be a living
organ to praise God. Woe to those who open
their mouths in imprecation and abuse and other
sinful words!
Feisch : A man's compassion extends only to
his neighbor, that of God extends to all.— God
does everything in His own time. That time He
knows better than thou dost ; therefore await it
in patience. — Rieqer : How often does our nar-
row-hearted unbelief prefer to remain under the
close pressure of earth, rather than be refreshed
by the heart-reviving praise to God that arises
from all places of His dominion. — Guenthee :
The heavenly King has the death-judgment and
the words of mercy ; pray for the latter, so that
thou mayst live in His kingdom beneath His
sway, and serve Him for ever. — Taubh : A song
of praise whose theme is the glory of the eternal
King, His kingdom, and His mode of govern-
ment.
[Matt. Henry: If the heart be full of God,
out of the abundance of that the mouth will
speak with reverence to His praise on all occa-
sions.— No day must pass, though never so busy
a day, though never so sorrowful a day, without
praising God ; we ought to reckon it the most
needful of our daily business, the most delight-
ful of our daily comforts, God is every day
blessing us, doing well for us, there is therefore
reason we should be every day blessing Him,
speaking well of Him. — The works of God's
mercy outshine all His other works, and declare
Him more than any of them. In nothing will
the glory of God be for ever so illustrious, as in.
the vessels of mercy ordained to glory. — His
saints bless Him, for they collect the rent and
tribute of praise from the inferior creatures,
and pay it into the treasury above. All God'a
works praise Him, as the beautiful building
praises the builder, or the well-dra^yn picture
praises the painter. But His saints bless Him
as the children of prudent, tender parents rise
up and call them blessed. Of all God's works,
His saints, the workmanship of His grace, the
first-fruits of His creatures have most reason to
bless Him. — At the end of one mercy is the be-
ginning of another, so should the end of our
thanksgiving be. — Bp. Hoene : We see the whole
animal world assembled before us, with their
eyes fixed on the great King and Father of all,
like those of a flock on the shepherd when he
enters the field with provender for them. From
the same Divine Person as the Saviour of men,
as the King, Father, and Pastor of the Church,
do believers with earnest expectation wait for the
food of eternal life. And neither the one nor the
other look and wait in vain. — -Soott : Those who
under troubles and temptations abound in fer-
vent prayer, shall in due season abound in grate-
ful praise, which is the genuine language of
holy joy.— J. F. M.]
PSALM CXLVI.
1 Praise ye the Lord.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
2 While I live will I praise the Lord :
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
3 Put not your trust in princes,
Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ;
Li that very day his thoughts perish.
5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God :
6 Which made heaven, and earth.
The sea, and all that therein is:
Which keepeth truth for ever:
PSALM CXLVl.
669
7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed :
Which giveth food to the hungry.
The Lord looseth the prisoners :
8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind :
The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down :
The Lord loveth the righteous :
9 The Lord preserveth the strangers ;
He relieveth the fatherless and widow :
But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
10 The Lord shall reign for ever,
Even thy God, O 2iion, unto all generations.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — This Psalm be-
gins and ends with the familiar liturgical
formula (Ps. cxi. S.). It has many points of co-
incidence with the preceding ; but this does not
necessarily lead to the conclusion that both were
composed by the same author (Delitzsch), or that
the one before us is the last of a dodecade, sup-
posed to begin with Ps. cxxxv. (Hengstenberg).
It is merely its place in the Psalter that is due to
this relationship, being the first of the five Halle-
lujah-Psalms which conclude the collection. At
a later time this last group was used in the daily
morning prayers, portions of other Psalms and
Books of the Old Testament being united with
it. Among the Rabbins the name Hallel was
applied sometimes to this whole group, and
sometimes to its several parts, but especially to
Pss. cxlviii. and cl. ; but it was called the Greek
Hallel, in distinction from the so-called Egyp-
tian Hallel, recited at the feasts.
The allusion in 1 Mace. ii. 63 to ver. 4 does
not decide for a composition in the Maccabsean
period (Venema). It is taken specially by Hit-
zig as an allusion to the name of Demetrius.
The superscription in the Septuagint, Vulgate,
and Syriac: Of Haggai and Zechariah, is of
just as little historical value. We can only infer
from, the language a post-exilic period, and from
the contents a condition of the people in which
they were oppressed, and in need of consolation
and direction to look to God for aid. The pur-
pose of the Psalm is to give this direction by ex-
hibiting some of God's attributes. After a pre-
liminary warning not to trust in princes, for
they are perishable men (vers. 3, 4), these attri-
butes are presented, supporting the declaration
that the man is blessed who relies with all as-
surance upon the God of Israel as his God (vers.
5-9). These strophes form the kernel of the
Psalm, and are inclosed by an introduction, in
which the Psalmist calls upon himself and pro-
mises to praise God (vers. 1, 2), and a conclusion
(ver. 10) full of assurance of the uninterrupted
and eternal continuance cf Jehovah's kingly go-
vernment.
[Henostbnbero: "That this Psalm is not
contemporaneous with the preceding Davidic
Psalm .... is clear from the fact that it does
not rest upon the Davidio Psalms, and from the
traces it contains of a late post-exile period — the
hallelujah, which is never found in Psalms which
bear the name of David, comp. Ps. civ., where it
first occurs, and Ps. cv. ; the borrowing of vers.
1, 2 from Ps. civ., which was composed after the
exile, and of ver. 3 from Ps. cxviii., which was
sung when the foundation of the Second Temple
was laid. That the Psalm was composed at a
period of great depression for the people of God,
is indicated by the predicates of God, which are
all of a kind fitted to elevate the distressed, con-
sole the aflSicted, and give them confidence in
their God."— J. F. M.]
Vers. 1-8. The introduction follows Ps. civ. 1,
33, 84, comp. ciii. 22. Ver. 3 recalls Ps. cxviii.
8 f., Jer. xvii. 5 ; and ver. 4, Ps. civ. 29. Ver.
6 is similarly related to Ps. cxliv. 16 and xxxiii.
12, XXXV. 2 after Ex. xviii. 4; the beginning of
ver. 6, to Pss. cxv. 15, cxxi. 2, cxxiv. 8, cxxxiv.
3 ; ver. 7 a., to Ps. ciii. 6 ; ver. 7 b., to Pss. civ.
27 f., cvii. 9, cxxxvi. 26, if not to Pss. xxxiii.
19 ; xxxvii. 19 ; ver. 7 c. to Ps. cv. 20. [On ver.
6, Perowne : "Who keepeih. In the series of
participles marking the several acts or attributes
of God in this and the next two verses, this only
has the article prefixed, perhaps because the
Psalmist designed to give a certain prominence
or emphasis to this attribute of God, that He is
One ' who keepeth truth for ever.' It is in fact
the central thought of the Psalm. For upon
this ground beyond all others is God the object
of trust. He is true and His word is truth, and
that word He keeps not for a time but for ever."
In ver. 8 the context shows that it is a figure ap-
plied to physical weakness, as in Deut. xxviii.
29.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 9, 10. The strangers are usually com-
bined in the singular with widows and orphans
(Deut. and often). The plural here is scarcely
to be referred to the Jews who dwelt together
for defence in foreign lands (Hitzig). The
crooked way of the wicked, in which death lies
(Prov. xii. 28), is turned by Jehovah down to-
wards hell (Prov. xv. 24, comp. ii. 18, Ps. i. 6).
[Delitzsch: "There is only a single line de-
voted to this manifestation of Jehovah's puni-
tive justice. For He rules in love and wrath,
but delights most to rule in love. And Jehovah
is the God of Zion. The eternal duration of His
kingdom is also the pledge of its glorious per-
fection, the triumph of love. Hallelujah !" — J.
F. M.]
670
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
God's love the ground of our life and the
matter of our eternal praise. — Alas, how often
do we trust when we should be afraid, and be-
come afraid when we should trust! — God has
not only the power, He has also the will to help ;
and in both He remains unchangeably the same ;
but it is only those who trust in Him, that can
make His faithfulness their consolation.
Starke: He who makes a man his god, must
be expecting his god to die every hour. — On
meditating upon the frailty of life, let us strive
to make all our plans pleasing to God, and then
we will be able to enjoy their results in eternity.
— If you find anything in the world to give you
confidence, do not make it your strength. What
is not the God of Jacob, is not to be your
strength. — Fidelity and truth are declining very
much among men in these last times ; let true
Christians then rely all the more upon the faith-
fulness of the God who abides by His promises.
— God is to His children all that they need. No-
thing can befall them in the world, against which
He cannot afford comfort, counsel and aid —
What a sweet word: the Lord loves thee 1 I
would not take a kingdom for that word. Love
unites God's heart to mine. — The everlasting
kingdom of Christ affords reason to the citizens
' of the spiritual Zion, both now and for ever, to
praise God.
Fkisoh: He who does not pass his life in the
praise of God, is dead while he liveth. — The fa-
vor of all men is worthless when God does not
favor. — When the favor of men ceases, that of
God begins, and when the children of man with-
draw the hand, then God truly begins to care for
us, — RiBQER : The exhortation to praise God out
of true trust in Him, is fitly accompanied by the
warning, not to trust in man. — Guenthee : It is
as though the psalms of praise which arise from
the suppliant's lips, returned to him from God,
as means of sanctification. — Taube: How the
precious name of the Lord becomes explained to
us in different kinds of distress 1 the Saviour and
Helper, the Redeemer and Liberator, the Com-
forter, the Physician of Israel, the Defender of
His people, the Father and Guardian ! — A blissful
vision of the time of fulfilment in the kingdom of
rest, and the subject of our hallelujahs.
[Matt. Henry: Then is praise most pleasant
when in praising God we have an eye to Him as
ours, whom we have an interest in, and stand in
relation to. — That which is the great end of our
being ought to be our enjoyment and employ-
ment while we have any being.— It is a great
support to faith, that the Redeemer of the world
is the same who was the Creator of it, and there-
fore has a good will to it, a perfect knowledge of
its case, and power to help it. — Bp. Horne :
There are no changes in the politics of heaven.
— Scott ; With these glorious prospects before
our eyes, how mean do the pursuits of ambition
or connections with the great seem to us I and
how needful does it appear to dissuade men from
this common but destructive idolatry ! — J. F. M.]
8
PSALM CXLVIL
Praise ye the Lord :
For it is good to sing praises unto our God ;
For it is pleasant ; And praise is comely.
The Lord doth build up Jerusalem :
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
He healeth the broken in heart.
And bindeth up their wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars ;
He calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power :
His understanding is infinite.
The Lord lifteth up the meek :
He casteth the wicked down to the ground.
Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving ;
Sing praise upon the harp unto our God :
Who covereth the heaven with clouds
Who prepareth rain for the earth,
Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
PSALM UXLVII.
671
9 He giveth to the beast his food,
And to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse :
He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him.
In those that hope in his mercy.
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem,
Praise thy God, 0 Zion.
13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates ;
He hath blessed thy children within thee.
14 He maketh peace in thy borders,
And filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth :
His word runneth very swiftly.
16 He giveth snow like wool:
He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.
17 He casteth forth ys ice like morsels :
Who can stand before his cold ?
18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them :
He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob,
His statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
20 He hath not dealt so with any nation :
And as for Ats judgments, they have not known them.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalm con-
sists of three sections without any regular rhyth-
mical structure: vers. 1-6; 7-11; 12-20, each
of which begins with an exhortation to praise Je-
hovah. The ground and matter of such praise is
the gracious exercise of His power, and is so ex-
hibited here to the Church. The poet introduces
the subject by telling of the restoration of Jeru-
salem, and the gathering of Israel, and then de-
scribes the helpful acts of the Almighty as those
of an infinitely wise God, who sets even the stars
in order, and as those of a physician who heals and
comforts mankind in its countless wounds. He
then recounts proofs of His care over all crea-
tures, in connection with the reflection that God
takes pleasure, not in natural strength and beauty,
but in those that fear Him and seek His salvation.
Finally, he extols the aid which the Almighty
has rendered to His people, who are advanced
above all nations by the revelation of His law,
by blessing the inhabitants of the newly strength-
ened city, and of the country whose boundaries
are secured, and blessing the land itself by re-
gulating the seasons of the year and the weather.
There is nothing to prove the supposition that
the restoration of the walls by Hyrcanus is re-
ferred to (1 Mace. xvi. 23), and that vers. 12 ff.
are a later addition (Hitz.). The same remark ap-
plies to the division into two Psalms (Sept. ) and
to the opinion that this Psalm was sung at the
Dedication (Neh. xii.) of the walls completed by
Nehemiah (vi. 16), a view maintained by Heng-
stenberg. It is enough to know that it was of
late Qompositiou. [On the other hand PerowiLO :
" It is not improbable, as Hengstenberg suggests,
that not this Psalm only, but the rest of the
Psalms, to the end of the Book, are all anthems
originally composed for this occasion. The wall
had been built under circumstances of no ordi-
nary difficulty and discouragement (Neh. ii. 17 — •
iv. 23) ; its completion was celebrated with no
comman joy and thankfulness (Neh. xii. 27-43)."
—J. F. M.]
Vers. 1, 2. For it is good. — A change in the
accents, and, to a certain extent, in the reading
(Venema, Olshausen, Hupfeld) in order to get
the sense: "praise Jehovah, for He is good;
play to our God, for He is pleasant," is not ne-
cessary, as is shown from Pss. xcii. 2 ; cxxxiii.
1 ; cxxxv. 8. It is the less to be recommended
here, as the passage before us is imitated from
the one last named, and the last clause, which
describes the appropriateness of such praise, is
taken from xxxiii. 1. The mention of the out-
casts (ver. 2), that is, the exiles (Is. xi. 12 } Ivi.
8), shows that it is not building in general that
is alluded to, but the building of Jerusalem after
its destruction. It is only the application which
can justify the interpretation in a spiritual sense
(Calvin, Stier).
Vers. 3-6, How easy it is for God to help men
is illustrated after xl. 26 f., by the fact that He
has assigned a number to the stars which men
cannot count (Gen. xv. 6). This means that, in
creating them. He called forth a number deter-
mined by Himself. It is also said that He calls
them all by name, i. e., that He knows and
names them according to their special features,
and employs them in His service according to
His will, in conformity with the names which
correspond to such knowledge. The Omniscience
672
THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
and Omnipresence of God are thus presented at
once to the soul, but in ver. 5 they are men-
tioned separately, and these references are the
more consoling, as the thought of the members
of His Church, scattered in countless numbers
through foreign lands, is clearly discerned
through the figurative drapery of the expression
itself. The greatness of God (ver. 6) with respect
to might (Job xxxvii. 23) corresponds to the ful-
ness of His understanding (Ps. cxlv. 3), which
no number can express. — Ver, 6 then calls at-
tention to the exercise of these Divine attributes
in its love and justice. [Pekowne : "The same
Lord who, with infinite power and unsearchable
wisdom, rules the stars in their courses, rules
also the world of man. The history of the world
is a mirror both of His love and of His righteous
anger. His rule and order are a correction of
man's anarchy and disorder." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 7-14. Answ^er to Jehovah. — [E. V.:
sing to the Lord]. There is no allusion here to
an antiphonal choral song (Sept., Luther) as in
Ex. XV. 21, but a song of praise is called for as
the answer of grateful men, to the honor of the
Divine Giver (Ex. xxxii. 18; Numb. xxi. 17 ; Is.
xxvii. 2). Ver. 9 recalls Job xxxviii. 41, as ver.
8 f. Ps. civ. 14. The strength of the steed and
his own muscular power will not save the war-
rior ; if God purposes to' destroy him, he cannot
escape from Him (Ps. xxxiii. 16f. ; Amos ii. 14
f.) ; neither do these natural powers achieve the
victory (Prov. xxi. 81). God is well pleased not
with natural, but with spiritual advantages and
power, especially with fear of and trust in Him.
And they are followed by security and blessing
in city, house, and land, as by Divine gifts.
[Ver. 13 a is taken by Dr. Moll, as by Hupfeld
and those who do not perceive any special histo-
rical reference, as a figurative expression de-
noting security. Those who, like Hengstenberg,
with whom Alexander, Perowne, and most agree,
hold the view referred to in the Introduction
and its addition above, understand it to refer to
the restoration of the city walls, completed by
Nehemiah.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 16-20. The word in ver. 15 alludes to
Gen. i. ; Ps. xxxiii. 6-9. For the immediate re-
ference is to the word as the messenger of God's
power and His active work in nature (Ps. cvii.
20). There is no mention before vers. 19 f. of
the historical word of revelation, whose sphere
is Israel. The transition is not made by the
enumeration of particular blessings of God in
their universal exercise (Geier, Amyrald), but
by the idea of His speaking. In the vicissitudes
of nature here described there is perhaps pre-
sented an image of the period of suflFering and
of the returning deliverance (Hengstenberg).
The comparison of the snow to wool is hardly
based upon the circumstance that the snow
covers the earth warmly and softly like wool,
but alludes either to the small particles which
fly away, or more probably to the white color
common to both, (Is. i. 18; Ezek. xxvii. 18 ;
Dan. vii. 9). The commandment or the word
(ver. 18) is described as God's messenger also in
Pss. Ixxviii. 49 ; cv. 17 ; cvii. 20. As in ver.
19 Tin is used, and not T'iJD, expression is
given to the thought that God continues to tes-
tify concerning Himself in pronhecy, upon the
ground of the Thora (Delitzsch). In the final
sentence, according to Ps. xciv. 10 ; Acts xiv.
16 f. ; Rom. i. 20, there is denied to the heathen
not an absolute (Hengstenberg), but only a rela-
tive knowledge of the Divine judgment (Geier, et
al.) The privilege of Israel is to possess the po-
sitive or historical revelation (Deut. iv. 7f. ;
xxxii. f . ; Baruch iv. 4). [Delitzsch: *' The
joyful hallelujah is not sounded because these
other nations do not possess such a positive
knowledge of God's judgments, but because Is-
rael does possess it. It is declared abundantly
in other places that this knowledge of Israel
shall be the means of making salvation the com-
mon property of the whole world of nations." —
J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Praise to God for His blessings is due to Him
and becoming to us. — God's sovereign deeds in
His dealings with His people, show the same om-
nipotence, wisdom, and goodness, as do His
sovereign deeds in nature. — Among all God's
blessings, the gift of His word is to be ranked
specially high, and to be praised by its right
use. Augustine: Thou canst not be ever sing-
ing with thy voice ; but thy life can and ought
to be one unceasing song of praise to God.
Stabke : God's praise is nothing but a thank'
ful recital of His great blessings, for which the
glory is due to Him alone. — If true songs of
praise are to flow forth to God, the heart must
first be filled with His knowledge and love. — The
indolence of the heart is no excuse for the ne-
glect of God's praise. — If God's government is
incomprehensible, let us leave it uncensured. —
The wicked, in their temporal prosperity and
pride, stand, as it were, upon a round and slip-
pery ball ; God touches it, and they fall to the
ground. But the salvation of believers isfounded
upon a firm rock. — The starry heavens are a
true masterpiece of God's wisdom. — ^Everything
lies bare and unveiled under the eye of God ;
even thy name, thy heart, and thy deeds, are
well known to Him; see to it that He may be
able to remember thee in mercy. — The grace of
God makes the pious strong in tribulation, so
that they by faith triumph in Christ, and over-
come the world. — He who has a voice to sing,
let him use it to the praise of God. — A thankful
heart is the true harp, which plays well befora
God, — To please God and enjoy His favor are
better than all the honor and glory of the world-
— The true strength, which is never put to
shame, is on the side of those who fear the Lord,
those who would rather give up their lives than
offend God. — God's almighty protection is the
true defence of a country; without it all other
defences can neither help or endure. — The best
peace in a Christian Church is the union of its
teachers in the true doctrine. — As God changes
the weather, so does He regulate the vicissitudes
of affliction. After the storm He makes the sun
shine again. — God's word is the greatest trea-
sure on earth. Happy are the people and coun-
try who have received it pure and simple.
Frankb: If there is anything that human
strength cannot overcome, God needs but to
speak a word, and all nature, as it were, ii
PSALM CXLVIIL
673
changed. — The matter of our praise is the glory
of Jehovah ; the motive to praise is given in the
knowledge of that glory by the experience of
faith. — What men do to the glory of God be-
comes a blessing to themselves; and the more
they love to do what they should, the more is
duty changed into blessing.
[Matt. Hbnbt : Praising God is work that is
its own wages. — In giving honor to God, we
really do ourselves a great deal of honor. — In
the same heart and at the same time there must
be both a reverence of God's majesty, and a
complacency in His goodness ; both a believing
dread of His wrath, and a believing expectation
of His favor. Not that we. must hang in sus-
pense between hope and fear, but must act under
the gracious influence of hope and fear. Our
fear must save our hope from swelling into pre-
sumption, and our hope must save our fear from
sinking into despair. — Bp. Hokne : To exalt and
reward the humble, penitent, believing, and obe-
dient ; to depress and punish the proud, impeni-
tent, and unbelieving, and disobedient; these
are the measures and ends of all the Divine dis-
pensations. And as a man ranks himself in one
or the other of these two divisions, he may ex-
pect from heaven storm or sunshine, mercy or
judgment. — Barnes: The fact that the ancient
people of God possessed His judgments was a
sufficient reason for the Hallelujah with which
the Psalm closes. The fact that we possess them
is a sufficient reason why we should re-echo the
shout of praise, and cry Hallelujah 1 — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXLVin.
Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord from the heavens :
Praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels :
Praise ye him, all his hosts.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon .
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that be above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord :
For he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever :
He hath made a decree which shall not pass.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth.
Ye dragons, and all deeps :
8 Fire, and hail ; snow, and vapour ;
Stormy wind fulfilling his word :
9 Mountains, and all hills ;
Fruitful trees, and all cedars ;
10 Beasts, and all cattle ;
Creeping things, and flying fowl :
11 Kings of the earth, and all people;
Princes, and all judges of the earth :
12 Both young men, and maidens;
Old men, and children :
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord :
For his name alone is excellent ;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people,
The praise of all his saints :
M)en of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.
Praise ye the Lord.
i'6
674
FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — A^U heavenly
creatures are to praise from heaven the name of
Jehovah (vers. 1-4), for God has created them,
and granted to them perpetual existence, within
firmly established limits (vers. 5, 6). And all
earthly creatures are to do the same from earth
(vers. 7-12), because Jehovah is exalted alone
above everything in heaven and upon earth, and
has exalted His peculiar people (vers. 13-14).
The two halves are in structure and course of
thought parallel throughout, except that each of
the last two verses consists of three lines. In
the former half the praise is to be directed to
God as the Creator and the Lord of nature ; in
the latter as the Controller of the destinies of
all creatures, and as the God of help and salva-
tion for His people. The individualizing of the
departments of creation and instancing of crea-
tures that exist in each, illustrate the all-com-
prehensiveness of God's dominion, and the uni-
versal obligation to praise God, which lies na-
turally upon every creature, after its kind and
according to the manner of its special sphere of
life. The poetical figure of personification is
not unusual in the Prophets and Psalms. De-
litzsch thinks that the Psalm is intended to set
forth the truth that the glorious transformation
of nature in connection with the transformation
of mankind, through the Church, shall become a
clear mirror of the Divine glory, and a living,
thousand-tongued hymn of praise. But this
idea is imported into the text; for in the first
half the ground of praise is difi'erent from that
presented in the second, and nowhere is there
any allusion to the universal significance which
the experiences of the Church have with rela-
tion to the whole of created life. The compari-
son with Rom. viii. 18 f., and the related pas-
sages in Isaiah is not quite suitable. The con-
jecture that the Psalm was composed at the ac-
cession of Aristobulus to the throne, B. C. 107
(Hitzig), is far-fetched. [The view assigned
above to Delitzsch has been held from an early
period. It was held by Hilary (quoted by Pe-
rowne) in a somewhat diflferent form. On the
beauty of this and of similar Hebrew anthems,
see Isaac Taylor, Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry, pp.
167, 158.— J. F. M.]
Vers. 1-6. Heights are here the heights of
heaven (Job xvi. 19; xxv. 2; xxxi. 2), as the
place whence the praise issues forth. It is not
the Church above (Delitzsch) that is named
thereafter ; but the angels are mentioned first
as messengers of God, then the host of heaven
generally, one portion of which comprises the
angels (Jos. v. 14 ; 1 Kings xxii. 10), and the
other the stars (Deut. iv. 19). The latter may
be alluded (o here in connection with the sun
and moon, but they are elsewhere (e. ff. Job
xxxviii. 7) also connected with the angels. Next
the heavens of heavens (Deut. x. 14 ; 1 Kings
viii. 27 ; Neh. ix. 6 ; Ps. Ixviii. 34 ; Sir. xvi, 18)
are introduced. This expression does not apply
to the third (2 Cor. xii. 2) or the seventh (Rab-
bins) heaven, but is equivalent to the heights of
the heights, the highest and sublimest parts.
Finally, the water above the heavens, after Gen.
i. 7, is invoked. The Septuagint have inserted
in ver. 5 6. the second member of Ps. xxxiii. 6.
The heavenly bodies and the angels are not to
change the positions which God has assigned
them, but retain them for ever (Ps. cxi. 8), nor
overstep the limits imposed upon them. This
thought is given in Job xiv. 6 ; xxxviii. 10 ;
Jer. V. 22 ; Ps. civ. 9 (Delitzsch, Hupfeld). That
God does not interfere with this law, is ex-
pressed in a diflferent manner in Jer. xxx. 31 ;
xxxiii. 20 (Hitzig). That the law does not pass
away, but is eternal (Septuagint, Itala, Jerome,
Kimchi, Maurer, Ewald), is proper to the thought,
but does not agree with the usage of ^3J^, when
employed with pn. [Hengstenberg : " The law
is, according to the parallel passages, the sphere
of being, which is appointed to each part of the
creation, and in which it is held by the Divine
omnipotence ; as, for example, the stars must
pursue their course, the upper and lower waters
must remain continually distinct." — J. F. M.]
[Translate ver. 7 a. : Yea, sea monsters, eic.'\
Vers. 7-12. The vapor (ver. 8) is not mist, as
the vapor of the heights (Rabbins, Geier, et al.,
De Wette), but smoke answering to fire [as snow
to hail. — J. F. M.] The cedars (ver. 9) repre-
sent the forest-trees in distinction from fruit-
trees. The birds (ver. 10) have the same appel-
lation a3 in Deut. iv. 17, comp. Gen. viii. 14;
Ezek. xxxix. 17.
Vers. 13, 14. The exaltation of God's name is
single, incomparable (Is. ii. 11 ; Ps. Ixxii. 18 [E.
v.: His name is excellent]. His glorious testi-
mony of Himself is above heaven and earth (Ps.
viii. 2). Ver. 14 b. does not mean that the ex-
altation of the horn, i. e., the gift of strength
and power tends to the renown of his people (Is.
Ixi. 11 ; Ixii. 7), as though rivHri were the se-
cond object (Hengstenberg), but that it is the
subject of the praise of God on the part of the
saints (Septuagint, Jerome, Kimchi, Luther, Cal-
vin), who are the people near to Qod as His king-
dom and inheritance, the holy (Deut. iv. 7) and
priestly (Lev. x. 3) nation.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
He who knows the majesty of God, is not only
to acknowledge it, and submit himself to it, but
also to proclaim what he knows and maintains
concerning it. — The Creator and Lord of the
universe is also the Deliverer and Helper of His
people ; hence it is the highest duty of the
Church to set forth to the world how great a
blessing it is to be near to God. ^Unreasoning
creatures praise God by their being, upon which
the law of the Divine will is impressed ; what
they do unconsciously, we are to do intelligently
and voluntarily, and while we give to God the
glory that is His due, obtain blessing for our-
selves.
Staeke : Men should not be turned away from
God by inferior creatures, but be stirred up to
know and praise Him. No creature is so great
and none so small, as that it should not animate
and encourage them to His praise. — When God
commands the inferior creatures, they execute
His bidding at once; man alone is disobedient
and refractory.— The third petition of the Lord'a
PSALM CXLIX.
675
prayer is offered up by many, but very few seek
to act in accordance with it. — A blind man does
not know how to make the right use of those
things that are the most beautiful to the sight,
and an unenlightened man may gaze upon the
greatest works of nature and not think once of
God, their almighty Creator. — All created things
must serve believers, if we only have the favor
of God ; but all creation must be opposed to us,
if God is angry. — No period of life should be
spent without praising God, who portions out
His blessings during them all. — Kings and
princes should be God's praise, and all in au-
thority His glory, for they are God's vicegerents.
— If we are to continue to praise God rightly,
we must be truly united to Him and come near to
Him.
Frisoh : God's creatures have a threefold
voice. The first is : accept, 0 man 1 the bless-
ings which thy Creator conveys to thee through
us. The second is: render, 0 man! to Him the
thanks that are due. The third is : beware, 0
man, lest thou give occasion to our Creator, by
sin and ingratitude towards Him, to employ us
against thee. — Taube: When men find engraved
everywhere the royal signature of God, they
may be expected to learn that the name of the
Lord alone is exalted. But this is given only to
those who have the deeper, the profoundest ex-
perience in their own hearts of Jehovah's name,
of the revelation of salvation, of the mercy of
redemption. And such mercy is experienced by
Israel, the people near to God, through long
paths of humiliation, and yet blessed paths of
grace.
[Matt. Henry : When, in singing this Psalm,
we call upon the angels to praise God, as we did
in Ps. ciii. 20, we mean that we desire God to be
praised by the ablest hands, and in the best
manner, . . . and that we have a spiritual com-
munion with those that dwell in His house
above, and are still praising Him, and that we
are come, by faith, hope, and holy love, to the
innumerable company of angels, Heb. xii. 22. —
All the creatures that praised God at first for
their creation, must praise Him still for their
continuance. And we have reason to praisd
Him that they are kept within the bounds of a
decree, for to that it is owing that the waters
above the heavens have not a second time
drowned the earth. — Those that will not fulfil
God's word, but rise up in rebellion against it,
show themselves to be more violent and head-
strong than the stormy winds ; for they fulfil it.
— Barnes (ver. 12) : Those in the morning of
life ; just entering upon their career ; just form-
ing their character ; with ardor, elasticity, cheer-
fulness and hope : let them consecrate all this to
God; let all that is in them of the buoyancy of
their feelings, of the melody of their voices, of
their ardor and vigor, be employed in the praise
and service of God. Old men, with what re-
mains of life, and children, with all that there is
of joyousness — let all unite in praising God.
Life as it closes, and life as it begins, let it all bo
devoted to God. — J. F. M.]
PSALM CXLIX
1 Praise ye the Lord.
Sing unto the Lord a new song,
And his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him :
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance :
Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people ;
. He will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory:
Let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth.
And a twoedged sword in their hand ;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen,
And punishments upon the people ;
8 To bind their kings with chains, ^
And their nobles with fetters of iron ;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written:
This honor have all his saints.
Praise ye the Lord.
676
FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The first part
of the Psalm contains an exhortation to the
Church of Israel to praise Jehovah, its Creator
and King, in a new song, since it is well-plea-
sins: to Him that His saints should thus honor
Him (vers. 1-5). This passes over in the second
part, into a triumphant expression of joy at the
means afforded, at that time, for the execution
of the Divine judgments upon the heathen and
their princes (vers. 6-9).
Ver. 6 has nothing to do with Neh. iv. 11.
For that passage relates to defence during the
erection of the walls; this, to the subjection of
the nations in fulfilment of the Divine judgment.
It is neither self-contradictory nor irreligious
that a people should feel themselves called to this
work, and regard themselves as an instrument
in the hand of the Almighty, and should accord-
ingly have in mind the destruction of their ene-
mies as enemies of God, at the same time with
the praise and glory of God, and utter both in
the same breath. On the other hand. Old Tes-
tament and New Testament conceptions must not
be confounded together, as must always happen
when Israel and Zion are brought directly into
comparison with the Christian Dispensation and
Church. In relation to the resulting abuse of
this passage. Bake has already instanced the
fact, that Scioppius, in a book written, as he
said, not with ink, but with blood, employed
this Psalm to excite the Roman Catholic Princes
to the Thirty Years' Keligious War which rent
Germany. Delitzsch also alludes to Thomas
Miinzer, who stirred up the Peasant War by the
use of this very Psalm. There is no reference
in the passage to the spiritual weapons of our
warfare (2 Cor. x. 4); nor to the Sword of the
Spirit, which Israel, in the time of the Messiah,
should draw, and with it take the noblest re-
venge upon their heathen conquerors (Hengst.,
after older expositors, also Stier). It is the
spirit of the later Judaism that is displayed
here (2 Mace. xv. 27). And yet there is no rea-
son for assigning the composition historically to
the Maccabaean period (Hitzig), or to assume
that the Psalm is a prophecy of the same (many
older commentators). It is impossible to assign
the exact period with certainty ; we can only re-
cognize a strong affinity with the preceding
Psalm. It is very questionable whether there is
a reference to the military procession to the
Temple (Neh. xii. 31 f.) at the dedication of the
newly-restored walls (Hengstenberg). The
"new song," however, alludes to renewed expe-
rience of mercy, and that in the history of God's
people ; for they are summoned as such to the
solemn praise of the Lord. This, together with
the whole tone of joyous and elevated feeling,
decides against a time of oppression, when
thoughts of vengeance and triumph would be
excited (Hupfeld). But it is very suitable to
the renovation of the people in the period of
Ezra and Nehemiah. [So the English exposi-
tors, Alexander, Perowne, Wordsworth, and
generally. Wordsworth, like Hengstenberg,
takes- the spiritual view of the sword, fetters, etc.,
and draws the following contrast between the
second Psalm and this, the second from the end
of the Psalter : "Doubtless this latter Psalm re-
fers to the former, and is to be explained by it.
The bands of God's laws were broken asunder,
and His cords were cast away by kings of the
earth and rulers of the heathen, and the people
at the Passover when Christ was crucified, and
they are so treated by all anti-Christian imita-
tors of such rebellion. But these bands and.
cords are voluntarily assumed by kings and na-
tions of heathendom, influenced by the grace of
the Holy Ghost, given to the world at Pentecost."
There is a great deal of beauty in this compari-
son, but the actual feelings of those who first
sung the Psalm are probably better represented
in the words of Perowne, which express the
opinion more generally held: " The old days of
the nation, and the old martial spirit are revived.
God is their king (ver. 2) and they are His
soldiers, going forth to wage His battles, with
His praises in their mouths and a two-edged
sword in their hands. A spirit, which now
seems sanguinary and revengeful, had, it is not
too much to say, its proper function under the
Old Testament, and was not only natural, but
necessary, if that small nation was to maintain
itself against the powerful tribes by which it
was hemmed in on all sides." — J. F. M.]
Vers. 4-8. — Ver. 4. Beautifiles. The help
which God vouchsafes to His oppressed people
against their oppressors is not merely manifested
to the world as deliverance and salvation gene-
rally, but serves also as an ornament and honor
to that people themselves, so that, coming forth
arrayed in it, they gain for it recognition
and praise (Is. Iv. 6; Ix. 7, 9, 13; Ixi. 3, 11;
Ixii. 7; comp. Ps. ciii. 6; Is. xlix. 18). [Trans-
late: He beautifies the oppressed with salvation.
J. F. M.] Their being joyful upon their beds
(ver. 5) is probably not a silent praise in their
hearts during the night, comp. Ps. iv. 6 (Hup-
feld), as contrasted with the loud rejoicing just
mentioned. It stands in contrast to the previous
lamentation (Hos. vii. 14) and weeping (Ps. vi,
7) in longings after a better time. Is. xxvi. 8
(Hengstenberg, Del.). Ver. 8 recalls the hopes
expressed in Is. xlv. 14; xlix. 7, 23; Ix. 3;
comp. Jer. lii. 24 f.
Ver. 9. — The judgment ■written is regarded
by most as that written in the "Book of the
Law" (Chald., Kimchi); by some expositors in
the f-ense of a command, with special reference
to the judgment ordered to be executed upon the
Canaanites (Deut. xxxii. 41 f.), which is then
taken as a type of the divine judgments gene-
rally (Geier, Amyrald, Stier). A better view is
that of those who view it as a divine declaration
and promise of the vengeance which God will in
His own time inflict upon the enemies of His
people, with special reference to Deut. xxxii.
40 f. (Hengstenberg). But the best view is that
which goes beyond the Pentateuch, and not
merely adds Is. xlv. 14; Ezek. xxv. 14 (Del.),
and kindred passages, such as Ezek. xxxviii.
39; Zech. xiv. (Kimchi), but understands in the
expression of ver. 9 a. the judgments registered in.
the Sacred Books generally, and thereby legiti-
mized for Israel, with reference to prisoners of
war and vanquished nations, including state-
ments concerning actual events, Numb. xxxi. 8;
PSALM CL.
677
Deut. XX. 13; 1 Sam. xv. 3, 32, 33; xvi. 8f.; 1
Kings XX. 42 (Hitz.). These written rules of jus-
tice (Geier, et al.) are not at tlie same time con-
trasted to the promptings of carnal passion (Cal-
Tin). Some explain the words to refer to a de-
cision firmly established in the divine counsel,
which is here described as having been written
down, the Psalmist being supposed to transfer to
the counsels of God the custom followed in courts
of justice of committing the decisions to writing,
Is. X. 1 (Grotius, Clericus, Venema, Hupfeld).
But this is unnatural. [It is the view preferred
by Perowne, who refers also to Is. Ixv. 6. —
J. F. M.]
The last clause does not mean that God is
glory for the saints (Venema, Hupfeld) either as
Author of their glory or as Object of taeir glori-
fying. Nor does it mean that this honor falls
to the lot of all the saints (Sept., J. H. Michaelis),
but that this, namely, the subjection of the world
in fulfilment of the divine judgments, is to all
saints the glory, t. e. the praise and honor of
God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The Church is to restrain its praise of God as
little as His wonderful deeds towards His Church
come to an end. — God gives to His Church one
victory after another, and therefore she must
ever praise Him with new songs. God will pre-
serve against all her foes the Church which He
has founded; but ahe must yield herself up to
His control.
Starke : The old song of the law, which could
only condemn, is abolished by Christ: with the
gospel He has put a new song into thy mouth.
Praise Him then with renewed lips and heart. —
Those who still remain in the old birth cannot
have the new song. — Earthly victors know how
to boast of and delight in their victories; much
greater reason have the children of God to do
the same. — What more lofty or glorious could
be said of a believer than that God takes plea-
sure in him? If thou wouldst exchange that for
the whole world, what would it help thee?
Thou must nevertheless die. — Rejoice, 0 believ-
ing soul, in thy glory with God. The earthly
glory of an emperor, king or prince dies with
him. But salvation and glory follow thee in
heaven. — If the heart is full of the knowledge
of God and Christ, the lips will overflow with it,
and no idle worda will be heard. — The true
means of the conversion of unbelievers are not
outward force, but the testimony of the divine
word iu spirit and in power. — Wage a good war-
fare against thyself above all; take vengeance
and inflict punishment upon the heathenish de-
sires of thy heart; strike down with the sword
of the Spirit what contends against God and His
honor. — Many a heart is dissatisfied in view of
the glory of God's children, doubting whettier
it has a share ; but thou hearest here what may
delight thee. All the saints shall be partakers
of the same. — If Christ's victory is ours, so are
also His honor and glory; for we are His saints
and the sharers of His mercy. If thou dost
stand in the faith, thou art one of these.
Diedrich: Let believers be joyful and confi-
dent in God; but let them expect all conflict in
the world. — God's people are the royal nation
over all nations. — Taubb: The new salvation
gives a new heart, and a new heart gives a new
song. — The time will come when all who once
would not, from the heart, bow the knee before
the Lord, must bow it with anguish. And the
Lion will rend those who would not follow the
Lamb.
[Matt. Henry: We must sing a new song,
newly composed on every special occasion; sing
with new aff'ections, which make the song new,
though the words may have been used before,
and keeping them from growing threadbare. —
When God's Israel is brought to a quiet settle-
ment, let them enjoy that with thankfulness to
God; much more may true believers, that are
entered into God's rest, and find repose in Jesus
Christ, sing aloud for joy of that. Upon their
sick beds, upon their death-beds, let them sing
the praises of their God. — Bp. Horne: From
heaven Christ shall return to beautify the meek
with salvation and to place on the heads of His
true disciples, the lowly, patient and peaceable
ones, a bright and incorruptible crown. There-
fore are the saints joyful in glory; they sing
aloud in a state of perfect ease and security,
resting from their labors, but not from their
hallelujahs. — Scott: Christ shall clothe the
meek with the robes of righteousness, adorn
them with the graces of His Spirit, renew them
to the beauty of holiness, and cause them to
bear His image, reflect His glory, and rejoice
in His felicity forever. — Barnes: It should
lead us to shout Hallelujah I that we are per-
mitted to be employed in any way, however
humble, in carrying out the divine plans, or
in accomplishing those great designs which
He contemplates towards our race. — J. F. M.
PSALM CL.
1 Praise ye the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary :
Praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts :
Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
678
>THE FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet :
Praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance :
Praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Prkise him upon the loud cymbals :
Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Contents and Composition. — The Psalm calls
upon all the living to praise God in all places of
His worship, vrith all the accompaniments of
solemn pomp and joy, for the glory of His deeds
and His nature. This closing Psalm is of litur-
gical character throughout. Nothing is known
of the time when it was composed. We can
hardly believe that it was added by the latest
Collector of the Psalter to form the conclusion
(Hitzig). For it sounds too fresh and unalloyed
to justify the opinion, that the short doxology
closing the First Book (Ps. xli. 14), which ap-
pears enlarged at the end of the second (Ps.
(Ixxii. 18-20), and is also found at the close of
the Third (Ps. Ixxxix. 53) and Fourth Books
(Ps. cvi. 48), here assumes the form of an entire
Psalm, taking the place of a final doxology. It
is supposed by Delitzsch that the tenfold exhor-
tation enclosed by two Hallelujahs, and in the
same form of words, while in ver. 6 another
form is adopted, is connected with the number
ten, as the number of conclusion, exclusion,
completion, and exhausted possibility. This
might be more easily established than the at-
tempt to gain a connection with the number ten
by making "praise" in ver. 6 one of the in-
struments, and thus obtaining ten instruments
(Amyrald, Hengst.). The thirteen- fold occur-
rence of the word 7771 has been artificially con-
nected with the thirteen divine attributes (Kim-
chi), reckoned by the Synagogue after Ex.
xxxiv. 6 f. It is uncertain, at all events, whether
the form T/in, which appears on the twelfth oc-
casion, and the three-fold Jah, betray design,
and have a symbolical meaning. In either case
a division into three strophes cannot be grounded
upon this (Hengstenberg).
Ver. 1. Sanctuary. — Hitzig renders : in His
holiness, i. e., unapproachableness. But, on ac-
count of the parallelism it is best to assume the
local designation. This, however, is not to be
understood attributively of God as the heavenly
object of praise (Delitzsch), but of the earthly
sanctuary, corresponding to the rakia stretched
out by God's power and giving testimony con-
cerning Him (Ps. Ixviii. 35). Earthly and hea-
venly places of dwelling and worship are men-
tioned together, as in 1 Kings viii. 89f.; 43 f.;
49 f.; Ps. xi. 4, to indicate universality. On the
instruments, see Introd. ^11.
[Vers. 4-6. Translate the last word of ver. 4:
pipe. Hengstenberg: "In ver. 4 the pipe, as a
wind instrument, forms a contrast to the stringed
instruments. There is no trace elsewhere of the
pipe being used in the public worship of God ;
the only instruments in use for blowing upon
were trumpets. Beyond doubt the pipe, which
did not belong otherwise to the temple service,
was brought into requisition here, only because
the feast had, at the same time, the character of
a popular rejoicing. In like manner, also, tim-
brels and dances." The last verse is generally
supposed to refer to the living voice of man in
contrast to the dead instruments. Alexander,
who translates: Let all breath, etc., sees a fur-
ther gradation: "The very ambiguity of all
breath gives an extraordinary richness of mean-
ing to the closing sentence. From the simple
idea of wind-instruraents mentioned in the con-
text, it leads us by a beautiful transition to that
of vocal, articulate, intelligent praise, uttered
by the breath of living men, as distinguished
from mere lifeless instruments. Then, lastly,
by a natural association, we ascend to the idea
expressed in the common version, everything that
hath breath, not merely all that lives, but all that
has a voice to praise God. There is nothing in
the Psalter more majestic or more beautiful than
this brief, but most significant finale, in which
solemnity of tone predominates, without, how-
ever, in the least disturbing the exhilaration
which the close of the Psalter seems intended
to produce, as if in emblematical allusion to
the triumph which awaits the Church and all
its members, when, through much tribulation,
they shall enter into rest." — J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Not only the Psalter, but the life of believers
and the history of the Church, should conclude
with Hallelujah, and celebrate their complete-
ness in God with the praise of His glory. — All
creatures should join their voices to the praise
of God ; but the members of His Church should
lead the choir.
Starke: With regard to God's praise, true
Christians make, as it were, a circle whose be-
ginning, middle, and end are hallelujah. — Our
churches should be houses of praise and thanks-
giving, in which we assemble to praise God for
His blessings. — ^Every believing soul is God's
sanctuary, wherein He should be praised. —
Since, 0 soul, thou hast so many and great rea-
sons to praise God, do not become weary of it!
How many things are still forgotten 1 If thou
dost consider well, thou hast scarcely begun to
praise. — He who will review only his own life
will discover so many of God's deeds that he
will not be able to thank Him sufficiently through
eternity. — God displays His glory both in the
deliverance of the pious and the punishment of
PSALM CL.
679
the wicked ; for both praise and honor are due.
— Avoid the abuse of music, and check it as far
as possible in others. Many have played and
piped themselves to hell. Do not be ensnared
by it. — The finest music before God is the har-
monious praise and glorifying of God by the
soul united in all its powers, with all the senses
and all the members. As many instruments in
a musical performance make a single harmony,
BO there is produced a spiritual harmony, when
the various gifts of the Holy Spirit are directed
by the members of Christ to one end. — If it
grieves you that your praise is so weak, remem-
ber: let everything that hath breath praise the
Lord, and there must be many weak ones in
^uch a host. But they praise their God, and
you are joining with them. — If you cannot suc-
ceed with strong cries and loud notes, only keep
breathing forth to God the desires of your heart,
and this wiU be acceptable to Him : He is still
praised by you. — In heaven alone yf'iW God's
praise rightly sound forth; everything will
there have a better sound. What we shall know
better, we shall be able to praise better. In
God's praise, the end must be as the beginning,
that is, it must continue without end. Thy
praise, 0 God, shall also be forever in my mouth.
Amen. Hallelujah!
[Matt. Henry: It is a comfort to us, when
we find we praise God so poorly, that it is done
•0 well in heaven. — Be not afraid of saying too
much in the praises of God, as we often do in
praising great and good men. Dens non paiiiur
hyperbolen. — The best music in God's ears is de-
vout and pious afi"ections. Non musica chordula
sed cor. The New Testament concert, instead
of this, is with one mind and one mouth to glo-
rify God. — Let every one that breathes forth to
God in prayer, finding the benefit of that,
breathe forth His praises too. Having breath,
let the praises of God perfume our breath ; let
us be in this work as in our element; let it be
to us as the air we breathe, and which we oould
not do without. Having our breath in our nos-
trils, let us consider that it is still going forth,
and will shortly go and not return. Since,
therefore, we must shortly breathe our last,
while we have breath let us praise the Lord,
and then we shall breathe our last with comfort;
and when death runs us out of breath, we shall
remove to a better state to breathe God's praises
in a freer, better air. — The nearer good Chris-
tians come to their end, the fuller they should
be of the praises of God. — Hallelujah is the
word there, Kev. xix. 1, 3. Let us therefore
echo to it now, as those that hope to join in it
shortly.— Bp. Horne : If the worshippers of
Baal join in a chorus to celebrate the praises of
their idol, the servants of Jehovah should drown
it by one that is stronger and more powerful,
in praise of Him who made heaven and earth. —
J, E. M.J
NEW VERSION OF THE PSALMS,
WITH
BRIEF ANNOTATIONS.
BY
Rev. THOMAS J. CONANT, D.R
psa^lm:s.
FIKST BOOK.
PSALMS I— XLI.
PSALM I.
1 Happy the man,
who walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers ;
2 but in the law of Jehovah is his delight,
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be as a tree planted by the water-courses,
that yieldeth its fruit in its season ;
and his leaf shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 Not so are the wicked,
but as the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous ;
but the way of the wicked shall perish.
Tor. 3. Or, he wiU cause to prosper.
Ver. 1. Happy the man. ^"^Jlfti, with a genitire following, as here (beaiitudines iHitis viri), or with a suff., as In Ps.
czxzvii. 8 VltJ^K, Ps. cxxviii. 2 yi'J'^;>{ (Bottoher, g 679, 1, d, Heil ihm, Heil dir), has the natura and force of an inter-
jection (see lexs. of Gesenius and Fuerst; Ewald, Lehrb. 3258, c, Ausrufwird, Heil I). Alexander : *' Happy the man who
walks not," rfc. It is clearly distinguished from ITU (blessed), oi which it is the consequence. It occurs in forty-two
passages, and in the A. V. is rendered happy in fourteen of them, and blessed in twenty-seven, the two renderings being
used interchangeably where the connection is the same ; as in Pss. cxii. 1, cxxviii. 1, " blessed is the man that feareth the
Lord," and Prov. xxviii. 14, " happy is the man that feareth always ;" Prov. xxix. 18, " he that keepeth the law, happy ia
he," and Prov. viii. 32, " blessed are they that keep my ways," Pa. cxix. 2, " blessed are they that keep his testimonies."
The idea is, in all these passages, that the lot of such is a happy one ; a sense of the word authorized by the best English
usage.* Thus, in the common English version (1 Cor. vii. 40), it is said of the Christian widow who remains unmarried,
" she is happier if she so abide," — that is, her lot is religiously a happier one. So in those beautiful lines of Cowper :
" Happy who walks with Him I Whom what he finds
Of flavor or of scent in fruit or flower,
Or what he views of beautiful or grand,
********
Prompts with remembrance of a present God."
Ver. 3. The intrans. use of H^ /V \ condemned by MoLt, is recognized by Gesenitts and Fubrst, in Judges xviii. 5 ;
1 Ki. xxii 12,15; 1 Chron. xxii. 13; Jer. ii. 37 ; though, strictly speaking, the Hebrew there conceived the thought causa-
Th Xw prosperous = do prosperously) which we conceive and express intransitively (Ges. Gr., § 53, 2, 2d paragraph).
t h ^\.^^^^^^ '8 only in form; unless, which will hardly be claimed, there is here a change of subject in the principal and
ft H A *^ clauses of the same proposition. For the intrans. sense are De Wette, (und aZles was er thut gelingt ihm), EWAU)
ana Ulshaosen, {und alles was er thut gelinqt), Kamphausen, (und alles was er thut wird wohl gerathen) ; for the causative
?i"^t „'"'^^'''>. (wird er gliickKch durchfUhren), Hn:zia,{voUfahrt er glQcklich), Delitzsoh, (fahrt er hindurch), Alexander,
[fle sluul make to prosper).
* It corresponds with Moll's rendering, selig, as well defined in Sander's Worterbuch der Deutschen Sprache: in einen
Zustand sich befi/ndend, wo der Oeist in voller gamer Befriedigung zu wonnevollem WohlgefVihl und Oluck nichts weiter ber
wxrf,
683
684 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM n.
1 Why do the heathen rage,
and peoples imagine a vain thing ?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and rulers take counsel together,
against Jehovah, and against his Anointed.
3 " Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us."
4 He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh;
the Lord will deride them.
6 Then will he speak to them in his anger,
and will confound them in his hot displeasure.
6 " Yet it is I that have anointed my kmg,
on Zion, my holy mount."
7 " I will declare the decree.
Jehovah said to me. Thou art my Son ;
I this day have begotten thee.
8 Ask of me,
and I will give the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the ends of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ;
thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
10 Now then, ye kings, be wise ;
be warned, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve Jehovah with fear ;
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish in the way ;
for quickly will his anger burn.
Happy all who put their trust in him 1
Ver. 6. Moll, have installed.
Ver. 9. Or, with a sceptre of iron.
Ver. 1. De Wette, Ewald, Olshadsen, take vera. 1 and 2 as a qnestion, both depending on the interrogation PID/, the
influence of which extends on (as Olsh. well expresses it*) to ver. 2. Hupfeld admits this to be the confltruction usually
and naturally adopted ; but prelers to close the question with a of ver. 1, the description commencing with h. Against
thU the initial Vav oi b, and the parallelism, are decisive objections ; while the grounds for and against his construction
are, as stated by himself, pretty evenly balanced. With more reason, Lenqerke, HENOSTENBERa, HiTZiii, Delitzsch, Kamp-
H,4tJSEN, Perowne, Moll, close the question with ver. 1, taking ver. 2 affirmatively, as in the A. V. Though I think this
questionable. I adopt it here as admissible, in accordance with Moll's comment.
The relation of the two tenses here is very simple in the Hebrew conception of them, reprpsenting the act, or course
of action, as already begun, and not completed but continuing on.-f Our Present is the nearest expression we can give to
each, without misrepresenting their true relation.
Ver. 6. Have anointed. Sym. Ixpttro, and Taro. 'P^3T. So Gesenius (Thes. and Lex.), De Wette, Ewald (Umbreit,
Bertheau, on Prov. viii. 23, and others cited in the writer's note on the passage). The analogy of the related form HID is
in point, though not (as objected by Hdpfeu)) used of official anointing.J — Others, I have constituted, or / have
insUxUed (Syr., Sept. and Vulg., with the pointing 'j^JDJ) KaTeiTTd$j}v, constitiUus sum). The case may not bo as badaa
represented by Olshausen (die Sache lUsst sich nicht mehr mit Sicherheit enischeiden), though the reasons for this last render-
ing seem hopolesgly divergent. The ground meaning, to pour out, is applied in various senses. Fuerst (Lex.), " to consecrate,
to install, with the offering [pouring out] of a libation. Hgngstenberq (after Gdssett), ioform,to bring into being (from the
idea of casting, founding, by pouring out into a mould); hence, I have formed my king, have constituted him. Alexander,
" 1 have constituted, or created, with allusion in the Hebrew to the casting of an image." Lengerke, in a more general sense,
1 have formed m.y Idng, with reference to the sculptured work of the artist. Hupfeld (Ist ed.), from the pouring out of a
libation for confirming a covenant or compact, <o constitvie by a covenant (omitted in the 2d ed., and shown by his editor,
RiEHM, to be quite inapplicable to a person). According to Delitzbch, Riehm. Moll, Perowne (after Bottcher), the idea
of pouring out, as of metals poured out in a state of fusion and forming a broad and firm basis, passes over into the sense
of setting fast, estahlishing ; hence, I have constituted (Perowne, / have set) my Mng.^ But neither of these senses inheres
in the verb itself; and the older view suggests the easier transition from the ground idea. — Delitzsch even proposes, aa
an analogous transition, the passing over of fundere into fundare 1 ,
Ver. 7. I will declare. The energic form merely makes the expression more emphatic. — ^'i^^7''. " In a closed (and
sharpened) syllable, which loses the tone, d is at times attenuated into 1, e.g. . . . ^PlS', Thave begotten, H^Sl/^, I have l>e-
• :-T I ■ : -:
gotten thee " (GESEmtrs Gram, g 27, 'Rem. 3 ; compare g 44, Rem. 2, "snch forma must n t be considered verbs middh E.")
Ver. 8. InJieritance. Not merely a " possession," but one bequeathed or bestowed by gift.
Ver. 12. ^2- Archaic (an old Phoenician form) and poetic.
* Der Eivfltiss des HD/, ^er. 1, dauert fort.
t " The past tense {why have they raged f) refers to the commotion as already begun, while the future in the next clause
expresses its continuance " (Alexander).
X Gtjssett's objection to the gram, constr. (Comment. Ling. Hebr. *TOJ) I think is answered in my note on Prov. viil.23,
2d paragraph; and the objection of Lenoerke and others, that David "was not anointed on Zion," in the 3d paragraph of
that note.
? RiJDiGER (Appendix to the Thes. of QESENins, p. 100): *]DJ» Ps- "• 6, non est " unxit" {regem), sed constiluit ....
Eodemque referendum Niph. Prov. viii. 23. '
PSALM IV. 685
PSALM in.
A Psalm of Davidy when he fled from Absalom his son.
1 Jehovah, how many are my foes !
Many are rising up against me.
2 Many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God. (Paitse.)
3 But thou, Jehovah, art a shield about me,
my glory, and he that lifteth up my head.
4 With my voice I cry unto Jehovah,
and he heareth me from his holy mount. (Pause.^
5 I have laid me down, and slept;
I have awaked ; for Jehovah sustaineth me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,
who have arrayed themselves against me round about,
7 Arise, Jehovah ; save me, my God ;
for thou hast smitten all my enemies on the cheek bone ;
the teeth of the wicked thou hast broken.
8 The salvation is of Jehovah.
Thy blessing be upon thy people ! {Pause.)
Ver. 3. — Pause : the most probable meaniDg of the difficult Heb. word, directing the suspension of the vocal singing while
the music of instruments was continued (Sept. 6ia>//aA.jaa), and indicating a pause of thought after a sentiment of special
interest and significance; hence used even at the close of a Psalm (Pss. iii., ix,, xxix). For other views, see § 12 of the In-
troduction.
Ver. i.—With my voice: i. e. aloud, audibly (Moll, laut). Quite needlessly, the supplemental idea of fuU, with my whole
strength of voice, is assumed by some (Gesenius, Lex., 7lp, *^with my full voice"). An tittered emotion is meant, in dis-
tinction from the unspoken feeling of the heart which silently cries to God; an emotion so strong and Irrepressible, that it
cries out for help.
Yer, l.—Hast smitten : in past times and former seasons of peril. -
PSALM IV.
To the chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1 When I call, answer thou me, my righteous God !
In the distress thou didst give me enlargement;
be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 Sons of men, how long shall my glory be for shame,
how long will ye love vanity, seek a lie? (Pause.)
3 But know that Jehovah hath set apart his Belov6d ;
Jehovah will hear when I call to him.
4 Stand in awe, and do not sin ;
commune with your heart upon your bed,
and be still. (Pause.)
5 Offer sacrifices of righteousness,
and put your trust in Jehovah.
6 Many are saying, Who will cause us to see good ?
Lift upon us the light of thy countenance, O Jehovah I
7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time when their com and their new wine increased.
8 In peace will I both lay me down and sleep;
for thou Jehovah, alone,
wilt make me dwell in safety.
Ver. 2.— My glm-y : as in Ps. ill. Z.—For shame : for an otrject of contempt and scorn in the person of bis representative.
Ver. Z.—Hath set apart : distinguishing him from all others. Compare thje use of the verb in Ex. xxxui. 16 ; viii. ^z ;
IX. 4; xi. n.— Beloved: T'DH " from lOn, love to God or man, may either Signify an object of the divme mercy or one
actuated by religious love. . . . The predominant idea seems to be the paflaive one " Alexander), is a difficult word to ex-
press fully In English Huppbld and Moll, happily, Begnadeten.—His beloved: Vf, periphrastic expression of the genitive
(Qesenius, gram., g 116, 2). De Wettb (correctly aS to the cotistructioR), seinm Frommen auserkornen. With less "S^V^'
canoe, Huppeld, Moll and others, has ckosen^for himself, "for his own sufvice, the execution of bis own plans, ahd tne
promotion of his own honor " (Alexander). GESENiua (Thos., voi, i., p. 60vJ), pirn in eum, {De/ttm).
686 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM V.
To the chief Musician. To the music of wind-instruments. A Psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O Jehovah ;
consider my complaint.
2 Attend to the voice of my cry, my King and my God ;
for to thee will I pray.
3 Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice ;
in the morning will I direct [my prayer] to thee, and will watch.
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness ;
evil shall not dwell with thee.
6 The proud shall not stand in thy sight;
thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou wilt destroy them that speak falsehood ;
Jehovah will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
7 But I, in the abundance of thy kindness will I come into thy house ;
I will worship toward thy holy temple, in thy fear.
8 Jehovah, lead me in thy righteousness because of my enemies ;
make plain thy way before me.
9 For there is nothing certain in their mouth ;
their inward part is corruption ;
their throat is an opened sepulchre ;
they make smooth their tongue.
10 ^ Let them bear their guilt, O God I
They shall fall by their own counsels.
In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out ;
for they have rebelled against thee.
11 But all that trust in thee shall rejoice ;
they shall ever shout for joy, and thou wilt defend them ;
and they that love thy name shall be joyful in thee.
12 For thou, Jehovah, wilt bless the righteous ;
with favor, as with a shield, wilt thou encompass him.
Yer. 5. — Theproud. So Qebenius and Fubbst; and bo the Hebrew word may well be rendered in Pa. Ixxv. 4, thongb
the rendering, /ooJ«, is pertinent there, and still more so in Ps. Ixxiii. 3. "The idea of boasting and pride is connected, in
the mind of the sacred writers, with that of folly" (Geseniob, hx.). By Ewald, Hopfeld, Moll, the word is rendered
fools. Hdppeld fails to show that the former sense is inapplicable here ; and his deduction of the senses, to tound, to caU,
to glory, to boast,a,ad tohe bright, to shine, from ihe assumed ground meaning, to be empty, is not logical.
Ver. 9. — Properly, in his mouth : i. e. in the mouth of each of them ; an enattage numeri not unfreqnent, especially in
poetry, as remarked by Hoppeld. — Corruption (Gesenios, Fcerst). Moll, an ai^st (Abgnmd). So Hupfeld; and iu hil
notes, destruction ( Verderben) ; a sense less pertinent in this connection.
PSALM VI.
To the chief Musician. With stringed instruments, upon the eighth, A Psalm of David.
1 Jehovah, do not in thine anger rebuke me,
and do not in thy hot displeasure correct me.
2 Be gracious to me, Jehovah, for I waste away;
heal me, Jehovah, for my bones are shaken.
8 And my soul is sorely shaken ;
and thou, Jehovah — how long!
4 Return, O Jehovah, deliver my soul ;
save me, for thy mercy's sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee;
in the underworld who will give thee thanks 1
PSALM VII. 687
6 I am wearied with my groaning ;
all the night I make my couch to swim,
with tears I cause my bed to flow.
7 Mine eye is wasted with grief,
is grown old because of all my adversaries.
8 Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity ;
for Jehovah hath heard the voice of my weeping.
9 Jehovah hath heard my supplication ;
Jehovah will receive my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed, and sorely dismayed ;
they shall turn back, shall be ashamed, suddenly.
Yer. 5. — Give thanks. Many, as Bwald, Moll, prefer the other sense of the verb, to sing pratse (lobiingen). This is not
inappropriate. But the object of thought in the writer's mind, namely, mercies sought and anticipated, more naturally
suggests the sense of thanksgiving ; and the idea is, how is this possible in the grave ? Hupfeld (in bis notes) to offer
praise, or, to thank (Lob darbringen, oder, dank^n).
These words are to be taken in a qualified sense, as is evident from comparison with Pss. xvl. 11, xvli. 15, xlix. 14, 16,
and other clear views of the ultimate future, both of the righteous and the wicked.
PSALM VII.
A plaintive song of David, which he sang to Jehovah concerning the words of Cash, a Benjamite.
1 Jehovah, my God, in thee I put my trust ;
save me from all my persecutors, and deliver me ; '
2 lest he tear my soul, like a lion,
rending in pieces, and there be no deliverer I
3 Jehovah, my God, if I have done this,
if there is iniquity in my bauds ;
4 if I have requited with evil him that was at peace with me,—
yea, I have delivered him that without cause oppressed me ; —
5 then let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it,
and tread down my life to the earth,
and lay my honor in the dust. {Pause.')
6 Arise, O Jehovah, in thine anger ;
raise thyself up amid the wrath of my adversaries,
and awake for me; thou hast commanded judgment.
7 And let the assembly of the peoples encompass thee round,
and return to the place on high, above them.
8 Jehovah will judge the nations ;
judge me, O Jehovah,
according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me.
9 Let now the evil of the wicked come to an end ;
and thou wilt establish the just,
even trying the hearts and reins,
righteous God I
10 My shield is with God,
who saveth the upright in heart.
11 (q;od is a righteous judge;
and God is angry every day.
12 If one turn not, he will whet his sword ;
his bow he hath bent, and made it ready,
13 and hath aimed at him weapons of death ;
his arrows he will make burning ones.
14 Behold, he will travail with iniquity,
and conceive mischief, and bring forth falsehood.
688 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
15 He digged a pit, and hollowed it out,
and fell into the ditch he made.
16 His mischief will return upon his own head,
and upon his crown will his violence descend.
17 I will praise Jehovah, according to his righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of Jehovah Most High.
Ver. 4. Tea, I have delivered (1 Sam. xxiv. 4-7; xxvi. 8-12). — Moll : and have plundered him who was my oppressor
without cause. A marked anticlimax ; for, aa remarked by Hupfeld, a universally recognized wrong done to a friend, in
the first member, is followed in the second by a justifiable retaliation for unprovoked oppression, which was no wrong, and
the charge would be no injurious slander. He translates, errettete ich doch, Sind examines and refutes other renderings,
showing that this is the only admissible one.
Ver. 8. Within me. See references in Geseniub, Lex, '7J,', 3, e. Moll : [let it come] upon me (Hupfeld, e^ komme auf
mich ; Ewald, mir gescJuhe) ; an ellipsis not justified, as well remarked by Riehh (2d ed. of Hupfeld) by such references as
Qen. xri. 5 ; xxvii. 13.
PSALM VIII.
To the chief Musician. On the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1 Jehovah, our Lord,
how excellent is thy name in all the earth,
thou whose glory is set upon the heavens !
2 Out of the mouth of children and nurslings hast thou founded strength,
because of thine adversaries, ,
to silence the enemy and the revenger.
3 When I behold thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
moon and stars which thou hast ordained ;
4 what is man, that thou shouldst be mindful of him,
and a son of man, that thou shouldst visit him ;
5 and shouldst make him little lower than angels,
and shouldst crown him with glory and honor ;
6 shouldst give him dominion over the work's of thy hand* \
All thou hast put under his feet;
7 sheep and oxen, all of them ;
yea, and beasts of the field,
8 bird of heaven, and fishes of the sea, —
that which passeth through paths of the seas.
9 Jehovah, our Lord,
how excellent is thy name in all the earth I
ru. \ll "'^Id'^^^fl-.J^if^L^^ *°,**I"™,®?u "^ ™"^'*'' *° ^^*<=^ *^ree psalms (vili., Ixxxi., Ixxxit.) are directed to be eung.
Or, After the Gittith (after the melody of that name). r v . , .> a..v. iuioi.i,cu w u^ ouug,
1 n T.^' ■/■ wwffn T^^'" ^^''I'J^ specially manifested there ; comp. Ps. xix. \.-Thou whose: G?8ENins, Gram. § 123,
]l^rZ-J ^.t\ ' i",fT7^^l •^'^'^I'l* *^°''°' Pl^ '^'^^^ t'-^J^eo i° the oldest and most usual construction of this pafsag^
SloS V^n /af/.NTn? <^/^^^ ^"•^^- '='^^*'*- ^'^^ nin Gen. xlvi. 3, used substantively with a
I«7lr,T/J«7;,i?.f r Je?; ^^"^J]^^^ V^^ ^"^f '': ^"'- ^'■''"'- § 258, 3, not. 6, von dem, ist das Setzen deiw.s Glumes, cujus
Z^^^Z^XZnf\\:Jt }^!!n^l''^'^n\^^ ^^^u^ ^ *^''=''P^ ^^^ difficulty by a change of pointing and assumption of kn un-
f^^y.TZJl^J^jLI^yfU^-T~^^Yn^ (takmg the form in its ordinary use as the lengthened Imperative) translate, <Sfef <Ao«,
r.ts'r?qre«t*!lVcon^nSor"* ^"™- ^ '''^ '^' ^' ''^ ^"^^ "« ^^ «^-^-' ^<-e)^theheavL ; but against the
V^r! I S^mtfelo^ShaiZui"^ ''°^'"'°' '" """''' '°' ''"'" '''' ''"'''''' ^'^^^ '''''^^■
PSALM IX.
To the chief Musician. After [the melody^ Death of the Son. A Psalm of David,
1 I will praise Jehovah with my whole heart;
I will recount all thy wondrous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee,
I will sing praise to thy name. Most High ;
3 when my enemies turn backward,
stumble, and perish before thee.
4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause j
thou sattest in the throne, judging right.
rSALM X, 689
5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, hast destroyed the wicked ;
their name thou hast blotted out forever and ever.
6 As for the enemy, the desolations are ended forever ;
and cities hast thou destroyed ; their memory, even theirs, is perished.
7 But Jehovah will sit forever;
he hath founded his throne for judgment.
8 And he will judge the habitable earth in righteousness;
he will judge peoples in uprightness.
9 So let Jehovah be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of distress ;
10 and they will trust in thee who know thy name,
for thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee, Jehovah.
11 Sing praise to Jehovah, who dwelleth in Zion ;
make known his deeds among the peoples ;
12 that he who maketh inquisition for blood hath remembered them,
hathr not forgotten the cry of the suffering.
13 Be gracious to me, Jehovah ;
behold my suffering from them that hate me,
thou that liftest me up from the gates of death :
14 that I may recount all thy praise,
in the gates of the daughter of Zion,=
may exult in thy salvation.
15 The heathen have sunk down in the pit they made;
in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
16 Jehovah made himself known ; be executed judgment ;
in the work of his hands was the wicked snared. {Musie. Pause.^
17 The wicked shall turn back to the underworld,
all the heathen that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten ;
the hope of the humble shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, Jehovah ! Let not man prevail ;
let the heathen be judged before thee.
20 Put them in fear, O Jehovah ;
let the heathen know that they are men. {Pause?)
Ps. ix. (title.) Beaili of the Son: a composition which gave the name to a melody to which this Paalm was to he sung;.
For the occasion (gee v. 6), compare 2 Sam. viii. 1-14.
Ver. 6. The desolations : ot invading heathen armies ; or (as the words may mean) the desolations inflicted on the
enemy, so complete as to be ended forever, leaving nothing to be done. Even theirs: mighty and renowned as they were. .
Ver. 8. The habitable earth : wherever men dwell.
Ver. 20. Fatise: See the remark on Ps. iii. 2.
PSALM X.
1 Wherefore, 0 Jehovah, standest thou afar ofi^
hidest thyself in times of distress ?
2 The wicked in his pride persecuteth the lowly;
let them be taken in the devices which they contrived,
3 For the wicked glorieth in his soul's desire,
and greedy of gain forsaketh, contemneth Jehovah.
4 The wicked, through his pride of countenance, will not seek;
God is not in all his thoughts.
6 His w^s are sure at all times ; ^
thy judgments are far above, out of his sight;
as for all his adversaries, he scoffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved;
I shall never be in adversity.
7 With cursing is his mouth filled, and with deceits and extorti^ i
under his tongue is mischief and falsehood.
'4
6P0 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 He sittetli in ambush by the villages ;
in the secret places he slayeth the innocent ;
his eyes lurk for the wretched.
9 He lieth in wait in the hiding place as a lion in his covert ;
he lieth in wait to seize upon the weak ;
he seizeth upon the weak when he hath drawn him into his net,
10 He boweth himself, he croucheth down,
and the wretched fall by his strong ones.
11 He saith in his heart: God hath forgotten;
he hath hidden his face, he seeth it not forever.
12 Arise, Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand ;
do not forget the lowly.
13 Wherefore hath the wicked contemned God,
said in his heart. Thou wilt not require it ?
14 Thou hast seen ; for thou dost look upon trouble and sorrow,
to set them on thy hand. •
To thee the wretched will commit it ;
the orphan's helper hast thou been.
15 Break the arm of the wicked ;
and the evil man, thou wilt search out his wickedn^s till thou find no more.
16 Jehovah is king forever;
the heathen have perished from his land.
17 The desire of the lowly thou hast heard, O Jehovah ;
thou wilt confirm their heart, thou wilt incline thine ear;
18 to judge the orphan and oppressed,
that he no more may dread man that is of the earth.
Ver. 4. Will not seek: is too proud and self-confident to look beyond himself for help, or (second member) to acknow-
ledge a God. The words may be rendered (perhaps more pertinently, in the connection) :
The wicked, according to his pride of countenance, " He will not require it,"
"There is no God," — are all his thoughts.
Ver. 5. Thy jvdginents. The divine purpose in the infliction of judgments is far above his earthly and sensual views.
Ver. 16. Have perished. Ewald's assumption of a voluntative use of the Per/. (Lehrb. 8te Ausg. § 223, b, umgekommen
teien die Frevler 1), is uncalled for, and its admission introduces uncertainty and confusion in the plainest language. In
Ps. xviii. 46, he translates. Let Jehovah livel (Es lebo Jahve I). But how tame and impertinent, compared with the con^
fldent and triumphant assertion, " Jehovah lives, and blessed be my rock I "
Ver. 18. Or, that man, that is of the earth, may put in fear no more.
PSALM XI.
To the chief Musician. [^A Psalm] of David.
1 In Jehovah put I my trust.
How say ye to my soul,
flee [as] a bird to your mountain I
2 For lo, the wicked bend the bow ;
they have fitted their arrow upon the string,
to shoot covertly at the upright in heart.
:3 When the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?
4 Jehovah, is in his holy temple;
Jehovah,— in heaven is his throne.
His eyes behold,
his eyelids try, the sons of men.
6 Jehovah trieth the righteous ;
and the wicked, and lover of violence, hia soul hateth,
<6 He will rain on the wicked snares,
fire and brimstone, and a burning tempest,—
the portion of their cup 1
PSALM XIII. 691
7 For righteous is Jehovah, he loveth righteousness;
his countenaiice beholdeth the upright.
Pa. xl. The sentiments of the Psalm point clearly to the period of the persecution of David by Saul and his adherents
2 Sam. xviii.-xxx. especially xxviii. 7-26. '
Ter. 3. — Fotmdations : namely, of social order, on which the peace and security of society rest. The language is appli-
cable t J the whole reign of Saul.
Ver. 4. — Temple. Compare 1 Sam. i. 9 ; iii. 3 ; showing that the tabernacle, which contained the ark, the symbol of Je-
hovah's presence, was so called.
Ver. 6. — Trieththe righteoits: with the implication that he finds him faithful ; as must be the result of such » trial.
PSALM XII.
To the chief' Musician. On the eighth. A Psalm of David,
1 Save, Jehovah, for the godly ceaseth ;
for the faithful fail from the sons of men.
2 They speak falsehood every man with his neighbour ;
with flattering lips, with a double heart, they speak.
3 May Jehovah cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that speaketh proud things ;
4 who say, With our tongue will we prevail ;
our lips are our own; who is lord over us?
6 For the oppression of the lowly, for the sighing of the needy,
now will I arise, saith Jehovah ; '. '
I will set him in safety at whom he scoffi.
6 The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings ;
silver tried in a furnace of earth,
seven times refined.
7 Thou, Jehovah, wilt keep them,
wilt guard them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
* when the vilest of the sons of men are exalted.
Ps. xli. (title.) On the dgMh. See Ps. vi.
Ver. 5.— Or, I will set him in safety who pants for it.
Ver. 6. — Or, silver melted to the ground in a furnace. Meaning : melted from the ore in a furnace, and flowing down
to the ground, — to the receptacle in the earth.
• PSALM XIII.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 How long, Jehovah! Wilt thou forget me forever ?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me ?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
bear sorrow in my heart, daily?
* How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Look, I pray, answer me, Jehovah, my God;
lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the [sleep of] death;
4 lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him;
lest my foes exult when I am ready to fall.
5 But I, in thy kindness have I trusted ;
let my heart exult in thy salvation
6 I will sing to Jehovah, for he hath been bountiful to me.
692 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM XIV.
Ih the chief Musician. \_A Psalm] of David.
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Corrupt, abominable are they in their works ;
there is none that doeth good.
2 Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the sons of men,
to see if there is any that understandeth,
that seeketh after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they are corrupted;
there is none that doeth good, not even one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
call not upon Jehovah ?
5 There were they in great fear,
for God is in the righteous generation.
6 Ye put to shame the counsel of the lowly,
for Jehovah is his refuge.
7 Oh for the salvation of Israel out of Zion !
When Jehovah turneth the captivity of his people,
Jacob will exult, Israel will rejoice.
Ver. C. By "counsel of the lowly " is meant whatever he devisas, or resorts to, for security. A« his reliance is on the
righteous sovereignty of Qol, whoever wrongs him " puts tbat to shame."
Ver. 7. Thirtieth the cajpHvity : a proverbial phrase, meaning restoration to prosperity. See the remark on Ps. Ixxxv.l.
PSALM XV.
A Psalm of David.
1 Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle ?
Who shall dwell in thy holy mount?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, •
and speaketh truth in his heart.
3 He hath not slandered with his tongue,
hath not done evil to his fellow,
nor taken up a reproach against his neighbor.
4 la his eyes a reprobate is abhorred ;
but he will honor them that fear Jehovah.
If he hath sworn to his harm, he will not change.
5 His money he hath not put out at usury ;
nor hath he taken a bribe against the innocent. *
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
protSion. '^'^'^'"''^^*''^*'*^^'' °'^*°^°^' to frequent it, to be as it were Jehovah's guest, and under his care and
Ver. 5 Usury, in its modem sense (excessive and unlawful interest on money loaned,) was not meant bv the Hebrew
word nor by the authors of the common English version. (See Smith's Bible Dicti(marrAm^d^Ttmln^)B^^^
the Hebrews, the taking of interest on money loaned to their brethren was prohibited, as u s ur io lU i n miV mSn sense of
In ;r° « C:"""? '^^\?f ""^^^^^l ^^^ oppressive. (See the writer's note on Proverbs xxviii. 8, in part second.) Hence the
word usury is here the nearest expression we can give of the meaning. , « i^«"« bovwuu.^ aeute me
PSALM XVI.
Memorial [Psalm] of David.
1 Preserve me, 0 God, for I trust in thee.
2 Thou [my soul] hast said to Jehovah, Thou art Lord ;
my good is not aside from thee.
PSALM XVII. 693
3 As for tlie saints who are in the earth,
[they are] the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that exchange for another.
I will not pour out their drink-oflferings of blood,
and will not take their names upon my lips.
6 Jehovah is the portion of my heritage and of my cup ;
thou wilt maintain my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places ;
yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7 I will bless Jehovah who hath counseled me ;
also by night my reins admonish me.
8 I have set Jehovah always before me ;
because [he is] on my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory exulteth ;
also my flesh shall rest in hope.
10 For thou wilt not abandon my soul to the underworld ;
thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life,
fullness of joys in thy presence,
pleasures at thy right hand, for evermore I
Ten 2. Thou [my bouI] hast said: appealing to his self-consciousness of this truth, as though strengthening himselfin
the conviction of it, aa his sole reliance in the hour of trial. " Soul " Is implied in the form of the Hebrew verb.
Second member. Aside from thee. Hupfeld (ed. Riehm) : Miin GlUck ist nicht ausser dir. (71^) bedeutet . . . hinzii-
hommend zu, sammt=Trpo<; mit Dat. . . . Somit ist gonauer zu erkliren, mein Glilck kommt nicht zu dir kinzu=m(iiiU was
zu dir hinzukommen miisste, macht mich gliicklich, aonderu du allein.
Ver. 3. As far : Gesenius, Lex., 7, 14.
Ver. 4. Another. Compare Is. xlviii. 11, " I will not give my glory to another." Another god, is the implication in
both passages.
Ver. 6. Lines. Measuring lines, by which lands were measured off for division. Compare Ps. Ixxviii. 55, "divided
them a heritage by line."
Ver. 9. My glory. The distinguishing and nobler part of man, his spiritual in distinction from his material, physical
nature.
Ver. 10. Holy One. Or, Beloved ; compare Ps. iv. 3.
PSALM XVIL
A Prayer of David.
1 Hear, O Jehovah, the right;
he attentive to my cry.
Give ear to my prayer,
from lips not deceitful.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence ;
let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
3 Thou hast tried my heart, hast visited by night,
hast assayed me, — thou findest nothing.
I have purposed, my mouth shall not transgress,
4 As to the deeds of man, by the word of thy lips
I have kept myself from the paths of the violent.
6 My steps have held fast to thy ways ;
my feet have not wavered.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt answer me, O God ;
incline thine ear to me, hear my speech.
7 Show thy marvelous kindness, thou that savest the trusting,
from such as rise up against them, with thy right hand.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye ;
in the shadow of thy wings thou wilt hide me,
694 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
9 from the wicked that oppress me,
my deadly enemies that encompass me round.
10 They are enclosed in their own fat ;
with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 At our footsteps they have now encompassed us;
they have set their eyes to bow [us] down to the earth.
12 He is like a lion that is greedy for prey,
and as a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O Jehovah I
Confront him ; make him crouch down.
Deliver my soul from the wicked, thy sword,
from men, thy hand, Jehovah ;
14 from men of the world, whose portion is in life,
and with thy hoard thou wilt fill their belly.
They shall be surfeited with sons,
and leave their excess to their children.
15 As for me, in righteousness shall I behold thy face,
shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Ver. 9. Or, my enemies that eagerly compass me round.
Ver. 10 In tlieir own fat. An expression either of luxurious ease, or of grossnesa in regard to Bpiritual perception.
For the former, compare Job xv. 27; and for the latter, Is. vi. 10.
Ver. II. They have set their eyes: namely, on this object; they are wholly Intent on it. Compare the similar expres-
sion in Luke ix. 53.
Yer. 15. With thy likeness : with God, as manifested to those whom he permits to behold him. Compare Matt. v. 8.
PSALM XVIII.
To the chief Musician. By the servant of Jehovah, by David, who spake to Jehovah the words of thit
song, in the day when Jehovah had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies^
and from the hand of Saul ; and he said:
1 I will love thee, Jehovah, my strength.
2 Jehovah ia my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, I will trust in him;
my shield, my horn of salvation, my high tower.
8 Praised wUl I call Jehovah,
and from my enemies shall I be saved.
4 The bands of death encompassed me ;
and floods of the ungodly make me afraid.
5 The bands of the underworld surrounded me,
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I call upon Jehovah,
and unto my God I cry.
From his temple he heareth my voice,
and my cry cometh before him, into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
and the foundations of the mountains trembled,
and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up smoke in his nostril,
and fire out of his mouth devoured ;
coals were kindled from it.
9 And he bowed the heavens and came down,
and thick darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly,
and soared along on wings of the wind.
PSALM XVIII. 695
11 He made darkness his covering,
his pavilion round about him ;
dark waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12 From the brightness before him his thick clouds passed away ;
hail, and coals of fire I
13 And Jehovah thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice;
hail, and coals of fire I
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them,
and shot forth lightnings and discomfited them.
15 And the channels of water were seen,
and the foundations of the world were made bare,
at thy rebuke, O Jehovah,
at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sendeth from on high, he taketh me,
he draweth me out of many waters.
17 He delivereth me from my strong enemy,
and from my haters, for they were too strong for me.
18 They confront me in the day of my calamity ;
and Jehovah became a stay for me,
19 and brought me forth to a large place ;
he delivereth me, because he hath delight in me.
20 Jehovah requiteth me according to my righteousness ;
according to the cleanness of my hands he recompenseth me.
21 For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me,
and his statutes I put not away from me ;
23 and I was upright with him,
and kept myself from my iniquity ;
24 and Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.
25 With the gracious thou wilt show thyself gracious ;
with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright ;
26 with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure ;
and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.
27 For thou wilt save an afflicted people,
and lofty eyes thou wilt bring low.
28 For thou wilt light my lamp ;
Jehovah my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by thee I shall run through a troop,
and by my God I shall leap over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect ;
the word of Jehovah is tried ;
a shield is he to all that trust in him.
31 For who is God besides Jehovah,
and who is a rock save our God ;
32 the Mighty, that girdeth me with strength,
and hath made my way perfect;
33 making my feet like hinds',
and on my high places he maketh me stand ;
34 teaching my hands to war,
and a bow of brass is bent by my arms. , , ,. ,
35 And thou gavest me the shield of thy salvation ; ', ;
and thy right hand will hold me up,
and thy condescension will make me great.
36 Thou wilt enlarge my steps under me,
and my ankles waver not.
696 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
37 I shall pursue my enemies, and overtake them ;
and shall not turn again till they are consumed.
38 I shall smite them, and they will not be able to rise ;
they will fall beneath my feet.
39 For thou hast girded me with strength for the battle;
thou wilt make them crouch under me that rise up against me.
40 And thou hast given me the neck of my enemies ;
and those that hate me, I will destroy them.
41 They will cry and there is no deliverer ;
to Jehovah, and he answereth them not.
42 And I shall beat them small as dust before the wind ;
as mire of the streets I will pour them out.
43 Thou wilt deliver me from the strifes of the people ;
thou wilt make me the head of the heathen ;
a people I have not known shall serve me.
44 At the hearing of the ear they will obey me ;
strangers will profess submission to me.
45 Strangers will fade away,
and will tremble from their strongholds.
46 Jehovah, liveth, and blessed be my rock,
and let the God of my salvation be exalted ;
47 the Mighty, who avengeth me,
and hath subdued peoples under me,
48 delivering me from my enemies.
Yea, thou wilt lift me above those that rise up against me ;
from the man of violence thou wilt rescue me.
49 Therefore will I praise thee, Jehovah, among the heathen,
and to thy name will I sing.
50 Great deliverances he giveth to his king,
and showeth kindness to his anointed,
to David, and to his seed, forevermore.
Ver. 2. Brym, emblem of strength and of de'ence; of salvation, as the instmment and means of It.
Ver. 8. The rapi'l alternation of the Perfect and Imperfect (w. 4, 6, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20), is properly pointed ont by Dr.
Alexander as a peculiar and striking feature of this spirited composition, adding much to the vividness of the description.
But the latter tense is better expressed by our Present than by the Future, and more in consonance with the true relatioD
of the two Hebrew tenses.
Ver. 12. The scene now changes. A blaze of light, from before Him, disperses the darkness of enveloping clonds, in
showers of hail and burning coals.
Vers. 12. 13. Hail and coals of fire. Compare Ex. ix. 23, 24.
Ver. 46. Ewald : Es lebe Jehovah I See the remark on Pa. x. 16.
Ver. 50. To his anointed — to David, and to his seed. These words are the key to the sentiments of this psalm, and of all
of like import. The Psalmist speaks as the representative of that divmely constituted Bovereignty, of which he was the
head, and which was opposed in hia persoo.
PSALM XtX.
To the chief Musician. ^A Psalm] of David,
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the expanse proclaimeth his handiwork.
Day to day uttereth speech,
and night to night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun ;
and he is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber ;
he rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
PSALM XX. 697
6 His going forth is from the end of the heavens,
and his circuit unto the ends thereof,
and there is nothing hidden from his heat.
7 The law of Jehovah is perfect, converting the soul ;
the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever ;
the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether;
10 more to be desired than gold, and much fine gold,
and sweeter than honey, and the dropping of the combs.
11 Moreover, by them is thy servant warned ;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Errors, who can understand I
Of hidden ones do thou acquit me.
13 Also from presumptuous ones withhold thy servant j
let them not have dominion over me ;
then shall I be upright, and be free from great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
Be acceptable in thy sight,
Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer.
Ver. 1. Tlieexpanse: E.WY2^j-D,die Atisdehnung ; Moll, wortlich, Aiisdehnung. Johnson defines expanse, "a body widely
extended without inequalities;" exactly corresponding to the Hebrew word. So Milton uses it {Paradise Lost, bookvii.
line 340) :
" Again the Almighty spake : Let there be lights,
High in the expanse of heaven."
The TtiaAemig firmament, from the Latin Vulgate, follows the false rendering, vrepimixa, of the Septnagint version.*
Yer. 3. In every land, is meant. Their voice is heard, whatever may be the " speech or language " of the people. They
preach to all, of every tongue, and are understood by all.
Of the many proposed constructions, this is certainly the most suited to the connection of thought. Hopfeld admits
that it gives the best sense; and his grounds for holding it to be grammatically untenable are not decisive. — The omission
of the relative (here adverbial) is not unfrequent (sumai in der zierlich kurzen Sprachweise, Ewald, Lehrb. g 332, a), and
EwALD admits that it may be supposed here.f His objection, that to speak of the various languages of the peoples does
not belong in this connection, will not hold against the true conception of the words.
Among other constructions are the following : Kein Spruch und kdne Worte, deren Stimme man nicht vemUhme (Da
Wette)* Sonder Sage, sonder Worte, ohne doss gehort wird seine Stimme, ward durchdie game Erdelaulsein Schall, etc.
(Ewald) ; Ohne Rede 'und ohne Worte, ungehort ist ihre Stimme (Hupfbld) ; Keine Ro.de und keine Worte, wovon tmgehort
die Stimme [wdre], (Moll). BHttcher, as usual, cuts the knot, and escapes the difficulty by re-writing the author's t-xt.
Ver. 12. Hidden ones. Such as are unobserved, and of which one is not couscious, in distinction from deliberate and
purposed sins, spoken of in the next verse.
PSALM XX.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David,
1 Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble,
the name of the God of Jacob defend thee ;
2 send thee help from the sanctuary,
and strengthen thee from Zion ;
3 remember all thy offerings,
and accept thy burnt-sacrifice ;
4 grant thee according to thy heart,
and fulfill all thy counsel.
5 May we shout for joy in thy deliverance,
and in the name of our God lift up a banner.
Jehovah fulfill all thy petitions.
6 Now know I,
that Jehovah saveth his anointed.
He will answer him from his holy heavens,
with the saving strength of his right hand.
* DvBf griff des Festm liegt nicht darin, sondernnur einer ausgedehnten FlUcJie, wie die Erde (vgl. Jes. xHi. 5, xliv.
24), also Ausdehnimg (Hupfeld)
t Z^oar konn/e man auch d\
(wocftg 332, a) seine Stimme nicht gehSrt wird (Die Psaimm).
t Zxoar ktmn/eman auchdiesen Sivn vermulhm: keine Sprachx- unter den Volkersprachen und keine Rede gibt es wo
698 FIKST BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 Some in chariots, and some in horses,
but we in the name of Jehovah our God, will glory,
8 They have bowed down and fallen ;
but we are risen and stand upright.
9 Jehovah, save I
Let the king answer us, in the day we calL
PSALM XXI.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David,
1 Jehovah, in thy strength shall the king rejoice;
and in thy salvation how greatly shall he exult !
2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire,
and hast not withholden the request of his lips. (Paitse.)
3 For thou dost anticipate him with blessings of goodness,
thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked of thee life, and thou gavest it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 Great is his glory in thy salvation ;
honor and majesty thou dost lay upon him.
6 For thou makest him blessings forever ;
thou dost gladden him with joy by thy countenance.
7 For the king trusteth in Jehovah,
and through the kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8 Thy hand will find out all thy enemies ;
thy right hand will find out them that hate thee.
9 Thou wilt make them as a fiery furnace in the time of thine anger ;
Jehovah will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will devour them.
10 Their fruit thou wilt destroy from the earth,
and their seed from the sons of men.
11 For they spread out evil against thee;
they devised a plot ; they shall not prevail.
12 For thou wilt make them turn their back;
with thy bowstrings thou wilt aim against their face.
13 Exalt thyself, Jehovah, in thy strength ;•
we will sing and praise in song thy power.
Ver. 4. Length of days forever and ever: in the endless sovereignty of which he was the first earthly representativN
Ver. 6. Tlwumakfist him blessings: referring to their variety and fullness.
Ver. 9. The second member shows that the earthly sovereign is only the instrument of divine justice. Compare the
note at the close of Ps. xviii.
Ver. 11. Tfuy spread out evil ; aa a net is spread for the unwary.
PSALM XXII.
To the chief Musician. After [^the melody'] Hind of the Morning. A Psalm of David,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me !
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
My God, I cry, in the day-time, and thou answerest not ;
and in the night season, and there is no quiet for me.
But thou art holy,
enthroned in the praises of Israel.
PSALM XXII. 699
4 In thee our fathers trusted ;
they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
6 To thee they cried, and were freed ;
in thee they trusted, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and not a man ;
a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All that see me mock at me ;
they thrust out the lip, they shake the head [saying]:
8 Commit it to Jehovah, he will deliver him ;
he will rescue him, for he delighteth in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb,
that made me trust, when on my mother's breasts.
10 On thee was I cast from the womb ;
from the bowels of my mother thou art my God. -
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near,
for there is no helper,
12 Many bulls have encompassed me ;
strong ones of Bashan have beset me round,
13 They gaped upon me with their mouth,
a ravening and roaring lion,
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are parted.
My heart is become like wax ;
melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws ;
and thou wilt lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs have encompassed me ;
the assembly of evil-doers have inclosed me,
piercing my hands and my feet.
17 I may number all my bones ;
they look, they stare upon me,
18 They part my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
19 But thou, Jehovah, be not afar off;
0 my strength, hasten to my help.
20 Rescue my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth,
and answer [and rescue] me from the horns of wild oxen.
22 I will declare thy name to my brethren ;
in the midst of the assembly will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear Jehovah praise him ;
all ye seed of Jacob glorify him,
and fear him all ye seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised, nor abhorred, the affliction of the afflicted,
and hath not hid his face from him ;
and when he cried to him, he heard,
25 Of thee shall be my praise, in the great congregation ;
my vows I will pay before them that fear him.
26 The humble shall eat, and shall be satisfied ;
they will praise Jehovah that seek him ;
may your heart live forever !
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Jehovah,
and all the families of nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is Jehovah's,
and he is ruler among the nations.
700 FIEST BOOK OF PSALMS.
29 They eat and worship, all the rich of the earth ;
before him shall bow all that go down to the dust,
and he that can not keep his soul alive.
30 A seed shall serve him ;
it shall be told of the Lord for generations.
31 They shall come, and shall make known his righteousnesa,
to a people that shall be born, that he hath done it.
Ver. 5. To thee they cried, and were freed. See Ex. iii. 9, 10.
Ver. 8. Said ironically, and in bitter mockery of the Psalmist's trust in Jehovah. Compare Matt, zxril. 43,
Ver. 13. Tliey : the adversaries, here compared to a hungry lion.
Ver. 16. Pierdngmy hands and my feet. Or, as the lion my hands and my feet ; — or, as the lion at (or, about) my hands
and my feet; i. e., on every side. The form 'TXO, as pointed here and in Is. xxxviii. 13, means, as the lion. But the ren-
dering in the text has the support of the oldest traditionary exegesis in the rendering of the Sept. iipv^cLv, and of the Vulg.
foderunt; requiring either the punctuation 'TN3 (Part, of "113, after the form DKp Hos. x. 14, with a questionable
■-: T I
plural ending) or '"1$?3 (const, st. of the same form). The evidence for the ms. reading nj<J (or 1*13) baa been greatly
weakened by the full statement of the case in Hupfeld's crit. and exeget. notes on the passage (pp. 65-68, ed. Riehm).*
Still the authority of the ancient versions, the earliest being many centuries anterior to the Masora and the Maaoreiic
punctuation, and to the oldest extant Heb. mss., is too weighty to allow the removal of the comraou rendering from the
text. But we should do well to bear in mind the just and pertinent caution of Dr. Alexander, that the question of con-
struction "ought not to be embarrassed by any supposed conflict with New Testament authority, since no citation of the
clause occurs there."
Ver. 21. Wild oxen: described in Job xxxix. 9-12, aa peculiarly fierce and intractable.
Ver. 25. Of thee. Or, from thee, as the source of my deliverance, and therefore of my praise.
Ver. 26. Shall eat: of the sacrificial feast made on occasion of the fulfillment of avow (preceding verse). See Deut.
xll. 17, 18, Lev. vii. 16; and compare an abuse of this religious observance, in Prov. vii. 14.
Ver. 27. May your lieart live forever. " The heart is said to die in cases of extreme grief and distress. See I Sam.xxv.
37, and comp. Ps. cix. 22." (Alexander.)
Ver. 29. There is here no distinction of rank or condition. The feast is for all ; for the rich, for " all that go down to
the dust " (the common lot), for the poor, even Buch as " can not keep his soul alive."
PSALM XXIIL
A Psalm of David,
1 Jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He maketh me lie down in green pastures ;
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul ;
he guideth me in paths of righteousness, for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of my adversaries ;
thou anointest iny head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever.
Ver. 6. Tl^B^ for TSIW ; Ewald, Lehrh. (8te Au8g.),§ 234, Z.— Forever: aa the same phrase (lit. to length of days, the
Heb. expression of indefinite duration) is properly rendered in Ps. xciii. 5, " holiness becometh thy house, 0 Jehovah,
forever." The idea of a long time is not suited to either passage. The2?salmist here means not merely a temporary abode
in the earthly " house of Jehovah."
PSALM XXTV.
A Psalm of David.
The earth is Jehovah's, and the fullness thereof;
the world and they that dwell therein.
For he founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon the floods.
*Ewald (who rrmds nX3) suggests that the present reading of the Heb. text originated in the violent controversy be-
tween Jews and Christians on this passage. But there is no ground for supposing that the Jews have wilfully tampered
with the sacred consonant text of their Scriptures, however their early conflicts with the Christians may sometimes possi-
bly have influenced t\iQ pointing oi i\\e, text. The latter fault has in no instance been proved against them ; and their tra-
ditional pronunciation of the text, the fruit of the best Heb. scholarship that has come down to us, is inmost cases the
Barest guide to the interpretation of it.
PSALM XXV, 701
3 Who shall ascend into the mount of Jehovah,
and who shall stand in his holy place ?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart ;
who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity,
and hath not sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him,
that seek thy face, even Jacob. (Paitse.)
7 Lift up your heads, ye gates,
and lift yourselves up, ye everlasting doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this, the King of glory?
Jehovah, strong and mighty ;
Jehovah, mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, ye gates,
and lift up, ye everlasting doors,
that the King of gloiy may come in.
10 Who then is he, the King of glory?
Jehovah of hosts;
he is the King of glory. (Pause.)
PBalm xxiT. The moat probable occasion of this psalm is the solemn procession, described in 1 Chron. xv. 14-28, foi
the inductiou of the ark into the aanctuary prepared for it. It is not improbable that the psalm was chanted antiphonally,
as in the division by paragraphs.
Ver. 6. Jacob: used here, as elsewhere, for the true Israel, the collective people of God. Compare Ps. xiv. 7.
PSALM XXV.
[^ Psalin] of David.
1 To thee, O Jehovah, I will lift up my soul.
2 My God, in thee do I trust ; let me not be ashamed,
let not my enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait for thee be ashamed ;
let them be ashamed that transgress without cause.
4 Make me know thy ways, O Jehovah ;
teach me thy paths.
5 Make me walk in thy truth, and teach me ;
for thou art the God of my salvation,
on thee I wait all the day.
6 Remember thy tender mercies, O Jehovah, and thy kindnesses ;
for they have been of old.
7 The sins of my youth, and my trespasses, do not remember ;
according to thy kindness remember thou me,
for thy goodness' sake, O Jehovah.
8 Good and upright is Jehovah ;
therefore will he direct sinners in the way.
9 He will guide the humble in that which is right,
and the humble he will teach his^ way.
10 All the paths of Jehovah are kindness and truth,
to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For thy name's sake, O Jehovah,
thou wilt pardon my iniquity, for it is great I
12 What man is he that feareth Jehovah ?
Him will he instruct in the way he should choose.
702 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
13 His soul shall dwell at ease,
and his seed shall possess the land.
14 The secret of Jehovah is for them that fear him,
and he maketh them know his covenant.
15 Mine eyes are ever toward Jehovah ;
for he will bring out my feet from the net.
16 Turn unto me, and be gracious to me;
for I am desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring thou me out of my distresses,
18 Look on my affliction and my pain;
and forgive all my sins.
19 Behold my enemies, that they are many,
and hate me with cruel hatred.
20 Keep my soul, and rescue me ;
let me not be ashamed, for I have trusted in the&
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me ;
for I wait on thee.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles 1
PSALM XXVL
[j4 Psalm] of JJavid.
1 Judge me, 0 Jehovah ;
for I have walked in my integrity,
and in Jehovah have I trusted ;
I shall not waver.
2 Try me, O Jehovah, and test me ;
assay my reins and my heart.
3 For thy loving-kindness is before my eyes ;
and I have walked in thy truth.
4 I have not sat with men of falsehood,
and I will not go in with dissemblers.
6 I have hated the congregation of evil doers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocency,
and will encompass thine altar, O Jehovah ;
7 that I may publish, with the voice of thanksgiving,
and recount, all thy wondrous works.
8 Jehovah, I have loved the habitation of thy house,
and the place where thy glory dwelleth.
9 Gather not my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloody men ;
10 in whose hands is mischief,
and their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands in an even place.
In the congregations will I bless Jehovah.
Bayed '•"' ^' '^"'^^ ' ^ * ^^^^^^ °^ *"^^'*' "^^^ ^^^^ ^°''*^ '^ "^^^ ^° ^^- ^^^- ^^' " *^<^^ ^^* assayed us, &s sUver iu afl'
Ver. 9. Oather. Compare Gen. xxy. 8, and xlix. 32, " waa gathered to his people."
PSALM XXVIII. 703
PSALM XXVIL
[4 Psalm'] of David, J-
1 JehovaK is my light and my salvation ;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Jehovah is the stronghold of my life ;
of whom shall I be in dread ?
2 When the wicked came upon me to eat up my flesh,
my foes and my enemies, they themselves stumbled and felL
3 If a host shall encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
if war shall rise up against me,
in this will I be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of Jehovah,
that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of Jehovah,
and to inquire in his temple.
6 For in the day of evil he will hide me in his pavilion ;
he will conceal me in the covert of his tabernacle ;
he will set me on high upon a rock.
6 And now shall my head be high above my enemies round about me ;
and I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of triumph ;
I wUl sing, and will praise Jehovah in song.
7 Hear, O Jehovah, my voice, I cry ;
and do thou be gracious to me, and answer me,
8 To thee my heart saith, Seek ye my face, —
thy face, Jehovah, will I seek.
9 Hide not thy face from me ; .voi.T- '
turn not thy servant away in anger. ^ 1 ' .;,,
Thou hast been my help;
cast me not off, and forsake me not, O God of my salvation,
10 When my father and my mother have forsaken me,
then Jehovah will receive me.
11 Teach me thy way, O Jehovah j
lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my foes ;
for false witnesses have risen up against me,
and such as breathe out violence.
13 Had I not believed that I should see the goodness of Jehovali,
in the land of the living I
14 Wait on Jehovah.
Be of good courage, and let thy heart be strong,
and wait on Jehovah.
Ver. 8. To thee my heart saith, — repeating the Divine command (Seek te mt pace), and professing obedience to it.
Ter. 13. Sad I not believed. What would have followed such unbelief is more effectively implied by silence than ex-
pressed in words. Of this figure (aposiopesis) there are many examples in the Old and New Testaments. See Ex. xxxii,
82, " Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot m<>, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written."
For other examples, see Ps. &cv. 8, and in the New Testament, Acts xxili. 9.
PSALM XXVIII.
[A Psalm] of David.
1 Unto thee, Jehovah, will 1 call.
My rock, be not deaf to me;
lest thou be silent to me,
and I become like them that go down to the pit*
704 FIEST BOOK OF PSALMS.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to thee for help,
when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked,
and with workers of iniquity ;
who speak peace with their neighbors,
and mischief is in their heart.
4 Give them according to their doing,
and according to the evil of their deeds.
Give them according to the work of their hands ;
render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of Jehovah,
nor the labor of his hands,
he will destroy them, and not build them up.
6 Blessed be Jehovah,
because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 Jehovah is my strength and my shield ;
in him my heart trusted, and I was helped,
and my heart shall triumph, and with my song will I praise him.
8 Jehovah is strength to them ;
and a stronghold of salvation is he to his anointed.
9 Save thy people,
and bless thy heritage,
and feed them, and bear them up forever 1
PSALM XXIX.
A Paalm of David*
1 Give to Jehovah, ye sons of God,
give to Jehovah glory and strength.
2 Give to Jehovah the glory of his name ;
worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness,
3 The voice of Jehovah is on the waters ;
the God of glory thundereth ;
Jehovah is on the great waters.
4 The voice of Jehovah is mighty ;
the voice of Jehovah is full of majesty.
5 The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars ;
and Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 And he maketh them skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like the young of the wild ox.
7 The voice of Jehovah cleaveth out flames of fire.
8 The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness ;
Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds bring forth,
and layeth bare the forests ;
and in his palace, they all say, Glory I
10 Jehovah sat [in judgment] at the flood ;
and Jehovah sitteth a king forever.
11 Jehovah will give strength to his people ;
Jehovah will bless his people with peace.
Ver. 1. Sont qf Ood : as In Ps. Ixxxix. 0, Job 1. 6,
Ver. 6. Sirion : the Sldonian name for Mount Hertnon.
Ver, 7. CUaxes out flamei of fire : the forked lightning.
Ver. 9. His palace,! the universe ; the whole realm of nature, fVom which thesd {Uustfatione of Wfl power and majflflty
are drawn. Palace. So the Hebrew word is properly translated, la Pa. xlv, 8, 15, cxllv. 12 ; Prov. xxx. 28 ; Is. xill. 22,
xxxix.7, and elsewhere.
They all tay, In all hla works there is a voice procla'miug, Glory I Compare Ps. xix. i.
PSALM XXXL 705
PSALM XXX.
A Psalm,— a song for the Dedication of the Mouse, — of David.
1 I will extol thee, Jehovah, for thou hast delivered me,
and hast not made my enemies rejoice over me.
2 Jehovah, my God,
I cried to thee for help, and tHou didst heal me,.
3 Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from the underworld ;
thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
4 Sing praise to Jehovah, ye his saints,
and give praise to his holy memorial.
6 For his anger is for a moment ; in his favor is life ;
weeping may endure for a night, but in the morning there is joy I
6 And as for me, in my prosperity I said,
I shall never be moved.
7 Jehovah, by thy favor thou madest my mountain stand strong ;
thou didst hide thy face, — I was troubled.
8 To thee, Jehovah, I call ;
and to Jehovah I make supplication.
9 What profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to the pit ?
Will dust praise thee ? Will it declare thy truth ?
10 Hear, 0 Jehovah, and be gracious to me ;
Jehovah, be thou my helper 1
11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing,
thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness ;
12 in order that [my] glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent.
Jehovah, my God, I will give thanks to thee forever.
Ps XXX.' The occasion of the psalm is, moat probably, referred to in 1 Chron. xxii. 1-5, the site of the fotnre tern-
plehavinK then been dedicated as "the house of Jehovah God " (v. 1). The tone of sentiment ia explained by the account
given in the preceding chapter. ,. « .^v i. * i. * i- » <■ • * *v,
Yer. 3. Thau hast brought up : explained by the corresponding member, thou hast kept me alive ; referring to the
deliverance recorded in 2 Sam. oh. xxiv., and 1 Chron. oh. xxi. „ t, ■•• •■= ..^i.- ■ * j *u-
Ver. 4. Ms holy meTrwrial : his sacred memorial name, Jehovah. See Ex. in. 15. this is my name forever, and this
Is my memorial [memorial name] to all generations." Compare Hosea xii. 5, " Jehovah is hia memorial I his memonal
name, signifying what he is in his own nature, and bringing it to mind.
Ver. 12. My glory : my nobler, spiritual nature. Compare the remark on Ps. xvi. ».
PSALM XXXI.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David,
1 In thee, Jehovah, have I trusted,
let me never be ashamed ;
deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Incline to me thine ear, rescue me speedily.
Be thou to me for a rock of defence,
for a house of refuge, to save me.
3 For my rock and my fortress art thou ;
and for thy name's sake thou wilt guide me and lead me.
Thou wilt bring me out from the net which they hid for me,
for thou art my defense.
5 Into thy hand I commit my spirit ;
thou hast redeemed me, Jehovah, God of truth !
6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities ;
but I, in Jehovah do I trust.
706 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 I will exult and rejoice in thy kindness ;
for thou hast seen my affliction,
hast known the troubles of my soul ;
8 and hast not shut me up in the hand of an enemy,
hast set my feet in a large place.
9 Be gracious to me, Jehovah, for I am in trouble ;
wasted is my eye with grief, my soul, and my bowels.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow, and my y^ars with sighing ;
my strength faileth because of my iniquity, and my bones are wasted,
11 Because of all my adversaries I am become a reproach,
and to my neighbors exceedingly, and a dread to my acquaintance.
When they saw me in the street they fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind;
I am become like a broken vessel.
13 For I heard the slander of many ;
terror was on every side, while they consulted together against me ;
they plotted to take away my life.
14 But I, in thee did I trust, O Jehovah ;
I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand ;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors.
16 Cause thy face to shine upon thy servant ;
in thy mercy save me.
17 Jehovah, let me not be ashamed, for I have called upon thee ;
let the wicked be ashamed, be put to silence in the underworld.
18 Let lying lips be struck dumb,
that speak rudely against the righteous,
in pride and scorn.
19 How great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men !
20 Thou wilt hide them in the covert of thy presence from the snares of man ;
Thou wilt secrete them in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be Jehovah ;
for he hath shown me his marvelous kindness [as] in a strong city.
22 And yet I said, in my alarm,
I am cut off from before thine eyes.
Bat thou didst hear the voice of my supplications,
when I cried to thee for help.
23 Love Jehovah, all ye his saints.
Jehovah preserves the faithful,
and abundantly requites him that acts proudly.
24 Be of good courage, and let your heart be strong,
all ye that hope in Jehovah.
P8. xxxi. Of the same period, apparently, as Pbs. vii. and xl.
Ver. 6. Vanities. So idols are called in Deut. xxxii. 21, as being « no gods" (« nothing in the world " 1 Cor vlil i^
^ZZotvmttlm.^^'''^'""'' i^«ii««>^'^'i°^fromthe"GodSftruth^T.5) as bei^g felae Sender«%2iViii
PSALM XXXIL
Didactic l^Psalml of David,
1 Happy he, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,
2 Happy the man,
to whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile.
PSALM XXXIir. 707
3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away,
througli my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me ;
my moisture is turned into the droughts of summer. (Paitse.)
6 My sin I will make known to thee, and my iniquity I have not covered.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah ;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. (Paitse.)
6 For this let every godly one pray to thee,
in a time when thou mayest be found.
Surely, in floods of great waters,
they will not come near him.
7 Thou art a hiding-place for me ; thou wilt preserve me from trouble ;
thou wilt surround me with songs of deliverance. (Pause.)
8 I will instruct thee, and will direct thee in the way that thou shouldst go;
I will give counsel, with mine eyes upon thee.
9 Be not as the horse, as the mule, without understanding ;
with bit and bridle his mouth is to be curbed,
lest he come near to thee.
10 Many sorrows are to the wicked ;
but he that trusteth in Jehovah, mercy will encompass him.
11 Rejoice in Jehovah, and exult ye righteous;
and shout for joy, all ye upright in heart.
Ver. 8. With mine eye upon thee: not only guiding, but watching over thee.
Yer. 9, The objection to the common rendering of the second and third members, that this language is more appropri-
ate to a -wiid beast than to the horse or mule, is not valid. The ■writer speaks of a heedless, unreasoning brute, whose mo-
tions, in order to be harmless to others, must be controlled by a superior intelligence.
Yer. 10. 2d member. Or, he will encompass him with mercy.
PSALM XXXIIL
1 Rejoice in Jehovah, ye righteous ;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
2 Give praise to Jehovah with the harp ; ^
with a ten-stringed lute sing praise to him.
3 Sing to him a new song ;
play skillfully, with joyfiil sound.
4 For the word of Jehovah is right ;
and all his work is in faithfulness.
6 He loveth righteousness and judgment ;
the earth is full of the kindness of Jehovah.
6 By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the sea as a heap ;
he laid up the depths in storehouses.
8 Let them be afraid of Jehovah, all the earth ;
let them stand in awe of him, all the inhabitants of the world;
9 Tor HE said it, and it was done ;
HE commanded, and it stood fast.
10 Jehovah brought the counsels of the nations to naught ;
he frustrated the devices of the peoples.
11 The counsel of Jehovah shall stand forever;
the devices of his heart to all generations.
12 Happy the nation, whose God is Jehovah,
the people he hath chosen as a heritage for him I
13 Jehovah looketh from heaven ;
He seeth all the sons of man ;
708 FIRST BOOK OP PSALMS.
14 from the place of his habitation he looketh,
on all the inhabitants of the earth ;
15 he that fashioned all their hearts,
that considereth all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the multitude of a host ;
a mighty man is not rescued by great strength.
17 The horse is a vain thing for safety,
and he will not deliver by his great strength.
18 Behold the eye of Jehovah is on them that fear him,
on them that hope in his mercy ;
19 to rescue their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famiiie.
20 Our soul hath waited for Jehovah;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For in him shall our heart rejoice ;
for we have trusted in his holy name.
22 Let thy mercy, Jehovah, be upon us,
according as we have hope in thee.
Pa. xxxiii. The poaition of the psalm in the first book, and its general tone and manner, indicate the royal Psalmist as
the writer.
Vers. 6, 7, are examples of numerous allusions to the earlier teachings of the book of Genesis, assumed to be familiar
to the reader as the ground-work of all subsequent religious instruction. Such references should be carefully noted, aa
showing the relation of that book to subsequent revelations, and its place in the Divine Canon.
Ver. 9. It will be observed, that the emphasis is not on the act ("said," common version " spake "), but on its subject,
HE. The Psalmist calls on all men to fear Jehovah, and stand in awe of him; for HE it was who "said it, and it was
done 1 "
Ver. 17. 2%c horte. The war-horse la meant, as ia shown by the definite article. Compare Pb, xx. 7.
PSALM XXXIV.
[.4 Psalml of David, when he disguised his reason be/ore Abimeleck ; and he drove
him away, and he departed.
1 I will bless Jehovah at all times ;
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in Jehovah ;
the humble will hear, and will be glad.
3 Magnify Jehovah with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought Jehovah, and he answered me,
and from all my fears he delivered me.
5 They looked to him, and brightened ;
and their faces, let them not blush.
6 This sufferer called, and Jehovah heard,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of Jehovah encampeth around them that fear him,
and he delivereth them.
8 Taste and see that Jehovah is good ;
happy the man that trusteth in him I
9 Fear Jehovah, ye his saints ;
for there is no want to them that fear him.
10 Young lions lack, and suffer hunger ,
but they that seek Jehovah shall want no good.
11 Come, ye sons, hearken to me ;
I will teach you the fear of Jehovah.
12 Who is the man that desireth life,
that loveth days, that he may see good ?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil,
and thy lips from speaking guile.
J^HAIjM AAA v. Yuy
14 Depart from evil, and do good ;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous,
and his eai-s to their cry for help.
16 The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil,
to cut off their memory from the earth.
17 They cried, and Jehovah heard,
and rescued them out of all their troubles.
18 Jehovah is near to the broken in heart ;
and the contrite in spirit he will save.
19 Many are the evils of the righteous ;
but Jehovah will deliver him out of them alL
20 He keepeth all his bones ;
not one of them is broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked ;
and they that hate the righteous shall be held guilty-
22 Jehovah redeemeth the soul of his servants,
and none shall be held guilty that trust in him.
Ps. xxxlv. (title.) WTun he disguised. This denotes the occasion of the psalm, written in after-life, and witli TeTerenov
to that occurrence. See 1 Sam. xxi. 13. Abimelech was the regal title of the king, whose personal name was Achish.
Ihe aipiiabetio arrangement, intended to aid the memory^ accounts for the peculiar composition of the psalm.
PSALM XXXV.
[^ Fsalm'] of David.
1 Strive, O Jehovah, with them that strive with me ;
fight against them that fight against me.
2 Lay hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for my help.
3 And draw out the spear and shut up against my pursuers ;
say to my soul, I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek for ray soul ;
let them be turned back and put to confusion that devise my harm.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind,
and the angel of Jehovah thrust them down.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
and the angel of Jehovah chase them.
7 For without cause they hid for me their pit-fall;
without cause they digged it for my souL
8 Let destruction come upon him unawares,
and his net which he hid, let it take him ;
with destruction let him fall therein.
9 And my soul shall exult in Jehovah,
shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say,
Jehovah, who is like thee,
rescuing the sufferer from one stronger than he,
the sufferer and the needy from his spoiler ?
11 Cruel witnesses rise up against me ;
what I am not conscious of they ask of me.
12 They requite me evil for good ;
forsaken is my soul !
13 But as for me, in their sickness my clothing was saekclotii ;
I humbled my soul with fasting ;
and my prayer will return into my bosom..
710 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
14 I behaved as if [it were] a friend, a brother to me ;
I bowed down gloomily, as one that mourns for a mother.
15 But at my halting they rejoiced, and were gathered together;
the abject were gathered against me, and I knew it not ;
they did tear, and ceased not.
16 Among hypocritical mockers for bread,
they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on ?
Restore my soul from their destructions,
my life from the young lions.
18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation ;
in the multitude of people I wUl praise thee.
19 Let not them that are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me,
nor let them wink with the eye that hate me without cause.
20 For they speak not peace ;
and against the quiet ones of the land,
they devise words of deceit.
21 And they opened wide their mouth against me ;
they have said. Aha ! Aha I
our eye hath seen it.
22 Thou hast seen it, Jehovah ; be not silent.
Lord, be not far from me.
23 Arouse thee, and awake for my right,
for my cause, my God, and my Lord.
24 Judge me according to thy righteousness, Jehovah, my God,
and let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their heart. Aha! Our desire !
Let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and put to confusion together,
that rejoice in my harm.
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor,
they that act proudly against me.
27 Let those shout for joy and be glad that favor my just cause ;
and let them ever say, Jehovah be magnified,
who delights in the welfare of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness,
of thy praise all the day long.
Ver. 11. WTiat I am not conscious of. Oflfensea of which I have no knowledge. They agJe of me. Interrogating with the
malicious purpose of entrapping me. Compare the similar case in Luke xi. 63, 54.
Ver. 15. Halting : from lameness, as one about to fall. Were gathered together : to triumph in his affliction.
Ver. 16. Mockers for bread. Huch as gain their bread, at the tables of the rich, by their talent for jesting and mimicry.
Vers. 17, 22, 23. Lord. It will be observed that the Heb. word is "'jnx (not 711)1') in Vers. 17, 22 (2d member), and
23, with the pointing by which the Supreme Being is denoted.
Ver, 27. His servant. The Psalmist epeaks ia this character. See the note on Pb. xviiL 60.
PSALM XXXVI.
To the chief Musieian. [A Psalm'\ of the servant of Jehovah, of David.
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,
there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, ,
till his iniquity be found out, to be hated.
The words of his mouth are falsehood and deceit ;
he hath ceased to do wisely, to do well.
He deviseth mischief upon his bed ;
he taketh his stand upon a way that is not good ;
he abhorreth not evil.
PSALM XXXVII. 7X1
5 Jehovah, thy mercy is in the heavens,
and thy faithfulness unto the clouds.
6 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God ;
thy judgments are a great deep ;
man and beast thou dost save, O Jehovah.
7 How precious is thy loving-kindness, O God ;
and the sons of man may trust in the shadow of thy wings.
8 They shall be fully satisfied with the abundance of thy house ;
and thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9 For with thee is the fountain of life ;
in thy light shall we see light.
10 Continue thy loving-kindness to them that know thee,
and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen ;
they are thrust down, and will not be able to rise.
Ver. 1. Saith within my Tieart: in my heart's interpretation of it. His transgresBion means, In the believer's just ap-
prehension, that he has no fear of a God ; a practical atheism.
Some Hebraists, following a different reading of the Hebrew text (his heart), translate, " The sinner has an oracle of
wickedness within bis heart ; " meaning the inspiration, or promptings, of a wicked heart. But everywhere else, the
word rendered "wickedness" means transgression, or trespass, in act, not depravity or wickedness as an inward principle ;
and the strongest objection to the common rendering seems to be set aside by the above interpretation of it.
Ver. 2. Till his iniquity be found out. Compare Gen. xliv. 16, " God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants."
Ver. 6. Like themounUiins of God, Like his own mountains, vast and incomprehensible as these, the grandest of bia
works.
PSALM XXXVII.
[^ Fsalm'] of David,
1 Fret not thyself at evil-doers ;
be not envious at workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
and wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in Jehovah and do good ;
dwell in the land, and feed securely.
4 And delight thyself in Jehovah ;
and he will give thee the desires of thy heart.
5 Commit thy way to Jehovah ;
and trust in him, and he will do it.
6 And he will bring out thy righteousness as the light,
and thy right as the noonday.
7 Be silent before Jehovah, and wait for him ;
fret not thyself at one that prospereth in his way,
at the man who bringeth evil devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath ;
fret not thyself, [it is] only to do evil.
9 For evil-doers shall be cut off;
and those who wait on Jehovah, they shall inherit the land.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be ;
and thou shalt attentively consider his place, and it shall not be.
11 But the humble shall inherit the land,
and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plotteth against the righteous,
and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
13 The Lord will laugh at him ;
for he seeth that his day is coming.
712 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword,
and they have bent their bow,
to cast down the humble and needy,
to slay such as are of upright conduct.
15 Their swords shall enter into their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.
16 Better is a little that the righteous man hath,
than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken ;
but Jehovah upholdeth the righteous.
18 Jehovah knoweth the days of the upright,
and their heritage shall be forever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in an evil time ;
and in days of famine they shall be filled.
20 For the wicked shall perish ;
and the enemies of Jehovah are as the beauty of the pastures ;
they consume, in smoke they consume away.
21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not ;
but the righteous showeth favor, and giveth.
22 For they that are blessed of him shall inherit the land ;
and they that are cursed of him shall be cut off.
23 A man's steps are ordered by Jehovah,
and he delighteth in his way.
24 For though he fall, he shall not be cast down ;
for Jehovah upholdeth his hand.
25 I have been young, and have also become old ;
and I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed seeking bread.
26 All the day he showeth favor,.and lendeth ;
and his seed are for a blessing.
27 Depart from evil, and do good,
and abide for evermore.
28 For Jehovah loveth judgment,
and he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever ;
but the seed of the wicked is cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
and shall dwell forever upon it.
30 The mouth of the righteous will utter wisdom,
and his tongue will speak what is right.
31 The law of God is in his heart ;
his steps shall not waver.
32 The wicked watcheth for the righteous,
and seeketh to slay him.
33 Jehovah will not leave him in his hand,
and will not condemn him when he is judged.
34 Wait on Jehovah, and keep his way,
and he will exalt thee, to inherit the land ;
when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
35 I saw a wicked man in great power,
and spreading himself, like a tree flourishing in its native soLL
36 And one passed by, and behold, he was not;
and I sought him, and he could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ;
for there is a future to the man of peace.
38 But transgressors are destroyed together;
the future of the wicked is cut off.
PSALM XXXVIIl. 713
89 And the salvation of tTie righteous is of Jehovah,
their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 And Jehovah hath helped them and delivered them.
He will deliver thena from the wicked, and will save them,
for they have trusted in him.
Pa. xxxvii. This psalm, written in alphabetic stanzas, nearly all of four lines each, consista of disconnected aphoilsms,
which the alphabetic arrangement assisted in remembering.
Ver. 20. Beauty of the pasttures . the green grass, with which the pastures are clothed and adorned ; a common image
of short-lived prosperity and periahableness. Compare, for example, Jamea i. 10, 11 ; Pas. xcii. 7, and ciii. 15.
Vers. 23, 24. A general proposition, commending a hopeful trust in Jehovah, on the ground that all a man's ways are
ordered by him, and hence nothing really adverse can befall one who is in accord with him. Delights in his way. Takea
delight in the course which he has himself marked out, and will therefore carry to completion. The firat member may be
rendered, By Jehovah are a man's steps established.
Ver. 25. Seeking: as the Heb. word is properly rendered in Lam. i. 19, "Sought their meat."
Ver, 26. For a blessing. To themselves and others ; enjoying and imparting good.
Ver. 27. Abide for evermore: as in v. 29.
Ver. 28. Judgment: the execution of justice, the maintenance of right.
Ver. 29. Dwell forever : not individually, but in their generations.
Ver. 37. There is a future : something that remains after him, in his posterity, in his children and his children's ch 11-
dren. Com^iare w. 27. 29. On the contrary, " transgressors are destroyed together," they and all that pertain to them.
PSALM XXXVIIl.
A Psalm of David. To bring to remembranet.
1 Jehovah, do not in thy wrath rebuke me,
and do not in thy hot displeasure correct me.
2 For thine arrows are sunk into me,
and thy hand hath come down upon me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger;
there is no health in my bones, because of my sin.
4 For mine iniquities have gone over my head ;
as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
5 My stripes are putrid, and running,
because of my foolishness.
6 I writhe, I am greatly bowed down ;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with burning ;
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am benumbed and bruised exceedingly ;
I cry out from the disquietude of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before thee,
and my sighing is not hidden from thee.
10 My heart flutters, my strength fails me ;
and the light of my eyes, — ^they also are gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my stroke,
and my neighbors stand afar off.
12 And they that seek for my soul lay snares,
and they that search for my harm speak mischievous things,
and they devise deceits all the day long.
13 But I, as a deaf man, hear not ;
and as a dumb man openeth not his mouth.
14 And I am as a man that heareth not,
and in his mouth are no reproofs.
15 For for thee, Jehovah, do I wait ;
thou wilt answer, O Lord, my God.
16 For I said, Lest they shall rejoice over me,
act proudly against me when my foot wavereth.
17 For as for me, I am ready to halt,
and my sorrow is continually before me.
714 FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
18 For I will declare my iniquity,
will be anxious for my sin.
19 But my deadly enemies are strong,
and many are they that hate me without cause,
20 and that requite me evil for good ;
they oppose me in return for my seeking good.
21 Forsake me not, 0 Jehovah ;
my God, be not far from me.
22 Hasten to my help,
O Lord, my salvation.
Ver. 20. Seeking good : namely, their good, aa the connection Beems to require. Perhaps more generally, that which is
right and good, the porsuit of which provokes their opposition.
PSALM XXXIX.
To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David*
1 I said, I will take heed to my ways,
that I sin not with my tongue.
I will keep a muzzle to my mouth,
while the wicked is before me.
2 I was dumb with silence ;
I held my peace [even] from good,
and my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me.
While I muse, the fire kindles ;
I spake with my tongue,
4 Make me know, O Jehovah, my end,
and the measure of my days, what it is ;
let me know how frail I am !
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths,
and my fleeting life is as nothing before thee.
Surely, a mere breath is every man in his best estate. (Paitse.)
6 Surely, every man walketh in a vain show ;
surely, they are disquieted in vain ;
he heapeth up treasures, and knoweth not who will gather them.
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for ?
My hope, it is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions ;
do not make me the reproach of fools.
9 I was dumb, I will not open my mouth,
because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me ;
I am consumed by the strife of thy hand.
11 With rebukes for iniquity thou dost correct man,
and waste as the moth what he delights in ;
surely, every man is vanity. (Pause.)
12 Hear ray prayer, O Jehovah,
and give ear to my cry for help;
hold not thy peace at my tears.
For I am a stranger with thee,
a sojourner, like all my fathers.
13 Look away from me, and let me cheer up,
before I go hence, and be no more.
Ps. xxrix. (title.) Jeduthun: one of the three leaders of the temple mnsic appointed by David (1 Chron. xxv. 1-7).
Ver. 2, 2d member. I refrain from utterance, altogether; even &om that which is good, and might properly bo
spoken.
l-iSALM XL. 715
Ver. 6. A vain show : a mere image, or likeness, unsubstantial and unreal.
Ver. 6, 2d member. Or, Surely, for a breath are they disquieted.
the I:mZn.''toX^r^io^.'iy:t^%tt t °'''° '^'"^"'^ " " controversy, on the part of God, with the subject oi
, ^""^l}^'^^ '^^°1 -^r*^ TX ^"""^ ^''°"°i ^® *^y threatening look of displeaflure.-Oacer j{». Strictly hriahUm ux>
(comp. the^rolwc ,n the U^s of Gesenius and Fuekst). Coverdale, Matthew, Taverner, " that I may Ssh myserf "»
Oranmer, Genevan, Bishops, « that I may recover my Btreng:th; " common version, " thatl may recover strength "'
PSALM XL.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for Jehovah,
and he inclined to me and heard my cry for help.
2 And he brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay,
and set my feet upon a rock ; he made my steps firm.
3 And he put in my mouth a new song,
praise to our God.
Many will see, and fear,
and will trust in Jehovah.
4 Happy the man,
who hath made Jehovah his trust,
and hath not turned unto the proud and such as swerve to falsehood.
6 Many things hast thou done, Jehovah, my God ;
thy wonders, and thy thoughts toward us,
they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
I would declare and speak them, —
they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou hast not desired ;
my ears hast thou opened ;
burnt-offering and sin-offering thou hast not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come ;
in the volume of the book it is written of me ;
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God,
and thy law is within my heart.
9 I preached glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation ;
lo, my lips I do not restrain,
Jehovah, thou knowest.
10 Thy righteousness I have not hid within my heart,
thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have declared ;
I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation,
11 Thou, q Jehovah,
wilt not withhold thy compassions from me ;
thy loving-kindness and thy truth will ever preserve me.
12 For evils have gathered upon me, till they are without number ;
my iniquities have overtaken me, and I can not behold them I
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart faileth me.
13 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to rescue me ;
Jehovah, hasten to my help.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together,
that seek after my soul to destroy it.
Let them be turned backward and put to shame,
that delight in my harm.
15 Let them be desolate because of their shame,
they that say to me, Aha ! Aha !
716 PIRST BOOK OF PSALMS.
16 Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee ;
let those say always, Jehovah be magnified,
who love thy salvation.
17 But I am afflicted and needy, and the Lord will think upon me ;
thou art my help and my deliverer.
My God, do not delay I
Ver. 4. Turned tmto: for counsel or help. — Swerved to falsehood : from the ways of truth to falsehood and error.
Ver. 5, 3d member. Or, nothing can be compared to thee.
Ver. 6. Or, my ears hast thou bored.
Ver. 12. lean not behold them : meaning, I can not bear the sight. la this sense the same words are used in Esther
viii. 6 (as rendered in the common English version), " how can J endure to see the evil ; " more literally, " how can I behold
the evil."
Some understand the words to mean, "lean not see them all," they are more than can be seen ; an unwarranted addi-
tion to the text, and without much point in the connection. Others translate, " my iniquities have overtaken me, and I
am not able to see," through dimness of sight arising from great distress and consequ ent weakness ; an unusual, and far
from obvious, effect of conscious guilt. According to others, " I can not see " means, I cannot see out, am so beset on every
Bide that I have no outlook ; also an unusual effect of the consciousness of numerous sins.
These differences of opinion, and others that might be cited, show that the bearing of the expression, so simple in it-
self, is not without diCBculty. The passage which I have quoted from Esther viii. 6 seems to me to suggest the true meaning ;
being the natural effect in one awakened to a consciousness of sins, which he can not bear to look upon.
PSALM XLI.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Happy he that considereth the poor I
In the day of evil Jehovah will deliver him.
2 Jehovah will keep him and preserve him alive ;
he shall be prospered in the land,
and thou wilt not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3 Jehovah will strengthen him on the couch of languishing;
thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
4 As for me, I said, Jehovah, be gracious to me ;
heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.
6 My enemies say evil of me,
" when will he die, and his name perish ? "
6 And if he come to see, he speaketh falsehood ;
in his heart he gathereth up to himself mischief,
he goeth forth, he telleth it abroad.
7 Together they whisper against me, all they that hate me ;
against me they devise my harm.
8 Some evil thing [they say] cleaveth fast to him ;
and where he lieth he shall rise up no more.
9 Yea, my familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, lifted the heel against me.
10 And thou, Jehovah, be gracious to me and raise me up,
that I may requite them.
1 1 By this I know that thou delightest in me,
because my enemy shall not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, in my integrity thou hast upheld me,
and hast set me before thy face for ever.
Blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel,
from everlasting, and to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
SECOND BOOK.
PSALMS XLIL—LXXII.
PSALMS XLII., XLIII.
To the Chief Musician. Didactic [^Psalm"] of the sons of Kordh,
1 k& the hart panteth after the water-brooks,
so doth my soul pant for thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God ;
when shall I come, and appear before God I
3 My tears have become my food day and night,
while they continually say to me. Where is thy God?
4 These things will I call to mind,
and pour out my heart within me,
when I shall pass along in the thick crowd,
shall move onward with them to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise, a festive throng.
5 Why art thou bowed down, my soul,
and art disquieted within me ?
Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him,
the help of my countenance, and my God.
6 My soul is bowed down within me ;
therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan,
and of the Hermons, from the mount Mizar.
7 Deep calleth to deep, at the noise of thy water-falls ;
all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
8 By day will Jehovah command his loving-kindness,
and by night shall his song be with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me 7
Why dol go mourning for the oppression of the enemy?
10 As with a crushing in my bones my enemies reproach me,
While they continually say to me, Where is thy God ?
11 Why art thou bowed down, my soul,
and why art thou disquieted within me ?
Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him,
the help of my countenance, and my God.
1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause ;
from an ungodly nation,
from the deceitful and unjust man, thou wilt deliver me.
■]8 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
2 For thou art the God of my strength ;
why hast thou cast me off?
Why do I go mourning for the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send out thy light and thy truth ;
they shall guide me ;
they shall bring me to thy holy mount,
and to thy tabernacles.
4 And I shall come to the altar of God,
to God, my exceeding joy ;
and I will praise thee upon the harp, O God, my God.
6 Why art thou bowed down, my soul,
and why art thou disquieted within me ?
Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him,
the help of my countenance and my God.
Pbs. xlii. and xliii. are properly one psalm, as in many Hebrew manuscripts. The psalm is in the strophic form (In-
troduction, g 8, 4), divided into three nearly equal parts by the refrain in Ps. xlii. 5, 11, Ps. xliii. 5. For the occasion of the
psalm, see the remarks on Ps. iii. It is the utterance of one (of the levitical family of Eorah) who shared the fortunes
and sentiments of his royal Master, and in his behalf gives expression to both.
Ver. 3. They : whether adversaries, or desponding friends, as in Ps. iii. 2.
Yer. 6. The Hermons : the three summits of Mt. Hermon.
PSALM XLIV.
To the Chief Musician. Didactic [^Psalm"] of the Sons ofKorah,
1 O God, we have heard with our ears,
our fathers have told us,
the work thou didst work in their days,
in the days of old.
2 Thou with thy hand didst dispossess the heathen, and them thou plantedst;
didst crush peoples, and them thou didst extend.
3 For not by their sword did they possess the land,
and their arm did not save them ;
but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance
because thou didst favor them.
4 Thou art he, my king, O God ;
command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee shall we push down our foes ,
Through thy name shall we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow ;
and my sword will not save me.
7 For thou hast saved us from our foes,
and them that hate us thou hast put to shame.
8 In God will we glory all the day,
and thy name forever will we praise. (Pavse.)
9 Yet thou didst cast us off, and put us to shame j
and thou goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us turn back from the foe,
and they that hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou givest us as sheep for food,
and scatterest us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought,
and hast not increased by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and a derision to them that are about us.
PSALM XLV. 719
14 Thou makest us a by-word among the heathen,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All the day my disgrace is before me,
and the shame of my face covereth me ;
16 for tiie voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth,
on^'account of the enemy and revenger.
17 All this is come upon us ; and we have not forgotten the^
and have not been false to thy covenant.
18 Our heart hath not turned back,
nor our steps declined from thy way^
19 that thou shouldst have crushed us in the place of howling beasts,
and covered over us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
and spread out our hands to a strange god,
21 shall not God search this out ?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Because for thy sake we are slain all the day long,
are accounted as sheep for slaughter.
23 Arouse thee ; why sleepest thou, O Lord ?
Awake ; do not cast off forever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
forgettest our affliction and our oppression ?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust,
our belly cleaveth to the earth.
26 Arise, a help for us,
and redeem us for thy mercy's sake.
PSALM XLV.
To the Chief Mtuician. After [the melody'] Lilies. Didactic [Psalml of the Sona of Korah.
A Song of Delights.
1 My heart is overflowing with a goodly theme.
I say, My work is for a king ;
my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 Fair, fair art thou, above the sons of men ;
grace is poured into thy lips ;
therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
3 Gird thy sword on the thigh, O Mighty One,
thy honor and thy majesty ;
4 and in thy majesty ride prosperously,
for the sake of truth and humble right,
and thy right hand will teach thee fearful deeds.
5 Thine arrows are sharp,
in the hearts of the king's enemies ;
peoples shall fall under thee.
6 Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever ;
a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness ;
therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee,
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
8 Myrrh and aloes, cassia, are all thy garments ;
from palaces of ivory stringed instruments cheer thee.
? Daughters of kings are among thy precious ones ;
at thy right hand standeth the queen, in gold of Ophir.
720 SECOND BOOK OP PSALMS.
to Hearken, daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear ;
and forget thy people and thy father's house ;
11 and let the king desire thy beauty;
for he is thy lord, and do thou do him homage.
12 And the daughter of Tyre with a gift shall court thy favor,
the rich ones of the people.
13 All glorious is the king's daughter within;
of gold embroidery is her apparel.
14 In gayly wrought garments she shall be conducted to the king,
virgins behind her, her companions,
brought in to thee.
15 They shall be conducted with gladness and rejoicing ;
they shall enter into the palace of the king.
16 In place of thy fathers shall be thy sons;
thou shalt set them for princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause thy name to be remembered in all generations ;
therefore shall peoples praise thee forever and ever.
Ver. 1. Or, My works are for a king. Or, I Titter my work [z. c, poem] for a king.
Ver. 6. The order of the members, as they now stand la the Hebrew text, is as follows:
Thine arrows are sharp, —
Peoples shall fall under thee, —
In the heart of the king's enemies.
Ver. 12. Daughter of Tyre: for the city and its inhabitants, personihed as a female. Compare Is. xxxvii. 22.
Ver. 13. Within. In her inner apartments; whence she is to be conducted in state (vers. 14, 15) to the palace of the
bridegroom.
PSALM XL VI.
7b the chief Musician. To [voices o/] Maidens. A Song of the Sons of Korak.
1 God is to us a refuge and strength ;
a help in troubles, most surely found.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth change,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the seas.
3 Let its waters roar and foam,
let the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. (Pause.)
4 There is a river, whose streams gladden the city of God,
the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved ;
God will help her, at the turning of the morning.
6 The heathen raged, kingdoms were moved ;
he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 Jehovah of hosts is with us ;
the God of Jacob is a refuge for us. {Pause.)
8 Come, see the deeds of Jehovah,
who hath made desolations in the earth ;
9 causing wars to cease to the end of the earth ;
the bow he breaketh, and cutteth the spear asunder,
the chariots he burneth in the fire.
10 Desist, and know that I am God ;
I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 Jehovah of hosts is with us ;
the God of Jacob is a refuge for us.
Ver. 1. Mi^t surely found. This use of "found" is illustrated by Deut. Iv. 2S; 2 Ohr. xv. 2, 4, 16; Is. U. 6, Ixv. 1;
Jer. XXIX. 11 Comp. Pa. xxxii. 6, m a time of finding (when thou mayest be found). It does not mean merely near at hand
((iESENius, Thes. A'ol. ii. p. 814, prasto est), oa one that may be found, but actually found, i. e. manifested to those seeking
him. Moreover, the term " found " is required here, in order to express the coincidence with the passages just quotei.
That the thought is the same is obvious, and it should have the same expression. By the substitution of proved or approved
\ua W«TX« erprobt, Deutzboh bewdhrt), thin coincidence is lost.
PSALM XL VIII. 721
In the phrase, HKO i<!f DJ (!**• found exceedingly, very greatly found) *1XD denotes the degree or measure of the
quality expressed in XXDJ. and hence the certainty (not frequency) of it. "Often found" is too weak; "ever found" is
too strong lor the Heb. expression, though not for the reality. " A help most readily to be found " (Feench, and Skinnee ;
Leb's Heb. Lex.: "very acc^iable, or, ready to be found") is grammatically wrong (XlfQJ belonging to DTI /K). as are all
renderings which make 71*1 TJ^ the subject. Moll, Hitzio, Ewald, Hoppelo, erfunden sehr (or sehr erfunden, or erfunden
gar sehr). On the contrary, Delitzsoh, bewdhrt gar sehr ; VAiHiNGiia, sehr bewUhrt ; De Wette, sehr erprobt ; J. Olshau-
BEN, gar sehr ist er (v(m uns) als Beistand in Nothen erprobt.
Yer. 5. At the, taming of the morning. At the crisis, when darkness begins to give place to light, and morning la about
to dawn.
PSALM XLVn.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the Sons of KoraJu
1 All ye peoples clap your hands ;
shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
2 For Jehovah, Most High, is terrible ;
a great king over all the earth.
3 He will subdue peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4 He will choose for us our inheritance,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. (Paicse).
5 God hath gone up with shoutings
Jehovah with sound of trumpet.
6 Sing praise to God, sing praise ;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
7 For God is king of all the earths-
sing praise, in instructive song.
8 God reigneth over the heathen;
God sitteth on his holy throne.
9 Nobles of the peoples are assembled,
the people of the God of Abraham.
For to God belong the shields of the earth:
he is greatly exalted.
Ver.9. FvipUs: a frequent designation of the tribes of Israel, together constituting "the people of the Godot.
Abraham."
PSALM XLVIII.
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah,
1 Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised,
in the city of our God, his holy mount.
2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
Mount Zion, the sides of the north,
the city of the great Bang !
3 God is known in her palaces for a refiige.
4 For lo, the kings were assembled,
they passed along together.
5 They saw ; then they marveled ;
they were dismayed, they fled away.
6 Trembling took hold on them there,
pain, as of a woman in travail,
7 With an east wind,
thou breakest the ships of Tarshiah.
722 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God ;
God will establish it forever. {Pause.)
9 We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God,
in the midst of thy temple.
10 As is thy name, O God,
so is thy praise, unto the ends of the earth ;
thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion rejoice,
let the daughters of Judah exult,
because of thy judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her ;
number her towers.
13 Mark well her rampart,
go through her palaces,
that ye may tell it to the generation following.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever ;
he will guide us, until death.
PSALM XLIX.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all ye people,
five ear, all ye inhabitants of the world ;
oth men of low and men of high degree,
rich and poor together.
^3 My mouth shall speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart is understanding*
4 I will incline my ear to a parable ;
I will open my dark saying on the harp.
6 Wherefore should I fear in days of evil;,
when the iniquity of my supplanters compasseth me about ;
'6 who trust in their might,
and glory in the abundance of their wealth ?
7 A brother can no one by any means redeem,
or give to God a ransom for him ;
8 (for costly is the redemption of their soul,
and it forever faileth ;)
9 that he should live on forever
should not see the pit.
10 For he shall see it. Wise men die,
alike, the fool and the brutish perish ;
and they leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is, that their houses are forever,
their dwellings to all generations ;
they call their lands after their own names.
12 But man, in honor, continueth not;
he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is their way, to whom folly belongeth j
and they that come after them will delight in their sayings. {Pause.")
14 Like she^p they -are laid in the grave ;
death shall feed on them ;
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning ;
.and their form shall ^consume in the grave from its dwelling.
PSALM L. 72S
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave ;
for he will take me. (Pause.)
16 Do not fear, because one becoraeth rich,
because the glory of his house increaseth.
17 For, when he dieth, he shall take nothing away ;
his glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though in his life he bless his soul,
and men praise thee that thou doest well for thyself,
19 it shall come to the generation of his fathers ;
they shall never see light.
20 Man that is in honor, and understandeth not,
is like the beasts that perish.
Ver. 5. Supplanters: the Heb. word regarded here aa a verbal adj. from the verbal stem 3pj; (prop, to take by the hed,
Hos. xii. 13, compared with Gen. xxv. 26) to supplant, as correctly rendered in Gen. xxvii. 36, and also in Jer ix 4 " w^Jl
utterly supplant, '—not merely, aa Naeoelbaoh (Ltyoe's Bibelwerk) treibt Sinterlist. The form maybe taken as well
suggested by Dbutzsoh, both as verbal adj. and as substantive ; and we need not (with Bottcher) point the word here as a
participial form. GESENins, Zea;. "verbal adj. a lier-in-wait, a tracker;" Pubrst, lex., "a persecutor, or lier-in-waW'* De
Wette, Delitzsoh, Molt, mexner Untertreter. Lenoerke, meiner NachstelUr. Bwald, der Laurer. Hitmo meiner Wider-
gacher. Of the ancient versions, the Syriachas, of my enemita. '
others, taking DpJT in the only signification 'it has elsewhere with the pointing given it here, translate, the iniquity of
my heeU (that which follows closely upon my heels, dogs my steps) encompasses me. By some this is understood to mean
the iniquity of my steps, of my (own) ways, which com/passeth me about, leaving no escape from my guilt. To this concep-
tion of the meaning Hupfeld justly objects, that 3p^ never has this moral sense.f Hence, with some others, he un<1er-
Btands by this phrase, the wickedness of persecuting enemies, following close on their victim's footsteps ; and he translates
weren Frtvel mich aufmeinen I'ersen umgiebt (2d ed. more exactly, wmn Prevel anf meinen Firsen mich umgiebt). The ob-
jection of Delitzsoh is well grounded : Aber abge.iehen von dem unpassenden IW wird damit der gemt. Verbinduna Un-
mSgliches zugemuthet. I "^ ^
In the old English versions the words are rendered as follows : Coverdale, Matthew, Cranmiw, Taveener When the
wickedness qf my hf^ls crnipaxseth me round about. GE>fBVAN. [when] iniquity shall compass me about, [as at] mine heels.
Bishops', Wherefore should I fear in evil days f The wickedness of my heels {then) would cmnpassme round ahmt. Marg. note :
All their doings be wicked, who despair of God's goodness in adversity.
Ver. 7. Redeem : from temporal death, which is meant by "redemption of their soul," in ver. 8.
Vers. 14, 15. Contrast betw.^en the end of the wicked and the righteous. The former are laid in the grave like brntes
with no hope of a joyful morning after the night of death, when the upright, oppressed in this life, shall triumph over them.'
The latter shall be redeemed from the power of the grave; he shall not remain under it forever. It is absurd to suppose
BB some interpret the writer's language, that he looked for exemption from temporal death, declared in v. 10 to be the lot
common to all.
From its dwelling : from its abode in the material substance which bore their organized shape and form.
Ver. 18. Bless his sold: count himself happy.
PSALM L.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 The Mighty One, God, Jehovah, hath spoken,
and hath called the earth,
from the rising of the sun unto its going down.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God hath shined forth.
3 Our God will come, and shall not keep silence;
a fire will devour before him,
and round him tempests rage with violence.
4 He will call to the heavens above,
and to the earth, that he may judge his people ;
6 " Gather to me my saints,
who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
6 And the heavens declare his righteousness ;
for God, he is judge. (Pause.)
7 Hear, 0 my people, and I will speak,
0 Israel, and I will testify against thee ;
* On 2ppt Josh. viii. 13, Keil says (more correctly than Gesbwius and Fobrst in their lexs.), beieutet eigentlich den Hin-
krlisten (Ps. xllx. 6) von 3pJ^ insidiari, und ist synonym mit 31X; and Hitzig (on this passage, p. 269) Jos. viii. 13, iel
*'• 3p;? was 311N "Vers. 12, 14, 4.
t In his Ist ed, ; omitted, as is the whole discussion of this point, in the 2d ed. by Riehm.
(24 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
I am God, thy God.
8 Not for thy sacrifices will I reprove thee ;
and thy burnt-offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not take a bullock from thy house,
nor he-goats from thy folds.
10 For mine is every beast of the forest,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
Ill know every bird of the mountains,
and the beasts of the field are before me.
12 If I were hungry, I would not say it to thee ;
for the world is mine, and the fulness thereo£
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
and drink the blood of goats ?
14 Sacrifice to God thanksgiving,
and pay to the Most High thy vows.
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble ;
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt honor me.
16 And to the wicked God saith,
What right hast thou to declare my statutes,
and take my covenant into thy mouth ;
17 while thou dost hate instruction,
and cast my words behind thee ? »
18 If thou seest a thief, thou delightest in him,
and with adulterers is thy portion.
19 Thy mouth thou hast given up to evil,
and thy tongue contriveth deceit.
20 Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother ;
at thy mother's son thou dost give a thrust.
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.
Thou thoughtest I was surely such as thyself.
I will reprove thee, and will array them before thine eyes.
22 O consider this, ye that forget God,
lest I tear in pieces, and there be no deliverer.
23 He that sacrificeth thanksgiving shall honor me ;
and he that directeth his way,
to him will I show the salvation of God.
Ter. 23. He that saerificeih thanksgiving: compare ver. 14.
PSALM LL
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he went in
to Bathskeba.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness ;
according to the greatness of thy compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and from my sin make me clean.
3 For my transgressions I know,
and my sin is before me continually.
4 Toward thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done the evil in thy sight ;
that thou may est be just when thou speakest,
be pure when thou judgest.
6 Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
PSALM LII. 725
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the reins,
and in the hidden part thou wilt make me know wisdom.
7 Thou wilt purge me of sin with hyssop, and I shall be clean ;
thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ♦
8 Thou wilt make me hear joy and gladness ;
the bones thou hast broken shall exult.
9 Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
12 Eestore to me the joy of thy salvation,
and with a free spirit uphold me.
13 I will teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners shall return to thee.
14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation ; ^ ^i , -
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. '
15 0 Lord, thou wilt open my lips,
and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it ;
in burnt-offering thou delightest not.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good, in thy good pleasure, to Zion;
thou wilt build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then wilt thou be pleased with sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offering, and
whole burnt-offering.
Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
Ter. 12. Free spirit. Freely bestowed.
PSALM LIL
To the chief Mmician. Didactic [Psalrn] of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and
said, David came to the house of Ahimelech.
1 Why dost thou boast in evil, O mighty man ?
The goodness of God is continuaL
2 Thy tongue devises mischiefs,
like a sharpened razor, working deceit.
3 Thou lovest evil more than good ;
lying, more than to speak righteousness. (Paused
4 Thou lovest all devouring words,
0 deceitful tongue.
6 God will also destroy thee forever.
He will lay hold of thee, and pluck thee out of the tent, ^
and uproot thee from the land of the living. (Pause.)
6 And the righteous will see, and fear,
and will laugh at him ;
7 " Behold the man,
that raaketh not God his strength,
and trusteth in the abundance of his riches,
is strong in his wickedness."
726 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 But I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God ;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will praise thee forever, because thou didst it ;
and will wait on Ifcy name, for it is good before thy saints.
Ps. lii. (title.) See 1 Sam. xxii. 9.
Yer. 5. Tent. See the remark on Ps. xci. 10.
PSALM LIIL
To the Chief Musician. Of [moral'] disease. Didactic [Psalni] of David.
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Corrupt and abominable are they in iniquity ;
there is none that doeth good.
2 God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men,
to see if there is any that understandeth,
that seeketh after God.
3 They have all turned back ; one and all are they polluted;
there is none that doeth good, not even one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
call not upon God ?
5 There were they in great fear, where no fear was ;
for God hath scattered the bones of thy besiegers.
Thou hast put them to shame, because God despised them,
6 Oh for the salvation of Israel out of Zion !
When God turneth the captivity of his people,
Jacob will exult, Israel will rejoice.
Ps. liii. A Psalm of David (Ps. xiv.) adapted, by slight changes, to some later national occurrence.
Ver. 5. There : pointing to some recent and familiar occurrence. JVo fear : either uo occasion of fear, or no apprehen-
sion of coming evil. Of the former case an illustration may be found in 2 Kings ch. vii. (compare vers. 6, 7, and 14, 15); of
the latter, in Is. xxxvii. 36.
Ver. 6. Turneth the captivity. Compare the writer's note on Job xlii. 10. Israel is another name for Jacob, with the
accessory idea of "prevailing with God;" se^ (ien. xxxii. 28. Jacob, on the contrary, is expressive of weakness; see, for
example, Amos vii. 2. By both are meant God's people ; one implying their weakness in themselves, the other, their
strength in God.
PSALM LIV.
To the chief Musician. With stringed instruments. Didactic [Psalm] of David, when the Ziphitea
came, and said to Saul, Is not David hiding himself with us ?
1 O God, by thy name save me,
and in thy might judge me.
2 O God, hear my prayer ;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
and the violent seek after my soul ;
they have not set God before them. (Paii^e.)
4 Behold, God is a helper for me ;
the Lord is with them that uphold my souL
6 He will return the evil to my enemies ;
in thy truth cut them off.
6 With a free-will offering will I sacrifice to thee ;
I will praise thy name, Jehovah, for it is good.
7 For out of all distress hath he delivered me,
and my eye hath seen its desire on my enemies.
PSALM LV.
727
Pa. liv. (title). When the Ziphites came. For the historical allusiou see 1 Sam. xxiii. 19.
Ver. 1. ITiy name: as representing God, and in him all in which the believer trusts, and finds safety.
+i7^m?' '*'"""^^'' ' * foreigner, not an Israelite ; and also one estranged in spirit, an enemy, thus including those named
Ver, 4. Or, The Lord is he that upholdeth my soul.
Ver. 5. Or, The evil will return to my enemies.
Ver. 6, 2d member. In thy truth: as faithfuln'>ss to his word requires.
Ver. 7. 2d member Hath seen its desire. The Hebrew verb, in its construction here, means to gaze intently and to
look upon with satisfaction as in this caae on a vanquished enemy. See the remark on Ps. xviii. 50, Ind compare the arti.
cle "Psalms, Imprecatory," in Smith's Bible Zhcttonary (American edition, p. 2625), particularly divisions iv and v
PSALM LV.
To the chief Musician. With stringed instruments. Didactic [Psalm] of David.
1 Give ear, O God, to my prayer,
and do not hide thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend to me, and answer me.
I am restless in my complaining, and disquieted;
3 because of the voice of the enemy, on account of the oppression of the wicked.
For they cause mischief to impend over me,
and in anger lay a snare for me.
4 My heart quaketh within me,
and terrors of death have fallen upon me.
6 Fear and trembling enter into me, •
and horror overwhelmeth me.
6 And I say, Oh that I had wings like the dove ;
I would fly away, and be at rest !
7 Lo, I would wander far away,
I would lodge in the wilderness. (Pause.')
8 I would make haste to escape,
from the stormy wind, from the tempest.
9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongue ;
for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about her on her walls,
and trouble and sorrow are within her.
11 Corruption is within her,
and from her market-place depart not extortion and deceit.
12 For it is not an enemy that reproacheth me, else I could bear it;
not one that hateth me hath acted proudly against me,
else I would hide myself from him ;
13 but thou — a man esteemed my equal, '
my associate and my familiar friend.
14 Together we hold sweet familiar converse,
walk to the house of God in the festal crowd. '
15 Desolations are upon them ; they shall go down alive to the underworld;
for wickedness is in their dwelling, in the midst of them-
16 As for me, I will call upon God,
and Jehovah will save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and noon, will I lament and sigh,
and he will hear my voice. I
18 He redeemed my soul in peace from the war against me ;
for many were [engaged] with me.
19 God will hear, and he will answer them, —
even he that sits [as judge] of old, — (Pause')
to whom there were no changes,
and they feared not God.
20 He put forth his hand against those at peace with him ;
he profaned his covenant.
728 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
21 Smooth are the buttered tones of his mouth,
but his heart is war.
Softer than oil are his words,
but they are drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden on Jehovah,
and he will sustain thee,
he will never suffer the righteous man to be moved.
23 But thou, O God, wilt bring them down to the pit of destruction;
bloody and deceitful men shall not live half their days.
But as for me, I will trust in thee.
Ver. 3. Impund over me. The image is of a wall, or a tower, tottering and ready to fall. So do they keep me in con-
tinual apprehension of coming evil.
Ver. 9. Divide their tongue. The tongue being the instrument of commnnication, the meaning is, make division in
their counsels; set them at variance, and thus thwart their purposes.
Ver. 11. Markei-ploux : where the people assembled for the transaction of business, and where magistrates sat to ad-
minister justice. Compare Neh. viii. 1 (properly, "into the broad space that was before the water-gate "), 2 Chron. xxxii.
6 (properly, "in the broad space at the gate of the city "), Job v. 4 (with the references in the writer's note on the passage)
and xxix. 7.
Ver, 14. We hold. Many, as De Wette, Lbngerke, Mauser, Ewaxd, Hdpfeld, Dewtzsch, Moix, translate the Imvf. by
the past tense (of customary action, were wont to hold.)* On the contrary, the use of the Impf. is most readily explained
on the natural supposition (as suggested by Dr. Algxaitder) that " the false friend, of whom he is complaining, seems to be
one with whom he was still intimate, but whose defection he clearly foresaw."
Ver. 15. Go down alive. As they who opposed the authority of God in the person of his servant Moses (Numb. oh. uvi.).
Ver. 15, 2d member. In the midst of them. Or, within them (in their heart.)
Ver. 19. Will annwer them: in the just reward of their misdeeds.
Ver. 19, 3d member. No changes : no vicissitudes of fortune.
Ver. 20. He put forth: individualizing the many opposers (vers. 18, 19), orreferring especially to the sabject of vers.
12-14. Profaned hu covenant ; violated its sanctity, by a breach of its obligations. Compare Mai. ii. 10.
PSALM LVI.
To the chief Musician. After \the melody'\ TTie mute dove in far-off lands. Memorial[Psalrn\ of David,
when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man would devour me.
Continually fighting he oppresseth me.
2 Daily would my enemies devour me ;
for many are they that proudly fight against me.
3 What time I am afraid,
I will put my trust in thee.
4 In God will I praise his word ;
in God do I trust, I will not fear;
what can flesh do to me ?
5 Every day they wrest my words ;
against me are all their thoughts for eviL
6 They gather together, they lie in wait ;
they, my supplanters, watch,
as they have waited for my soul. *
7 Shall they escape by iniquity ?
In anger bring down the peoples, O God.
8 My wanderings hast thou numbered.
Put thou ray tears in thy bottle ;
are they not in thy reckoning ?
9 Then shall my enemies turn back when I cry ;
this I know, for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise the word ;
in Jehovah will I praise the word.
11 In God do I trust, I will not fear;
what can man do to me ?
12 On me, O God, are thy vows ;
I will pay thanksgivings unto thee.
* Impf. expressing "constantly repeated acts, customary or habitual action" (QBaENros, Gram, g 127, 4, 6).
PSALM LVII. 729
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death.
Wilt thou not [deliver] my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God,
in the light of life ?
Ver. 4. In God. The ground of praise being in htm, as is also the ground of trust:
Ver. 6, 2d member. Or, They who watch my heels (to trip me).
Ver. 8. Numbered. As in Job xxxi. 4, " Doth he not see my ways, and number all my steps? " That is, does he not
take account of all, so that none escape observation ?
Ver. 9. 2d member. Or,, This I know, that God is for me.
Ver. 10. The word. The word of promise, that God is for me, as expressed in the preceding sentence. — In Ood — in Je-
Jiaoah: as in ver. 4.
Ver. 13. 4th member. Light of life : in contrast with the darkness and gloom of the realm of death. Compare Job
x.21.22.
PSALM LVII.
3b the chief Musician. Do not Destroy. Memorial \^Psalm] of David, when he fled from Saul,
in the cave.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me;
for in thee hath my soul sought refuge.
And in the shadow of thy wings will I seek refuge,
until the calamities shall pass by.
2 I will cry unto God Most High,
to the Mighty, who completeth [the purpose] concerning me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me,
whom he that would devour me hath reviled. {Panose.)
God will send his mercy and his truth.
4 My soul is in the midst of lions ;
I will lie down with them that breathe out flames,
sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God,
thy glory over all the earth.
6 They prepared a net for my steps ;
he bowed down my soul.
They dug a pit before me;
they fell into the midst of it. (Pause.)
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed ;
I will sing, and will sing praise.
8 Awake my glory, awake lute and harp ;
I will awake the dawn !
9 I will praise thee among the peoples, O Lord;
I will sing praise to thee among the nations.
10 For great, unto the heavens, is thy mercy,
and unto the clouds thy truth.
U Be thou exalted above the heavens, O God,
thy glory over all the earth !
Ps.lvii. (title). Do noi destroy. A designation (perhaps suggested by Dent, ix 26) of a group of P^lm^^^
fvii-lix.) and of Ps-lxxv. Asa motto, it is appropriate to the subject, or the occasion, of th^m&n.^Wtw.nneJtea.
' ''Ver.t Sp&.^"^.n^ n.e. Does not leave unfinished what be bas purposed and begun. This specific idea, of a
''""'ilT.'i, 2d member. I will lie down : the language of cheerful confidence in God's protecting care.-Or, With them that
lick [the iawsl. See the preceding member. _„„„«„„o iVio tJaaimiHt'a roval adversary.
Ver. 6, 2d member. Me: the author, and animating spirit, of these persecutions, the Psalmist s royai aaversary.
730 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM LVIIL
To the chief Musician. Do not destroy. Memorial [PaaZm] of David,
1 Do ye, of a truth, in silence speak righteousness ?
With equity do ye judge, ye sons of men ?
2 Yea, in heart ye work iniquities,
and mete out the violence of your hands in the land.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb ;
from birth they go as.tray, speaking lies.
4 They have poison like the poison of a serpent;
as a deaf adder stoppeth its ear,
5 that hearkeneth not to the voice of enchanters,
of one charming with charms, well-skilled.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth ;
the fangs of the young lions beat out, O Jehovah.
7 They shall melt away, as waters flow off ;
he will fit his arrows, they shall be as if severed.
8 As a snail meltcth as it goeth,
an untimely birth of a woman,— they have not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns,
as well green as burning, he will sweep it away with a tempest.
10 The righteous will rejoice that he hath seen vengeance;
his steps he will bathe in the blood of the wicked.
11 And men will say, Verily, there is fruit for the righteous,
verily, there is a G6d that judgeth in the earth.
Pa. Iviii. (title). Do not destroy. As in Ps. Ivii. (title).
Ver. 1. In silence. A bitter sarcasm. Is it with silence that ye perform the oflSce of speech, dumb when ye ought t«
speak, and declare the right ?
Ver. 2. In heart: the heart itself being a fountain only of evil.
Ver. 4. Or, As a deaf adder, he stoppeth his ear.
Ver. 7, 2d member, He.: the enemy. — They (the arrows) shaU be as if severed, harmless as if cut in twain. So Hupfeld
in his commentary. But in his crit. note, "//e (Jehovah) Jits his arrows; [it is] as if they (the enemy) would be cut off."
The Heb. expression, it must be admitted, is difficult; but a result more certain tlian an, "asif,^' was surely intended.
Ter. 8. They are like the snail, that dissolves in slime as it goes ; like the untimely birth, that has never seen the sun.
So do they melt away ; so short their life, it is as though they had not lived at all.
Ver. 9. Before, etc. Before your schemes can be matured and carried into effect. — Thorns : used as fuel ; compare
Eccl. vii. 6.
Ver. 9, 2d member. As well green as burning. In every stage of progress, as well incipient as final. — It: comprehend-
ing all in one.
PSALM LIX,
To the chief Musician. Do not destroy. Memorial l^Psalm"] of David, when Saul sentf
and they watched the house to slay him.
Deliver me from my enemies, O my God.
Thou wilt set me on high from them that rise up against me.
Deliver me from workers of iniquity,
and from men of blood save me.
For lo, they lie in wait for my soul ;
strong ones are gathered against me,
not for my transgression, and not for my sin, O Jehovah,
For no iniquity, they run and prepare themselves ;
awake, to meet me, and behold.
And thou Jehovah, God of hosts,
God of Israel,
awake to visit all the heathen ;
spare no iniquitous traitors. ( Pause.)
PSALM LX. 731
6 They return at evening ; they howl like the dog;
and they go round the city.
7 Lo, they belch out with their mouth ;
swords are in their lips ;
for who doth hear ?
8 But thou, Jehovah, wilt laugh at them;
thou wilt mock at all the heathen.
9 My strength, I will wait on thee;
for God is my defense.
10 God, with his loving-kindness, will anticipate me;
God will let me see my desire on my enemies.
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget ;
make them reel by thy might, and bring them down,
our shield, 0 Lord !
12 A sin of their mouth, is the word of their lips ;
and they shall be taken in their pride,
and for cursing, and for the falsehood they tell.
13 Consume in wrath, consume till they are no more ;
and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob,
to the ends of the earth. (Pause.)
14 And they will return at evening, will howl like the dog,
and will go round the city.
15 As for them, they will wander about for food ;
if they are not sated, they will remain all night.
16 But as for me, I will sing of thy might;
and will sing aloud of thy loving-kindness in the morning.
For thou hast been a tower of defense for me,
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 My strength, unto thee will I sing praise ;
for God is my defense, my gracious God,
Ps. lix. (title). Do not destroy. As in Psalm Ivii. (title). — When Sard sent, etc. See 1 3am. xix. 11-18.
Ver. 4. Prepa/re themselves : for the assault.
Ter. 5. If all the heathen (first member) are to be visited with his displeasure, much more the revolted and traitors
fUDong his own people.
Vei. 9. My strength. As in some Hebrew manuscripts, and in ancient versions.
Ter. 10, 2d member. See the remark on Ps. liv. 7.
Ver. 12, Ist member. Meaning: whatever word they utter is sinful ; it is a sin of their mouth.
Ter. 13. Lei them know that God ruleth. Thit zf^ for the honor of God'a government inspires the Psalmist's appeals to
Ids justice.
PSALM LX.
To the chief Musician. After [the melody'\ Lily of Testimony. Memorial [Psclm'] of David, to he
taught ; when he strove with Aram Naharaim, and with Aram of Zobah, and Joab
returned and smote Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand.
1 0 God, thou hast cast us off, hast scattered us.
Thou wast angry ; thou wilt restore to us.
2 Thou hast made the earth quake ; thou hast rent it;
heal the breaches thereof, for it shaketh.
3 Thou hast showed thy people a hard thing ;
thou hast made us drink wine even to reeling.
4 Thou hast given to them that fear thee a banner, ^
to be lifted up because of truth. {Pause.)
5 That thy beloved ones may be delivered,
save with thy right hand and answer me.
6 God hath spoken in his holiness. I will triumph ;
I will divide Shechem, and will mete out the valley of Succoth.
4
732 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseth is mine,
and Ephraim is the defense of my head ;
Judah is my ruler's staff.
8 Moab is my wash-basin ;
upon Edom will I cast my shoe.
Because of me, Philistia, cry aloud.
9 Who will conduct me to the fenced city ?
Who hath led me unto Edom ?
10 Is it not thou, O God, that didst cast us off,
and goest not forth, 0 God, with our armies?
11 Give us help from the foe;
for vain is the deliverance of man.
12 Through God we will do valiantly ;
and he it is that will tread down our foes. '
Ps. Ix. (title). LUy, the symbol of purity and loveliness ; testimony, the diyine law ; hence, Beanty of the Divine Law,
name of a melody to which this psalm was to bo sung.
To he, taught. Namely, the lesson of temporary and partial reverses, (vers. 1-3), with assurance of altimate triumph
through God (vers. 4-12). For a similar direction see Deut. xxxi. 19 ("write this soog for you, and teach it to the children
of Israel "), and 2 Sam. i. 18 (properly, " teach the children of Judah The Bow," a song so named from v. 22).
Aram: Syria, — Aram Naharaim : Syria of the two rivers (Mesopotamia). For the historical events referred to, com-
pare 2 Sam. viii. 13. 1 Chron. xviii. 12.
Vers. 1-3 seem to refer to reverses in the early condnct of the war, of which only the final triumphs are recorded in
history.
Ver. 3. Hast made us drink vyine: a common expression of the Divine displeasore. See, for example, Ps. Ixxv. 8 ; Jer.
XXV. 15 ; Rev. xvl. 19,
Ver. 7. Rider's staff. See Gen. xlix. 10, " The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's stafiF from between
hifl feet" (the writer's revised version).
Ver. 8, 3d member. Or, Over me, Philistia, cry aloud. (Ironical.)
Ver. 9. Hath led me. Apparently anticipating, and taking for granted, that which he desires and seeks.
PSALM LXI.
To the chief Musician. Upon a stringed instrument. A IPsalml of David.
1 Hear, 0 God, my cry ;
attend unto my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to thee when my heart fainteth.
To a rock, too high for me, thou wilt lead me.
3 For thou hast been a refuge for me,
a tower of strength, from before the enemy.
4 I will abide in thy tabernacle forever;
I will take refuge in the covert of thy wings. {Pause.^
5 For thou, 0 God, hast hearkened to my vows ;
hast given the heritage of them that fear thy name.
6 Thou wilt add days to the days of the king,
his years as many generations.
7 He shall sit [on the throne] before God forever ;
cause that mercy and truth preserve him.
8 So will I sing praise to thy name forever,
that I may perform my vows, day by day.
Ver. 2. Too high for me : whose summit I can not reach without aid, and to which thon wilt lead me. The language,
of course, is figurative ; but the literal imagery should be consistent with itself. A rock may be " higher than I," and not
be a very high rock.
PSALM LXn.
To the chief Musician over Jeduthun. A Psalm of Davids
Only in God is my soul quieted ;
from him is my salvation.
Only he is my rock, and my salvation,
my high place ; I shall not be greatly moved.
PSALM LXIII. 733
3 How long will ye rush upon a man, •
will break him down, all of you,
as a wall inclined, as a fence that is thrust down ?
4 They only consult to thrust him from his elevation ;
they delight in falsehood.
They bless, each with his mouth, but in their inward part they curse. (Pause.)
5 Only in God be thou quieted, my soul ;
for from him is my hope.
6 Only he is my rock, and my salvation,
my high place ; I shall not be moved.
7 On God [rests] my salvation, ^d my glory ;
the rock of my strength, my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times, f e people ;
pour out your heart before him ;
God is a refuge for us. (Pause.)
9 Only vanity are men of low degree, men of high degree a lie ;
in the balances they surely go up ;
together are they less than vanity.
10 Trust not in oppression,
and be not vain in robbery ;
when riches increase, set not the heart upon them.
11 Once hath God spoken,
twice have I heard this,
that power belongeth to God.
12 And to thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy ;
for thou wilt render to man according to his work.
Pb. Ixii. (title). Jeduthun. A collective, representing the family, or choir, of that name. Compare Ps. xxsix. (title),
PSALM LXIIL
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah,
1 0 God, my God art thou ; earnestly will I seek thee.
My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh pineth for thee, ^
m a land of drought, and fainting, without water.
2 So, in the sanctuary, have I beheld thee,
to see thy power and thy glory.
3 For thy loving-kindness is better than life ;
my lips shall praise thee.
4 So will I bless thee while I live;
in thy name will I lift up my hands.
5 As with marrow and with fatness shall my soul be satisfied,
and my mouth shall praise with joyful lips ;
6 when I remember thee upon my bed, — ■ - -
in the night-watches 1 meditate on thee.
7 For thou hast been a help for me,
and in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice,
8 My soul hath followed close upon theej
thy right hand hath upheld me.
9 And they, to [their] destruction will they seek my soul;
they shall go into the depths of the earth.
10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword ;
a portion for jackals shall they be.
r34 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
11 But the king will rejoice in God; •
they shall glory, every one that sweareth by him.
For the mouth of them that speak falsehood shall be stopped.
Pb. Ixiii. (title). See 2 Sam. xv. 23, 28.
Ver. 2. So : namely, as I now long to behold thee, that I may see (may apprehend) thy power and thy glory.
Ver. 3. Better than life ; more to be desired.* „
Ver. 6. Mght watches. Of these there were three ; the " beginning of the watches (Lam. ii. 19), the middle watch
(Judges vii. 19), the " morning watch " (Ex. xiv. 24).
Ver. 10. The jaclcal is common in Palestine, and feeds on bodies of the slain. . a -n • io
Ver. 11. That swears by him : appealing to him &a the true God, and a God that delights in truth. See Deut. vi. 13,
la. IXT. 16; and compare Amos viii. 14.
PSALM LXIV.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear, 0 God, my voice in my complaint ;
from terror of the enemy thou wilt preserve my life.
2 Thou wilt hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers,
from the tumultuous throng of workers of iniquity;
3 who have sharpened their tongue like a sword,
have fitted their arrow, — bitter speech,
4 to shoot, in the secret places, at the upright.
Suddenly will they shoot at him, and will not fear.
5 They strengthen their evil design ;
they concert how to conceal snares.
They have said, who will look upon them ?
6 They search for iniquities ;
we are ready [say they] ; a device searched out I
And the inward part of each, and the heart, is deep.
7 But God hath shot at them ;
with an arrow, suddenly, themselves are smitten.
8 And he hath made them stumble ; their own tongue is against them.
They flee away, every one that looketh upon them,
9 And all men feared,
and declared God's doing ;
and his work they attentively consider.
10 The righteous will rejoice in Jehovah, and trust in him ;
and all the upright in heart will glory.
Ver. 1. Terror of the enemy : the peril , that which I have reason to dread from him.
Ver. 5. Strengthen. Make strong ; so frame their malicious plot as to make its success sure.
Ver. 6. Search for iniquities. That is. Invent, contrive them ; as indicated, in the next following line, by their boast-
ful exclamation, " a device searched out I "
Ver. 7. Literally, — suddenly become (are inflicted) their [own] wounds. The pronoun is rendered emphatic by the con-
nection with V. 4 ; the woundu they purpose to inflict on others become their own. Htjpfeld's construction of the verse
(disapproved by his editor, Riehm) is certainly the true one. The subst. verb, VJlj is emphatic, the German sind da.
Ver. 8. Their own tongue is against them. Compare ver. 3. Their tongue, which they '* have sharpened like a iword "
for another's ruin, is now the instrument of their own.
PSALM LXV.
To the chUf Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song,
1 To thee belong submission, praise, 0 God, in Zion ;
and to thee shall the vow be paid.
2 Thou that hearest prayer,
unto thee shall all flesh come.
* The writer may be pafdoned for inserting the following comment on these striking words. " Thy loving-hindnest ii
better than life. The implication of immortality. In what sense could Bis loving kindness be better than life, if it ceased
with the cessation of life ? A eonscious possession, independent of the earthly life and superior 10 it, something for which
the earthly life might properly be sacrificed, something therefore Indestructible by the death of the body, can alone come
up to the measure of the thought hers expressed." (MS. note by the late Mas. H. 0. Conant).
PSALM LXVL ;35
3 Iniquities have prevailed over me ;
our transgressions, thou thyself wilt cover them.
4 Happy he whom thou wilt choose and bring near ;
he shall dwell in thy courts.
We shall be satisfied with the riches of thy house,
thy holy temple.
6 By fearful things in righteousness wilt thou answer us
O God of our salvation, *
the confidence of all the en(^s of earth and sea, afar ofi";
6 who setteth fast the mountains by his strength,
girded with power;
7 who stilleth the roar of the seas, the roar of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
^ rrrj'^^^ ^^^® *^®^ *^^* ^^®^^ ^^ *^^ utmost parts afraid at thy tokens.
Thou causest the outgoings of morning and evening to rejoice.
9 , Thou hast visited the earth and made it overflow ;
thou greatly enrichest it ;
the river of God is fiill of water.
Thou preparest their grain ; for so dost thou prepare the earth ;
10 drenching its furrows, settling its ridges;
thou makest it soft with showers,
its springing up thou dost bless.
11 Thou hast crowned the year with thy goodness,
and thy footsteps drip with fatness ;
12 the pastures of the wilderness, they drip,
and the hills gird themselves with gladness.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks,
and the valleys are robed with grain ;
they shout together, yea they sing.
Zll' I' C° f^ %^l ®*°* 7*°° ^^*^ * °'**'"' ^°^ eubmiasion in times of sorrow, for praise in seasons of joT.
Ver, 4. ^ic/t€»o/<fty ftozwp: its wealth of spiritual blessings. i v f» o iu dchbuud oijuj^.
Ver. 9. Overflow : with plenty,—^. Namely, with this design, and for this end.*
•
PSALM LXVI.
To the chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.
1 Shout unto God, all the earth.
Sing the glory of his name ;
2 ascribe glory, the praise due to him.
3 Say unto God, how fearful are thy doings 1
In the greatness of thy strength shall thy enemies profess submission to thee.
4 All the earth shall worship thee,
and shall sing praise to thee ;
they shall sing praise to thy name. (Pause.)
5 Go, and see the doings of God ;
fearful in action toward the sons of men I
6 He turned the sea .into dry land ;
they passed through the flood on foot ;
there we rejoiced in him.
7 He rules by his might forever.
His eyes keep watch among the nations ;
let not the rebellious exalt themselves. {Pause.)
8 Bless our God, ye peoples,
and cause the voice of his praise to be heard ;
r * In the Hebrew, " for so dost thoa prepare her;^' referring to " the earth," which the Ileb. pronoun repi-eaents. The
English pronoun (it) Would necessarily refer to "grain," and would represent neither the meaning of the Hebrew nor its
lurm^
736 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
9 who holdeth our soul in life.
and hath not suffered our foot to be moved.
10 For thou hast tried us, 0 God ;
thou hast assayed us, as silver is assayed.
11 Thou didst bring us into the net ;
thou didst lay a heavy burden on our loins.
12 Thou didst cause men to ride over our head ;
we went through fire and through water ;
and thou hast brought us out to overflowing plenty.
13 I will come into thy house with burnt-offerings ;
I will pay to thee my vows,
14 which my lips uttered,
and my mouth spake, in my distress.
15 Burnt-offerings of fatlings will I offer to thee,
with incense of rams ;
I will offer oxen with he-goats. (Pause).
16 Come, hear, and I will declare,
all ye that fear God,
what he hath done for my soul.
17 To him I cried with my mouth j
and praise is beneath my tongue,
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me.
19 But verily God hath heard me ;
he hath attended to the voice of my prayer,
20 Blessed be God,
who hath not turned away my prayer,
and his mercy from me.
Ver, 6. We rejoiced in him. See Ex. ch. xv.
Ver. 17. BenmUi.my tongue. Ready for utterance; ever there, and waiting for expression. Compare Ps. x. 7, " under
his tongue " (in store there).
PSALM LXVII.
To the chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm, A Song,
1 God be gracious to us, and bless us,
cause his face to shine upon us ; (Pause.)
2 that thy way may be known in the earth,
thy salvation among all the heathen.
3 Let the peoples praise thee, 0 God ;
let the peoples praise thee, all of them.
4 Let the nations be glad and shout for joy ;
for thou wilt judge the people righteously,
and the nations in the earth, thou wilt guide them. (Pause»)
5 Let the peoples praise thee, 0 God ;
let the peoples praise thee, all of them.
6 The earth hath yielded her increase ;
God, our God, will bless us.
7 G6d will bless us ;
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Ver. 2. thy talvaUort. CoVBJlftAti!, MxMhew (so called), CRANMEft, TAVfiRWEft, Gei»bVai», « tby fiatlftg healtll ** ft r6ll«
derlng nowhere else given to the Heb. word ; Bishops. " thy salvation," aa the word is everywhere else properly rendered
and should be rendered here. KiKa James' reviserd hefe retain the forni of Caan«<er'8 vsfsioD in the Prayer Book. '
PSALM LXVIII. 737
PSALM LXVIII.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered ;
and let them that hate him flee before him.
2 As smoke is driven, thou wilt drive them;
as wax is melted before the fire,
the wicked shall perish before God.
3 But the righteous shall be glad ;
they shall exult before God,
and shall rejoice with gladness.
4 Sing to God ; sing praise to his name.
Cast up a way for him that rides through the deserts,
by his name, Jah, and triumph before him.
5 A father of the orphans, and a judge of the widows,
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God maketh the solitary dwell in families ;
he bringeth out prisoners into prosperity ;
but rebels inhabit a parched land.
7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people,
when thou didst march through the desert, (Paiise.)
8 earth shook, yea, the heavens dropped, at the presence of God,
that Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 With plentiful rain thou didst sprinkle, O God, thy heritage,
and when fainting, thou thyself hast raised it up.
10 Thy flock, they have dwelt therein ;
thou, O God, dost provide in thy goodness for the poor.
11 The Lord giveth the word ;
the women that publish the glad tidings are a mighty host.
12 Kings of armies flee, they flee,
and the dweller in the house, she divideth the spoil.
13 Will ye lie down among the sheepfolds,
the wings of the dove overlaid with silver,
and her feathers with yellow gold ?
14 When the Almighty scattered kings therein,
it was snow-white on Salmon.
15 A mount of God is the mount of Bashan ;
a mount of peaks is the mount of Bashan.
16 Why watch ye jealously, ye mountain peaks,
the mount which God desired, to dwell in it?
Yea, Jehovah will abide here forever.
17 The chariots of God are myriad-fold, thousands upon thousands ;
the Lord is among them — Sinai in the sanctuary !
18 Thou hast ascended on high, hast led captive the captured,
hast taken gifts among men,
and even rebels, that Jah, God, may abide here.
19 Blessed be the Lord, day by day ;
he beareth our burden ; God is our salvation. (Pause.)
20 God is to us a God for deliverances ;
and to Jehovah the Lord belong ways of escape from death.
21 Surely God will crush the head of his enemies,
the hairy crown of him that goeth on in his trespasses.
22 The Lord hath said, From Bashan will I bring back,
I will bring back from the depths of the sea ;
47
738 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
23 that thy foot may bathe in blood,
the tongue of thy dogs have its portion from the enemies.
24 They saw thy goings. O God,
the goings of my God, my king, in the sanctuary.
25 Before went singers, behind, players on stringed instruments,
in the midst of maidens beating timbrels.
26 In companies they bless God,
the Lord, they that are of Israel's fountain.
27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler ;
princes of Judah, their multitude ;
princes of Zebulon, princes of Naphtali.
28 Thy God hath commanded thy strength ;
strengthen, O God, what thou hast wrought for us.
29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem,
kings shall bring presents to thee.
30 Rebuke the beast of the reeds,
the herd of bullocks, with the calves of the peoples,
prostrating themselves with pieces of silver.
He hath scattered peoples that delight in wars.
31 Princes shall come out of Egypt ;
Ethiopia shall eagerly stretch out her hands to God
32 Kingdoms of the earth, sing unto God ;
sing praises to the Lord ; {Pause.)
33 to him that rideth in the heavens of heavens of old.
Lo, he uttereth his voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God.
Over Israel is his majesty,
and his strength in the clouds.
35 Terrible art thou, O God, out of thy holy places,
Mighty One of Israel ;
he that giveth strength and peace to the people.
Blessed be God !
Ps. Ixviii. This eublime historic hymn, exceeding in grandeur of conception, and in beauty of poetic imagery, th«
finest productions of classic literature, must be minutely compared with the earlier historic records on which its numerous
allusions are founded. Its archaic coloring (compare the note on ver. 4, 3d member) should not be overlooked. — The
psalm commemorates some event of national interest, as indicated by the triumphal procession described in vera. 24-27.
The entrance of the ark of God, the symbol of his presence, into the tabernacle on Mount Zion is, with some reason, sup-
posed to have been the immediate occusion of the psalm. Its lofty, lyric tone is indicated by the addition, " a song."
Ver. 4. Cast up away: as a preparation for the march of a king and his armies over pathless wastes. Compare Is.
xl. 3, 4.
Ver. 4, 3d member. By his name Jah : in the character denoted by it, and the power implied in it. This abbreviation
of Jehovah, frequent in the Psalms, is found in the song of Moses and the children of Israel, Ex. xv. 2 (properly, " Jah is
my strength and song ") ; and in ch. xvii. 16 (properly Jah, instead of Lord in the first instance). This usage of very an-
cient national poetry was a favorite archaism with later poets ; recalling the oldest records of the nation s trust in God, and
of its proudest triumphs achieved in this favorite name. There is no good reason why this distinctive trait of national
feeling in the Heb. Scriptures should be effaced, or obscured, to those who read them in an English version.
Ver. 6, 1st member. Compare Ps. cxiii. 9.
Ver. 8. The heavens. The upper air, the region of clouds and storms, aa in the following references. — Dropped. Fell
in drops. Compare Judges v. 4, " the heavens dropped, yea, the clouds dropped water ;" Is. xlv. 8, " drop down, ye hea-
vens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousaesB."
Ver. 8, 2d member. That Sinai. Thus pointed out, as the scene of God's most wonderful manifestation of his presence
and authority.
Ver. 9. Or, With a rain of free gifts (namely, manna, etc.).
Ver 11. The women thai publish the glad tidings. As in Ex. xv. 20, " all the women went out with timbrels ;" 1 Sam.
xviii. 6, "the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singins," etc. Vers. 12-14 may be understood to be the message
which they proclaim. Others translate. Women publish the glad tidings to the mighty host. In the first member of this
verse, "word" may mean, either the word of command to march on the enemy, followed by the triumphant announce-
ment of victory, or the joyful message of victory to be proclaimed.
Ver. 12. Kings of armies. Compare Judges v. 19, " The kings came and fought." — The dweller in the fwuse. The
housewife.
Ver. 13. A sharp remonstrance. Will ye lie at ease, in the quiet repose of your pastoral life, as the dove with un-
seiled plumage in her peaceful nest, while your brethren are in the tumult and dust of the conflict? Compare Judges v.
16 (to which allusion is made) and 17.
Ver. 14. Salmon. Probably an eminence in the vicinity of Shechem. — Snow-white. With the bones of the slain.
Ver. 15. A mount of God. Denoting what is greatest and noblest of its kind. — A mount of peaks, a mountain range
with many lofty summits. These are represented as ji-alously watching the more humble eminence, which God has dis-
tinguished above them by choosing it for hia abode.
Ver. 17. Myriad-fold. Compared with those of the enemy. Compare 2 Kings vi. 17. Sinai in the saTKluary. In the
sanctuary is repeated the scene of Sinai, where Jehovah appeared, as he now does here, with "myriads of holy ones"
(Deut. xxxiii. 2).
Ver. 18. Hast led captive the captured. That is, hast led the captured as captives, in the train of the victor. Compare
Judges V. 12, properly, " led thy captured captive." — Gifts, Exacted of the vanquished by the conqueror. Abide her*.
Compare ver. 16, 3d member.
PSALM LXIX. 739
Ver, 22. None shall escape; tliey shall find no place of refuge. See the same thought more fully brought out in Am.
ix. 1-3.
Ver. 23. Bathe: after the reading, Vmr\, of the Sept. (/So^ij), Vulg. (iniingatur), Syr. ("'j;iC3:fr\*). The collations of
Kbniticott and De Rossi show no noticeable variation in Heb. MSS. (K., forte "), 301); but the necessity of the casef favors
the reading sanctioned by the unanimous testimony of the ancient versions.
Ver. 21. Qoings. Solemn processions, on account of victory over the enemy, or other occasions of gratitude and re-
joicing.
Ver. 27. There. In the triumphal procession, the description of v^hich commences with var. 24. — Their ruler. An an-
cient prophetic idea. Compare Mic. v. 2.
Ver. 30. Beast of the reeds. Egypt, designated by one of its characteristic ruprfsentativea in the animal kingdom.
Compare Job xl. 21.
Ver. 30, 2d member. Bullocks. The strong ones of the people, their leaders. — Calves of the peoples. The weaker ones,
the common people.
Ver. 30, 3d member. With pieces of silver. As tribute-money for the conqueror.
PSALM LXIX.
To the chief Musician. To the [melody'] Lilies. [A Psalm] of David.
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come in, even to the soul.
2 I am sunk in mire of the deep, and there is no standing-place.
I am come into the depths of waters,
and the flood hath overwhelmed me.
3 I am weary with my crying, my throat is parched ;
my eyes fail, while I wait for my God.
4 More than the hairs of my head are they that hate me without cause ;
strong are they that would destroy me, my enemies wrongfully.
What I took not away, must I then restore.
5 O God, thou knowest as to my foolishness,
and my trespasses have not been hidden from thee.
6 Let not them be ashamed in me, that wait for thee,
0 Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
Let not them be dishonored in me, that seek thee,
O God of Israel.
7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach ;
shame hath covered my face.
8 I am become a stranger to my brethren,
and an alien to the sons of my mother.
9 For zeal for thy house consumed me,
and the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
10 And I wept, while ray spirit fasted,
and it was a reproach to me.
11 And I made sackcloth my garment,
and I became a by-word to them.
12 They talk of me, they that sit in the gate,
and the songs of the drinkers of strong drink.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Jehovah ;
at a time of acceptance, 0 God, in the abundance of thy mercy,
answer me in the truth of thy salvation.
14 Kescue me out of the mire, and let me not sink ;
let me be rescued from them that hate me,
and from the depths of waters.
15 Let not the flood of waters overwhelm me,
and let not the deep swallow me up,
and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16 Answer me, O Jehovah, for thy loving-kindness is good ;
According to the multitude of thy compassions turn unto me.
* For want of Syriac types, the corresponding Hebrew letters are used.
t Statt des sinnlosen ^^HOn muss nach Iviii. 11 oflfenbar yn"ir\ gelesen werden (Hupfeld).
740 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
17 And do not hide thy face from thy servant ;
for I am in trouble, — make haste to answer me.
18 Draw nigh to my soul, redeem it ;
because of my enemies deliver me.
19 Thou dost know my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor;
all my adversaries are before thee.
20 Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am sick ;
and I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 And they put gall in my food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table before them be for a snare,
and to the secure for a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see,
and make their loins waver continually.
24 Pour upon them thine indignation,
and let the heat of thine anger overtake them.
25 Let their habitation be desolated,
let there be no dweller in their tents.
26 For whom thou hast smitten they persecute,
and tell of the pain of thy wounded.
27 Add iniquity to their iniquity,
and let them not come into thy righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted from the book of life,
and with the righteous let them not be written.
29 And I am afflicted and sorrowful ;
thy salvation, O God, shall set me on high.
30 I will praise the name of God in song,
and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 It will better please Jehovah than an ox, a bullock,
with horns, with cloven hoofs.
32 The humble have seen it ; they will rejoice.
Seekers of God, let your hearts revive !
33 For Jehovah hearkeneth to the needy,
and his prisoners he hath not despised.
34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas, and everything that moveth therein.
35 For God will save Zion,
and will build the cities of Judah ;
and they dwell there, and shall possess it.
36 And the seed of his servants shall inherit it,
and they that love his name shall abide therein.
Ver. 4, 3d member. Then : in that case, though I took it not, aa falsely charged.
• Yer. 6. In me : as repreeeating them all.
Ver. 12. And the songs (talk of me) ; I am their theme (Job xxx. 9, "I am become their song," the writer's revised
Tersion).
Ver. 13, 3d member. The truth of thy salvation. The salvation of God is truth and fidelity, on his part, to those who
trust in him. He " is faithful and just to forgive " (1 John i. 9).
Ver. 22. Their table before them : at which they sit, feasting and suspecting no evil. So in the next member, " to the
secure," apprehending no danger.
Vera. 22-28. It has been well said by Dr. Alexander (on this passage) that these imprecations are " revolting only
when considered as the expression of malignant selfishness. If uttered by God, they shock no reader's sensibilities, nor
should they when considered as the language of an ideal person, representing the whole class of righteous suflferers, and
particularly Him, who, though he prayed for his murderers while dying (Luke xxiii. 34), has applied the words of this
passage to the unbelieving Jews (Matt, xxiii. 38), as Paul did afterward (Rom. xi. 9, 10)." See a full and satisfactory dis-
cussion of the subject in the article, " Imprecatory Psalms " (added to the art. Psalms, in the American edition of Smith's
Bible Dictionary), especially division (v).
"Ver. 27. As each new act of iniquity is committed, add it to the former sum.
Ver. 27, 2d member. Let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them have no participation in it.
Ver. 31. With cloven hoqfs. All others being accounted unclean (Lev. xiil. 3-8).
PSALM LXXI. 74,
PSALM LXX.
To the chief Musician. [A Paalm-\ of David. To bring to remembrance,
0 God, — to my rescue,
O Jehovah, — to my help make haste.
They shall be ashamed and confounded that seek my soul ;
they shall be turned back and put to confusion that delight in my harm.
They shall turn back for a reward of their shame,
who say. Aha ! Aha !
They shall rejoice and be glad in thee, all that seek thee ;
and they shall say always, God be magnified,
that love thy salvation.
And I am afflicted and needy ;
O God, make haste to me.
My help and my deliverer art thou ;
0 Jehovah, do not delay I
PSALM LXXL
1 In thee Jehovah I put my trust ;
let me not be ashamed, forevermore.
2 In thy righteousness thou wilt rescue me, and deliver me ;
incline to me thine ear, and save me.
3 Be thou to me a rock of refuge, to come thither continually.
Thou hast commanded to save me,
for my rock and my fortress art thou.
4 My God, deliver me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the perverse and violent.
5 For thou art my hope,
0 Lord, Jehovah, my trust from my youth.
6 On thee have I been sustained from the womb ;
thou art he that took me from the bowels of my mother.
Of thee is my praise continually,
7 As a wonder have I been to many ;
but thou art my strong refuge.
8 My mouth shall be filled with thy praise,
with thy majesty, all the day.
9 Cast me not away at the time of old age ;
as my strength faileth, do not forsake me. 4
10 For my enemies have said it of me ;
and they that watch for my soul have counseled together,
11 saying, God hath forsaken him,
pursue and take him, for there is none to rescue.
12 0 God, be not far from me ;
my God, make haste to my help.
13 They shall be ashamed, shall consume away, that are adversaries of my soul ;
They shall be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my harm.
14 But I, continually will I hope,
and will add to all thy praise.
15 My mouth shall recount thy righteousness,
thy salvation all the day,
for I know not the numbers.
742 SECOND BOOK OF PSALMS.
16 I mil come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jehovah;
I will make mention df thy righteousness, thine only.
17 0 God, thou hast taught me from my youth ;
and hitherto do I make known thy wondrous works.
18 And even to old age, and hoary hairs, O God, do not forsake me,
till I shall make known thine arm to generations,
thy might to every one that is to come.
19 And thy righteousness, O God, is even unto the height,
thou who hast done great things.
0 God, who is like to thee?
20 Thou, who hast made us see troubles great and sore,
wilt again revive us, *
and from the abysses of the earth wilt bring us up again.
21 Thou wilt increase my greatness, and wilt turn again to comfort me.
22 I too will praise thee, with an instrument, a lute,
thy truth, O my God ;
1 will sing praise to thee with the harp, thou Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall rejoice, for I will sing praise to thee,
and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
24 Also my tongue all the day shall speak of thy righteousness ;
for they are confounded, they are brought to shame, that seek my harm.
Ver. 5, 3d member. Oftfw.e ; strictly, in thee. ; having thee for its origin, subject, and end, — all in thee.
Ver. 14. Will add to all thy praise : shall have further occaaions to praise thee, in addition to all in the past.
Ver. 16. I will come: namely, into thy house ; aa in Ps. xlii. 2, "When shall I come, and appear before Grod?" Com-
pare Ps. Ixvi. 13. There it id said, " I will come into thy house with burnt-oflferinga ;" here, "with the mighty deeds of the
Lord Jehovah " (the thankful recognition of them).
Ver. 19. Tfie height: the summit, the highest point; here equivalent to the heavens. Compare the sentiment in Ps.
Ivii. 10, " Great, unto the heavens, is thy mercy."
Ver. 20. Abysses of the earth. Abysses of water within the earth, conceived as the exhaustless source of streams that
issue on its surface. See Gen. xlix. 25, " the abyss that lieth under: " Deut. Till. 7, properly, " and of abysses issuing forth
in valley and in mountain ; " x^xiii. 13, " the abyss lying beneath.
PSALM LXXIL
[.4 Psalml of Solomon,
1 O God, give to the king thy judgments,
and thy righteousness to the king's son.
2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with rectitude.
3 The mountains shall bear peace for the people,
and the hills, by righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people;
he shall save the sons of the needy ;
he shall break in pieces the oppressor.
6 They shall* fear thee while the sun endures,
as long as the moon, to all generations.
6 He shall come down as rain upon the mown grass,
a^ showers that refresh the earth.
7 In his days shall the righteous flourish,
and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.
8 And he shall rule from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth.
9 They of the desert shall crouch before him,
and his enemies shall lick the dust.
10 Kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents ;
kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 And all kings shall bow down to him ;
all nations shall serve him.
PSALM LXXII. 743
12 For he will rescue the needy, crying for help,
the poor, and him that hath no helper.
13 He will have pity on the weak and needy,
and will save the souls of the needy.
14 From extortion and from violence he will redeem their soul ;
and precious is their blood in his eyes.
15 And he shall live ; and they will give him of the gold of Sheba,
and will pray for him continually,
all the day, will bless him.
16 There shall be abundance of grain in the land ;
on the top of the mountains its fruit shall wave like Lebanon;
and they shall bloom forth from the city like the herb of the earth.
17 His name shall be forever ;
as long as the sun shall his name flourish.
And in him shall they bless themselves ;
all nations shall call him happy.
18 Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel,
who alone doeth wonders.
19 And blessed be his glorious name forevermore ;
and let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen, and Amen.
The prayers of David the Son of Jesse are ended.
Pa. Ixxii. (title). Of Solqmon. See exegetical notes.
Ver. 1. Qiva to tJie king. Confer upon him, along with the powers of a sovereign ruler, the qualifications for duly exer^-
cising them. The thought, in both members of this verse, is expanded in Is. xi. 2-4.
Ver. 6. That refresh. Lit., a pouring rain of the earth, one that is suflQcient for it and satisfies it ; Ewald, S'dttigung
der Erde.
Ver. 15. lBt,2d, and 3d members. They will give, etc. ; the indeterminate 3d pers. (|ri\ one will give=there shall be
given, etc.), Gesenius, Gram, g 137, 3. On the question respecting the subject in these three clauses, see the exegetical
notes.
Ver. 16, 3d member. Shall bloom forth from the city (the cities as centres of population), multiplying like the herb of
the earth.
ps^ljxj:©.
THIRD BOOK.
PSALMS LXXIIL— IiXXXIX.
PSALM LXXIII.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely, God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
2 And as for me, my feet almost turned aside j
my steps well-nigh slid.
3 For I was envious at the foolish,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For their death hath no pains,
and their strength is full fed.
5 In the troubles of men they share not,
and they are not plagued in common with men.
6 Therefore pride is become their necklace ;
the garb of violence covereth them.
7 Their eyes stand out with fetness ;
they have more than heart conceiveth.
8 They mock, and with malice they speak oppression ;
from on high they speak.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens,
and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore do his people turn away hither,
and waters in abundance are eagerly drained by them.
11 And they say. How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High ?
12 Behold, such are the wicked;
and forever secure they have increased wealth.
13 Surely, in vain have I cleansed my heart,
and washed my hands in innocency;
14 and been smitten all the day long,
my chastisement morning by morning.
15 If I say, I will declare thus,
behold, I should deal falsely with the generation of thy children.
16 And I meditated to know this ;
it was an evil in my eyes ;
17 till I went into the sanctuary of God, —
gave heed to their end.
746 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
18 Surely, thou dost set them in slippery places ;
thou dost cast them down to ruin.
19 How are they brought to desolation as in a moment !
They are swept away, they are consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh,
0 Lord, when thou awakest, thou dost despise their image.
21 For my heart is embittered^
and I am pierced in my reins.
22 And I am brutish, and know not ;
a beast have I been before thee.
23 But I am continually with thee ;
thou hast kept hold of my right hand.
24 Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel,
and afterward wilt receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven ?
And with thee, I have no delight on the earth.
26 My strength and my heart fail;
the rock of my heart and my portion is God forevermore.
27 For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish ;
thou hast destroyed all that adulterously forsake thee.
28 And as for me, to draw near to God is good for me.
1 have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,
that I may tell of all thy works.
Ter. 4. FuUfed. Strictly, fed even to fatness, — in ordinary nse, fattened with feeding,
Ver. 6. Pride is become their necklace. The lofty neck of pride is meant ; the natural indication of a haughty and
enpercilious spirit. Pride encircles it, as does a necklace. — Covers them. Strictly, covers to them; makes a cover for them
(Hopfeld). Djsutzsoh, their violence covers them as a garment.
Ver. 7, 2d member. Lit., they exceed (go beyond) the imaginations of the heart.
Ver. 8. Tliey speak oppression. Their word is power. Th^y have only to speak, and their oppressive will is done.
Ver. 10. The sense appears to be: Therefore do his (God's) people turn away hither (from the right way into these for-
bidden ways, where they see others prospering), and find a full supply — " waters in abundance." In the next following
verso this practical atheism finds expression in words.
Ver. 15. If I say: purpose in my heart. — Declare thus : make known these perplexing doubts.
Ver. 18. The relation of the Imperf. and Per/. (Gese.nios, Gram. ? 126, 3, 2d paragr., and g 127, 2), in this verse, happily
illustrates the statement in v. 17, 2d member. "Thou dost set them " {Imperf., the act conceived as going on indefinitely
in future time) ; " thou dost let them fall " (Per/., conceived as an act that still goes on, as in all past time). This relation
of the present to past and future, so readily suggested to the Hebrew mind, we have no adequate means of expressing.
The use of our more strictly defined past and future tenses throws the relation of time wholly into the past, or wholly into
the future. This is Da. Alexander's error, in the rendering of this verse.
Ver. 20. Tlieir image. Their pomp of pride and power ; as unsubstantial, and as despicable in the sight of God, when
he awakes to deal with them, as is a dream of the night, after awaking.
"Ver. 21. For. Resuminsi; the thought from vers. 16, 17, and his state of mind there referred to, as an introduction to
the just condemnation of himself in v. 22.
Ver. 24. Afterward. inX darnacJi, nach den Accenten nothwendig Adverb, wie Gen. x. 18 ; xxx. 21 ; Lev. xiv. 8, 19 ;
Spr. XX. 17, u.v. a bei. Ges., T/ies. (Huppeld).
Ver. 25. With thee. Either, with thee for my own, that is, having thee; or, along with thee, in addition to thee.
Ver. 26. The rock of my heart. Its firm and unfailing support.
Ver. 27. Adulter oiisly forsake thee. Representing God's spiritual relation to his chosen people by that of the husband
to the wife (compare Jer. iii. 14, "for I am married to you "), and idolatry as unfaithfulness to that relation.
PSALM LXXIV.
Didactic \_Psalm'\ of Asaph.
Wherefore, O God, hast thou cast off forever ?
Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture ?
Kemember thy congregation thou didst purchase of old,
didst redeem as the tribe of thine inheritance,
this mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift thy steps to the perpetual ruins,
all that the enemy hath wickedly done in the sanctuary.
Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly ;
their ensigns they have set for signs.
It seems as when one lifteth up axe§,
in the thicket of the wood ;
PSALM LXXIV. 747
6 SO now all the carved work thereof
with axe and hammers they beat down.
7 They have set on fire thy sanctuary ;
to the ground have they profaned the dwelling-place of thy name.
8 They said m their heart, Let us destroy them together ;
they have burned all God's places of assembly in the land.
9 Our signs we see not ;
there is no prophet any more,
nor is there any among us that knows how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the foe reproach ?
Shall the enemy contemn thy name forever ?
11 Wherefore dost thou withdraw thy hand, even thy right hand?
Forth from the midst of thy bosom destroy !
12 And God is my king of old,
working deliverances in the earth.
13 Thou didst cleave the sea by thy strength ;
didst break the heads of monsters on the waters.
14 Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan,
didst give him for food to them that people the desert.
15 Thou didst break open the fountain and brook ;
thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.
16 Thine is the day, yea night is thine;
thou hast prepared the light aud sun.
17 Thou hast set all the bounds of the earth ;
summer and winter, — thou hast formed them. "^
18 Remember this, an enemy hath reproached Jehovah,
and a foolish people have contemned thy name.
19 Do not give over to the greedy herd thy turtle-dove;
the congregation of thy poor do not forget forever.
20 Have respect to the covenant ;
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 Let not the oppressed turn back ashamed ;
let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause ;
remember thou art reproached by the fool daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries,
the noise of them that rise against thee, ascending continually.
Ver. 2. T)-ibe of thine inheritance. Compare Is. Ixiii. 17, "the tribes of thine inheritance." The -word may be ren-
dered (in the same general sense), apeopUfor thy possession. The same expression occurs in the New Testament • Tit ii
14, 1 Pet. ii. 9, "a people for a possession." > • •
Ver. 4. Have roared. Like wild beasts. Their ensigns. Their banners, a« the Hebrew word is used in Num. ii. 2.
For signs. Tokens to them of triumph and conquest ; to us, of humiliation and abandonment by God. Compare ver! 9,
The same Hebrew word is here rendered ensign and "sign, having both these senses. Some would translate, Their signs
they have set for signs; " their signs " meaning either the marks of their ravages, or their idolatrous images, or their un-
holy rite-", or all these ; "ttiey have set for signs," in the sense above given.*
Ver. 5. Their ravages are as reckless and destructive as the woodman's axe in the forest. — It seems (VIV, it makes
itself known, it shows itself). So Ewald, es scheint wie wenn; Delitzisch, es sah sich an, wie wenn; Hupfjild es thut sich
Jnmd—erscheint.
Ver 8. God's places of assembly. For religious instruction and devotion, not for services peculiar to the temple.
Ver. 11. Forth from the midst of thy bosom.: whence the destroying force, now reposing inactive there, shall be drawn
forth.
Ver. 13. Didst cleave the sea. Ex. xiv. 21.
Ver. 14. Leviathan.f A general name for reptiles and fishes of monstrous size; as the serpent (or dragon) Is. xxvii.
1, Job iii. 8 ; the crocodile Job xli. 1 ; a sea-monster (the whale, for example), Ps. civ. 26. As the crocodile, it here sym-
bolizes Egypt (compare the similar case in Ps. Ixviii. 30) and the representatives of its power, whose bodies were given for
food (next member) to bf-asts of prey that peopled the desert. Compare Ex. xiv. 30.
Didstgive: Impprf, denoting what was consequent on the act expressed by the Perf. That people the desert: beasts
of prey. Lit., to a people, them of the desert (wild beasts). Hdpfeld: dem VoUe der Wastenthiere.
Ver. 15, Ist member. See Num. xx. 11, and comp. Is. xlviii. 21.— Didst dry up ever-flowing streams. As the Red Sea
(comp. Ex. xiv. 27, properly "returned to its ceaseless flow," the same word that is used here), and the Jordan (Josh
iii. 16, 17).
Ver. 19. The greedy herd: the only gram, construction of K?3J TVW (Gesenius, lex., HT! 2, and 5y£3J 3).
* To the Hebrew mind the two applications of the word "sign " would be very obvious, though it might not suggest
Itself to us; and the rendering in the text is prob.ibly the true expression of the sense.
t Here for the class to which the individual belongs, with tho effect of a pluraL
748 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM LXXV.
To the chief Musieicm. Do not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph, A song.
1 We give thanks to thee, O God, we give thanks ;
and that .thy name is near, thy wonders have told.
2 For I will take a set time ;
I, I will judge equitably.
8 The earth and all that dwell in it are dissolving ;
I, I bear up its pillars. (Pause.)
4 I said to the proud, Do not deal proudly,
and to the wicked. Do not lift up the horn.
5 Do not lift up on high your horn,
nor speak with a stijQT neck.
6 For not from the east, and not from the west,
ajid not from the south, is promotion.
7 For God is judge ;
he putteth down one, and raiseth up another.
8 For in the hand of Jehovah is a cup,
and it foams with wine, full of mixture ;
and he poureth out thereof.
Yea, its dre^ they shall wring out, shall drink,
all the wicked of the earth.
9 But I, I will make known forever ;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 And all the horns of the wicked will I cut off;
the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
Pb. IxxT. Ctitle). Do not destroy. See the remark on Pa, Ivii. (title).
Ver. 1. Near. For help; a present God, ever at hand, to be invoked in the moment of need. Deut, iv. 7.
Ver. 3, JHssolmng. Melting away, sinking into ruin; a picture of social and political disorder and dissolution. I
bear up its piUars. I maintain order and peace.
It is common to regard vers. 2 and 3 (and some include the following one) as the language of the Almighty, abruptly
int'oduced as speaking, as in Ps. xlvi. 10. But it is also appropriate language for the magistrate, to whom it belongs, as
God's representative, to maintain civil and social order, as well as for one speaking in his name, and on his behalf. Com-
pare ver. 10.
Ver. 4. Honm. The symbol of strength, and also of pride and insolent defiance. To lift ap the horn of any one (ver.
10) means to strengthen him, and add to nis power and dignity.
Ver. 8. Mixtwre. Of spicea and wine, to increase its intoxicating power.
PSALM LXXVL
To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
1 In Judah is God known ;
his name is great in Israel.
2 And in Salem was his tabernacle,
and his dwelling-place in Zion,
3 There brake he the arrows of the bow,
shield, and sword, and war. {Pause.^
4 Resplendent art thou, glorious,
more than the mountains of prey.
5 The strong of heart were despoiled ;
they have slept their sleep,
and none of the men of might found their hands.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,
they lay in deep sleep, both chariot and horse.
5
PSALM LXXVII. 749
7 Thou, terrible art thou ;
and who may stand before thee when once thou art angry ?
8 From heaven thou didst cause judgment to be heard;
earth feared, and was still,
9 when God arose to judgment,
to save all the humble of the earth. (Pause.)
10 For the wrath of man shall praise thee,
the remnant of wrath thou girdest on.
11 Vow, and pay to Jehovah your God ;
let all that are about him bring gifts to him that should be feared.
12 He cutteth off the spirit of princes ;
he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
P8„lxxvi. One of the moat animated of the many paalms written in commemoratioQ of the great deliverance recorded
in Is. xxxvii. 33-36.
Ver. 3. Hebrew, lightnings of the bow ; a, poetical term for the arrow, expressive of its swiftness and destructive force.
Ver, 4. Moumtains ofprty. The abode of beasts of prey ; in their wild magnificence combining grandeur and sub-
limity with dread.
Ver. 5. Found their hands. Found the use of them, were able to employ them in defense ; so sudden and nnlooked
for, and so inevitable, was the destruction. Compare the similar phrase ia 2 Sam. vii. 27 (properly, found heart to pray
this prayer).
Ver. 6. Lay in deep sleep. Compare, on vers. 5, 6, Is. xxxvii. 36.
Ver, 8. Was still. With awe and dread.
Ver. 10. Thou girdest on. As a weapon. Even to the last remnant, it shall serve as part of the armory of OoH.
PSALM LXXVn.
To the chief Musician over Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph,
1 My voice is unto God, and I will cry ;
my voice is unto God, and do thou give ear to me.
2 In the day of my distress I sought the Lord ;
my hand by night was stretched out, and slackened not.
My soul refused to be comforted.
3 I call God to mind, and sigh ;
I lament, and my spirit fainteth. {Pause.)
4 Thou hast held my eyes waking ;
I am disquieted, and can not speak.
6 I thought on the days of old,
the years of ancient times.
6 I call to mind my song in the night ;
I commune with my heart,
and my spirit maketh search.
7 Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will he favor no more ?
8 Hath his mercy ceased forever?
Hath the promise failed to all generations ?
9 Hath the Mighty One forgotten to be gracious,
or in anger shut up his tender mercies ? (Pause.)
10 And I said, This is my infirmity !
Years of the right hand of the Most High
11 will I commemorate, — the deeds of Jah.
For I will remember thy wonders from of old;
12 and I will meditate on all thy works,
and think on all thy doings.
13 O God, in holiness is thy way ;
who is a Mighty One, great like God ?
14 Thou art the Mighty One, doing wonders ;
thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples.
160 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
15 Thou hast redeemed with the arm thv people.
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. {Fause.')
16 The waters saw thee, O God ;
the waters saw thee, they trembled ;
yea, the depths quaked.
17 The clouds poured out water ;
the skies uttered a voice ;
yea, thine arrows went abroad.
18 The voice of thy thunder rolled along ;
lightnings lightened the world ;
the earth quaked and shook.
19 In the sea was thy way,
and thy paths in great waters,
and thy footsteps were not known.
20 Thou didst guide thy people like a flock,
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Ps. Ixxvii. ftitle). Over Jeduthun. See the remark on Pa. Ixii. (title).
Ver. 2. Slackened not. Was unwearied in the artitude of supplication.
Ver. 6. 3fy song in the night. In former experiences of the divine favo •. — Mdketh search. For an answer to the ques-
tions that follow.
Ver. 8. The. promise. To the chosen seed, many tijies repeated.
Ver. 11. Jah. See the remark on Ps. Ixviii. 5.
Ver. 15. Patise. See the remark on Ps. iii. 2. "The music here comes in, and the whole strophe (vers. 13-15) is an
overture to the following hymn to God, the deliverer from Egypt." (Delitzsch, on the passage-^
Vers. 16-20. See £x. xiv. 19-31.
PSALM Lxxvrn.
Didactic [PaaZm] of Asaph.
1 Give ear, my people, to my law ;
incline your ear to the sayings of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old.
3 AVhat we have heard, and have known,
and our fathers have told us,
4 we will not hide from their children ;
recounting to after generations the praises of Jehovah,
and his might, and his wonders which he wrought.
5 For he set up a testimony in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel ;
which he commanded our fathers,
to make them known to their sons.
6 To the end that after generations might know,
sons might be born,
might arise and tell to their sons ;
7 and might place in God their hope,
and not forget the deeds of the Mighty One,
and might keep his commandments ;
8 and not be as their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation ;
a generation that was not steadfast in their heart>
and their spirit was not truthful with God.
9 The sons of Ephraira, armed bowmen,
turned back in the day of conflict.
10 They kept not the covenant of God,
and in his law they refused to walk.
PSALM LXXVIIl. 751
11 And they forgot his deeds,
and his wonders which he shewed them. ,
12 In the sight of their fathers he wrought wonders,
in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea, and let them pass through ;
and he made the waters stand as a heap.
14 And he guided them in the cloud by day,
and every night in the light of fire.
15 He clave rocks in the wilderness,
and gave them water as the depths, abundantly.
16 And he brought flowing streams out of the cliff,
and made waters run down like rivers.
17 And they continued still to sin against him,
to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And they tempted God in their heart,
so as to ask food for their greediness.
19 And they spake against God ;
they said. Is the Mighty One able,
to spread a table in the wilderness ?
20 Lo, he smote the rock, and the waters flowed,
and streams gushed out.
Will he also be able to give bread,
or will he provide flesh for his people ?
21 Therefore, Jehovah heard and was wroth ;
and fire was kindled in Jacob,
and also anger rose up against Israel ;
22 because they did not believe in God,
and trusted not in his deliverance.
23 And he commanded the skies above,
and the doors of heaven he opened ;
24 and rained upon them manna for food,
and grain of heaven he gave them.
25 Bread of the mighty did man eat ;
he sent them provision in abundance.
26 He caused an east-wind to blow in the heavens,
and led by his strength a south-wind.
27 And he rained flesh upon them as the dust,
and winged fowl as the sea-sands ;
28 and let them fall in the midst of his encampment,
round about his dwellings.
29 And they ate and were fully satisfied,
and he brought them their desire.
30 They were not estranged from their desire,—
their food was yet in their mouths,—
31 and the anger of God came up against them,
and he slew among the stoutest of them,
and Israel's young men he brought low.
32 For all this, they still sinned,
and believed not in his wonders.
33 And he consumed their days in vanity,
and their years in terror.
34 If he slew them, then they sought him,
and returned, and eagerly inquired after God.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock,
and the Mighty One, the Most High, their redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouth,
and with their tongue they lied to him ;
762 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
37 and their heart was not steadfast with him,
and they were not truthful to his covenant.
38 But he, the compassionate, covereth iniquity, and destroyeth not;
and many times he turned away his anger,
and would not rouse up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were flesh, —
a breath, that goeth, and returneth not.
40 How oft they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
grieved him in the desert 1
41 And they tempted God anew,
and offended the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand,
the day when he redeemed them from the foe ;
43 when he set his signs in Egypt,
and his portents in the plain of Zoan;
44 and turned their rivers into blood,
and their streams they could not drink.
45 He sent among them flies, and they devoured them,
and frogs, and they desolated them.
46 And he gave their increase to the caterpillar,
and their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail,
and their sycamores with frost ;
48 and delivered up their cattle to the hail,
and their herds to the lightnings.
49 He cast upon them the burning of his anger,
wrath, and indignation, and anguish,
an embassy of angels of evil.
50 He leveled a path for his anger.
He withheld not their soul from death,
and their life he delivered up to the plague.
61 And he smote every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstlings of strength in the tents of Ham.
52 And he removed, as a flock, his own people,
and guided them, as a herd, in the wilderness ;
53 and he led them on safely, and they feared not,
but their enemies the sea overwhelmed.
54 And he brought them to his holy border,
this mountain, which his right hand won.
55 And he drove out nations before them,
and allotted them an inheritance by line,
and caused the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 And they tempted and rebelled against God, Most High,
and his testimonies they did not keep.
57 And they turned back, and dealt falsely like their fathers;
they turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 And they provoked his displeasure with their high places,
and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 God heard, and was wroth,
and greatly abhorred Israel.
60 And he rejected the dwelling at Shiloh,
the tabernacle which he set up among men ;
61 and gave up to captivity his strength,
and his glory into the hand of the foe.
62 And he delivered up his people to the sword,
and was wroth with his inheritance.
63 His young men fire consumed,
and his maidens were not praised.
PSALM LXXIX. 753
64 His priests fell by the sword,
and his widows wept not.
65 And the Lord awaked, as one that slept ;
as a mighty man jubilant with wine.
66 And he smote back his foes,
he laid upon them eternal reproach.
67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph ;
and the tribe of Ephraim he did not choose.
68 And he chose the tribe of Judah,
the Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary as the heights of heaven,
as the earth which he founded forever.
70 And he chose David his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds.
71 From following the suckling ewes he took him,
to be shepherd over Jacob his people,
and over Israel his inheritance.
72 And he fed them after the integrity of his heart,
and by the skillfulness of his hands he led them.
Ps. Ixxviii. This spirited national hymn, recounting the proudest and moat instructive incidents in the history of the
people, should be compared with Ps. Ixviii., which it resembles in its purpose and general tone. It has not the lofty lyric
spirit of that psalm, or its higher and more delicate poetic beauties. But it has throughout a peculiar glow of feeling and
power of expression; and it would not be easy to find, in any literature, a parallel for verses 43 and 50.
Ver. 9. Sons of Ephraim. Representing the kingdom ol the revolted ten tribes, — Turned back. From the conflict to be
waged for the extermination of idolatry from the land.
Ver. 12. Zoan. See the writer's remark {Revised version o/Gfenesis with notes) on Gen. xii. 15, second paragraph.
Ver. 14. His presence in the cloud, and in the pillar of fire (Ex. xiii. 21, 22), was their guide.
Ver. 15. Clave rocks. See Ex. xvii. 6; Num. xx. 8-11.
Ver. 16. Out of the cliff. As properly translated, Num. xx. 8.
Ver. 25. The mighty. Angels are meant, who are called " mighty in strength," Ps. ciil. 20.— Some would translate,
Bread of the mighty (the great among men) did every one eat ; meaning either that none were denied the princely repast, or
that there was enough for all. But it is not true (ai alleged), that another word (DIX) would have been used, if man, in
distinction from angels, were meant. ,
Ver. 27. Sea-sands. The sands on the flearshore. The Heb. D'D'' /in is to be regarded as a nomen compositum, the
plural of the compound idea being expressed by the plural ending of the second noun (Gesenius, Gram. §108, 3).
Ver. 30. Not estranged from their desire. Not yet satisfied with food ; it was still in their mouths (next member).
Ver. 32, Believed not in his wonders. Saw in them no ground of faith and trust for the future. Compare Num. xiv. 11..
Ver. 33. Chnsumed. During the long and fruitless wanderings and perils in the desert.
yer.4S. Sethis signs. Not simply wrought wonders, but set thom as signs, as permanent memorials, of his presence'
and power. Set his signs, therefore, expresses not a passing act, but so.'uething abiding and perm&aent— For tents. See the^
remark on Ps. cv. 5.
Vers. 49-50. These remarkable lines introduce the last great plague ; when, " at midnight, Jehovah smote all the first-
born of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon; audi
there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead." (Ex. xii. 29, 30.) This was, truly,
"an embassy of angels of evil ; " and well is it said, that Jehovah "leveled a path for his anger." It had free course.
Ver. 52. Removed as a flock. As the shepherd removes his flock, from one place of encampment and pasturage to an-
other.
Ver. 54. Border. By this is here meant the whole circuit of the holy land, with all that it inclosed.
Ver. 55. Allotted. Josh. xiii. 6, " divide thou it by lot to the Israelites for an inheritance." — By line. Measuring line.
For this practice, compare Am. vii. 17.
Ver. 60, 2d member. See Josh, xviii. 1.
Ver. 61. See 1 Sam, iv. 17.
y^r.&i. Fire. Of desolating war. Num. xxi. 28; Is. xxvi. 11; Jer. xlviii. 45. — Were not praised. In nuptial songsi
None were given in marriage. Weil sie keinen Hochzeitstag feierten (Ewald) ; waren nicht Qegenstand von hochzeitlichen
Lobliedem, . . . d. i. blieben unverm'dhlt (Hdpfeld).
Ver. 64. Sis widows wept not. There was not the usual public lamentation at the burial, so numerous were the slain.
Compare the similar case in Job xxvii. 14 (properly, in the pestilence shall they thatremain of him be 6urie(J),andthe writer'si
note on the passage, "thy dead 'shall be cast forth in silence' (Amos viii. 3) with no funeral rites, and with no. lamentation:
over them."
PSALM LXXIX.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 0 God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance ;
they have defiled thy holy temple ;
they have made Jerusalem heaps.
2 They have made the dead bodies of thy servants
food for the fowls of heaven,
48
754 THIRD BOOK OP PSALMS.
the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.
3 They have shed their blood like water,
round about Jerusalem, and there is none to bury.
4 We have become a contempt to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those around us.
5 How long, O Jehovah ! Wilt thou be angry forever?
Will thy jealousy bum like fire ?
6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen who know thee not,
and upon the kingdoms that call not on thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
and have laid waste his dwelling-place.
8 Remember not against us the iniquities of the forefathers.
Haste, let thy compassions meet us ;
for we are brought very low.
:9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
on account of the honor of thy name ;
and rescue us, and cover over our sins,
for the sake of thy name.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God ?
Let there be known among the heathen, in our sight,
• the avenging of the blood of thy servants that is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee ;
according to the greatness of thine arm spare those appointed to death.
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom,
their reproach, wherewith they reproached thee, O Lord.
13 And we, thy people, and flock of thy pasture,
will give thanks to thee forever ;
to generation and generation we will recount thy praise.
"Ver. 3. There is none to bury. None are left to do the office of burying.
Ver. 6. WillthyjedUnisy bum like fire f Jealousy, of every rival in the regard of his people. Compare the remark on
Pb. Ixxiii. 27 ; and for the whole expression, see Dent, xxxii. 21, 22.
Ver. 8. Meet us. Anticipate our need.
Ver. IL The greatness of thine, arm. Its power to reach and rescue those who are in greatest need.
PSALM LXXX.
To the chief Musician. To [the melody'] LilieSy a Testimony/. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Shepherd of Israel give ear ;
thou that leadest Joseph as a flock,
thou that sittest above the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh,
rouse up thy might,
and come for our salvation.
3 O God restore us ;
and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
4 Jehovah, God of hosts,
how long art thou angry at the prayer of thy people?
5 Thou hast made them eat the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink by the measure.
6 Thou makest us a strife to our neighbors ;
and our enemies make themselves sport.
7 0 God of hosts, restore us ;
and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
-8 A vine thou didst remove out of Egypt,
didst drive out nations, and plant it.
PSALM LXXXT. 765
9 Thou hast cleared away before it ;
and it struck down its roots, and it filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
and its boughs were as the cedars of God.
11 And it sent out its branches unto the sea,
and its suckers to the river.
12 Wherefore hast thou broken down its walls,
and all pluck it that pass by the way ?
13 The boar out of the wood wasteth it,
and the beast of the field feedeth on it.
14 O God of hosts, return we pray.
Look from heaven, and behold,
and visit this vine ;
15 and shelter what thy right hand planted,
and the child thou hast made strong for thyself,
16 It is burned with fire ; it is cut down ;
at the rebuke of thy countenance they perish.
17 Let thy hand be over the man of thy right hand,
over the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
18 And we will not go back ;
thou wilt quicken us, and we will call on thy name.
19 Jehovah, God of hosts, restore us ;
cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
P8. Ixxx. (title). Compare Pa. Ix. (title).
Ver. 6. By the measurf. By the measure-full, in abundance.
Ver. 10. Were as the cedars of God. Not tbat such a vine ever literally existed; tut as a figure, it representa tlM
wonderful growth of the people, literally foretold in Gen. xxviii. 14, Josh. i. 4, and elaewhero.*
Ver. 16. Made strong. Reared to a condition of maturity and strength.
PSALM LXXXI.
To the chief Musician. On the Gitiith. [A Psalm'] of Asaph.
1 Make a joyful noise to God, our strength ;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob.
2 Kaise a song, and let the timbrel sound,
the sweet harp, with the lute.
3 Blow the trumpet in the new moon ;
in the full moon, on the day of our solemn feast.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He appointed it for a testimony in Joseph,
when he went forth over the land of Egypt.
I heard a language that I knew not.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden,
his hands withdrew from the basket.
7 In the distress thou didst call, and I rescued thee ;
I answered thee in the veil of thunder, ^
I proved thee at the Waters of Strife. {Pause.)
8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify against thee,
0 Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me.
9 There shall not be in thee a strange god,
and thou shalt not worship a foreign god.
10 I, Jehovah, am thy God,
* There Is no occasion, therefore, to Bhrink f^om the literal rendering of the w.rda, aa somo have done.
756 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
he that brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 And my people hearkened not to my voice,
and Israel did not incline to me.
12 And I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heaxt ;
they go on in their own counsels.
13 if my people hearkened to ray voice,
if Israel would walk in my ways ;
14 soon would I humble their enemies,
and again lay my hand on their foes.
15 Haters of Jehovah should profess submission to him;
and their time should be forever.
16 He would feed them with the marrow of the wheat ;
and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee.
Psalm Ixxxi. (title). On the GitUth. See the remark od Ps. viii. (title).
Ver. 1. Shovl aloud. As the Heb. word is used in Bzr. iii. 11, 13.
Ver. 5. Wenlf&rth over the land of Egypt. See Ex. xi. 4, " At midoight will I go forth in the midst of Egypt ;" and
compare Mic. i. 3.
Ver. 5. Language that I knew not. Either the language of Egypt, a foreign tongue to the Hebrews ; or, as now gene-
rally understood, the encouraging language of their Deliverer (see the two following verses), to them new and unintelligi-
ble. Compare fix. vi. 9, " They hearkened not to Moses, for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage."
Ver. 6. The basket. For carrying burdens, with the hands or on the head, as represented on the monuments of ancient
Egypt. Compare Gen. xl. 16, 17, and the writer's note on the passage. (Revised version of Genesis with notes.*)
Ver. 7. Veil of thunder. The thunder-cloud.
Ver. 10, 3d member. The implication is, that no other source of good need be sought.
Ver. 14. Wieder Hand ariXegen (Hdpfeld).
Ver. 16. Their time. Israel's time ; his duration as a favored people.
Ver, 16. The, marrow of the, wheat. The most nutritious wheat.
PSALM LXXXII.
A Psalm of Asaph.
God standeth in the congregation of the Mighty One ;
in the midst of the gods he judgeth.
2 How long will ye judge wrongfully,
and accept the persons of the wicked ? (Faitse.)
3 Judge the weak and the orphan ;
do justice to the afflicted and poor.
4 Deliver the weak and needy ;
rescue from the hand of the wicked.
6 They know not, and they will not understand ;
they go their way in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I, I have said, Ye are gods,
and sons of the Highest, all of you.
7 Yet surely as men shall ye die,
and as any of the princes shall ye fall.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth ;
for thou shalt inherit among all the nations.
Ver. 1. Oods. So magistratos, as representing God's judicial sovereignty (Rom. xili. 4), are called in Ex. xxi. 6, XXli
8, 9 (in the Hebrew, gods ; English version, judges)-! Compare Ex. xii. 12.
Ver. 5. Foundations. Of social order ; those institutions of civil government on which the peace and security »f so-
ctetj rest. When these fail, society is disorganized, and falls Into ruin. Compare Ps. xl. 3, and Pb. Ixxv. 3.
Ver. 7. As any. See Judges xvi. 7, 11.
Ver. 8. Sfiall inherit among. Shall have inheritance among them.
* The word may also be translated pots; namely, earthen pots, the making of which was doubtless a part of the labor
of the Hebrews " in clay " (not " mortar," Ex. i. 14), during their bondage in Egypt. But this meaning of the word is less
pertinent than the other, in the connection here.
t Of the old English versions, Coverdale, Matthew and Taverner hav* "gods;" Cranmer, Genevan and Bishops
"Judges,"
PSALM LXXXIV. 757
PSALM LXXXm.
A Song, A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not thou be quiet ;
do not hold thy peace, and do not rest, O Mighty One.
2 For lo, thine enemies rage,
and thy haters have lifted up the head.
3 Against thy people they take crafty counsel,
and they consult together against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, let us destroy them from being a nation,
and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.
5 For they have taken counsel in heart together.
Against thee they make a league ;
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagarites;
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Also Asshur is joined with them ;
they have become an arm to the sons of Lot. (Pause.)
9 Do to them as to Midian,
as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook Kishon.
10 They were destroyed at Endor;
they became dung for the ground.
11 Make them, their nobles, as Oreb and as Zeeb,
and all their princes as Zebah and as Zalmunna ;
12 who have said. Let us take possession for ourselves,
of the dwelling-places of God.
13 My God, make them like the whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes a forest,
and as a flame kindles mountains;
15 so wilt thou pursue them with thy tempest,
and with thy whirlwind terrify them.
16 Fill their face with shame,
and they shall seek thy name, Jehovah !
17 They shall be shamed and terror-stricken forever,
and shall be confounded and perish.
18 And they shall know that thou, thy name Jehovah, alone,
art Most High over all the earth.
Ver. 3. Thy hidden ones. Those under thy protection. Compare Pss. xvii. 8 ; xxvil. 6 ; xzxi. 20; Ixiv. 2; xci. 1.
Ter. 5. In heart. The source of their evil machinations. Compare Ps. Iviii. 2,
Ver. 13. The whirling dust (Fubest, Hdb. Lex.., hilX).
PSALM LXXXIV,
To the Chief Musician. On the Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 How lovely are thy dwellings,
0 Jehovah of hosts !
2 My soul longeth, yea even fainteth,
for the courts of Jehovah.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
758 THIRD BOOK OP PSALMS.
3 Yea, the sparrow hath found a house,
and the swallow hath a nest,
where she layeth her young, —
thine altars, Jehovah of hosts,
my king, and my God !
4 Happy they who dwell in thy house ;
continually do they praise thee. {Pause.")
5 Happy the man who hath his strength in thee ;
in their heart the pilgrim-ways.
6 Passing through the valley of weeping,
they make it a place of fountains ;
yea, the autumn rain clothes it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength ;
they appear, each one, before God in Zion.
8 Jehovah, God of hosts, hear my prayer ;
give ear, O God of Jacob. {Pause?)
9 Behold, O God, our shield,
and look on the face of thine anointed.
10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand ;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For Jehovah God is a sun and a shield ;
grace and glory will Jehovah give.
He withholdeth no good from them that walk uprightly.
12 Jehovah of hosts,
happy the man that trusteth in thee !
Pa. Ixxxiv, (title). On the Gittith. See Pa. viii. (title).
Ver. 5. Thepilgrimr^ays. By which the people went up to the annual feasts. Compare Ps. cxxii. 4.
Ver. 6. The beUever'a courae ia repreaeated aa a pilgrimage (valley of weeping), and tears of sorrow as turned to foun-
tains of blessing.
PSALM LXXXV.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Thou wast favorable, O Jehovah, to thy land ;
thou didst turn the captivity of Jacob.
2 Thou didst take away the iniquity of thy people,
didst cover all their sin. {Pause.)
3 Thou didst withdraw all thy wrath ;
didst turn away from the burning of thine anger.
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thy displeasure against us to cease.
5 Wilt thou forever be angry with us ?
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to generation and generation ?
6 Wilt not thoa asrain revive us,
and thy people shall rejoice in thee ?
7 Let us see thy mercy, O Jehovah,
and grant us thy salvation.
8 I will hear what the Mighty One, Jehovah, will speak ;
for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints.
And let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely, his salvation is near to them that fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together ;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
PSALM LXXXVI. 759
11 Truth springeth up out of the earth,
and righteousness looketh down from heaven.
12 Yea, Jehovah will give the [promised] good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him,
and shall make his footsteps a way.
Vera. 1-3. Wast. In former Boasons of national calamity.
Ver. 1. Turn the captivity. Compare Pa. xiv. 7, and the writer's remarks on Job xlii. 10.*
Ver. i. Restore us. Or, Turn to us.
Ver, 12. The promised good. See Lev. xxvi. 4, from which the words of the next line are taken.
Ver. 13. Shall make his footst^s a wai/. The righteouaneBS, that precedes and directs his steps, shall make them a
Vay for bis people to follow him.
PSALM LXXXVI.
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline thine ear, 0 Jehovah, and answer me ;
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul, for I am a beloved one.
Save thy servant, O thou my God,
that trusteth in thee.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord ;
for to thee do I cry all the day.
4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant ;
for to thee do, I lift up my soul.
6 For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive,
and abundant in mercy to all that call upon thee.
6 Give ear, O Jehovah, to my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my distress I call upon thee ;
for thou wilt answer me.
8 There is none like thee among the gods, O Lord,
and no works like thine.
9 All nations, which thou hast made,
shall come and bow down before thee, O Lord,
and shall give glory to thy name.
10 For thou art great, and doest wonders ;
thou art God alone.
11 Teach me, Jehovah, thy way ;
I will walk in thy truth.
Unite my heart to fear thy name.
12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and will glorify thy name fore ver more.
13 For great is thy mercy toward me ;
and thou ha^t rescued my soul from the underworld beneath.
14 0 God, the proud have risen up against me,
and an assembly of the violent have sought after my soul,
and have not set thee before them.
15 But thou, O Lord, art a God compassionate and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.
16 Turn toward me, and be gracious to me ;
give thy strength to thy servant,
and grant deliverance to the son of thy handmaid.
17 Show me a token for good ;
and they that hate me shall see and be ashamed,
because thou, Jehovah, hast helped me, and comforted me.
''>
* "Captivity w -s then no unusual calnmity: and the phrase naturally became a nroverbiil one, for restoration from
deep affliction to former prosperity." (B'Ok of Jib, Part Second, p. 85.) The phrase may be used here in its literal eanse ;
but not necessarily, as these examples show.
760 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 13. 7%e underworld beneath. Not the nether underworld (" the lowest hell," common version), as some under -
Btand the phrase. Vntere . . . ein absolutes Beiwort {epithdTnperpeluum) dLer Solle, 8. v. a. die HiiUe drunten^ d i, unter
der Erde ; vgl. Ex. xx. i mit Phil. ii. 10 (Hupfkld).
PSALM LXXXVn.
A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.
1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion,
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of thee,
O city of God. {Pause.)
4 I will make mention of Rahab, and Babylon, among them that know me ;
behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia ;
this one was born there.
5 And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her ;
and He, the Most High, will establish her.
6 Jehovah will count, in writing up the peoples,
this one was born there. {Pause.)
7 And singers as well as players [say,]
all my springs are in thee.
Ter. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee. With this and the following three verses compsu-e such prophetic views as
Ib. ii. 2, 3, xi. 10, and their fulfilment, Eph. ii. 11-20, Coloss. iii. 11. Zion is to become a new birth-place, to all the nations.
Ver. 4, 3d member. There. The " city of God " (ver. 3) is meant.
Ver. 6. In writing up the peoples. In registering, or enrolling theai. Compare Is. iv. 3 ; properly, every one that is
inscribed unto life (in the book of life). ° «»» • *' . f f j, j uuo tuui, «
PSALM LXXXVin.
A Song, A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the chief Musician. On occasion of affliction hy sickness.
Didactic [PsaZm] of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 Jehovah, God of my salvation,
by day I cry out, by night, before thee.
2 Let my prayer come before thee ;
incline thine ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles ;
and my life draweth near to the underworld.
4 I am reckoned with them that go down to the pit ;
I am become as a man without strength ;
6 forsaken among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave ;
whom thou rememberest no more,
and they are cut off from thy hand.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit ;
in dark places, in the depths.
7 Thy wrath lieth heavy on me,
and with all thy waves thou hast afflicted me. {Pause.)
8 Thou hast put my acquaintance far away from me ;
thou hast made me an abomination to themj
shut up, and I can not go forth.
9 My eye wasteth away through affliction.
I call upon thee, Jehovah, S^\ the day;
I spread out my hands unto thee.
PSALM LXXXIX. 761
10 Wilt thou do wonders to the dead ?
Or will the shades rise up and praise thee ? (Pame.) ^
11 Will thy loving-kindness be told in the grave,
thy faithfulness in d^truction ?
12 Will thy wonders be made known in the darkness,
and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ?
13 And I unto thee, Jehovah, have cried for help ;
and in the morning my prayer shall come before thee.
14 Wherefore, O Jehovah, dost thou ca^t off my soul,
dost hide thy face from me ?
15 1 am afflicted, and ready to expire, from my youth ;
I have born thy terrors ; am in despair.
16 Thine indignations have passed over me,
thy terrors have consumed me.
17 They have encompassed me like waters all the day ;
together they beset me round.
18 Thou hast put far from me lover and friend ; — '
my acquaintance — the place of darkness !
Ver. 5. IbrsaJcen. Properly, let go, (enflassen), dismissed ; commoaly (but not neceBsarily) In a good sense. — Out off
from thy hand. Removed beyond its reach,
Ver. 10. The shades. Diaembodied spirits, that survive the death of the body, and exist separate from it. See the
writer's note on Job ( Book of Job, Part Second), ch. xxvi. 6.
Ver. 18. The sentiment is : My former associates are estranged (compare ver. 8, " thou hast made mo an abomination
to them ") ; and for my acquaintance now, I have only darkness in its gloomy abode I
The whole tenor of the Psalm, and the express declaration in ver. 8, show that the common idea, of the removal of
"lover, friend, and acquaintance" by death (founded on the mistranslation of the verse in our common English version)
is not the one intended by the Psalmist. However dear the thought thus originatod may have become to the 'Christian
mind, it must give place to the true meaning of the sacred writer.*
PSALM LXXXIX.
Didactic [^Psalm^ of Ethan the Ezrahite..
1 I will sing of the mercies of Jehovah forever ;
to generation and generation will I make known thy faithfulness with my mouth.
2 I said, Mercy shall be built up forever ;
the heavens — in them thou wilt establish thy faithfulness.
3 I have made a covenant for my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant,
4 Forever will I establish thy seed,
and build up thy throne to generation and generation. (^Pause.)
6 And the heavens praise thy wonders, O Jehovah,
yea, thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to Jehovah,
is like to Jehovah among the sons of the mighty ;
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and terrible above all that are round about him ?
8 Jehovah, God of hosts,
who is mighty like thee, O Jah,
and thy faithfiilness is round about thee.
9 Thou rulest the swelling of the sea;
when its billows rise, thou stillest them.
* It may be interesting to know, that it was not the original rendering of our Bible. The oldest rendering of the
English Bible from the Hebrew is : « My lovers and friends hast thou put away from me, ^and turned away my acquain-
tance;" (the same sentiment as in ver. 8). So the English Bible (Coverdale's) of 1535, and (Matthews) of 1537. To the
same effect is the Genevan Version (1560) : " My lovers and friends hast thou put away from me, [and] mine acquaintance
hid themselves." Granmer's erroneous construction and rendering of the last clause, "and hid mine acquaintance out of
mv sio-ht " followed in the Bishops' Bible (1568), " Thou hast put away far from me my friend and neighbor, (thouhasthid)
mine acquaintance out of sight "(margin, "in darkness"), led the way to the false construction and sentiment in King
James's version.
762 THIRD BOOK OF PSALMS.
10 Thou, thou didst crush Rahab like the slain ;
with thy strong arm thou didst scatter thy enemies.
11 The heavens are thine ; thine also is the earth ;
the world and its fullness, thou didst found them.
12 North and South, thou didst create them ;
Tabor and Hermon triumph in thy name.
13 Thine is an arm with might ;
strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of thy throne j
mercy and truth wait before thee.
15 Happy the people that know the joyful sound ;
Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance shall they walk.
16 In thy name do they exult all the day,
and in thy righteousness are they exalted.
1 7 For thou art the glory of their strength ;
and in thy favor our horn is exalted.
18 For to Jehovah belongeth our shield,
and to the Holy One of Israel, our king.
19 Then thou didst speak in vision to thy beloved one,
and saidst, I have laid help on a mighty one,
have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David, my servant ;
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21 With whom my hand shall be established ;
also my arm shall strengthen him.
22 No enemy shall exact of him,
or son of wickedness oppress him.
23 And I will beat down his foes before him,
and will smite them that hate him.
24 And my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 And I set his hand on the sea,
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will cry unto me. Thou art my father ;
my God, and the rock of my salvation.
27 I too will make him the firstborn,
highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My mercy will I keep for him forever,
and ray covenant is sure to him.
29 And I establish his seed forever,
and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his sons shall forsake my law,
and walk not in my judgments;
81 if they shall profane my statutes,
and keep not my commandments ;
32 then will I visit their transgressions witb a rod,
and their iniquity with stripes.
33 But my loving-kindness will I not withdraw from him,
and will not be false to my faith.
34 I will not profane my covenant,
nor alter what has gone forth from my lips.
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness ;
I will not lie to David,
36 His seed shall be forever,
and his throne as the sun before me.
37 As the moon shall it stand fast forever,
and as the witness in the skies is sure. (Paused
PSALM LXXXDL • 753
38 But thou, thou hast cast off and abhorred;
thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant ,
thou hast profaned to the earth his crown. *
40 Thou hast broken down all his walls;
hast made his defenses a ruin.
41 They plunder him, all that pass by the way ;
He hath become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his foes ;
hast made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword,
and hast not made him stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made his brightness to cease ;
and his throne thou hast cast down to the earth.
45 Thou hast cut short the days of his youth ;
thou hast covered over him with shame. {Pause.")
46 How long, O Jehovah ! Wilt thou hide thyself forever?
Shall thy wrath burn like fire ?
47 Remember what is my fleeting life ;
why hast thou for nought created all the sons of men ?
48 What man shall live, and not see death,
shall deliver his soul from the grasp of the underworld ? (Pavse.}
49 Where are thv former mercies, O Lord,
which thou didst swear to David in thy faithfulness ?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants,
that I bear in my bosom of all the many peoples ;
51 wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Jehovah,
wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
Blessed be Jehovah foeevermoee.
Amen and Amen.
Ver. 2. In them. So as to be enduring and nnchanging as they.
Ter. 3. For my chosen one. In his behalf. Not with him, aa one of two parties to the covenant. Compare the writer's
remark on Gen. xv. 9-17, (Revised version of Genesis with notes).
Ver. 6. In the skies. Compare the expression in Eph. ii. 2.
Ver. 6. The mighty. Compare the remark on Pa. Ixxviii. 25.
Ver. 8. Is round about thee. A perpetual presence, attending the Divine in all its manifestations. — Jah. See the note on
Pe. Ixviii. 4.
Ver. 12.^ra6or and Hermon. Representing the East and West of the land.
Ver. 14. Wait before thee. For thy commands. Literally, come before thyface,=pTeBent themselves before thee, — to
receive thy commands. Mit T'J3 muss e^, nach der Sprachgeorauch {s. tu. xvii. 13), auch hitr htissen gefien entgegen (oder^
treten entgegen) deinem Angesicht, d. i. stehen vor dir (Hgppeld). Gnade und Wahrheit, diese beiden Genien der Heilsge-
tchichte (xliii. 3), stehen vor seinem Angesicht, wie aufwariende Dienerinnen seines fVinkes gew&rtig (Dbutzscb).
Ver. 37. The witness in the skies most naturally suggests the " covenant-sign," the witness to the " perpetual covenant
between God and every living being." Gen. ix. 12-17 (the writer's revised version).
Ver. 50. That I bear, etc. The general sense of these difficult words. See Hupfex-d, Hitzio, Dbutzsoh, Pebowhe, etc.
FOUKTH BOOK.
PSALMS XC— CVI.
PSALM XC.
A Psalm of Moses, the Man of Ood.
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
and thou gavest birth to the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.
3 Thou turnest man to dust ;
and sayest. Return, ye sons of men.
4 For a thousand years, in thy sight,
are as yesterday when it passeth away,
and a watch in the night.
6 Thou sweepest them away, they are a sleep ;
in the morning as the grass that springeth up ;
6 in the morning it flourisheth and springeth up,
at evening, it is cut down and withereth.
7 For we consume away in thine anger,
and in thy wrath are we troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,
our hidden things in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days pass away in thy wrath ;
we spend our years like a thought.
10 The days of our years, — in them are threescore years and ten ;
and if, through strength, fourscore years,
yet is their pride toil and vanity ;
for it is soon past, and we fly away.
11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger,
and as the fear of thee, thy wrath ?
12 So teach to number our days,
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return O Jehovah ; how long 1
And have pity on thy servants.
14 Satisfy us with thy mercy in the morning,
that we may rejoice and be glad, all our dayg.
16 Make us glad according to the days thou hast aflSicted us,
the years we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants,
and thy majesty upon their sons. ^g^
7B6 FOUKTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
17 And let the beauty of Jehovah our God be upon us ;
and the work of our hands establish thou upon us,
yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.
Vers. 5, 6. An image of fleeting human life. It passes away in the death-slumber; succeeded by new life, as the grass
that springs up freshly in the dew of the morning, to wither in its turn, and die. The comparison in ver. 6, 2d member, is
abruptly and not fully expressed, but the thought is clearly indicated.*
Ver. 8. Our hidden things. 1JD1 7^, als Sing, ist wohl mit Kimchi cds Ntutr. zufassen, unser Verborgenes, d. i. veriogene
unerkannte Suwden=r\nr\D3 xix. 13, vgl. PloS^/l xliv. 22 (Hupfeid). He takes notfl of the reading IJ'D 7j7 in 120
Mss. of Kennicott and De Rossi, probably an orthographic rariation (crit. note).
Ver. 9. Like a thought. With the rapidity and suddenness of thought, they are gone. — Others, as a sigh (Prof. Tatleb
Lewis, Introd. to Genesis, p. 141), as the word is used in Ezek. ii. 10. Others, as a sound, a fleeting sound. With the ren-
dering of the text compare Theoqnis, quoted by Fderst, Heb. Lex. rUH-
Ver. 10. In them. The emphatic form of the original, which should not be suppressed. — ThHr pride. Their vain boast.
— Toil and vanity. Anxious labor, with no result.
Ver. 11. As the fear of thee. In proportion to, and in accordance with it. As the fear of God requires, and as is due to it.
Ver. 12. May get (Hdpfeld ; Gesenios, Lex. {<13, Hiph. 3, c).
Ver. 14. In the morning. The morning of deliverance and triumph, after this night of humiliation. Compare Ps. xlvi.
6. The sentiment is: Let morning return, and with it thy satisfying mercy, "Morning denotes that there has hitherto
been night in Israel, and the dawn of an era of grace." (Delitzsch).
Ver. 17. Upon us. The same as to us, with the implication that it is from abof e, as descending upon us. Bestittige iiber
uns; M'^^y, st., )}/ JDat comm,/&r uns, so/ernes von obenkommt (Hupfeid).
PSALM XCI.
1 Dwelling in the covert of the Most High,
he abideth in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of Jehovah, My refuge and my fortress ;
my God, I will trust in him.
3 For he, he will rescue thee from the snare of the fowler,
from the destroying pestilence
4 With his feathers he will cover thee,
and under his wings shalt thou trust ;
his truth, a shield and buckler I
6 Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night,
of the arrow that flieth by day ;
6 of the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
of the contagion that waste th at noon-day,
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side,
and ten thousand at thy right hand ;
to thee it shall not come nigh.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou look on,
and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made Jehovah, — my refuge,
the Most High, thy dwelling-place ;
10 there shall no evil befall thee,
and no plague shall come nigh thy tent.
11 For he will give his angels charge concerning thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 On their hands shall they bear thee up,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread on the lion and the adder ;
the young lion and dragon shalt thou trample under foot.
14 For he bath set his love upon me, and I will deliver him ;
I will set him on high, because he knoweth my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him ;
I will be with him in trouble ;
I will rescue him, and will honor him.
* Fully expressed, the thought would be : They pass away in the night-slumber of the grave ; followed by the morning
life of another generation, as the morning grass springs up in place of that which has withered and died.
a. Kj^xiJiyt. ^».\jxi.x.
767
16 With length of days will I satisfy him,
and will cause him to see my salvation.
and 7hTmo8t;orateTin eTprLsfon.^" '' '^'"'' *''^'''' '''■ ^' '''' ^'^'''''' constractionB of the Terse, this ifl the simpleBt.
Ver. 9. Tfiy dweUing-place. See. v. 1.
Ter. 10. lent. Dwelling is meant ; an archaic allusion to its simplest and primitive form.
PSALM XCII.
A Psalm. A Song for the Sahbaih-Day.
1 It is good to give thanks to Jehovah,
and to sing praise to thy name, O Most High ;
2 to declare thy loving-kindness in the morning,
and thy faithfulness ev6ry night ;
3 to a ten-stringed instrument, and to the lute,
to the murmuring sound on the harp.
4 For thou hast gladdened me, Jehovah, by thy work;
in the works of thy hands I will triumph.
6 How great are thy works, O Jehovah I
Thy counsels are very deep.
6 A brutish man knoweth not,
nor doth a fool understand this.
7 When the wicked spring up as grass,
and all the workers of iniquity flourish ;
it is that they may be destroyed forever.
8 And thou, Jehovah, art on high forevermore.
9 For lo, thine enemies, Jehovah,
for lo thine enemies shall perish;
all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10 But my horn thou wilt exalt as of the wild-ox ; .1
I am anointed with fresh oil.
11 And my eye had its desire on them that lie in wait for me,
and my ear on evil-doers that rise up against me.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree,
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house of Jehovah,
they shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 Still shall they bear fruit in hoary age ;
full of sap, and green shall they be.
15 To show that Jehovah is upright ;
my rock, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Ver. 8. On high. Supreme over all. pilH; stets die HimmelshShe wo Gott thront imd richiet, also Seeeichntmg seiner
richterl. ThcLtigkeit ; hier Accus. in der Hohe (wie Ivi. 3) = DT^D^ xciii. 4 (HnPFELD).
Ver. 10. The vfildrox. For the natural traits of this powerful and untamed animal, tee Job xzxiz. 0-12 (the writer's re-
vised version).
PSALM XCIIL
Jehovah reigneth; he is clothed with majesty.
Jehovah is clothed with strength ; he hath girded himself.
Yea, the world shall stand fast, it shall not be moved.
Thy throne standeth fast from of old ;
thou art from everlasting.
7G8 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
The floods have lifted up, O Jehovah,
the floods have lifted up their voice ;
the floods lift up their dashing waves.
Mightier is Jehovah on high,
than the voice of many waters,
the mighty waves of the sea.
Thy testimonies are very sure.
Holiness becometh thy house,
O Jehovah, forever.
PSALM XCIV.
1 God of vengeance, Jehovah,
God of vengeance, shine forth.
2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth ;
return a recompense upon the proud.
3 How long shall the wicked, O Jehovah,
how long shall the wicked triumph ?
4 They belch out, they speak rudely,
they boast themselves, all the workers of iniquity.
5 They grind thy people, 0 Jehovah,
and thy heritage they oppress.
6 The widow and the stranger they kill,
and orphans they murder.
7 And they say, Jah will not see,
and the God of Jacob will not attend.
8 Understand, ye brutish among the people ;
and ye fools, when will ye be wise ?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ?
Or he that formed the eye, shall not he behold ?
10 He that chastiseth nations, shall not he correct,
he that teacheth man knowledge ?
11 Jehovah knoweth the thoughts of man,
that they are vanity.
12 Happy the man whom thou chastenest, O Jah,
and teachest him out of thy law ;
13 to give him rest from the days of evil,
until a pit shall be dug for the wicked.
14 For Jehovah will not cast ofi* his people,
and his inheritance he will not forsake.
15 For unto righteousness shall judgment return,
and after it, all the upright in heart.
16 Who will rise up for me against evil-doers ;
who will take his stand for me against workers of iniquity?
17 Unless Jehovah were my help,
soon would my soul dwell in silence.
18 When I say, My feet waver, —
thy mercy holdeth me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me,
thy comforts soothe my spirit.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity be allied to thee,
framing mischief against law ?
21 They gather in crowds against the soul of the righteous,
and condemn innocent blood.
22 But Jehovah hath been a high tower for me,
and my God a rock of refuge.
PSALM XCVI. 769
23 And he returned upon them their iniquity,
and cut them off in their wickedness.
Jehovah, our God, will cut them off I
Vers. 7 and 12. Jah, See the note on Ps. Ixviii. 4.
Ver. 15. Judgment (the judicial act, the administration of law) shall return to righteottmess (the eternal principles of
right). — After it (this righteous administration of law), all the upright in heart (shall return, following and cleaving to it).
Ver. 17. In silence. The silence of the grave.
Ver. 19. Soothe. " Properly, to stroke, to soothe " ((Jesenius, lex. }}y\rj, Pilp.) ; hesanftigen (Hupfeld).
Ver. 20. Against law. " By (according to> law " (Hupfeld, Delitzboh, Pbbowne, and others). Too great a refinement
Db Wette, against law.
Ver. 23, 3d member. WiU cut them off. Will continue to do it.
PSALM XCV.
1 Come, let us sing aloud to Jehovah,
let us shout to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving,
and shout to him in songs.
3 For Jehovah is a great God,
and a great king above all gods ;
4 in whose hand are the recesses of the earth,
and the treasures of the mountains are his ;
5 whose is the sea, and he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down ;
let us kneel before Jehovah our maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture, and flock of his hand.
8 To-day, if ye will hearken to his voice I
Harden not your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah, in the wilderness.
9 Where your fathers tempted me,
they tried me, also saw my work.
10 Forty years did I loathe the generation ;
and I said, They are a people that err in heart,
and they know not my ways.
11 Wherefore, I have sworn in my wrath,
they shall not enter into my rest.
Ver. 4. Recesses of the earth. Containing its hidden wealth.
Ver. 8. If y. witt hearken. The reward of such obedience is implied, by a common figure of speech. Compare the re.
mark on Ps. xxvii. 13.
Ver. 8. Meribah— Massah. Ex. xvii. 7 ; Num. xx. 13 ; Deut. xxxiii. 8.
Ver. 11. Num. xiv. 23, 28-30.
PSALM XCVI.
Sing to Jehovah a new song ;
sing to Jehovah, all the earth.
Sing to Jehovah, bless his name ;
proclaim his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the heathen,
his wonders among all the peoples.
For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised ;
he is to be feared above all gods.
40
770 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are nothings ;
and Jehovah made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him,
strength and beauty in his holy place.
7 Give to Jehovah, ye families of peoples,
give to Jehovah glory and strength.
8 Give to Jehovah the glory of his name ;
bring an offering, and come in to his courts.
9 Worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness ;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen, Jehovah reigneth ;
Yea, the world shall stand fast, it shall not be moved ;
he will judge the peoples in rectitude.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth exult ;
let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
12 let the field triumph, and all that is therein ;
then shall all the trees of the wood be joyful ;
13 before Jehovah ; for he cometh,
for he cometh to judge the earth.
14 He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Ver. 5. Nothings* In Isaiah, a favorite designation of idols. Here, as in 1 Chron. xvi. 26, the connection requires
the literal translation of the word. , . , ^, , .. j. ^ j ■ t v io it
Compare the narcastic and striking characterization of these " nothings," in which the heathen trusted, in Is. xliv. 12-17.
Ver. 7. Families of peoples. Each of the peoples being one great family, uescended from a common parent. See the
writer's note on Gen. xii. 3 (Revised version with notes) and compare " families of nations," in Ps. xxii. 27.
Ver. 10. The world shall standfast. An image of stability and security in all civil and social relations, as a consequence
of Jehovah's righteous sway. Compare the opposite image in Ps. Ixxv. 3.
PSALM xcvn.
1 Jehovah reigneth, let the earth exult ;
let the multitude of isles be glad.
2 Clouds and darkness are round about him ;
righteousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne,
3 Fire goeth before him,
and bumeth up his foes on every side.
4 His lightnings lightened the world;
the earth saw, and quaked.
5 Mountains melted like wax at the presence of Jehovah,
at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declared his righteousness,
and all the peoples saw his glory.
7 Ashamed shall all be that serve a graven image,
that make their boast of idols.
Worship him, all ye gods.
8 Zion heard, and was glad,
and the daughters of Judah exulted,
because of thy judgments, O Jehovah.
9 For thou, Jehovah, art Most High over all the earth,
art greatly exalted above all gods.
10 Ye that love Jehovah, hate evil ;
he preserveth the souls of his saints ;
he rescueth them out of the hand of the wicked.
* Nicht bloss ihre Ohnmacht .... tondern auch ihre Wesenlosigkeit, Nichtsein heeeichnet (HupfelI)) ; bezeicknet ....
die Gdtzen nicht bloss ah ohnmachtig, . . . sondem aXs nicht seiend (Hitzto); von dem Neinwort "^X, Nichist und Tauge-
nicMse, wesenlos und nutzlos (DelitzsCh). Fuerst'b etymology {Heb. lex.) is less aatiefactory. It would not be much to sa/
that the gods of the heathen are D"''7"'bXi ia t^^o sense of little mean gods.
PSALM XCIX. 771
11 Light is sown for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Be glad, ye righteous, in Jehovah,
and give thanks to his holy memorial.
Ter. 12. His Twly memorial. His sacred memorial name, Jehovah. See the remark on Pa. zxx. 4.
PSALM XCVIIL
A Psalm.
1 Sing to Jehovah a new song ;
for he hath done wondrous things.
His right hand, and his holy arm, have wrought salvation for him.
2 Jehovah hath made known his salvation ;
before the eyes of the heathen hath he revealed his righteousness.
3 He hath remembered his loving-kindness and his truth,
toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout to Jehovah, all the earth ;
break forth, and be joyful, and sing praise.
5 Sing praise to Jehovah with the harp,
with the harp, and the voice of song.
6 With cornets, and sound of trumpet,
shout before the king, Jehovah.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof,
the world, and they that dwell therein ;
8 let the floods clap their hands,
let the mountains be joyful together ;
9 before Jehovah ; for he cometh to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in rectitude.
PSALM XCIX.
Jehovah reigneth, let the people tremble.
He sitteth above the cherubim, let the earth shake.
Jehovah is great in Zion ;
and high is he above all the peoples.
Let them praise thy great and terrible name.
It is holy I
And the king's strength loveth judgment;
thou dost establish equity ; • t u
thou dost execute judgment and righteousness in Jacob,
Exalt ye Jehovah, our God,
and worship at his footstool.
He is holy!
Moses and Aaron among his priests,
and Samuel among them that call on his name, —
they called upon Jehovah, and he answered them.
In the pillar of cloud he spake to them.
They kept his testimonies, and the statutes he gave them.
772 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 Jehovah, our God, thou didst answer them;
a forgiving God wast thou to them,
and one that took vengeance on their deeds.
9 Exalt Jehovah, our God,
and worship at his holy mount.
For Jehovah, our God, is holy.
Ver. 8, 2d and 3d members. Both attributes were conspicuously shown, in Grod's dealings with his people. The latter
are included in the pronouns (them, th&ir), the intercession having been made on their behalL
PSALM C.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving,
1 Shout to Jehovah, all the earth.
2 Serve .Jehovah with gladness ;
come before him with exultation.
3 Know that Jehovah, he is God ;
he it is that made us, and we are his,
his people, and the flock of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise ;
give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For Jehovah is good ; his mercy is forever,
and his faithfulness to generation and generation.
PSALM CL
A Psalm of David,
1 Of mercy and of judgment will I sing ;
to thee, Jehovah, will I sing praise.
2 I will act wisely in a perfect way.
When wilt thou come to me !
I will walk in the integrity of my heart within my house.
3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.
The work of them that turn aside I hate ;
it shall not cleave to me.
4 A fro ward heart shall depart from me ;
an evil man I will not know.
5 He that secretly slandereth his neighbor,
him will I cut oflf.
He that is of a high look and a proud heart,
him will I not bear.
6 My eyes are on the faithful of the land,
that they may dwell with me.
He that walketh in a perfect way,
he shall serve me.
7 He that practiseth deceit shall not dwell within my house j
he that speaketh lies shall not abide in my sight.
8 Morning by morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land,
to cut off all workers of iniquity from the city of Jehovah.
PSALM CII. 773
PSALM CIL
A •prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before Jehovah,
1 O Jehovah, hear my prayer,
and let my cry for help come unto thee.
2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble ;
incline to me thine ear;
in the day when I call, make haste to answer me.
8 For my days consume away in smoke,
and my bones glow with heat like a firebrand.
4 My heart is smitten like the grass and drieth up;
for I forget to eat my food.
5 Because of the voice of my groaning,
my bones cleave to my flesh.
6 I am like to a pelican of the wilderness ;
I have become as an owl among ruins.
7 I watch, and have become
like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
8 All the day my enemies reproach me ;
they that are mad against me swear by me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
and have mingled my drink with weeping ;
10 because of thine indignation and thy wrath,
for thou hast taken me up and cast me away.
1 1 My days are as the lengthened shade ;
and I am dried up like the grass.
12 But thou, Jehovah, shalt sit [on the throne] forever,
and thy remembrance is to all generations.
13 Thou wilt arise, wilt have mercy upon Zion;
for it is the time to favor her,
for the set time is come.
14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
and her dust they favor.
15 And the heathen shall fear the name of Jehovah,
and kings of the earth thy glory ;
16 because Jehovah hath built up Zion,
is seen in his glory.
17 He hath turned unto the prayer of the destitute,
and hath not despised their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come ;
and a people to be created shall praise Jah,
19 Jehovah bent down from his holy height;
Jehovah from heaven looked on the earth ;
20 to hear the groaning of the prisoner,
to loose those that are appointed to death ;
21 to declare in Zion the name of Jehovah,
and his praise in Jerusalem ;
22 when the peoples are gathered together,
and the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah.
23 He hath humbled my strength in the way ;
he hath shortened my days.
24 I say. My God, take me not away in the midst of my days I
Thy years are throughout all generations-
25 Of old thou didst found the earth,
and the heavens ard the work of thy hands.
774 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure ;
and all of them shall waste away like a garment,
and as a vesture thou wilt change them, and they pass away.
27 But thou art the same,
and thy years shall have no end.
28 The sons of thy servants shall dwell [in the land],
and their seed shall be established before thee.
Ver. 3. In smoke. That vanishes into thin air, leaving no trace. So my days waste nnprofitably away.
Ver. 4. Is smitten like the grass. As grass is smitten by the scorching heat, and dries up.
Ver. 6. An owl among ruins. Compare Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. Owl, 3.
Ver. 7. I watch. Am sleepless.
Ver. 8. Swear by me. Compare the form of imprecation, " So let the goda do," as used in 1 Kings xix. 2, with Is. Ixv.
15, Jer. xxix. 22, and the form of blessing in Gen. xlvlii. 20.*
Ver. 11. My days (my term of life) are as the lengthened shade, — the lengthening shade of evening, that shows the
near approach of night. The comparison, though not strictly expressed, is beautifully suggestive of the thought in-
t»nded.
Ver. 14. ^Mies — dust. Of her ruins. Compare Neh. iv. 2, 10.
Ver. 18. Compare " a people that shall be born," Ps. xxii. 31.
Ver. 23. In the way. The way in which his providence is conducting me, in distinction from its certain and glori-
ous issue.
Ver. 28. Dwell in the land. The word dwell (in Hebrew) has this special application.
PSALM cm.
[A Paalm]^ of David.
1 Bless Jehovah, O my soiil,
and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name.
2 Bless Jehovah, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases ;
4 who redeemeth thy life from the pit,
who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies ;
5 who satisfieth thy mouth with good ;
thy youth reneweth itself as the eagle.
6 Jehovah executeth righteousness,
and judgment, for all the oppressed,
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the sons of Israel.
8 Compassionate and gracious is Jehovah,
slow to anger, and abundant in mercy.
9 He will not always chide,
nor keep his anger forever.
10 He hath not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far hath he removed our transgressions from us,
13 As a father hath compassion on his children,
Jehovah hath compassion on them that fear him,
14 For he knoweth our frame;
he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass ;
as the flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone,
and its place shall know it no more.
* " Swear by me ; that is, use me as a formula of execration, imprecating upon others misery like mine " (Dr Alex-
ander, on the passage). ' ^
PSALM CIV. 775
17 But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting, and to everlasting, on them that
tear him,
and his righteousness to children's children ;
18 to them that keep his covenant,
and to them that remember his precepts tO' do them.
19 Jehovah hath established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom ruleth over all.
20 Bless Jehovah, ye his angels,
the mighty in strength, that execute his word,
hearkening to the voice of his word.
21 Bless Jehovah, all his hosts,
his ministers, that do his pleasure.
22 Bless Jehovah, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul 1
PSALM CIV.
1 Bless Jehovah, O my soul !
Jehovah, my God, thou art very great ;
thou art clothed with honor and majesty;
2 who coverest thyself with light as with a mantle,
who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;
3 who frameth his chambers in the waters ;
who maketh the clouds his chariot ;
who goeth on the wings of the wind ;
4 who maketh the winds his messengers,
his ministers, — flaming fire.
5 He founded the earth on its bases,
that it should not be moved forever and ever.
6 Thou didst cover it with the abyss as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled ;
at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away, —
8 while mountains rise, valleys sink, —
to the place which thou didst found for them.
9 A bound thou didst set, that they should not pass ovei^
should not return to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth out springs in the valleys ;
they run among the mountains.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 Above them dwell the fowls of heaven ;
from among the branches they utter a voice.
13 He watereth the mountains from his chambers;
the earth is sated with the fruit of thy workmg.
14 He causeth grass to grow for the cattle,
and herbs for the service of man,
bringing forth food out of the earth.
15 And with wine he gladdeneth the heart of man ;
making the face to shine with oil ;
and with bread' he strengtheneth man's heart.
16 The trees of Jehovah are sated,
cedars of Lebanon which he planted ;
17 where birds make their nests ;
the stork, cypresses are her house.
776 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
18 The high mountains are a refuge for wild-goats,
the rocks for the conies.
19 He made the moon for seasons ;
the sun knoweth his going-down.
20 Thou dost put darkness, and it is night ;
wherein all the beasts of the forest are in motion.
21 The young lions roar for the prey,
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun ariseth, they retire,
and couch down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth to his work,
and to his toil, until evening.
24 How manifold are thy works, O Jehovah I
In wisdom hast thou wrought them all.
The earth is full of thy riches.
25 That sea, great and broad on every hand!
Where are moving things, and without number,
both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships.
That leviathan thou hast formed to sport therein.,
27 They all wait for thee,
to give their food in its season.
28 Thou givest to them, they gather ;
thou opeuest thy hand, they are sated with good,
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled ;
thou withdrawest their breath, they expire,
and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth thy breath, they are created;
and thou renewest the face of the ground.
31 Let the glory of Jehovah be forever ;
let him rejoice in the works of his hands ;
32 he who looketh on the earth and it trembles,
he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to Jehovah while I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I am in being.
34 Sweet shall be of him my meditation ;
I will be glad in Jehovah.
35 Sinners shall be consumed from the earth,
and the wicked they shall be no more.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul.
Praise ye Jah.
Vers. 6-9. Compare Gen. i. 2, and 9, 10. Some suppose the Deluge to be referred to in these verses. But such a refe-
rence is not in harmony withttio purpose and spirit of this sublime hymn of creation, which celebrates the wonders of the
Creator's power in its beneficent exercise.
Ver. 8. As the waters retire to their place at a lower level, the moiintains seem to rise, and the valleys to sink.
Ver. 9. Compare Job xxxviii. 10, (Book of Job, the writer's revised version) :
And appointed it my bound.
And set bars and doors.
Ver. 13. Is sated. Eeceives, in full measure, all that it craves.
Ver. 16. &ted. Have, in abundance, all tl^at they ccave. Compare ver. 13. Vegetable as well aa animal life is cared
for in the provideuce of God, and all its wants supplied.
PSALM CV.
1 Give thanks to Jehovah ; call upon his name ;
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him ;
talk of all his wondrous works.
PSALM CV. 777
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the heart of them that seek Jehovah rejoice.
4 Seek after Jehovah and his strength ;
seek his face evermore.
5 Remember his wonders, that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments of his mouth.
6 Seed of Abraham his servant,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones,
7 he, Jehovah, is our God,
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembereth his covenant forever,
the word he commanded, to a thousand generations;
9 which he ratified with Abraham,
and his oath to Isaac ;
10 and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
to Israel for an everlasting covenant ;
11 saying. To thee will I give the land of Canaan,
the portion of your inheritance ;
12 when they were a small number,
few, and strangers in it.
13 They went from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people.
14 He suffered no man to oppress them,
and he reproved kings for their sake [saying] i
15 Touch not my anointed ones,
and to my prophets do no harm.
16 And he called for a famine upon the land ;
he brake all the staff of bread.
17 He sent a man before them ;
for a servant was Joseph sold.
18 His feet they hurt with fetters,
he was laid in irons ;
19 until the time that his word came,
the saying of Jehovah bad cleared him.
20 The king sent and freed him,
the ruler of the peoples, and loosed him.
21 He made him lord of his house,
and ruler over all his substance ;
22 to bind his princes at his pleasure,
and teach his elders wisdom.
23 And Israel came into Egypt,
and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And he made his people fruitful exceedingly^
and made them stronger than their foes.
25 He turned their heart to hate his people,
to plot against his servants.
26 He sent Moses, his servant,
Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 They set his signs among them,
and portents in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and he made it dark ;
and they rebelled not against his words.
29 He turned their waters to blood,
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs, —
in the chambers of their kings.
31 He said, and there came flies,
lice, in all their border.
778 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
flaming fire in their land ;
33 and smote their vines and their fig-trees,
and brake the trees of their border.
34 He said, and there came locusts,
and caterpillars, and without number ;
35 and devoured every herb in their land,
and devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 And he smote all the first-born in their land,
the firstlings of all their strength.
37 And he brought them out with silver and gold ;
and there was not a feeble one among his tribes.
38 Egypt was glad when they went out,
for their dread had fallen upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light in the night.
40 They asked, and he brought quails,
and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and waters flowed ;
they ran in the deserts, a river.
42 For he remembered his holy word,
Abraham his servant ;
43 and brought out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with triumph ;
44 and gave them the lands of nations,
and the labor of peoples they inherit ;
45 that they might keep his statutes,
and observe his laws.
Bless ye Jah.
Ver. 5. His porierUs. Omens of evil, as in the plagues of Egypt, by which his purpose, and his power to execute It,
are mado known.
Yer. 9. Ratified with Abraham. See the impressive ceremonies described in Gen. xv. 9-17, and the writer's note on
the piissage.
Ver. 11. Boriicm : as in Josh. xvii. 14 ; xix. 9.
Ver. 12. The course of thought, and the form of expression, most naturally connect this verse with the preceding one.
Ver. 15. My prophets. Seo the use of the word in Gen. xx. 7.
Ver. 18. He was laid in irons. So the Genevan version (1560). King James's version owes this happy expression of
the thought, aa it does many others, to the Puritan version of the Genevan exiles. See the following paragraph.
Some translate. The iron entered into his soul; as the words are construed in our earliest English Bible. So Cover^
DALE, 1535, MiTTHEWS, 1537, Tavernee, about 1541, "The iron pierced his heart;" Cranmers version, 1540 (perpetuated in
the Book of Common Prayer), and the Bishops' Bible, 1568, "The iron entered into his soul."*
Ver. 19. His word came. To the ear of Pharaoh ; was reported to him. Compare Gen. xl. 14, " make mention of me to
Pharaoh," with chap. xli. 9-13.
Ver. 19. The saying of Jehovah. What Jehovah said through him (Gen. xl. 8, " do not interpretations belong to God ?")
thus owning him for his servant, and approving him as righteous.
Ver. 22. Elders. High officers of state ; a title of official dignity and rank. Compare Gen. 1. 7, 8, and the writer's note
on the passage.
Ver. 25. To plot against : as in Gen. xxxvii. 18. Fderst (lex.) "to show one's self cunning, to take cunning plans."
Ver. 27, Sethis signs. As enduring memorials in the history of .the people. See the remarks on Ps. Ixxviii. 43.
Ver. 27. Portents. See the remark on ver. 5.
Ver. 28. iSent darJcness. Here, as in Ps. Ixxviii. 44-51, the plagues are not mentioned in their historical order.
Ver. 28. They. Moses and Aaron, who are the subject of the verb here, as in the preceding verse. "They set his
signs;" and when he " sent darkness " by them, "they rebelled not against his words," as at Meribah (Num. xx. 24, " ye
rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah "), but executed his command with literal exactness.
Ver. 31. Lice. See the word in Smith's Bible Dictionary.
Ver. 36. Firstlings of— their strength. See the same phrase in Gen. xlix. 3, and the writer's note on it.
PSALM CVI.
1 Bless ye Jah.
Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good ;
for his mercy is forever.
* There is a grammatical difficulty in this construction and rendering, found in very ancient versions (the Chaldee Tar-
gum and the Latin Vulgate), though it may bo obviated on plausible grounds. (HiTzia and Delitzsoh, 2d edition, on the
passage). But the phrase so rendered, striking and beautiful as it is in thought and expression, seems to be less pertinent
in the connection.
PSALM CVI. 779
2 Who shall utter the mighty deeds of Jehovah ;
shall cause all his praise to be heard ?
3 Happy they that keep judgment,
he that doeth righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, Jehovah, with thy favor to thy people ;
visit me with thy salvation ;
5 that I may witness the welfare of thy chosen ones,
may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation,
may glory with thy heritage.
6 We have sinned, with our fathers ;
we have acted perversely, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers in Egypt did not consider thy wonders ;
they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies,
and they rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8 But he saved them for his name's sake,
to make known his might.
9 And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up ;
and he made them go through the depths, as in the wilderness.
10 And he saved them out of the hand of the hater,
and redeemed them out of the hand of the enemy,
11 And the waters covered their foes ;
not one of them was left.
12 And they believed his words,
they sang his praise.
13 They made haste to forget his doings ;
they waited not for his counsel.
14 They had greedy longings in the wilderness,
and they tempted God in the desert.
15 And he gave them their request,
and sent leanness in their soul.
16 And they were envious of Moses in the camp,
of Aaron, the holy one of Jehovah.
17 The earth opened, and swallowed up Dathan,
and covered over the company of Abiram. ,
18 And fire burned in their company ;
a flame consumed the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb,
and worshiped a molten image ;
20 and changed their glory,
into the likeness of an ox that eateth grass.
21 They forgat God, who saved them ;
who did greht things in Egypt,
22 wondrous things in the land of Ham,
terrible things by the Red Sea.
23 And he said he would destroy them ;
had not Moses stood in the breach before him,
to turn back his wrath from destroying.
24 And they rejected the pleasant land ;
they believed not his word.
25 And they murmured in their tents ;
they hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah.
26 And he lifted up his hand to them,
to make them fall in the wilderness ;
27 and to make their seed fall among the nations,
and to scatter them in the lands.
28 And they joined themselves to Baal-Peor,
and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
780 FOURTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
29 And they provoked displeasure by their deeds,
and a plague brake in upan them.
30 Then Phineas stood up, and executed judgment,
and the plague was stayed.
31 And it was reckoned to him for righteousness,
to generation and generation, forevermore.
32 They provoked anger at the waters of Strife ;
and it went ill with Moses on their account.
33 For they provoked his spirit,
and he spake unadvisedly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the peoples,
of whom Jehovah told them ;
35 but mixed themselves with the heathen,
and learned their works ;
36 and they served their idols,
and they became a snare to them.
37 And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons,
38 And they shed innocent blood ;
blood of their sons and their daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan ;
and the land was polluted with bloodshed.
39 And they were defiled with their works,
and played the harlot in their deeds.
40 And Jehovah's anger was kindled against his people^
and he abhorred his heritage.
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen,
and they that hated them ruled over them.
42 And their enemies oppressed them,
and they were bowed down under their hand.
43 Many times would he rescue them ;
and they rebelled in their counsel,
and were brought low for their iniquity.
44 But he looked on their distress,
when he heard their cry.
45 And he remembered for them his covenant,
and pitied them according to the abundance of his mercy ;
46 and made them objects of compassion,
in presence of all that carried them captive.
47 Save us, Jehovah, our God,
and gather us from the nations ;
to give thanks to thy holy name,
to glory in thy praise.
«
Blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel,
From everlasting, and to everlasting.
And let all the people say. Amen.
Praise ye Jah.
Ver. 13. Made haste. " Soon " (common English version) does not express the id»a. Their inherent perverseness made
haste to show itself. His counsel His owd purpose and plan for their relief.
Ver. 18. Commonly, and perhaps correctly, understood to refer to Num. xvi. 35, xxvi. 10, which may seem to be fayored
by the use of the word " company," as in the preceding verse. But the Hebrew words are in part repeated from Num. xi.
1, 3, and "company" may mean the congregation or assembly of Israel, as often elsewhere.
Ver. 26. Lifted up his hand. In confirmation of an oath; as in Ex. vi. 8 (properly, "I lifted my hand to give it to
Abraham "), Deut. xxxii. 40. Compare Gen. xiv. 22, "//tare lifted my haiul to Jehovah, in token of my recognition of him,
as witness to the oath " (the writer's Revised Version of Genesis, with notes),
Ver. 26, 2d member. The words of the oath (Num. xiv. 29j "Shall fall in this wilderness." They should be retained,
therefore, in the version here.
Ver. 28. The dead. Lifeless idols.
Ver. 33. 11 OH. Fuerst (lex,), "to Offend, to provoke." Hupfeu), Deutzsoo, Alexandeb, Peeowne, Moli,, otherwise,
but without conclusive grounds.
Ver. 39, 2d member. Compare the remark on Ps. Ixxiii. 27.
Ver. 43. Their counsel. What they devised and planned for themselves, without regard to Jehovah's purposes
and will.
Ver. 46, 1st member. The only possible construction, aa in all of Hupfeld'a references. — Objects of compassion ; by a
metonomy very common in other words.
FIFTH BOOK.
PSALMS CVII CL.
PSALM CVII.
1 Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good ;
for his mercy is forever.
2 Let the redeemed of Jehovah say it,
whom he redeemed from the hand of the foe ;
3 and gathered them out of the lands,
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness, in a desert way;
they found not a city for a habitation.
6 Hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble,
and he rescued them out of their distresses.
7 And he led them by a straight way,
that they might go to a city for a habitation.
8 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his mercy,
and his wonderful works to the sons of men.
9 For he satisfieth the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he filleth with good.
10 As they sat in darkness and the shadow of death,
bound in affliction and iron ; —
11 because they rebelled against the words of the Mighty One,
and contemned the counsel of the Most High,
12 and he bowed down their heart with trouble,
they stumbled, and there was none to help ; —
13 then they cried to Jehovah in their strait,
and he saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out from darkness and the shadow of death,
and brake their bands asunder.
15 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his mercy,
and his wonderful works to the sons of men.
16 For he hath broken the doors of brass,
and cut the bars of iron asunder.
17 Fools, because of their way of transgression,
and because of their iniquities, bring affliction on themselves.
18 All food their soul abhorreth,
and they draw near unto the gates of death.
781
782 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
19 Then they cry to Jehovah in their strait,
and he saveth them out of their distresses.
20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them,
and delivereth them from their pits.
21 Let them ejive thanks to Jehovah for his mercy,
and his wonderful works to the sons of men.
22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and recount his works with rejoicing.
23 They that go down to the sea in ships,
that do business in great waters ;
24 these see the works of Jehovah,
and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he spake, and raised a stormy wind,
and it lifted up the waves thereof.
26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down to the abysses ;
their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel and stagger like a drunken man,
and all their wisdom comes to naught.
28 Then they cry to Jehovah in their strait,
and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He husheth the storm to silence,
and the waves thereof are still.
30 Then are they glad, because they are at rest,
and he leadeth them to their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his mercy,
and his wonderful works to the sons of men.
32 And let them exalt him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness,
and water-springs into dry ground ;
34 a fruitful land into barrenness,
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
35 He turneth the wilderness into a pool of water,
and a dry land into water-springs.
36 And there he maketh the hungry dwell,
and they found a city for a habitation.
37 And they sow fields, and plant vineyards,
and produce fruits of the [yearly] increase.
38 And he blesseth them, and they multiply greatly,
and their cattle he maketh not few.
39 And they become few, and are brought low,
from oppression, sufiering, and sorrow ;
40 he poureth contempt upon princes,
and maketh them wander in a pathless waste.
41 And he setteth the needy on high out of aflSiiction,
and maketh families like a flock.
42 The upright shall see, and rejoice,
and all iniquity stop her mouth.
43 Whoso is wise, let him observe these things ;
and let them attentively consider the mercies of Jehovah.
Ver. 20, ITieir pits. Intended for tbem, and Into which they are about to fall.
Ver. 24. Bis wonders. Such as are spoken of in the following verses.
Ver. 30. They are at rest. The waves are meant. Such alternations of the subject, expressed by a pronoun, are frequent
In Hebrew, and cannot be avoided in translation.
Ver. 43. Some translate these words as a question, but less pertinently in the connectioa :
Who is wise, and will observe these things,
And will attejitively consider the mercies of Jehovah ?
FSALM CIX. 788
PSALM CVIII.
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 My heart is fixed, O God ;
I will sing, and will sing. praise, — my glory also.
2 Awake lute and harp ;
I will awake the dawn !
3 I will praise thee among the peoples, O Jehovah ;
I will sing praise to thee among the nations.
4 For great above the heavens is thy mercy,
and unto the clouds thy truth.
5 Be thou exalted above the heavens, 0 God,
and thy glory over all the earth !
6 That thy beloved ones may be delivered,
save with thy right hand, and answer me.
7 God hath spoken in his holiness. I will triumph ;
I will divide Shechem, and will mete out the valley of Succoth,
8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is the defense of my head ;
Judah is my ruler's staff.
9 Moab is my wash-basin ;
upon Edom will I cast my shoe ;
over Philistia will I shout aloud.
10 Who will conduct me to the fortified city ?
Who hath led me unto Edom ?
11 Hast not thou, O God, cast us off,
and wilt not go forth, O God, with our armies /
12 Give us help from the foe ;
for vain is the deliverance of man.
13 Through God we will do valiantly,
and he it is that will tread down our foes.
Ver. 1. My glory. What is noblest in man, and is his true glory, — ^his spiritnal nature. — My glory also. Shall accom.
pany the outward expression of praise in music and song. Compare Pa. Ivii. 8, "Awake, my glory."
Ver. 8, 3d member. Compare Gen. xlix, 10 (the writer's revised version and notes).
Ver. 10. JSath led me: anticipating the desired blessing.
PSALM CIX.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 God of my praise, be not silent I
2 For a wicked mouth, and a mouth of deceit, have they opened against me;
they have spoken against me with a tongue of falsehood.
3 And with words of hatred they have compassed me,
and have fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they are my adversaries ;
but I give myself to prayer.
5 And they laid upon me evil in return for good,
and hatred in return for my love.
6 Appoint thou over him a wicked one,
and let an adversary stand at his right hand,
7 When he is judged, let him go forth guilty,
and let his prayer become sin.
784 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 Let his days be few ;
his oflBce let another take.
9 Let his sons be orphans,
and his wife a widow. '
10 Let his sons continually wander and beg,
and seek [help] far from their ruins.
11 Let the usurer lay a snare for all that he hath,
and let strangers despoil his labor.
12 Let him have no one to extend mercy,
and let there be none to show favor to his orphans.
13 Let his posterity be cut off;
in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be in remembrance with Jehovah,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before Jehovah continually,
and let him cut off their memory from the earth.
16 Because he remembered not to show mercy,
and persecuted a man afflicted and needy,
and stricken in heart, to slay him.
17 And he loved cursing, and it came upon him ;
and he delighted not in blessing,
and it was far from him.
18 And he put on cursing as his garment;
and it came like water into his bowels,
and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him as the robe he wears,
and for a belt let him always gird it on.
20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from Jehovah,
and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 And thou, Jehovah, Lord,
do for me, for the sake of thy name.
For good is thy mercy ; rescue me.
22 For I am afflicted and needy,
and my heart is pierced within me.
23 Like the shadow, as it lengthens, I am passing away;
I am driven away like the locust.
24 My knees falter through fasting,
and my flesh pines away from [its] fatness.
25 And I am become to them a reproach ;
they see me, they shake their head.
26 Help me, Jehovah, my God,
save me, according to thy mercy.
27 And they shall know that this is thy hand ;
thou, Jehovah, hast done it.
28 They will curse, and thou wilt bless ;
they have risen up, and shall be shamed, and thy servant will rejoice,
29 My adversaries shall be clothed with shame,
and cover themselves with their confusion as with a robe.
30 I will thank Jehovah greatly with my mouth,
and in the midst of many will I praise him.
31 For he will stand on the right hand of the needy,
to save him from them that judge his soul.
Ver.4, 2d member. The words are, But I prayer! or, as the pronoun may be taken, But as for me— prayerl
Supplying the normal omission of the copula, the former reads, But I am prayer ; the latter, But as for mo there is
prayer.
In the former caae the meaning is. But I am only prayer; my whole being is prayer— —pours itself out in prayer.
In the latter case the meaning is, But as for me there is only prayer ; there is no other refuge for me, my only resort la
prayer. Each is expressed, though less pointedly, in the familiar form, "I give myself to prayer."
Htjpfeld fails to justify the metonomy, prayer, for one that prays (abstr. statt concr., ein Betender), by reference to
Pe. cxx. 7, " I am peace " — peaceful, an action dififering from a quality or trait Of mind. His alternative construction, " in
PSALM CXI.
785
prayer" (fm, Gebete, Accus. des Zustands), is not analogous with Pa. Ixil. 1, my soul is quietude, ib quietness itself; nor with
^8. xxxix, 2, 1 was dumb with silence, where the qualifying accus. of manner and degree expresses completeness, — wholly
Vers. 6-20. See the note on Ps. Ixix. 22-28.
■tr^7it^' ^' ^* ''** '^^¥ ^^- '^^^ position of the accuser. Compare Zech. ui. 1 (ihm zur rechten Seite steM der Satan ah
Y&ricLager. Delitzsch).
Ver. 10. Their ruins. Their ruined homes.
Ver. 21. Do for me, expresses the sense, whether with Huppeld, Alexandee, and others, we euppoao non or ^IJO to
be implied, or with Delitzsoh that ">f\X i8=^'7.
Ver. 23. Lilce Vu shadow, as it lengthens. As the lengthening of the shadow shows that it will soon vanish awav.
ver. 2d. lake the locust. Locusts are always driven before the wind. Compare Ex. x. 13 and 19
Ter. 31. On the right hand. To aid and defend, as in Ps. ex. 5.
PSALM ex.
A Psalm of David.
1 Jehovali said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,
till I shall make thy enemies a stool for thy feet.
2 The rod of thy strength will Jehovah stretch forth from Zion ;
rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.
3 Thy people are free-will offerings in the day of thy warfare, in beauties of holiness ;
from the womb of the morning thou hast thy dew of youth,
4 Jehovah hath sworn, and he will not repent,
Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The Lord is on thy right hand ;
he smiteth kings in the day of his anger.
6 He will judge among the heathen ; he filleth with dead bodies ;
he smiteth the head, over broad lands.
7 Of the brook, in the way, will he drink ;
therefore will he lift up the head.
Ver. 1. Stool for thy feet. More emphatic than footstool, Ps. xcix. 5, where the Hebrew haa another form.
Ver. 3. In beauties of holiness. Sanctified for the holy warfare. There may be a typical reference in the ceremonial
purity of the person and garments. Compare Ex. xix. 10 ; and for the spiritual meaning, Pss. xxix. 2, xcvi. 9.
Ver. 3, 2d member. A latent comparison, intimated but not fully expressed. " Dew of youth " suggests the freshness
and beauty of young life. " Womb of the morning " suggests the prolific source of the countless dew-drops. Accordingly,
" From the womb of the morning thou hast thy dew of youth," suggests the countless numbers and fresh vigor of the
youthful warriors, a.i t!ie dew-drops poured forth from the womb of the morning.
Ver. 5. On thy right hand. For aid and defense, as in Ps. cix. 31.
Ver. 7. Ofthelyrook,intheway. Not pausing, in the pursuit, for fnrther refreshment, and re-invigorated by this
chance supply. This Messianic Psalm represents a warrior king, going forth " conquering and to conquer " (Rev. vi. 2),
and all the imagery is in accordeuice with this conception. Hence this trait of hardihood and endurance, in the pursuit of
the routed and flying foe.
PSALM CXL
Praise ye Jah.
I will thank Jehovah with the whole heart,
in the company of the upright and in the congregation.
Great are the works of Jehovah ;
searched out by all that delight in them.
Honorable and glorious is his work ;
and his righteousness standeth fast forever.
He hath made a memorial for his wonderful works ;
gracious and compassionate is Jehovah.
The prey he hath given to them that fear him ;
he will forever remember his covenant.
The might of his works he hath shown to his people,
to give to them the heritage of the nations.
60
786 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
7 The works of his hand are truth and judgment;
sure are all thy precepts ;
8 established forever and ever,
done in truth and uprightness.
9 Redemption hath he sent to his people ;
he commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and fearful is his name.
10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Jehovah.
A good understanding have all they that do them*
His praise endureth forever.
Ver. 10, 2(i member. Them. His precepts (ver. 7).
PSALM CXIL
1 Praise ye Jah.
Happy the man that feareth Jehovah,
that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
2 Mighty in the earth shall be his seed ;
the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house ;
and his righteousness standeth fast forever.
4 There hath risen in the darkness a light for the upright,
gracious, and compassionate, and righteous.
5 Happy is the man that showeth favor and lendeth ;
he maintaiueth his cause in the judgment.
6 For he shall not be moved forever;
the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance,
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings ;
his heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah.
8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid,
until he shall see his desire on his foes.
9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the needy ;
his righteousness standeth fast forever.
His horn shall be exalted in honor.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be vexed ;
he will gnash his teeth, and melt away.
The desire of the wicked shall perish.
Ver. 6. Levdeth. In charity, to the poor. Compare ver. 9, and Prov. xix. 17.
PSALM CXIIL
1 Praise ye Jah.
Praise, ye servants of Jehovah,
praise the name of Jehovah.
2 Let the name of Jehovah be blessed,
henceforth, and forever.
•3 From the rising of the sun until its going down,
praised be the name of Jehovah.
4 High above all nations is Jehovah ;
above the heavens is his glory.
i6 Who is like Jehovah, our God,
he that sitteth on high ;
PSALM CXV. 787
6 he that looketh far down,
on the heavens and on the earth ?
7 He raiseth up the weak out of the dust ;
he lifteth up the needy from the dunghill ;
8 to make him sit with nobles,
with the nobles of his people. ,
9 He maketh the barren dwell in the family,
the rejoicing mother of sons.
Praise ye Jah.
Yera. 5, 6. Hupfeld, thronthoch, sieht tief(Qmsmv8, Gram. 1 142, 2). The last clanse is not to be connected with the
first of ver. 5 (Dr. Alexander) ; beeeichnet offenbar den Oegensland des SeJieni, ndnlich was dort ist und vnrgeht ( IIopfeld).
Ver. 9. In the family. A fiimily of her own. The blessing most prized and sought, the fan-ily relation of mother and
children.
PSALM CXIV.
When Israel went forth out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language ;
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
The sea saw, and fled ;
the Jordan turned back.
The mountains leaped like rams,
hills like the young of the flock.
What aileth thee, thou sea, that thou fleest?
Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back?
Ye mountains, that ye leap like rams,
hills, like young of the. flock ?
Tremble thou earth, before the Lord,
before the God of Jacob ;
who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the flinty rock into a fountain of waters.
PSALM CXV.
1 Not unto us, O Jehovah, not unto us,
but to thy name give glory,
for thy mercy, for thy truth.
2 Wherefore should the heathen say,
Where now is their God ?
3 But our God is in the heavens ;
all that he pleased he hath done.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of the hands of man.
5 A mouth have they, but they speak not j
eyes have they, but they see not.
6 Ears have they, but they hear not;
a nose have they, but they smell not.
7 Their hands, — they handle not ;
their feet, — they walk not.
They make no sound in their throat.
8 Like to them are they that make them,
every one that trusteth in them.
788 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
9 Israel, trust thou in Jehovah ;
he is their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust ye in Jehovah ;
he is their help and their shield.
11 Ye that fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah ;
he is their help and their shield.
12 Jehovah hath been mindful of ua; he will bless;
will bless the house of Israel,
will bless the house of Aaron ;
13 will bless them that fear Jehovah,
the small with the great.
14 Jehovah add to you,
to you and to your children I
15 Blessed be ye of Jehovah,
maker of heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are Jehovah's heavens:
and the earth he hath given to the sons of men.
17 The dead praise not Jah,
and none that go down to silence,
18 But we will bless Jah,
henceforth, and forever.
Praise ye Jah.
Ver. 17. Silence, Of the grave ; as in Ps. xciv. 17.
Vera. 17, 18. Jah. See the note on Ps. IxviiL 4.
PSALM CXVL
1 I love — because Jehovah heareth
my voice and my supplications ;
2 because he hath inclined his ear to me,
and I will call while I live.
3 The bands of death encompassed me,
and the pangs of the underworld came upon me.
I find trouble and sorrow.
4 And I call on the name of Jehovah ;
Jehovah, I pray, deliver my soul !
6 Gracious is Jehovah, and righteous ;
and our God showeth compassion.
6 Jehovah preserveth the simple ;
I was brought low, and he helped me.
7 Return, my soul, to thy rest,
for Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee.
8 For thou hast rescued my soul from deai;li»
my eyes from tears,
my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before Jehovah,
in the lands of the living.
10 I believed, for [so] I speak.
I, I was afflicted greatly.
11 I said in my alarm,
all mankind are false.
12 How shall I repay to Jehovah,
all his benefits bestowed upon me ?
13 I will take the cup of salvation,
and will call on the name of Jehovah.
PSALM CXVIII. 789
14 I will pay my vows to Jehovah,
yea, in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the eyes of Jehovah
is the death of his saints.
16 I beseech, O Jehovah — for I am thy servant,
I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid;
thou hast loosed my bonds.
17 To thee will I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and will call on the name of Jehovah.
18 I will pay my vows to Jehovah,
yea, in the presence of all his people ;
19 in the courts of the house of Jehovah,
in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
Praise ye Jah.
Ver. 1. I love. Not, I rejoice, I delight (deUetor), etc., as some understand the word ; but in its strict and proper sense,
I love. My heart overflows with love, at the resnembrance of all that Jehovah baa done and purposes for me. As the text
stands, this is the only possible construction of the words ; and it gives a just and pertinent sentiment, — the exercise of lovo
in view of benefits conferred. Hupfeld can obtain the rendering," I love Jehovah, because," etc., only by arbitrarily
altering the order of words in the written text, without any authority whatever. His objections to the text as it stands
are obviated, I think, by the above rendering and explanation of the words.
Ver. 9. In the lands of the living. In Ps. xxvii. 13 is the more restricted expression, " in the land of the living." Here
the meaning is, in whatever lands, wherever my lot may fall.
Ver. 10. JPor [so] Ispeak. Implying, that he could not speak as he had done, if he had not believed.
Ver. 11. All mankind are false. Implying, that God alone is to be trusted.
Vers. 12, 13. The question and answer together imply, that " his benefits " cannot be repaid.
Ver. 14. Tea. KJ • • • ffi^i infreiester Verwendimg dem Worte bei dem es steht lebhaftere Farbe (Deutzsoh^.
PSALM CXVII.
Praise Jehovah, all ye nations ;
extol him, all ye peoples.
For great is his mercy toward us ;
and the truth of Jehovah is forever.
Praise ye Jah.
PSALM CXVIIL
1 Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good;
For his mercy is forever.
2 Let Israel say, —
For his mercy is forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron say, —
For his mercy is forever.
4 Let them that fear Jehovah say,—
For his mercy is forever.
6 Out of the anguish I called on Jah,
Jah answered [and set] me in a large place.
6 Jehovah is for me, I will not fear ;
what can man do to me?
7 Jehovah is for me, with my helpers,
and I, I shall see my desire on them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in Jehovah,
than to confide in man.
9 It is better to trust in Jehovah,
than to confide in princes.
^90 FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
10 All tlie heathen compass me about;
in the name of Jehovah I will surely cut them off.
11 They compass me about, yea, they surround me;
in the name of Jehovah I will surely cut them off.
12 They compass me about like bees ;
they are quenched like the fire of thorns ;
in the name of Jehovah I will surely cut them off.
13 Thou didst sorely thrust at me, that I might fall;
but Jehovah helped me.
14 Jah is my strength and song,
and he is become my salvation.
15 The voice of triumph and salvation
is in the tents of the righteous.
The right hand of Jehovah hath wrought mightily.
16 The right hand of Jehovah is uplifted high ;
the right hand of Jehovah hath wrought mightily.
17 I shall not die, but shall live,
and shall recount the works of Jah.
18 Jah hath sorely chastened me,
but hath not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness ;
I will come in by them, I will give thanks to Jah.
20 This is the gate of Jehovah ;
the righteous shall come in by it.
21 I will thank thee that thou hast answered me,
and art become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders rejected,
hath become the head of the corner.
23 This is from Jehovah ;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
24 This is the day Jehovah hath made;
we will exult and be glad in it.
25 I beseech, O Jehovah, save now !
I beseech, O Jehovah, send now prosperity !
26 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah.
We bless you from the house of Jehovah.
27 Mighty is Jehovah, and hath given us light.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
even unto the horns of the altar.
28 Thou art my God, and I will thank thee ;
my God, I will exalt thee.
29 Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good ;
for his mercy is forever.
Vers. 2-4. The Psalmist calls on Israel, on the house of AaroB, on all that fear Jehovah, to repeat the ground of thanks-
giving, " For his mercy is forever."
Ver. 5, 2d member. Compare Ps. xxxi. 8, " hast pet my feet in a large place," and Ps. xviii. 19, " brought me forth to
a large place."
Ver. 10. Will surely. Delitzbch, ''J ist das begriindende und danngeradezu bestdtigende vnd versichemde cxxviii. 2, 4,
welches hier nach vorausgeg. fp DE^ J ebenso verwendet und gestellt ist wie 1 <S. xiv. 44, im Schwure. So Alexander, " ir the
name of Jehovah (I swear, or solemnly aflBrm) that I will cut them ojf."
Yer. 12. Like the fire of tJiorns. Noisy and brief. Compare Eccl.vii. 6.
Ver. 16. Js uplifted high. Or, lifts on high ; namely, to a place of safety. Compare Pss. xiii. 48 ; xci. 14.
PSALM CXIX. 791
PSALM CXIX.
ALEPH.
1 Happy the upright in their way,
who walk in the law of Jehovah.
2 Happy they that keep his testimonies,
that seek him with the whole heart ;
3 who also do no wrong,
who walk in his ways.
4 Thou hast enjoined thy precepts,
that we should keep them strictly.
5 O that my ways were directed,
to keep thy statutes.
6 Then shall I not be ashamed,
when I have respect to all thy commandments.
7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart,
while I learn thy righteous judgments.
8 Thy statutes I will keep.
'Do not forsake me utterly I
BETH.
9 Whereby shall a young man keep his paths pure ?
By taking heed according to thy word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought thee ;
do not let me wander from thy commandments.
11 In my heart have I treasured thy saying,
that I may not sin against thee.
12 Blessed be thou, O Jehovah I
Teach me thy statutes.
13 With my lips have I recounted
all the judgments of thy mouth.
14 In the way of thy testimonies have I rejoiced,
as over all riches.
15 In thy precepts will I meditate,
and have respect to thy paths.
16 In thy statutes will I delight myself;
I will not forget thy word.
GIMEL.
17 Deal kindly with thy servant that I may live l
and I will keep thy word.
18 Open thou my eyes, and let me behold, —
wondrous things out of thy law I
19 I am a stranger in the earth ;
do not hide from me thy commandments.
20 My soul break€th with longing,
toward thy judgments at all times.
21 Thou hast rebuked the proud, accursed,
that wander from thy commandments.
22 Roll off from me reproach and contempt;
for thy testimonies have I kept.
23 Also princes sat and talked against me ;
thy servant meditateth on thy statutes.
24 Also thy testimonies are my delight,
my counselors.
792 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
DALETH.
25 My soul cleaveth to the dust ;
do ttou revive me according to thy word.
26 My ways I have declared, and thou didst answer me ;
teach me thy statutes.
27 The way of thy precepts make me understand ;
and I will meditate on thy wonders.
28 My soul melteth away with sorrow ;
raise me up, according to thy word.
29 The way of falsehood remove from me,
and grant me graciously thy law.
30 The way of truth have I chosen ;
thy judgments I have set [before me.]
31 I have cleaved to thy testimonies ;
Jehovah, do not put me to shame.
32 The way of thy commandments I will run ;
for thou wilt enlarge my heart.
HE.
33 Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of thy statutes,
and I will keep it to the end.
34 Make me understand and I will keep thy law,
and will observe it with the whole heart.
35 Make me tread in the path of thy commandments j
for therein do I delight.
36 Incline my heart to thy testimonies,
and not to gain.
37 Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity ;
quicken me in thy way.
28 Confirm to thy servant what thou hast said,
which is for thy fear.
39 Turn away my reproach which I dread ;
for thy judgments are good.
40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts ;
in thy righteousness quicken thou me.
VAV.
41 And let thy mercies come to me, O Jehovah,
thy salvation, according to thy saying.
42 And I shall answer him that reproacheth me ;
for I have trusted in thy word.
43 And take not from my mouth the word of truth utterly ;
for I have waited for thy judgments.
44 And I will keep thy law continually,
forever and ever.
45 And I shall walk at large ;
for thy precepts have I sought.
46 And I will speak of thy testimonies before kings,
and will not be ashamed.
47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments,
which I love.
48 And I will lift up my hands to thy commandments,
which I love,
and will meditate on thy statutes.
ZATIN.
49 Remember the word to thy servant,
on which thou hast caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction ;
for thy saying hath revived me.
PSALM CXIX. 793
51 Proud ones have greatly derided me ;
from thy law I have not swerved,
52 I remembered thy judgments of old, O Jehovah,
and have consoled myself.
53 Indignation hath taken hold of me because of the wicked,
who forsake thy law.
54 Thy statutes have been my songs,
in the house of my sojournings.
5d I have remembered thy name in the night, 0 Jehovah,
and have kept thy law.
56 This I have had,
for thy precepts have I kept.
CHETH.
57 Jehovah is my portion, I have said,
that I may keep thy words.
58 I have sought thy favor with the whole heart ;
be gracious to me according to thy saying.
59 I thought on my ways,
and turned back my feet to thy testimonies. /
60 I made haste and delayed not,
to keep thy commandments.
61 The cords of the wicked were around me ;
thy law I have not forgotten.
62 At midnight will I rise to give thanks to thee,
on account of thy righteous judgments.
63 I am a companion of all that fear thee,
and of them that keep thy precepts.
64 The earth is full of thy mercy, O Jehovah ;
teach me thy statutes.
TETH.
65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant,
O Jehovah, according to thy word.
66 Teach me good understanding and knowledge;
for I have believed in thy commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray ;
but now I keep thy saying.
68 Thou art good, and doest good ;
teach me thy statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me ;
I, with all the heart, will keep thy precepts.
70 Thick, as with fat, is their heart ;
as for me, in thy law do I delight.
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn thy statutes.
72 Better to me is the law of thy mouth,
than thousands of gold and silver.
YOD.
73 Thy hands made me, and fashioned me ;
make me understand, that I may learn thy comraandmentSc
74 They that fear thee will see me and will rejoice ;
for I have hoped in thy word.
75 I know, O Jehovah, that thy judgments are right,
and in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me.
76 Let, I pray, thy mercy be for my comfort,
according to thy saying to thy servant.
794 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
77 Let thy compassions come upon me that I may live ;
for thy law is my delight.
78 Let the proud be ashamed, for they wronged me without cause;
as for me, I meditate on thy precepts.
79 They will turn to me that fear thee,
and that know thy testimonies.
80 Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes,
that I may not be ashamed.
CAPH.
81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation ;
for thy word do I wait.
82 My eyes fail for thy saying,
while I say, When wilt thou comfort me !
83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke ;
thy statutes I do not forget.
84 How many are the days of thy servant ?
When wilt thou execute judgment on my persecutors?
85 The proud have digged pits for me,
who are not according to thy law.
86 All thy commandments are faithfulness ;
they persecute me wrongfully ; help thou me.
87 Almost had they consumed me upon earth ;
and I, I forsook not thy precepts.
88 According to thy mercy revive me,
and I will keep the testimony of thy mouth.
LAMED.
89 Forever, O Jehovah,
thy word is settled in the heavens.
90 To generation and generation is thy faithfulness ;
thou hast founded the earth, and it standeth fast.
91 For thy judgments they stand fast this day ;
for all are thy servants.
92 Unless thy law had been my delight,
I should then have perished in my affliction.
93 Forever will I not forget thy precepts ;
for with them thou hast quickened me.
94 Thine am I, — save me ;
for thy precepts have I sought.
95 The wicked have waited lor me to destroy me ;
to thy testimonies do I give heed.
96 To all perfection I have seen an end ;
thy commandment is exceeding broad.
MEM.
97 How do I love thy law !
All the day it is my meditation.
98 Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies;
for forever is it mine.
99 I am become wiser than my teachers ;
for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I have more understanding than the aged;
for thy precepts have I kept.
tOl From every evil path have I withheld my feet,
in order that I may keep thy word.
102 From thy judgments I have not departed,
for thou thyself dost guide me.
PSALM CXIX. 795
103 How sweet to my palate are thy sayings;
more than honey to d^ mouth I
104 From thy precepts I get understanding ;
therefore do I hate every false path.
NUN.
105 A lamp to my foot is thy word,
and a light to my path.
106 I have sworn, and have fulfilled it, '
to observe thy righteous judgments.
107 I am afflicted very greatly ;
O Jehovah, revive me according to thy word.
108 Let the free-will offerings of my mouth be acceptable to thee, O Jehovah ;
and teach me thy judgments.
109 My soul is in my hand continually ;
but thy law I do not forget.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me ;
but from thy precepts I have not strayed.
111 Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forevei ;
for-they are the joy of my heart.
112 I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes,
forever, to the end.
SAMECH.
113 The double-minded I hate,
and thy law I love.
114 My hiding place and my shield art thou ;
for thy word do I wait.
115 Depart from me, ye evil-doers ;
and I will keep the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according to thy saying, and I shall live;
and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.
117 Do thou hold me up, and I shall be saved ;
and I will have regard to thy statutes continually.
118 Thou hast made light of all that wander from thy statutes;
for a vain thing is their deceit.
119 • As dross thou hast put away all the wicked of the earth;
therefore do I love thy testimonies.
120 My flesh shuddereth from dread of thee,
and of thy judgments I am afraid.
Arm.
121 I have done justice and righteousness ;
thou wilt not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Be surety for thy servant for good ;
do not let the proud oppress me.
123 My eyes fail for thy salvation,
and for thy righteous saying,
124 Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy,
and teach me thy statutes.
125 I am thy servant, — ^give me understanding,
and I shall know thy statutes.
126 It is time that Jehovah should work ;
they have broken thy law.
127 Therefore do I love thy commandments,
above gold, and above fine gold.
128 Therefore all thy precepts I esteem right ;
every path of falsehood I hate.
796 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
PE.
129 Wonderful are thy testimonies ;
therefore hath my soul kept them.
130 The unfolding of thy words giveth light,
making the simple understand.
131 I opened my mouth wide, and panted ;
for I longed for thy commandments.
132 Turn to me, and be gracious to me,
as thou art wont to do to them that love thy name.
133 My steps establish by thy word,
and let no iniquity rule over me.
134 Redeem me from the oppression of man;
•and I will observe thy precepts.
135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant,
and teach me thy statutes.
136 My eyes run down with streams of water,
because they observe not thy law.
TSADE.
137 Righteous art thou O Jehovah,
and upright in thy judgments.
138 Thou hast enjoined in righteousness thy testimonies,
and in exceeding faithfulness.
139 My zeal consumeth me,
because my foes forget thy words.
140 Pure is thy saying — exceedingly,
and thy servant loveth it.
141 Little am I and despised;
thy precepts I do not forget.
142 Thy righteousness is eternal right,
and thy law is truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me ;
thy commandments are my delights.
144 Right are thy testimonies forever;
make me understand, and I shall live.
KOPH.
145 I call with the whole heart ; answer me, O Jehovah 5
thy statutes I will keep.
146 I call on thee, save me ;
and I will observe thy testimonies.
147 I rise early with the dawn, and cry for help ;
for thy words do I wait.
148 My eyes anticipate the night-watches,
to meditate on thy saying.
149 Hear my voice according to thy mercy ;
0 Jehovah, according to thy judgments revive me.
150 Near are they that follow after mischief;
they are far from thy law.
151 Near art thou, O Jehovah,
and all thy commandments are truth.
152 Long time have I known from thy testimonies,
that thou hast founded them forever.
RESH.
153 See my affliction, and rescue me
for thy law I have not forgotten.
/y/
1<'>4 Plead my cause and redeem me ;
according to thy saying revive me.
155 Far from the wicked is salvation ;
for thy statutes they have not sought.
156 Many are thy compassions, O Jehovah ;
according to thy judgments revive me.
157 Many are my persecutors and my foes ;
from thy testimonies I have not swerved.
158 I saw the faithless and loathed,
them that keep not thy saying.
159 See how I love thy precepts ;
O Jehovah, according to thy mercy revive me.
160 The sum of thy word is truth ;
and every one of thy righteous judgments is forever.
SCHIN.
161 Princes persecute me without cause ;
but at thy words my heart trembleth.
162 I rejoice over thy saying,
as one that findeth great spoil.
163 Falsehood I hate and abhor ;
thy law do I love.
164 Seven times in the day I praise thee,
on account of thy righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have they that love thy law ;
and they have no occasion of stumbling.
166 I have hoped for thy salvation, O Jehovah ;
and have done thy commandments.
167 My soul hath observed thy testimonies,
and I love them exceedingly.
168 I have observed thy precepts and thy testimonies ;
for all thy ways are before me.
TAV.
169 Let my cry come near before thee, O Jehovah;
according to thy word, make me understand.
170 Let my supplication come before thee ;
according to thy saying, rescue me.
171 My lips shall pour forth praise;
for thou wilt teach me thy statutes.
172 Let my tongue answer to thy saying,
that all thy commandments are right.
173 Let thy hand be for my help ;
for thy precepts have I chosen.
174 I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah;
and thy law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live and praise thee ;
and let thy judgments help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep.
Seek thy servant ;
for thy commandments I do not forget.
Ps, cxfx. A treasury of devout sentiments and practical precepts. The memory was aided by the alphabetic structura
of the psalqi in twenty-two stanzas, according to the number of the Hebrew letters, eacli conaidting of eight parallelisms
(sixteen lines), the first line of each parallelism beginning with the initial letter of the stanza.
Ver. 18. I will behold. Self-incitement. (Gesenius, Oram. ^128, I).
Ver. 38. Ibr thy fear. To lead men to the fear of God, assuring them of the blessings attending it.
Vers. 41-48. In this stanza, the initial letter is the word and in Hebrew ; lience its recitrreace at the beginning of the
first line in each couplet.
Ver. 44. WillUft up my hands. As a symbol, and an expression, of the liffin;;; np of the heart.
Ver. 70, Ist member. An expression of insensibility, and dullness of moial perccytiou. Compare Ps. xvii. 10; Is. vi, 10,
Ver. 96. An end. A limit, or bound.
798 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 98, 2d member. Jl. Embracing all as one.
Ver. 113. The double-minded. Men of divided mind, "halting between two opinions" (1 Kings xviii. 21, where a word
from the same root is used) ; unstable and unwavering. Compare James i. 8.
Vers. 127, 128. rAere/bre. In consideration of all that precedes. .,,. r i.u • i,*. „ t„v.«= „..o
Ver. U8. Anticipate the night-watch6S. Anticipate their progress ; waking unseasonably, before the night-watches are
past. See the note on Ps. Ixlii. &
PSALM CXX.
Pilgrim Song.
1 To Jehovah, in my distress,
I called and he answered me.
2 O Jehovah, rescue my soul from lying lips,
from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall he give to thee,
and what shall he do more to thee, deceitful tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty,
with burning coals of broom I
6 Alas for me, that I sojourn in Mesech,
that I dwell with the tents of Kedar I
6 My soul hath long dwelt
with him that hateth peace.
I am for peace ; but when I speak,
they are for war.
Pss. CXX. — cxxxiv. Pilgrim Songs — Three annual pilgrimages to the Holy City were required of all the male popula-
tion. See Deut. xvi. 16; and compare Ex. xxiii. 14-17. Though required only of males ("all thy males," Deut. xvi. 16),
the journey would sometimes be voluntarily made by pious women; as is recorded of Hannah (I Sam. i. 7), and of Mary
iLuke ii. 41, 42). The people of the same neighborhood, and the different branches of the same family (compare Luke ii.
4), would go together in large companies, for mutual aid and protection, encami.ing by night in the open fields. The ob-
ject and circumstances of the journey would naturally suggest a collection of suitable hymns for evening and morning
worship.
This is the most satisfactory of the several theories of the origin and designation of this small collection of fifteen
Psalms. Tlie title prefixed to each, literally Song of the Ascents (namt:>ly, to the Holy City, compare Ps. cxxii 4, " whither
the tribes go up ") is appropriate to such an occaaion.* That some were written for other occasions, and with a dift'erent
design, is uo valid objection; the Psalms selected being appropriate, either in their direct reference to the special object
and the peculiar circumstances and incidents of the Journey, or in the spirit of devotion and depth of religious feeling
with which all occurrences, national and domestic, were regarded. The collection may have originated in the pilgrimages
from Babylon at the close of the captivity (Ezra vii. 9, literally " the going up from Babylon "), to which the sentiments of
the first in the series (Ps. cxx.) and of similar ones, would be pertinent. Many pious Jews, who in after times ma le this
pilgrimage from lands to which they were driven by the dispersion, Wuuld find expression for their peculiar relations and
eentiments in such Psalms.
How appropriate, a^ they were journeying toward the mountains of Jerusalem (Ps. cxxv. 2) were all the sentiments of
Ps. cxxi., beginning :
I will lift my eyes unto the mountains ;
from whence shall my help come 2
and on their arrival at the Holy City, and joyful entrance through its gates, the words of the following Psalm (Ps. cxxii.),
beginning :
I was glad when they said to me,
let us go into the house of Jehovah.
Our feet are standing
in thy gates, 0 Jerusalem.
Thece two Psalms indicate the design of the whole collection,
Ver. 3. Compare the form of imprecation, " God do so and more also " (1 Sam. xiv. 44).
Ver. 4. With burning coals. Compare Ps. cxl. 10.
Broom. A plant used as fuel by the natives of the country. " The Vulgate, Luther, English version, and others, trans-
late it wrongly hy juniper. The roots are very bitter, and are regarded by the Arabs as yielding the best charcoal " (Rob-
inson, Researches in Palestine, Vol. I., p. 299).
Ver. 5. Mesech — Kedar. Put for any restless and warlike communities, of similar character.
* Another explanation, namely, that the Psalm was so called from its gradational structure, is unsatisfactory, only two
or three at most having more than very slight traces of this peculiar form.
PSALM CXXL
Pilgrim Song.
1 I will lift mine eyes unto the mountains ;
from whence shall my help come ?
2 My help is from Jehovah,
who made heaven and earth.
3 Let him not suflfer thy foot to waver ;
he that keepeth thee, let him not slumber.
4 Behold he will not slumber, and will not sleep,
that keepeth Israel.
5 Jehovah is thy keeper ;
Jehovah is thy shade on thy right hand.
6 By day the sun shall not smite thee,
nor the moon by night.
7 Jehovah will keep thee from all evil ;
he will keep thy soul.
8 Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in,
henceforth and forevermore.
X . Ph. cxxi. An appropriate hymn, for morning or evening worship, as the pilgrims were journeying toward the moun-
tains of Jerusalem. Compare Ps. cxxv. 2, " Jerusalem, mountains are round about her."'
Ver. 3. Let thy keeper be one that eluoibera not, and is ever watchful over his charge.
PSALM CXXII.
Pilgrim Song. Of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me,
let us go into the house of Jehovah,
2 Our feet are standing
in thy gates, O Jerusalem;
3 Jerusalem, that art builded,
as a city that is compact together ;
4 whither the tribes go up,
the tribes of Jah, — a testimony for Israel,—
to give thanks to the name of Jehovah.
5 For there are set thrones for judgment,
thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ;
they shall prosper that love thee !
7 Let there be peace within thy rampart,
prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sake,
let me now say, Peace be within thee I
9 For the sake of the house of Jehovah our God,
I will seek thy good. .
Ver. 4. The tribes go vjp. Three times In a year (Deut. xvi. 16 ; compare Ex. xxiii. 14-17). These annual pilgrimagei
were " a testimony for Israel," — " a memorial " (as expressed in Ex. xii. 14) of what God had wrought.
PSALM CXXIII.
Pilgrim Song.
1 Unto thee do I lift up my eyes,
thou that dwellest in the heavens.
SOO FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
2 Behold, as tlie eyes of servants are toward the hand of their masters,
as the eyes of a maid-servant toward the hand of her mistress ;
so are our eyes toward Jehovah, our God,
until he shall be gracious to us.
3 Be gracious to us, O Jehovah, be gracious to us ;
for we are greatly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is greatly filled,
with the scorn of them that are at ease,
with the contempt of the proud.
n
Toward the hand. Watching for the signal of the master's or mistrflss'a will. The Orientals were always, as they now
are, sparing of words, and expressed their will by signs. There is noreferenci fo chastisement, as some suppose.
Vers. 3, 4. For the circumstances here referred to, compare Neh. i. 3, and ii. 19.
PSALM CXXIV.
Pilgrim Song. Of David.
a
n
1 If it were not Jehovah who was for us,
let Israel now say, —
2 if it were not Jehovah who was for us,
when men rose up against us ;
3 then had they swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us ;
4 then had the waters overwhelmed us,
the stream had gone over our soul ;
5 then had gone over our soul the swelling waters. ^
6 Blessed be Jehovah, ii
who hath not given us a prey to their teeth. 1
7 Our soul is as a bird escaped from the snare of the fowlers 5 ti
the snare is broken and we are escaped. ■
Our help is in the name of Jehovah, l
who made heaven and earth. i
PSALM CXXV.
Pilgrim Song,
They that trust in Jehovah are as Mount Zion,
that cannot be moved, abideth forever.
Jerusalem, mountains are round about her ;
and Jehovah is round about his people,
henceforth and forever.
For the rod of wickedness shall not rest on the lot of the righteous,
that the righteous may not put forth their hands to iniquity.
Do good, 0 Jehovah, to the good,
to the upright in their hearts.
And they tliat turn aside to their crooked paths,
Jehovah will lead them away with workers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel I
FiSAliM CXXVII. 801
PSALM CXXVI.
Pilgrim Song.
1 When Jehovah brought back the returned of Zion,
we were as they that dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
and our tongue with singing.
Then said they among the heathen,
Jehovah hath done great things for them.
3 Jehovah hath done great things for us ;
we are joyful.
4 Turn, O Jehovah, our captivity,
as streams in the south.
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He goeth forth weeping as he goeth, bearing the handful of seed;
he shall surely come with rejoicing, bearing his sheaves.
Ver. 4. A prayer for the continuation of the work, to ita completion.
PSALM CXXVII.
Pilgrim Song. Of ao'.&mon,
1 If Jehovah build not the house,
in vain they labor upon it that build it.
K Jehovah keep not the city,
the keeper watcheth in vain.
2 Vain is it for you, that ye rise early,
that ye take rest late,
that ye eat the bread of sorrows ;
so giveth he to his beloved in sleep.
3 Lo, sous are a heritage from Jehovah ;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man,
so are the sons of youth.
5 Happy the man,
who hath filled his quiver with them.
They shall not be ashamed,
when they shall speak with enemies in the gate.
7er. 2, 4th member. So, all that is thus gained, he gives in sleep, without this wearsdng care and pains.* Fuekst
(feaj. |3, iv., a), "jitst so, i. e., so well and richly does the Lord give his beloved." The noun, NJty, is not the direct object
of the verb, but the subordinate accus. of time (in sleep).-)- So Ewald (also giebt er^s schZafend seinem lieben) ; and Hdp-
FELD {ehenso gibt er's seinem Geliebten im Schlaf.). The object of the verb {it, the desired good) they supply, aa implied from
the preceding member .J Fderst's construction is more simple. The general sense is well expressed by Ewald: "You
may weary yourselves ever so much ; yet God gives (what he gives) to his loved one in sleep,g unexpectedly and by aur-
prise, as to one dreaming, but only to his beloved."
Ver. 5, 4th member. Enemies. Personal enemies are probably meant, whom they would " speak with in the gate ;"
namely, the broad open space at the gate of the city, where men met for the transaction of business, and magistrates sat
to administer justice. See the note on Ps. xxxv. 11, and compare Job v. 4 (and the references in the writer's note on the
passage) and xxiz. 7.
* &. t*. e., ebenso, mit demselben Brfolg tide jene mit ihrer sauren Arbeit, also s. v. a. dasselbe (Hupfeld).
f HuPPELD : KJI^i nicht Accus. des Obj, den Schlaf, sondem Accus. der Zdt, im Schlaf (wie oft, DV, H?^ 7> *1p3» 3*1M
GBS.gllS, 2. '
tZu ID'' 6 8, aus dem vorherg, Brot der Muhen (aiber hier nur der allg. Begriff Brot) zu ergtinzen ist (Hupfeld).
0 Das Juisst, ohne Muhe wnd Sorge, im Ggsatz eu DO]f V (Huppeld).
51
802 FIFTH BOOK 3f PSALMS.
PSALM CXXVIII.
Pilgrim Song.
Happy is every one that feareth Jehovah,
that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat of the labor of thy hands ;
happy art thou, and it is well with thee !
Thy wife, as a fruitful vine,
in the interior of thy house ;
thy sons, as olive-plants,
around thy table !
Behold, thus shall the man be blest,
that feareth Jehovah.
Jehovah will bless thee out of Zion ;
and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem,
all the days of thy life.
And thou shalt see thy children's children.
Peace be upon Israel I
Ver. 3. In the interior. The women'B apartmeats, in the most retired part of the house.
PSALM CXXIX.
«
Pilgrim Song.
1 Much have they oppressed me from my youth, —
let Israel now say, —
2 much have they oppressed me from my youth,
yet have they not prevailed against me.
3 Ploughers ploughed upon my back ;
they made long their furrows.
4 Jehovah, the righteous,
hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them be shamed, and be turned back, all that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as grass on the house-tops,
that withereth before it is plucked up
7 With which the mower filleth not his hand,
nor the gatherer his arm.
8 And they that pass by say not,
The blessing of Jehovah be upon you ;
we bless you in the name of Jehovah.
Ver. 8, 2d and 3d members. Compare the ealntation in Ruth ii. 4.
PSALM CXXX.
Pilgrim Song.
1 Out of the depths I call on thee, Jehovah.
2 Lord, hearken to my voice ;
let thine ears be attentive,
to the voice of my supplications.
ira-ffijjw. UA.A-a.xi.
3 If thou, O Jah, shouldst mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand ?
4 For with thee there is forgiveness,
that thou mayest be feared.
6 I have waited for Jehovah, my soul hatii waited;
and in his word have I hoped.
6 My soul [waiteth] for the Lord,
more than they that watch, for the morning, —
than they that watch, for the morning I
7 Hope thou, Israel, in Jehovah ;
for with Jehovah there is mercy,
and with him abundant redemption.
8 And he, he will redeem Israel, - / >'
From all his iniquities.
Ver. 4. For with thee there is forgiveness. Referring to what is implied in ver. 8 ; namely, a motiye in the Divine mind
for relaxing the rigor of the Divine law. The motive is, that men may be led to fear God by the hope of pardon and ac-
ceptance, without which none would be reclaimed.
Ver. 6, 2d and 3d members. The meaning is not, watch for the morning. — as «ome understand it,— but wait for th»
morning, as indicated by the proper punctuation.
PSALM CXXXI.
Pilgrim Song. Of David,
Jehovah, my heart is not haughty,
nor my eyes lofty ;
nor do I concern myeelf with things too great,
and with things too difficult for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my spirit,
as a weaned child on its mother ;
as the weaned child is my spirit within me.
Hope thou, Israel, in Jehovah,
henceforth and forever.
PSALM CXXXTT.
Pilgrirn, Song,
1 Jehovah, remember to David all his pains;
2 who did swear unto Jehovah,
did vow to the mighty one of Jacob,
3 I will not enter into the tent of my house,
I will not go up on the couch of my bed :
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes,
slumber to my eyelids ;
6 until I shall find a place for Jehovah,
dwellings for the mighty one of Jacob.
6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah ;
we found it in the wooded fields.
7 We will enter in to his dwellings,
we will worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, O Jehovah, to thy resting-place, . 7ti>;', -
thou, and the ark of thy strength. "Hurt.,
r
t>!!.
804 FIFTH BOOK OP PSALMS.
9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let thy saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of David thy servant,
do not turn back the face of thine anointed.
11 Jehovah hath sworn to David in truth,
Ibe will not turn back from it.
Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
12 If thy sons will observe my covenant,
and my testimonies that I shall teach them ;
also their sons forever
shall sit upon thy throne.
13 For Jehovah hath chosen Zion;
he hath desired it for his abode.
14 This is my resting-place forever ;
here will I dwell, for I have desired it.
15 Her provision I will abundantly bless ;
her needy I will satisfy with bread.
16 And her priests will I clothe with salvation,
and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
17 There will I cause the horn of David to put forth ;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies will I clothe with shame;
but on him shall his crown flourish.
Ver. 3. Tent of my hxmse. My temporary dweUing; a rGmimscence of patriarchal times, perpetuated in the language,
and a reminder that our brief earthly life is but a sojourn and a pilgrimage.
Ver. 5. Dwellings. As in Pss. xlvi. 4 ; Ixxxiv. 1.
Ver. 6. Woodedjields. Compare Kirjath-jearim (city of the woods)! Sam. vii. 1, and 2 Sam. ri. 2, where it is called
Baale (Josh. xv. 9).
Vers. 8-10. Compare 2 Chron. vl. 41, 42.
Ver. 17. To put forth. New branches ; an emblem of increasing power. Compare Ezek. xxix. 21.
Ver. 18. Shall his croum flourish. Said of the wreath, or chaplet, with which the victor was crowned. If "crown"
la here the common symbol of sovereignty, the meaning is, shall prosper, shall suffer no reverse. Contrast the language
of Pa. Ixxxix. 39.
PSALM CXXXIII.
Pilgrim Song. Of David.
1 Behold, how good, and how pleasant,
the dwelling of brethren in union !
2 As the precious oil upon the head,
flowing down upon the beard,
the beard of Aaron,
that flowed down to the border of his vestments!
3 As the dew of Hermon,
that Cometh down on the mountains of Zion !
For there Jehovah commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
Ver. 3. Dew of Sermon. Sea Moll'8 exegetical note, and the statements there quoted from Van de Vetde and others.
PSALM CXXXIV.
Pilgrim Song,
1 Behold, bless ye Jehovah,
all ye servants of Jehovah,
that stand in the house of Jehovah by night.
PSALM CXXXV. 806
2 Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary,
and bless Jehovah.
3 Jehovah bless thee out of Zion,
maker of heaven and earth.
PSALM CXXXV.
1 Praise ye Jah.
Praise ye the name of Jehovah ;
praise, ye servants of Jehovah,
2 that stand in the house of Jehovah,
in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise ye Jah, for Jehovah is good ;
sing praise to his name, for it is pleasant.
4 For Jah hath chosen Jacob for himsel£
Israel for his peculiar treasure.
6 For I know that Jehovah is great,
and our Lord above all gods.
6 All that Jehovah pleased he hath done,
in the heavens and on earth,
in the seas and all depths.
7 Who causeth vapors to ascend from the end of the earth,
maketh lightnings for the rain,
bringeth out the wind from his storehouses.
8 Who smote the first-born of Egypt,
both of man and beast ;
9 sent signs and portents in thy midst, O Egypt,
on Pharaoh and on his servants.
10 Who smote many nations,
and slew mighty kings ;
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan ;
12 and gave their land as a heritage,
a heritage to Israel his people.
13 Jehovah, thy name is forever ;
Jehovah, thy memorial is to all generations.
14 For Jehovah will judge his people,
and for the sake of his servants will repent.
15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold,
the work of the hands of man.
16 A mouth have they, but they speak not ;
eyes have they, but they see not.
17 Ears have they, but they hear not ; , .
yea, there is no breath in their mouth.
18 Like to them are they that make them,
every one that trusteth in them.
19 House of Israel, bless ye Jehovah.
House of Aaron, bless ye Jehovah.
20 House of Levi, bless ye Jehovah.
Ye that fear Jehovah, bless Jehovah.
21 Blessed be Jehovah out of Zion,
who inhabiteth Jerusalem.
Praise ye Jah.
Ver. 4. Sis peculiar treasure. For the meaning, see Ex. Trf-g, 5,
Ver. 9. Bortents. See the remark on Ps. cv. 6.
806 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 13. Memorial. Memorial name. See the remark on Ps. xxx. 4
Ver. 14. See Deut. xxxii. 36, from which these words are taken.
Vers. 15-18. Repeated^ with. Blight variatlonB, from Ps. cxv. 4-8.
PSALM CXXXVL
1 Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good ;
for his mercy is forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods ;
for his mercy is forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords ;
for his mercy is forever.
4 To him who alone doeth great wonders ;
for his mercy is forever.
6 To him who made the heavens with skill :
for his mercy is forever.
6 To him who spread out the earth upon the waters ;
for his mercy is forever.
7 To him who made great lights ;
for his mercy is forever ;
8 the sun for dominion over the day ;
for his mercy is forever ;
9 the moon and stars for dominion over the night ;
for his mercy is forever.
10 To him who smote Egypt in their first-bon? •
for his mercy is forever ;
11 and brought out Israel from their midst ;
for his mercy is forever ;
12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm ;
for his mercy is forever.
13 To him who divided the Red Sea into parts,
for his mercy is forever;
14 and made Israel pass through in the midst of it ;
for his mercy is forever;
15 and shook out Pharaoh and his host into the Red Sea ;
for his mercy is forever.
16 To him who led his people in the wilderness ;
for his mercy is forever.
17 To him who smote great kings ;
for his mercy is forever ;
18 and slew famous kings ;
for his mercy is forever ;
19 Sihon, king of the Amorites ;
for his mercy is forever ;
20 and Og, king of Bashan ;
for his mercy is forever ;
21 and gave their land for a heritage ;
for his mercy is forever ;
22 a heritage for Israel his servant ;
for his mercy is forever.
23 Who in our low estate remembered us ;
for his mercy is forever;
24 and rent us from our foes ;
for his mercy is forever.
26 Who giveth bread to all flesh ;
for his mercy is forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven :
for his mercy is forever.
and lole).^- ^''^ '^' ^' °°' '^"^'^ ^'°'^ ^^' '^P "« ^^^^^^^t^' Compare Job xxxyiii. 13 (tho writer's revised yersion
/ PSALM CXXXVII.
1 By the streams of Babylon,
there we sat and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On willows in her midst,
we hanged our harps.
3 For there demanded of us
our captors, words of song,
and our oppressors, mirth ;
sing to us of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing Jehovah's song,
on an alien soil !
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget !
6 Let my tongue cleave to my palate,
if I do not remember thee ;
if I prefer not Jerusalem,
above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O Jehovah, to the sons of Edom,
the day of Jerusalem ;
who said, lay bare, lay bare,
unto the foundation therein.
8 Daughter of Babylon, the desolated!
Happy he who shall requite to thee,
thy deed which thou hast done to us.
9 Happy he who shall seize,
and dash thy little ones against the rock.
Ver. 1, Babylon. Here, the province of Babylonia, through which the captives were dispersed.— u4m<? wept : Q i merelv
emphasizing the thought. ^ wj j
Ver. 2. Willows. The weeping willow is meant, which grew by the water-courses (Is. xliv. 4, xv. 7 : Job xl 22 • Lev
xxiii. 40).* '
Ver. 8. The desolated. In prophetic anticipation.
PSALM cxxxvin.
[^Psalml of David.
I will thank thee with my whole heart ;
before the gods will I sing praise to thee.
I will worship toward thy holy temple,
and will thank thy name for thy mercy and for thy truth ;
for thou hast magnified thy saying above all thy name.
In the day when I called, then thou didst answer me,
didst embolden me with strength in my soul.
* The last reference suggests the occasion here referred to ; namely, the gxe&t feast of ingathering (Ex xxiii. 16) com-
memorative of the harvest just gathered, and also of the deliverance from Egypt (Lev. xxiii. 39-43); when '^willows of
the brook" (Lev. xxiii. 40) were borne in procession, as part of" the joyful pageant. This season of festivity was now turned
to mourning ; and their harps hung silent on the willows, once borne in triumph. Such a season of mourning seems
alluded to in £zek. iii. 15, compared with Lev. xxiii. 41.
808 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
4 All kings of the earth will acknowledge thee, 0 Jehovah,
when they hear the sayings of thy mouth ;
5 and will sing of the ways of Jehovah,
that great is the glory of Jehovah.
6 For exalted is Jehovah ; and the lowly he regardeth ;
and the proud he knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me ;
against the anger of my enemies thou wilt stretch forth thy hand,
and thy right hand will save me.
8 Jehovah will complete it in my behalf;
Jehovah, thy mercy is forever.
The works of thy hands do not forsake I
Ver. 2. Thy saying. See 2 Sam. ch. vii., to which reference is here made.
Ter.8. WtU complete it. What he has purposed and begun, already referred to in vsr. 2.
PSALM CXXXIX.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of Davia.
1 Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and thou knowest.
2 Thou, thou dost know my sitting down and my rising up ,
thou perceivest my thoughts from afar.
3 Thou art around my path and my couch,
and acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue,
but lo, Jehovah, thou knowest it all.
5 Behind and before thou hast beset me,
and laid thy hand upon me.
6 Knowledge too wonderful for me !
It is high, I do not comprehend it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit ?
And whither shall I flee from thy presence ?
8 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there.
If I make the underworld my bed, lo thou art there.
9 If I should take the wings of the morning,
should dwell in the uttermost part of the sea ;
10 there also would thy hand lead me,
and thy right hand would hold me.
11 And if I say, Only let darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night ;
12 even darkness will not hide from thee,
and night will shine as the day ;
darkness is as light.
13 For thou, thou hast formed my reins,
hast woven me in the womb of my mother.
14 I will praise thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made.
Wonderful are thy works ;
and my soul knoweth it well.
15 My frame was not hidden from thee,
when I was made in secret,
was curiously wrought [as] in the depths of the earth.
16 Thine eyes saw my unformed substance ;
and in thy book were all of them written,
day by day were they fashioned, when there were none of them.
17 And to me how precious are thy thoughts, O God !
How great is their sum I
PSALM CXL. 809
18 If I would recount them, they are more in number than the sand ;
I awake, and am still with thee.
19 O that thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God I
and ye men of blood depart from me ;
20 who speak of thee with evil purpose,
take [thy name] in vain, — thy foes.
21 Shall not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee ?
And shall I not loathe them that rise up against thee ?
22 With perfect hatred do I hate them ;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart ;
try me, and know my thoughts ;
and see if there be any idol-way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Ver. 4. In my tongue. In its power to utter, and as yet unuttered. Some translate, on my tongne , But to know a
word that is already on the tongue implies no superhuman knowledge.
Ver. 13. Reins. The seat of perception and sensibility (Pss. xvi. 7 ; Ixxiii. 21), They can conceal nothing from him
who formed them. Compare Ps. vii. 9.
Ver. 15, 3d member. As unseen by every eye but thine, as if " wrought in the depths of the earth." The Hebrew says
absolutely, •' wrought in the depths of the earth," suppressing the form of comparison, by a figure of speech more natural to
the oriental mind than to us.
Ver 20. In vain. It has become quite common to take Xlty, in Ex. xx.7 and similar passages, in the sense of fdUeJiood,
"thou Shalt not utter the name of Jehovah to a falsehood" (i. e. swear falsely).* But the older view, taking ii)^j in the
sense of vainly, idly, with no serious and proper purpose, and hence profanely, is defensible, and covers the whole ground.
On the difficulties in this verse, See Moll's exegetical note. They do not seem to justify the resort to conjectural (emen-
dations of the text, proposed by Bwald, Hitzig, Hupfeld, Fuerst lex. Xtyjj 1, and others.f There is no decisive otu«ction
to the construction and rendering of the current text by Gesenids.J
Ver. 23, 3d member. Mol^way. Leading my heart from God, its supreme object of love.
PSALM CXL.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Rescue me, Jehovah, from the evil man ;
from the violent man preserve me ;
2 who devise evil in the heart,
continually they stir up wars. .
3 They have sharpened their tongue lil^e a serpent ;
poison of an adder is under their lips. {Pause.}
4 Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked;
from the man of violence preserve me ;
who have thought to subvert my steps.
5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords ;
they spread a net by the way-side ;
traps have they set for me. (Pause.)
6 I have said to Jehovah, Thou art my God ;^
give ear, O Jehovah, to the voice of my supplications.
7 Jehovah, Lord, the strength of ray salvation,
thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked man ;
do not further their device, that they may be lifted up. (Pause.)
9 As for the head of them that compass me about,
the mischief of their own lips shall cover them. .
10 Burning coals shall be cast down upon them ;
he will plunge them in fire ; into deep waters, that they rise not again.
* A different view is taken by Keil, on Ex. xx. 7, p. 472. _ .,.^»„ ^ ^„„ «,,„ ^,-,,. ,„♦
t Aber auch der vorliegende Text laisst sich begreifen : daa Obj. zu N^B^J ergibt sich aus 1110% una das folg. y\]} ist
einenacheebrachteErkiarungdesin Jtliyj gemeinten Subj. (Delitzsch).
4. 27te5. Vol. ii. p. 915. Dicunt te (nomen tuum) ad scelus, efferunt sc. te 8. nomen tuum ad mendacium axtversani tut i. e.
peierant.
810 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
11 An evil speaker shall not be established in the earth ;
the man of violence, evil will hunt him to ruin.
12 I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the suflferer,
the right of the poor.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to thy name;
the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
PSALM CXLI.
A Psalm of David.
1 Jehovah, I call upon thee ; make haste to me.
Give ear to my voice, when I call to thee.
2 Let my prayer present itself as incense before thee ;
the lifting of my hands as the evening offering.
Set a guard, O Jehovah, at my mouth ;
keep watch over the door of ray lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
to busy itself in wicked deeds,
with men that work iniquity ;
and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness ;
and let him reprove me, it is oil for the head.
Let not my head refuse ; for still,
my prayer is in their calamities.
6 When their judges are hurled down among the rocks,
then they hear my words, that they are pleasant.
7 As when one furrows and cleaves in the earth,
our bones are scattered at the mouth of the underworld.
8 For my eyes are unto thee, Jehovah, Lord.
In thee have I trusted; do not pour out my soul.
9 Keep me from the grasp of the snare they have laid for me,
and the traps of the workers of iniquity.
1 0 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
until I shall have wholly passed by.
Ver. 8. Pour out my soul. Compare Is. liii. 12, " poured out his Boul."
Yer. 10, 2d member. Or, Whilst I at the same time sball pa39 by.
PSALM CXLII.
Didactic [^Psalrn] of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.
With my voice to Jehovah I cry ;
with my voice to Jehovah I make supplication ;
I pour out before him my complaint,
my trouble I make known before him ;
when my spirit faints within me,
and thou, thou knowest my path.
In the way that I go they have hidden a snare for me.
Look on the right hand and see, — and I have none that knoweth me ;
refuge hath failed me ;
there is no one that careth for my soul.
PSALM CXLIII. 811
6 I cried unto thee, O Jehovali ;
I said, thou art my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.
6 Be attentive to my cry, for I am brought very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I.
7 Bring out my soul from prison,
to thank thy name.
The righteous will gather round me;
for thou wilt deal kindly with me.
lazn,^in SKSie'oS^^) ^SIZ^'^H ^^^^ ''' ^ ^^'"- ^^"- ^' (^^'^ !>«• ^^^^-^'^ a-iditi-'n to the aft. Adul-
PSALM CXLIIL
A Psalm of David.
1 O Jehovah, hear my prayer ;
give ear to my supplications.
In thy faithfulness, answer me in thy righteousness.
2 And do not enter into judgment with thy servant;
for in thy sight no one living is righteous.
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul,
hath smitten down my life to the earth,
hath made me dwell in darkness as those long dead.
4 And my spirit in me faints,
my heart is desolate within me.
5 I remember the days of old ;
I meditate on all thou doest,
I think on the work of thy hands.
6 I spread out my hands unto thee ;
my soul is as a land thirsting for thee. {Pause).
7 Make haste to answer me, O Jehovah ;
my spirit faileth.
Do not hide thy face from me,
so that I become like them that go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear thy loving-kindness in the morning,
For in thee do I trust.
Make me know the way that I should go,
for to thee do I lift up my soul.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Jehovah ;
with thee I hide myself.
10 Teach me to do thy will,
for thou art my God ;
let thy good Spirit guide me on even ground.
11 For thy name's sake, O Jehovah, thou wilt revive me;
in thy righteousness thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble,
12 And in thy loving-kindness thou wilt cut off my enemies,
and wilt destroy all that afflict my soul ;
for I am thy servant.
Ver. 10, 3d member. Compare Ps. xxvi. 12, " My foot standeth in an even place."
812. FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM CXLIV.
[^ Psalm^ of David.
1 Blessed be Jehovah, my rock ;
he who instructeth my hands for the conflict,
my fingers for the battle ;
2 my loving-kindness and my fortress,
my high tower, and my deliverer,
my shield, and in him I trust ;
he that subdueth my people under me.
3 Jehovah, what is man, that thou shouldst know him ?
a son of man, that thou shouldst think of him ?
4 Man is like a breath ;
his days as a passing shadow.
5 Jehovah, bow thy heavens, and come down ;
touch the mountains, that they smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them ;
send out thine arrows, and discomfit them.
7 Send thy hands from on high,
wrest me, and rescue me out of the great waters,
out of the hand of aliens ;
8 whose mouth speaketh deception,
and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 O God, a new song will I sing to thee ;
with a ten-stringed lute will I sing praise to thee ;
10 who giveth deliverance to kings ;
who wresteth David, his servant, from the hurtful sword.
11 Wrest me, and rescue me from the hand of aliens ;
whose mouth speaketh deception,
and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 So that our sons may be as plants,
full grown in their youth ;
our daughters as corner pillars,
13 sculptured after the structure of a palace ;
our gamers full , supplying of every kind ;
our flocks multiplying by thousands,
by tens of thousands, in our fields ;
14 our oxen laden ;
no breaking in, nor going forth,
and no outcry in our streets.
16 Happy the people to whom it is thus ;
happy the people whose God is Jehovah 1
Ver. 14, Ist member. Laden. With the abundant products of the fields.
Ver. 14, 2d member. BreaJcing in (of invading armiesj, going forth (into captivity), is most probably the meaning.
PSALM CXLV.
A Hymn of David,
1 I will extol thee my God, O king,
and will bless thy name forever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless thee,
and praise thy name forever and ever.
PSALM CXLVI. 813
3 Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 Generation to generation shall praise thy works,
and shall declare thy mighty acts.
5 The glorious honor of thy majesty,
and thy wondrous works will I sing.
6 And the might of thy terrible acts let them tell ;
and thy great deeds will I rehearse.
7 Let them pour forth the memory of thy great goodness,
and sing aloud of thy righteousness.
8 Gracious and compassionate is Jehovah ;
slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9 Jehovah is good to all,
and his compassions are over all his works.
10 Let all thy works praise thee, O Jehovah,
and thy saints bless thee.
11 Let them tell the glory of thy kingdom,
and speak of thy power;
12 to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,
and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages,
and thy dominion is throughout all generations.
14 Jehovah upholdeth all the falling,
and raiseth up all that are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait for thee,
and thou givest them their food in its season ;
16 opening thy hand,
and satisfying the desire of every living thing.
17 Righteous is Jehovah in all his ways,
and kind in all his works.
18 Near is Jehovah to all that call upon him,
to all that call upon him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him ;
their cry he will hear, and will save them.
20 Jehovah preserveth all that love him ;
and all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah ;
and let all flesh bless his holy name,
forever and ever.
PSALM CXLVI.
1 Praise ye Jah.
Praise Jehovah, O my soul.
2 I will praise Jehovah while I live ;
I will sing praise to my God while I am in being.
3 Trust not in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ;
in that very day his plans perish.
6 Happy he, whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in Jehovah his God ;
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keepeth truth forever ;
7 doing justice to the oppressed,
giving food to the hungry.
Jehovah setteth free the bound ;
814 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 Jehovah openeth the eyes of the blind ;
Jehovah raiseth the bowed down.
Jehovah loveth the righteous.
9 Jehovah preserveth the strangers ;
the orphan and widow he relieveth ;
and the way of the wicked he subverteth,
10 Jehovah will reign forever,
thy God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise ye Jah.
Fss. clTi.-cl. Jah. See the note on Ps. Ixviii. 4.
PSALM CXLVn.
1 Praise ye Jah.
For it is good to sing praise to our God i
for it is pleasant, praise is becomiug.
2 Jehovah buildeth Jerusalem,
the outcasts of Israel he will gather ;
3 the physician for the broken in heart,
and he bindeth up their pains.
4 He counteth the number of the stars ;
he calleth them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and of great power;
his understanding is infinite.
6 Jehovah raiseth up the lowly ;
he humbleth the wicked even to the earth.
7 Answer Jehovah with thanksgiving,
sing praise to our God with the harp ;
8 who covereth the heavens with clouds,
who prepareth rain for the earth ;
9 who maketh the mountains put forth grass,
giveth to the beast his food,
to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse,
nor hath he pleasure in the legs of men.
11 Jehovah hath pleasure in them that fear him,
in them that hope in his mercy.
12 Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem;
praise thy God, O Zion.
13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates ;
he hath blest thy sons within thee.
14 It is he that maketh thy borders peace ;
he satisfieth thee with the marrow of the wheat.
15 He that sendeth his commandment to the earth ;
swiftly doth his word run.
16 He that giveth snow like wool;
he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes.
17 He that casteth forth his ice like morsels;
who can stand before his cold ?
18 He sendeth out his word ana melteth them ;
he causeth his wind to blow, the waters flow.
19 He maketh known his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments to Israel.
20 He hath not done so to any nation;
and his judgments, they know them not.
Praise ye Jah.
Ver. 10, Ist and 2d members. Horse and foot are meant, the cavalry and Infantry ot an army.
Vor. 11. Mwrrovj o/the wheat. See the remark on Ps. Ixzzi. 16.
PSALM CXLIX. 815
PSALM CXLVnL
1 Praise ye Jah.
Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens ;
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all his angels ;
praise him, all his hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon ;
praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens >of heavens,
and ye waters that are above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of Jehovah ;
for he commanded, and they were created ;
6 and he made them stand forever and ever ;
he set a bound, and they shall not pass overs
7 Praise Jehovah, from the earth ;
ye sea-monsters, and all deeps ;
8 fire and hail, snow and vapor,
stormy wind fulfilling his word ;
9 ye mountains and all hills,
fruit-trees, and all cedars ;
10 beasts, and all cattle,
creeping things, and winged birds ;
11 kings of the earth, and all peoples,
princes, and all judges of the earth i
12 young men, and also maidens,
old men, with children ;
13 let them praise the name of Jehovah j
for exalted is his name alone,
his majesty is above earth and heaven.
14 And he raised up a horn for his people,
a praise for all his saints,
for the sons of Israel, a people nea^* '■■^ him.
Praise ye Jah.
Ver. 6, 2d member. Or, He made a decree, and It shall not pass.
PSALM CXLIX.
Praise ye Jah.
Sing to Jehovah a new song,
his praise in the congregation of saints.
Let Israel rejoice in his maker,
the sons of Zion exult in their king.
Let them praise his name in the dance ; ,
Let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For Jehovah hath pleasure in his people ;
he beautifieth the lowly with salvation.
Let the saints triumph in glory,
let them sing aloud upon their beds ;
praises of God in their throat,
and a two-edged sword in their hand ;
to execute vengeance on the heathen,
punishments on the peoples ;
816 FIFTH BOOK OF PSALMS.
8 to bind their kings with chains,
and their nobles with fetters of iron ;
9 to execute upon them the judgment written.
It is an honor for all his saints.
Praise ye Jah.
PSALM CL,
1 Praise ye Jah.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in the expanse of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts ;
praise him according to his abundant greatness,
3 Praise him with sound of trumpet ;
praise him with lute and harp.
4 Praise him with timbrel and dance ;
praise him with strings and pipe
5 Praise him on the loud cymbals ;
praise him on cymbals of lofty sound..
6 Let all breath praise Jah.
Praise ye Jah.
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